Single Whip Reform: Commutation of Taxes and Corvée into Silver

Timeline

1. 1530–1560Zhangzhou, Fujian; Huizhou, Southern Zhili · South ChinaIn the middle and later Jiajing reign, some prefectures and counties began commuting labor service and grain levies into silver, producing local practices of "single whip"-style consolidated collection that accumulated precedents for Longqing-era expansion.
2. 1561–1570Suzhou and Songjiang, Southern Zhili · Jiangsu ProvinceDuring the Longqing reign several Jiangnan prefectures implemented the Single Whip Reform, merging various corvée services and surcharges into land-based silver levies and simplifying the li-jia tax-collection procedures, reflecting the deepening of the commodity-money economy's push on the tax system.
3. 1566–1570Yingtian (Nanjing) · Jiangsu ProvinceWhile serving as governor of Yingtian, Hai Rui vigorously pushed land surveying and tax reform, in line with the spirit of the Single Whip Reform; the interaction between local practice and court policy in the Longqing reign provoked differing reactions among the gentry and clerks.
4. 1573–1585Beijing · BeijingIn the early Wanli reign, Zhang Juzheng built on local experience since the Longqing era to push the Single Whip Reform as the core of tax reform into more provinces, working with the performance-evaluation system to strengthen the central government's fiscal extraction capacity.