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Abuses of the Wanli Mining and Poll Taxes

Type Event Region East Asia Time 1599–1603

Around 1599 the Ming court, citing heavy palace expenses, sent eunuchs as mining and tax commissioners across the realm, whose extortion and interfer…

Timeline

  1. 1599Forbidden City, Beijing · Northern ZhiliCiting insufficient state funds, the Wanli Emperor ordered eunuchs to serve as mining and tax commissioners in Lianghuai, Huguang, Fujian and elsewhere to open mines and levy taxes, bypassing the local civil bureaucracy to extort directly.
  2. 1599–1600Suzhou · SuzhouTax commissioners set up new checkpoints in Suzhou, Hangzhou and elsewhere and levied harsh commercial taxes; weavers and townspeople gathered in protest and even beat tax commissioners' agents to death, while local officials could barely restrain the eunuch forces.
  3. 1600–1603Linxiang, Huguang · YuezhouCensorial officials repeatedly memorialized on the abuses of the mining and poll taxes, but the Wanli Emperor mostly shielded the eunuchs. Popular revolts broke out in Linxiang and elsewhere in Huguang, tax commissioners were burned and killed by crowds, and the mining-tax abuses became a key symptom of the late Ming's governing crisis.

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