In the following paragraphs I explain my findings in detail. To answer the question I have raised at the beginning of this section, ideally a list of Qing expenditures during the 30 years of the Self-
Strengthening Movement period would be helpful. Unfortunately, such a list is not available in the present. Therefore I have to resort to secondary sources to estimate the figure.
Banner troops consisted of two subdivisions: those who were stationed in the capital and those in the provinces. Hence government spending on the Manchu stipend consisted of two parts: money for the capital banner troops and money for the provincial troops. The 1812 version of The Collected Statutes of the Great Qing reveals that the total stipends of provincial banner troops amounted to 5,155,888 taels of
silver (cited in Zhou 2000: 36). Yet no direct governmental source is available on the total amount of capital banner troops’ stipends because it was deemed as a secret by the government. The information I
have now is: the total amount of the stipends of provincial banner troops. In addition to this, I have found the stipend rate chart containing both the capital and provincial troops as shown below.
Table 7.1 Provincial Banner Soldiers’ Monthly Pay
Cavalrymen Soldiers on Offensive Soldiers on Defense 2 T., 0.3 D. 1.5 T., 0.3 D. 1 T., 0.3 D.
Table 7.2 Capital Soldiers’ Monthly Pay
Corporals* (lingcui) 4 T., 1.85 D. Cavalrymen 3 T., 1.85 D. Corporals in the Infantry 2 T., 0.883 D. Infantry Soldiers 1.5 T., 0.883 D. Fostered Soldiers 1.5 T., 0.133 D. Note:
1. * applied to corporals in the four branches: The Escorts (qinjun), Vanguard (qianfeng), Guards
(hujun), and Light Cavalry (xiaoqi).
2. In peacetime soldiers were rewarded as on defense. 3. Stipend is measured in Taels, and ration of rice in Dou.
Source: Mao, Haijian. 1995: 64.
At this point what I need to make the estimate for overall Qing spending on banner troops is: the number of capital troops, and the number of provincial troops. First, I present information on the number of capital banner troops. Thomas Wade reported in 1851 the following information:
Table 7.3 Number of Capital Banner Soldiers in 1851
Officers Soldiers Total
7,921 141,079 149,000
Source: Rhoads, Edward. 2000: 28.
Another source, The Draft History of the Qing, gave a slightly different count:
Table 7.4 Number of Capital Banner Troops
Officers Soldiers Total
7,876 139,526 147,402
Now it can be inferred that the total number of capital banner troops was roughly 150,000 men. Next I present the total number of provincial banner troops:
Table 7.5 Number of Provincial Banner Troops
Officers Soldiers Total
3,115 107,819 110,934
Source: ibid: 31.
The total number of provincial banner troops was roughly 110,000 men. Thus the ratio of capital banner troops to provincial troops was 15:11. Moreover, since capital banner soldiers were paid better than provincial soldiers, as stated in the beginning of this section, then it can be inferred at this point that the total stipends of capital banner soldiers exceeded the total stipends of provincial troops. To give a more accurate estimation, I need the pay rates of both capital and provincial troops. In addition to the chart I have presented at the beginning of this section, Ding Yizhuang gives a simplified version, simple but meets the need of this study.
Table 7.6 Simplified Version of Capital Banner Troops’ Stipend
Category Members Amount (in taels) First class Corporals and Vanguards 4
Second class Cavalrymen 3 Third class Infantry soldiers 2 Source: Ding, Yizhuang. 2003: 220.
Ding (ibid) also points out that stipend for provincial banner troops decreased successively32. If the
percentage of a particular class of the provincial banner troops did not vary greatly from the percentage of the corresponding class of the capital banner troops33, then the ratio of the total amount of the stipend for
provincial banner troops to that of the capital troops would be 6: 9, or 2: 334. Since the ratio of the number
of provincial troops to capital troops was 11: 15, now it can be inferred that the ratio of the total amount of stipend for provincial banner troops to the total stipend for capital troops was: 2×11/3×15=22: 45, or roughly 1: 2. Further, since the total amount of stipend for provincial troops was approximately 5.15
32 That is to say, the first class received 3 tales, the second class 2 taels, and so on.
33 That is, suppose x% of the provincial troops were the first class, and y% of the capital troops were the first class,
whereas x is close to y.
million taels of silver per year, therefore, the total amount of stipend for capital banner troops would be 5.15×2, or 10.3 million taels of silver annually. Then the total amount of stipend for banner troops should be 5.15+10.3, equal to 15.45 million.
The figure is not conclusive, but should be highly reliable. A Qing official’s memorial buttressed the validity of my estimate. After the Boxers Uprising in 1900, the state reduced the Manchu stipend by 30% (Im 1993: 122); that is, government spending on Manchu stipend decreased to only 70% of the original amount. On September 16, 1907, the official Xiong Xiling from Sichuan province stated in his memorial addressing Manchu livelihoods that stipends for both capital and provincial banner troops totaled approximately 10 million taels of silver (HYZWC: 48). Based on the above information, the following calculation can be made regarding the total amount of Manchu stipend before the pay cut: if the product of my estimate (15.45 million) and 70% is close to 10 million, then my estimate should be considered valid. As 15.45 multiplied by 0.7 is 10.815, or, in the context of my discussion, 10.815 million taels of silver, which is close to what Xiong said, therefore my estimate is supported by the document.
How significant was the Manchu stipend in Qing finance? Qing total expenditure during the 30 years of the Self-Strengthening Movement between 1865 and 1894 was 2.25 billion taels (Zhou 2000: 307), or 75 million taels per year. Thus the Manchu stipend constituted 20.6% of Qing annual expenditure (15.45/75=0.206). In other words, every year the state spent 1/5 of its money to support the Manchu ethnic group.
Did the Manchu stipend affect governmental investment in modern industries? The answer is affirmative. Governmental investment during the Self-Strengthening Movement was 65 million taels. Compared to this, the Manchu stipend during the same period was strikingly greater: it should have amounted to 15.45×30=463.5 million taels, or more than seven times governmental investment in modern industries.
A final note needs to be made here. In practice, the total expenditure on Manchu stipend might vary slightly from the above calculation. In 1853 the Xianfeng emperor reduced banner soldiers’ pay by 20% due to the financial crisis caused by the Taiping Rebellion (Im 1993: 122), and the pay cut continued until
1884. In 1885 the state restored the original pay scale for banner soldiers and further set up a special fund for capital banner soldiers pay (Zhou 2000: 242-244). In sum, the decrease in the total amount of Manchu stipends might be set off by the raise determined in 1885. In other words, Qing actual spending on the Manchu stipends during the three decades of the Self-Strengthening Movement should be consistent with my estimate.