This book, resulting from extensive research on the land tax in China during the Ch'ing Period (1644-1911), is based on the multivolume Ts'ai-cheng shuo-ming-shu (Financial reports) produced from a nationwide survey of public finance, 1908-1910, and numerous local gazetteers. It reveals in detail the complexity of surcharges levied with tax quotas, and so provides the first realistic estimate of the land tax actually collected in different provinces and districts.