Taxation and labor in ancient China appeared with the creation of the country.In ancient primitive society, because there were no classes and no country, there was no taxation and labor. About 4,000 years ago, China's primitive society entered the patrilineal clan stage.The leading organ of the clan society is the tribal alliance council composed of tribal leaders, and the major affairs of the tribe are decided through democratic discussion by the alliance council.After a major decision is made, the tribal leader leads the tribal members to complete it.The tribal leader is both the leader of the tribe and an ordinary tribe member, and has no special status different from other tribe members.They are social public servants and ordinary laborers. They personally participate in the clan society's struggle to transform nature and society, and do not need others to support them.

Yao, Shun, and Yu in ancient Chinese legends are the leaders of several famous tribal alliances in the later period of patrilineal clan society.It is said that when Yao was the leader of the tribe, he lived in a straw hut, ate coarse grains and wild vegetables, wore fur clothes in winter, and wore linen shirts in summer, which was exactly the same as that of a gatekeeper.When Shun was the leader of the tribe, he personally supported Lei Lei to plow the land, and led everyone to work, and the hair on his legs was polished off.Farmers in Lishan invaded each other's territory, so he went to Lishan to farm with them to resolve conflicts.There was a dispute among the fishermen by the river, and he went fishing by himself.The quality of pottery made by Dongyi potters was not good, so Shun went there to make pottery himself.The same is true for Dayu. After 13 years of flood control, he never entered the house three times.The leaders of the clan society work together with the members of the tribe to earn their own living. While farming and cooking, they also manage the clan’s public affairs. "Mencius Teng Wen Gong 1").

The leading body of the clan society does not need to expropriate wealth from the society to support itself, nor does it need and cannot force members of the society to provide unpaid labor to serve itself. After entering class society, the situation changed.Each family in the clan had its own private property.There was a wealth gap between clan members.Tribal leaders possess more wealth than ordinary clan members. They use their power for their own personal gain and gradually become clan nobles.They also turned captured prisoners of war and indebted and bankrupt clan members, that is, civilians, into their own slaves, and they themselves became slave masters.In ancient China, since Dayu's son Qijie took the throne and established the Xia Dynasty, it entered the stage of slave society.It is said that after Xia Qi conquered the Youhu (huhu) clan who supported Yu's chosen successor Boyi from the Dongyi tribe, he turned the tribe members of the Youhu clan into "Mushu", that is, animal husbandry slaves.Since then, there have been class antagonisms between slave owners and slaves, nobles and commoners in Chinese society.

Slavery was a cruel system of human exploitation of human beings.All the heavy manual labor is undertaken by the slaves, who are the talking tools of the slave owners, and the products of their labor are completely owned by the slave owner class.The slave-owning class lived a life of luxury and lust by exploiting the labor of slaves.Slave masters and slaves are hostile classes with fundamentally opposite economic interests.The cruel exploitation and oppression of the slave owners will inevitably arouse the resistance of the slaves.In order to suppress the resistance of the slaves and maintain the economic and political dominance of the slave-owning class, the slave-owning class established a powerful armed force, organized an army, and formulated various legal systems to maintain the social order of slavery.In order to ensure the implementation of these laws and regulations, a large number of officials were set up, and repressive institutions such as courts and prisons were established to punish slaves and civilians who resisted the rule of the slave-owner class and disrupted the social order of slavery.Thus was born the slave state.The army, bureaucrats, courts, prisons, etc., a series of violent suppression tools, are the various material components of the state apparatus.Since the Xia Dynasty in my country, the original tribal leaders were replaced by kings, and the democratic system of primitive society was replaced by the dictatorship of the slave-owner class.Since its inception, the state has been a very powerful institution of violence.It must be strong enough to suppress all kinds of resistance by slaves and civilians, including armed resistance, and be able to deal with foreign aggression.According to historical records, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou slavery state apparatuses had already reached a considerable scale.The Xia Dynasty established a whole set of bureaucratic institutions centered on the king.The king is the supreme ruler of the country, and there are a series of official positions under the king, such as Muzheng, Pazheng, and Chezheng.It is said that there were hundreds of official positions in the Xia Dynasty.The Xia Dynasty established the army, formulated the criminal law called "Yu punishment", and built the "Xiatai" prison.The state machinery of the Shang and Zhou dynasties developed further.By the Western Zhou Dynasty, the bureaucracy of the slavery state was quite complete.Under the king of Zhou, there are the three princes, Taishi, Taifu, and Taibao, who assist the king of Zhou; under the three princes, there are Taizai, Taizong, Taishi, Taizhu, Taishi, and Taibu Liuqing.In addition to the six officials, there are Situ, Sima, Sikong, Sishi, and Sikou.There are many subordinates under the six ministers and the five officials.In addition, there are special officials responsible for the management of mountains, forests, rivers, checkpoints and markets, as well as the eating, drinking and entertainment of court nobles.The number of troops in the Western Zhou Dynasty was also large, and the standing army belonging to the king of Zhou alone had more than 140,000 people.There were already written laws in the Zhou Dynasty, and five punishments were enacted.It is said that there are 3,000 laws and regulations on the five punishments, and there are a large number of judges and jailers who enforce the law and execute the sentences.

It takes a lot of wealth to feed a large number of armies, bureaucrats, and jailers.The army not only needs to eat and wear, but also needs to be equipped with armor, weapons, chariots, horses and other equipment.For the needs of offense and defense, castles and fortifications must be built, which consume a lot of money and labor.All kinds of officials not only need salaries, but also need a lot of manpower and material resources in the construction of government offices, prisons and other institutions, as well as in the process of performing their functions by government agencies at all levels.National institutions such as the military and officials and various permanent public officials are not engaged in material production activities.The material wealth and labor they need can only be collected free of charge from the society and the people by force. This is national taxation.

National taxation has three characteristics: one is mandatory, it is compulsory taxation by the state according to the law, any individual or group must pay taxes according to law, otherwise it will be sanctioned by the national law; the other is free, the common people After the property is collected by the state in the form of taxation, it will not be returned to the taxpayer, nor will any remuneration be paid; the third is fixedness. Taxes are paid in full according to the prescribed standards, and no one is allowed to change or disobey them at will.This kind of fixed income levied free from society by means of coercion is the source of life for state officials, the army and the noble court, the source of life for the entire institution of state administrative power, and the material basis for the state machinery to perform its functions.Strong government agencies and heavy taxes are the same concept.

National taxation in ancient China was first called "tribute", and later called "tax", and sometimes it was also called "tax" or "tax".But no matter how they are called, they are taken from the people free of charge and used for the country.This point, the ancients have realized from practice.For example, the ancients said: "The tax comes from the field, and the tax comes from the top; the tribute comes from the soil, and it is offered from the bottom." ("Yuhai Shihuo Tribute") , to enrich the use of the treasury; the tax is given to the suburban community, the ancestral temple, the worship of the gods, the support of the emperor, the food for the officials, and the expenses of common affairs." The source of taxation, collection method and purpose are clearly stated.

The ancient Chinese slavery state was born in the Xia Dynasty, and taxes and labor services also began to appear in the Xia Dynasty.Sima Qian, a great historian in ancient China, said that China "has prepared tributes since Yu and Xia" ("Historical Records Xia Benji").It means that China has a complete tribute system since the Xia Dynasty. The term "Gongfu" was first seen in the ancient document "Shangshu · Yugong" which recorded the deeds of Dayu's water control.These materials reflect the basic fact that ancient taxes originated in the Xia Dynasty.

There are three basic forms of taxation in ancient times: the form of labor, the form of objects and the form of currency.In the slave society and the early stage of feudal society, due to the underdevelopment of the commodity currency economy, the form of labor and physical objects was the basic form of national tax collection.In the late feudal society, the form of currency became the basic form of national tax collection. The main economic sectors of ancient society were agriculture (including forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery), handicrafts, and commerce.In the slave society, these economic activities were mainly operated by slave owners and commoners.Taxes in slavery countries were mainly drawn from slave owners and civilians engaged in agricultural, industrial and commercial activities.In feudal society, state taxes were mainly drawn from farmers, handicraftsmen, merchants, and landlords engaged in agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce.Regardless of slave society or feudal society, all kinds of labor are directly borne by the working people.

Agriculture was the most important material production department in ancient society, and it was also the main source of taxation in ancient countries.Therefore, we first explain the development and evolution of ancient Chinese land tax, that is, land tax or agricultural tax.