What is the old name of Shanghai Customs?

Modern Shanghai Customs

1. Customs autonomy was lost. After the outbreak of the Opium War, starting from the 23rd year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1843), the Qing government was forced to sign the "Customs Tariff Code" under the pressure of Great Britain, the United States, France and other powers, and my country lost its Customs autonomy and semi-colonial customs began to take shape. In the fourth year of Xianfeng's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1854), Shanghai Daotai Wu Jianzhang reached the "Jiang Customs Organization Agreement" with the consuls of Britain, the United States and France and formed the "Jiang Customs Tariff Management Committee". The administrative power of Jiang Customs was lost, and a foreign customs system was established, deepening the semi-colonial nature of customs. On December 6, 1911, the custody of customs revenue fell into the hands of the British general Anger of the General Taxation Department, and the semi-colonial customs was fully formed.

2． Shanghai became an important trading port in the country. On September 26, the 23rd year of Emperor Daoguang's reign in the Qing Dynasty (November 17, 1843), Jianghai Customs set up an inspection office on the north bank of Yangjing Bang (now the Bund of Yan'an East Road), marking Shanghai's formal opening to the outside world. Open port. Marx and Engels once pointed out in the article "Russia's Success in the Far East": "Before the Treaty of Nanjing was established, countries around the world had already managed to obtain tea and silk. After the treaty was established, due to the opening of five trading ports, part of Guangzhou Trade was transferred to Shanghai. Almost no trade was carried out at other ports, and Shantou, the only port with any commercial significance, was not among the five open ports..." ("The Complete Works of Marx and Engels", Volume 20, Page 663. ). Since 1853, Jiangsu Customs has ranked first in the country in terms of value of import and export goods and inbound and outbound ships, and Shanghai has become an important trading port in the country. According to the "Customs Trade Statistics", in the four years from 1866 to 1869, the total value of the country's import and export goods was 289,937,829 customs worth of silver, and that of Shanghai was 190,595,657 customs worth of silver, accounting for 66% of the country's total. During the same period, the national customs collected 36,973,996 customs duties, and Jiangsu Customs collected 9,649,451 customs duties, accounting for 26% of the country's total.

3. The formation process of the foreign customs system. According to the provisions of the "Wukou Trade Regulations", foreign merchant ships should pay various taxes, which were guaranteed by the Wukou foreign consulates, and a "consular customs declaration system" was established. In the autumn of 1853, Xiao Dao Hui occupied Shanghai County, and Jiang Customs Supervisor Wu Jianzhang fled into the concession. In order to collect customs duties, he successively set up temporary customs in Lujiazui, Pudong, the North Bank of the Suzhou River, Minhang Town, and Baihezhu. However, due to resistance and difficulties by foreign officials and businessmen, he In vain, customs work has come to a standstill. The foreign invaders forced Wu Jianzhang into desperation and hatched a conspiracy in which "the customs introduced outsiders to handle taxation." On June 29, 1854, Wu Jianzhang reached an agreement with the consuls of the United Kingdom, the United States, and France to form a tariff management committee composed of the British British, American Jia Liuyi, and French Consul Shi Yashi. From then on, the administrative power of Jianghai Customs fell into the hands of foreign invaders. In May 1859, Nanyang Minister of Commerce He Guiqing appointed Li Taitai as the first General Taxation Department of China Customs, and established the General Taxation Department in Shanghai. In July of the same year, Li Taitai appointed the Britishman De Dude as the Jiangguang Customs Taxation Department. At this point, the Three-Country Customs Administration Committee naturally withered away, Britain monopolized the real customs power, and the Foreign Taxation Department system was officially established in Shanghai. Subsequently, this system was gradually implemented at all port customs offices across the country. On September 12, 1863, the Englishman Hurd was appointed by the Prime Minister's Office as the Taxation Department of Jiangsu Customs, and was also in charge of Hankou, Jiujiang, Zhenjiang, and Ningbo Customs. On November 15 of the same year, because Li Taitai signed the "Lea Contract" with British Admiral Aspen without authorization, he was dismissed from the post of General Taxation Department by the Prime Minister's Yamen of the Qing government, and was succeeded by Hurd.

4． Characteristics of the Foreign Customs System The customs system controlled by the Foreign Tax Department has a dual nature. On the one hand, it uses customs as a springboard to invade China, serving Western countries to dump goods, plunder raw materials, and implement colonial rule in China. Specific manifestations include: unilateral and substantial reduction of tariffs, the influx of foreign goods, destroying national industries; the inequality of Chinese and foreign employees, with the tax department and senior staff being all held by foreigners; at the same level, the salary of foreign employees is several times higher than that of Chinese employees. times.

In the 60 years before the 3rd year of the Republic of China, there was not a single Chinese employee in the maritime affairs department and field inspection and patrol personnel of Jiangsu Customs; among the internal tax personnel, the highest position of the Chinese employee was that of a clerk (i.e. tax collector). ), also stipulates that they "cannot be responsible for a workbench alone, and should be assisted by a foreign member to carry out certain supervision." Most of the Chinese employees only work as handymen and are unlisted employees. After the Second Opium War, a group of foreign customs officers such as Li Taitai and Hurd succeeded in establishing semi-colonial customs agencies and other business systems. They further relied on the privileges of unequal treaties and their special status of "double identity" , and engages in activities that interfere in China's internal and foreign affairs. Jiang Customs, under the control of the Foreign Taxation Department, enjoys many privileges that have no direct relationship with the customs. According to the General Taxation Commander, Jiangsu Customs is also responsible for maritime affairs and port affairs. Its main business includes the construction, maintenance and care of navigation aids such as lighthouses, floating piles and beacons. In the 22nd year of Guangxu (1896), with the approval of the emperor, the Qing Post Office was officially opened. Jiang Customs is also in charge of local postal services, and Taxation Department Leile Shi is also in charge of the Postal Department. In addition, Jianghai Customs has also taken charge of quarantine, water diversion, meteorology, dredging, patents, designs, copyrights, trademark registration and other matters. On the other hand, the Foreign Taxation Department has introduced the rigorous, scientific and reasonable civil service system of Western countries into the Chinese customs management system. In terms of the supervision of inbound and outbound goods and articles, a declaration system and an inspection and valuation system have been formed; in terms of collecting tariffs, a tax classification and valuation system has been formed; in terms of statistics, a large amount of trade statistical data has been accumulated; in terms of anti-smuggling work, a system has been formulated Procedures for hearing cases; certain results have been achieved in aspects such as personnel assessment and archival data preservation.

5． The scam of so-called tariff autonomy At the beginning of the 20th century, the Chinese people resolutely demanded the recovery of tariff autonomy to protect the national economy. At that time, in order to increase fiscal revenue and moderate domestic public opinion, the Beiyang warlord government proposed "tariff autonomy" requirements at the Paris Peace Conference and the Washington Conference in 1919 and 1921 respectively, hoping that before the self-determined tax rate was implemented, the current value of the tax would be reduced. The import tax rate for Baidianwu increased to 12.5. However, it later stated that the Chinese government has no intention to change the current tariff administrative system, nor does it prevent the use of tariff revenue for the repayment of guaranteed foreign debts. This exposes the essence of the so-called "tariff autonomy", which is just to meet the urgent financial needs. , It’s just a request to increase taxes, and it is by no means the real tariff independence demanded by the Chinese people. Even such a request was rejected by the imperialist countries. Later, with the collapse of the Beiyang warlords, nothing happened. After the Kuomintang government in Nanjing was established in 1927, it also advocated "tariff autonomy" under the guise of abolition of unequal treaties. On the one hand, the imperialist countries announced their agreement with the so-called "national tariff rules" implemented by the Kuomintang government. On the other hand, they concluded a series of unequal tariff treaties with the Kuomintang government as a condition for recognizing "tariff autonomy." Before the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang government announced four import treaties in 1929, 1931, 1933 and 1934. At that time, there was much publicity that "autonomous national tax rules" had been established, but in fact there was no real autonomy. Because: these tax rules are bound by the unequal treaties of imperialist countries; the Kuomintang government has changed tax rules every time to increase tax revenue without considering protecting domestic production.

6． Customs in the occupied areas during the Japanese invasion of China In February 1938, Japan and the United Kingdom ignored China and negotiated in Tokyo without authorization on the custody and payment of customs duties at Jiangsu Customs, and signed the "China Customs Agreement." On April 28 of the same year, the Wang puppet government in Nanjing appointed Li Jiannan as the puppet customs supervisor. The General Taxation Department of the Kuomintang government at that time decided that this day would be the day of the fall of Jianghaiguan. In December 1941, the Pacific War broke out, the Japanese army occupied the concession, and Jiangguan Customs was taken over by the Japanese army. The Japanese Yusuke Akaya took over as the puppet tax department of Jiangguan Customs, and all British and American customs officers were dismissed. With the fundamental changes in the military situation in World War II, Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. On September 13 of the same year, the Deputy Chief Taxation Department of the General Taxation Department of the Customs was appointed by Chinese Ding Guitang as the Taxation Department of Jiangxi Customs.

7. Jiangguan Customs Workers Movement Jiangguan Customs workers have a glorious revolutionary tradition. As early as the 1840s, spontaneous mass struggles against foreign invaders took place.

After Rong Hong graduated from Yale University in the United States, he returned to China full of enthusiasm for saving the country. In 1856, he worked as a translator at Jiangguan Customs Station controlled by the British Taxation Department. However, he deeply hated the corruption in the customs at that time, and even hated working under the oppression of foreigners. He only worked for 4 months before resigning and leaving the customs as a protest against foreign control of the customs. In 1905, the United States unreasonably oppressed and excluded Chinese workers. More than 200 Chinese officers from Jiangsu Customs gathered on June 30 of the same year and decided:

1. All customs and post offices should work together to boycott;

2. Liaise with various foreign companies that serve Chinese people and customs brokers;

3. Carry out adjustments to American goods;

4. Liaise with local and provincial comrades to give speeches in remote areas;

5. Appoint officials to carry out services. Temporary donation of expenses is greatly appreciated.

Since the founding of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai in July 1921, the Chinese people's struggle for tariff independence and the recovery of customs sovereignty has become an integral part of the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle under the leadership of the party. The Jiangguan Customs workers' movement entered a new stage of conscious struggle and party leadership. In Shanghai, with the success of the city's workers' armed uprising, the Chinese Customs Foreign Workers Club first established the "Customs Foreign Workers Club" on March 13, 1927, and then established a national club on April 24, 1927. "Customs Chinese Employees Federation". The Federation of Chinese Customs Employees leads the Chinese customs employees across the country to carry out the longest, largest, most extensive, and most numerous struggle. It organizes Chinese customs officers at all levels to "increase their powers and improve their treatment" against the customs authorities ruled by foreigners. "The struggle. Improving power means striving for Chinese personnel to enjoy the same status as foreign personnel within the customs; improving treatment means striving for equal treatment for Chinese and foreign personnel. In the summer of 1935, the first few classes of Peking Taxation School graduated one after another and entered the customs service. Since these students already had a foundation of left-leaning progressive ideas, in the autumn of the same year, introduced by Yang Chengqi, Hu Shisheng, Peng Ruifu, Zhu Renxiu, Feng Huaquan, Gao Shirong and others successively joined the Chinese National Armed Self-Defense Association, a peripheral organization of the Communist Party of China. "Wuweihui". In the autumn of 1936, the Wuwei Council was disbanded. At that time, Ren Da, the leader of the Wuwei Association, successively recruited Hu Shisheng, Peng Ruifu, Zhu Renxiu, and Feng Huaquan to join the party. In September of the same year, an underground party branch was formally established in Jianghai Customs. After the party branch was established, the 26th Reading Club was regarded as a peripheral organization of the party in order to promote the core force of various mass work of the customs.

In November 1936, the customs mass group "Lewen Society" was established and vigorously carried out activities such as singing, drama, symposiums, and lectures. When the "August 13" Songhu Anti-Japanese War began in 1937, the Party branch and the Youth League branch immediately decided to expand the scope of mass activities. Through united front work, a customs wartime service group including all Chinese members of the Shanghai District Customs was formed to raise donations, purchase trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, canned food, cigarettes, compile cotton vests and first aid kits, and express condolences to frontline soldiers. Wounded soldiers, relief refugees. The number of donations ranks first among all walks of life in Shanghai. In early 1938, Britain and Japan held talks in Tokyo and discussed China's customs issues behind China's back. In May of the same year, the Nanjing traitor reform government sent pseudo customs supervisor Li Jiannan to take over Jiang Customs and fly the pseudo national flag. When the customs officers heard the news, they were extremely angry. According to the decision of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, under the leadership of the party branch and through the National Salvation Ten-man Corps, a customs protection movement that shocked China and foreign countries was launched on May 7. The two-day strike had a huge political impact. Here, after the fall of Shanghai, Mao Liying abandoned her "golden rice bowl", bid farewell to her sick mother, and joined the Long March of Jianghaiguan Tongren to publicize the anti-Japanese and national salvation work.

In 1939, she served as president of the China Professional Women's Club. On December 12 of the same year, he was shot by enemy agents and died unfortunately. Mao Liying has become a famous revolutionary martyr in the history of customs. She deserves to be a good son and daughter of the Chinese nation and an outstanding member of the Communist Party.

1948 was the year when the War of Liberation came to victory. The People's Liberation Army launched a nationwide offensive, and the war was carried out in the areas controlled by the Kuomintang. At the same time, a second front in the Kuomintang-controlled areas was also flourishing. The Patriotic and Democratic United Front, which rebelled against Chiang Kai-shek, played a major role among the people across the country. In the New Year of 1949, the Kuomintang government lost troops and generals in the three major battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin, and retreated steadily.

The situation of Jiangguan Customs workers' movement is very favorable. Under the leadership of the General Branch of Jiangsu Customs of the Communist Party of China, Shanghai District Customs employees have strengthened the party's ranks and expanded the lineup of activists after more than three consecutive years of strikes since 1946. In January 1949, the Shanghai Bureau of the Communist Party of China, based on the general situation in Nanjing and Shanghai, instructed organizations at all levels in Shanghai to launch a struggle against demobilization, relocation, layoffs, and the struggle to protect factories, schools, businesses, and institutions. The Jianghaiguan underground party organization has been directly led by Wang Zhizhong, Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China since 1948. Wang Zhizhong conveyed the party's instructions and asked the customs party members to recognize the situation clearly, change their struggle strategies, and transform the economic struggle they had been familiar with for several years into the political struggle to liberate Shanghai. In February and March 1949, the superior party instructed the underground party branch of the customs to establish the Shanghai Professional Circles Association, a peripheral organization of the party, in various departments, with underground party members as the core, to absorb some backbone elements who have been tested by long-term struggles and demand progress. group. The professional association groups led by the underground party of the Customs have successively included 6 groups: General Taxation Department, Jiangguan Customs Internal Service, Jiangguan Customs Field Service, Jiangguan Customs Workers, Marine Affairs Section, and Hong Kong Police. Party organizations have prepared a series of specific arrangements to welcome liberation.

(1) Seize the opportunity, use the name of the unified organization of customs employees to learn from others, tactfully and sensitively conflict with the customs authorities, and form a contingency committee. On February 15, 1949, the Customs Response Committee was formally established. This organization is broadly representative and is an open and legal organization. Activists accounted for an absolute majority and were basically controlled by the underground party, laying the foundation for victory in welcoming liberation.

(2) After the establishment of the contingency committee, it actively carried out the work of purchasing and distributing contingency grain to ensure the living needs of employees. The contingency committee carried out the task of storing grain, but the purpose and meaning were different: for Li Du, he They were afraid that customs workers would go on strike and cause trouble if they couldn't buy food. From the party organization's point of view, based on the safety of the masses and the reality of people's lives, they called for grain storage and contingency measures to protect the lives of workers. At the founding meeting of the "Doujin Training Association" on January 21, 1949, the slogan was put forward to protect the integrity of customs industry, protect the lives of employees, and safeguard local security.

(3) Set up pickets to welcome liberation. Under the leadership of the party organization, the customs picket team was formally established in March. On the eve of Shanghai's liberation, the customs pickets were unified under the leadership of the People's Security Team organized by the Shanghai Underground Party Municipal Committee and were established in the Office of the Taxation Department of the Anti-Smuggling Section of the Customs Building.

(4) Ensure the safety of employees’ families and cover the activities to welcome liberation, and set up first aid stations and protective shelters. A turning point in history. At 4:30 in the morning on May 25, 1949, a huge 30-meter-long slogan - "Welcome the People's Liberation Army to liberate Greater Shanghai" - was hung from the fifth floor of the Jianghai Customs Building. This slogan was secretly patchworked and written by underground party members and activists such as Xu Jianmin, Jiang Guoqing, Yang Zhichan, Chen Qinghong and others at Yang's house on Yuyuan Road. On the 25th, when the People's Liberation Army first entered the Bund, This long slogan hangs high in front of the customs. This not only boosted the morale of the People's Liberation Army, but also inspired millions of Shanghai citizens. At the same time, a dazzling red flag has been raised on the top of the customs bell tower. During this time, the Hong Kong police picket team took the risk of taking out firearms and bullets from the Pudong gunpowder depot, loaded them on motorboats, and transported them across the river to Puxi. The employees of the Maritime Affairs Department fought resourcefully and bravely to protect the ship.

On May 27, 1949, Shanghai was liberated. On May 30 of the same year, the Shanghai Municipal Military Control Commission sent two military representatives, Xu Xuehan and Jia Zhenzhi, to take over the Jianghai Customs Department. At the same time, they also took over the Marine Affairs Department, Dredging Bureau, Seaport Quarantine Office, and General Taxation Department. The semi-colonial and semi-feudal Jianghai Customs ended its history of shame, and the new customs run by the people opened a new historical chapter.