War Finance and Logistics in Late Imperial China ― A Study of the Second Jinchuan Campaign (1771?776)

As part of a larger study encompassing markets and finance in East Asia from 1600 to 1900, Theobald (Chinese history and classical Chinese, Tubingen U., Germany) addresses how the Qing emperors financed and organized their wars of expansion, especially after they had learned to do it in the most efficient way. He focuses on one of the most expensive and long-lasting wars in the border region of the province of Sichuan, the second Jinchuan campaign, by which Eastern Tibet was incorporated into the Chinese empire. He breaks down the expenses (troops, civilian officers, food, weapons, and so on), the sources of income (taxes, irregular levies, contributions from province and empire), and movement (grain and other food, money, gunpowder, and metals). Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Ulrich Theobald, Ph.D. (2009) in Chinese Studies, Tubingen, is a Lecturer for Chinese History and Classical Chinese at Tubingen University. He has published on military labour, border peoples, and Chinese empresses, and owns the online encyclopedia www.chinaknowledge.de.