Imperial Tax on Local Revenues in the Song Dynasty
宋代的上供正赋

The system of Shang Gong, the imperial tax on local revenues, originated in the middle Tang Dynasty and was inherited by the Song Dynasty. There are two different types of Shang Gong in the Song literatures: tax on all local revenues or on one part of it only, the latter being termed Shang Gong Zheng Fu. This paper examines the details of the Shang Gong system in terms of its definitions, levies, and collection, which underwent changes in its development from the Northern Song to the Southern Song Dynasties and reveal the swelling of the tax systems in the feudal China as well as its pragmatism in running the country.