Likin

Likin, written in Chinese as 厘金 and sometimes rendered as likin in English, was a fixed tariff or revenue charge imposed on the movement of goods at Chinese treaty ports and other trade areas during the late Qing dynasty and into the early Republic of China. It functioned as a supplementary tax to bolster government finances and fund modernization efforts, such as military and infrastructural projects.

The system emerged in the late 19th century as part of broader fiscal reforms intended to stabilize a strained treasury after years of upheaval and mounting debt. Rates varied by port and sometimes by category of goods, and the tax was collected by local or provincial financial authorities at points of entry and exit. Unlike a standard ad valorem tariff, likin was typically a fixed rate or charge applied to shipments, making its burden predictable to officials and merchants in practice.

Likin had significant economic and political effects. It provided essential revenue for the Qing government and later regimes, but it was unpopular among merchants and local elites who bore the costs, fueling resentment toward central authority and the modernization program. The system also encouraged evasion and corruption in some areas and became a focal point of reform debates during the late Qing and early republican era.

With the decline of the Qing dynasty and the subsequent reorganization of taxation and customs under the Republic of China, likin gradually faded from official use. It remains a notable example in discussions of late imperial Chinese fiscal policy and the challenges of financing modernization in a fragile state.