The Chinese tax on internal trade introduced during the Taiping Rebellion was called lijin.
Lijin, also written likin, was a transit and trading tax created in the Qing dynasty in 1853. The Taiping Rebellion had severely strained the Qing government’s finances, and local authorities needed revenue to pay troops and maintain defenses. They began charging goods as they moved through checkpoints, often according to the type and value of the merchandise.
Although initially intended as an emergency measure, lijin spread across much of China and survived for decades. Multiple checkpoints could impose charges on the same goods, raising transport costs and encouraging evasion. Merchants frequently criticized the system because its rates and administration varied by locality.
Lijin is not the same as the salt monopoly, one of imperial China’s older major revenue systems. It was principally a transit levy on commerce, while salt taxation centered on state control and taxation of salt production and distribution.