Discourses on Salt and Iron: A First Century B.C. Chinese Debate over the Political Economy of Empire

A first century B.C. Chinese classic Yantielun or Discourses on Salt and Iron recorded a heated debate over the costs and benefits and economic foundation of imperial expansion shortly after the death of Emperor Wudi who had greatly expanded the Chinese empire. The managers of the empire argued for practical solutions such as state monopolies of salt and iron to centralize the state and conquer the nomadic Xiongnu and touted policy successes they achieved from this. Their scholar critics wanted moral principles rather than material calculations to guide policy and asserted that human suffering caused by monopolies and expansionary war would doom the empire. This tension between ideals and political necessities created an ideational foundation for the successful Chinese empire, which then lasted for two millennia. Strategic dialogues such as the one narrated in Discourses should on balance make contemporary Chinese leaders cautious in using coercive force. From early on, China has had its own imperial overreach and understands the cost of extensive adventures beyond its borders and how excessive reliance on force abroad might threaten their domestic political order, which is what the current Chinese government is most concerned about.