The Cigarette Tax
(August 29, 1923)

We often say: "The Chinese government is the countinghouse of our foreign
masters." Perhaps there are some people who don't believe this. Do we not also
say repeatedly: "The false show of friendship by foreigners (especially the British and Americans) is merely a pretense of 'amity' in order that they may
squeeze out more of the fat and blood of the Chinese people"? Perhaps there are
some who don't believe this either. Ever since the ban on exporting cotton was
abrogated because of opposition by our foreign masters,¹ it has been impossible
not to give some credence [to this view]. Now that our foreign masters have
again put pressure on the government to withdraw the cigarette tax in Zhejiang
and other provinces, it has become even more impossible not to give some
credence to it. A dispatch from Beijing in Shenbao, dated August 28, says: "The
Cabinet discussion of opposition from the British and American ministers to
raising the local cigarette taxes resulted in telegrams being sent to all the said
provinces ordering them to stop collecting the tax." Just what is the levying of a
cigarette tax? Let's look at the telegram of June 31 [sic] from the Hangzhou
General Chamber of Commerce to the Beijing government:

We humbly submit that levying taxes on luxury goods is a general practice
of all nations. Cigarettes have become very popular in recent years, and in
Zhejiang Province alone annual sales have surpassed ten million, an enormously high rate of consumption that is shocking to hear. The poisonous
effects are no less than those of opium. When the local authorities had considered this, they issued a special order for the establishment of a bureau to levy a
tax that would turn the consumption of a useless item into the properly useful
construction of roads. We now hear that the foreign merchants, using their
treaty rights as a pretext, have repeatedly intervened with the government,
ignoring the fact that this kind of a special tax is imposed solely on the
cigarette smoker and has nothing to do with the tobacco merchant. This is
strictly a tax borne by the people of Zhejiang, yet the foreign merchants again
make an effort to intervene! Furthermore, we must not allow the foreigners to
interfere with our sovereignty over domestic administrative matters. We must
stand on principle and forcefully fight back, rejecting all pretexts. This will be
very advantageous indeed for our sovereignty.

This article, like the previous one, appeared in Xiangdao No. 38, August 29, 1923, and is
translated from Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 1, pp. 97-98.
1. For details, see the note to the text of July 11, 1923.

In the past, basing themselves on the treaties regulating taxes, the British and
Americans have not allowed China the freedom to levy taxes on luxury items
imported from abroad. Regardless of the fact that this is "strictly a tax borne by
the people of Zhejiang" involving "sovereignty over domestic administrative
matters," simply because it concerns foreign goods, in the end, the tax cannot be
levied.

Of the cigarettes produced by the British and American Tobacco Company,² a
small portion is imported from Britain, America, and Japan. A large portion is
manufactured by British and American tobacco merchants using Chinese tobacco and hired Chinese labor in factories set up in Shanghai, Hankou, and
elsewhere in China. When the production leaves the factory, a very light tax is
paid, in accordance with the "treaties," and the cigarettes are shipped in wholesale batches to the various provinces. Thereafter, China is denied the "freedom"
to impose taxes. In Zhejiang Province alone the sale of cigarettes amounts to
"over ten million a year." There is no reliable total figure for the annual sale of
cigarettes in the country as a whole, but if we estimate on the basis of the
example of the single province of Zhejiang, it must be over 200 million yuan.
This is really "startling to hear"! I ask my 400 million fellow countrymen to
think it over—what really is the point of the foreigners' "amity"?

The "Cabinet meetings" of the Chinese government are really both clever and
straightforward. Every fart of our foreign masters is a lovely "perfume." If our
foreign masters want to take away our cotton, the cabinet meeting orders that the
ban on the export of cotton be lifted. If our foreign masters want to send us
cigarettes, the cabinet meeting "sends telegrams to all the said provinces ordering them to stop collecting the tax." Again I ask my 400 million fellow countrymen to think about it: Is it really true or not that "the Chinese government is the
countinghouse of our foreign masters"?

2. The British and American Tobacco Company (commonly known as the B.A.T.),
founded in London in 1902, was well known in China. In 1920 the company owned
factories in Shanghai, Hankou, and Mukden, with branches in Changsha and Wuhan, and
employed around 25,000 Chinese residents.