Yellow Vetch

Mountain Herbs, Volume 7

...the distribution of income and expenditures, and all the hardships inherent in the people's livelihoods—these are matters that must be expressed with repeated concern and care. This allows virtuous officials to consult these records and understand which situations should be guided according to existing trends and which require a complete change in strategy. Perhaps some areas should be encouraged to plant onions and chives, while others focus on tea or mulberry trees.

Whether it be the records concerning the lychees of Jiaozhi Jiaozhi (modern northern Vietnam) was famous for its lychees, which often became a heavy tax burden to satisfy the tastes of the imperial court far to the north., the blue lilies duruo; a fragrant flowering herb of Fangzhou, the petitions of Han Yu regarding cornel and clams Han Yu, known by his courtesy name Kongjian, wrote famous memorials advocating for the relief of local people from unfair taxes on local products., or the "Story of the Snake Catcher" by Zihou Zihou is the courtesy name of Liu Zongyuan. His famous essay describes a family that preferred the danger of catching venomous snakes to the "deadly" burden of the government's tax collectors.—all these writings make the suffering of the people as clear as looking at a blazing fire.

By correcting imbalances and addressing abuses, and through the principle of utilizing resources to enrich the lives of the people liyong housheng; a classical Confucian principle stating that the state's role is to manage natural resources for the benefit of the commoners' welfare, one finds the very beginning of the "Kingly Way" of benevolent governance. Even sages and worthies could not enrich the people if they were to disregard these practical matters! Otherwise, it will be as the Gazetteer of Chunan states: people are coerced into providing goods they have no means to acquire. If the people look to the local records for guidance and see only such impossible demands, will they not lose the very thing they rely upon for their security?