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Tribute grain transport (caoyun 漕運) in imperial times supplied the officialdom and the military garrisons in the capital with staple food, and the grain was also shipped to other destinations, mainly border garrisons. The grain formed part of a local tax levied in the provinces of the lower Yangtze region and was transported along a vast canal system, the Grand Canal or Imperial Canal (yunhe 運河, da yunhe 大運河).
The earliest evidence for such a system dates to 486, when the regional state of Wu 吳 constructed a canal system linking the city of Han 邗 (near present-day Yangzhou 揚州, Jiangsu) to the River Huai 淮 region. During the Qin period 秦 (221-206 BCE) the Aocang Granary 敖倉 was built in Chenggao 成皋 (today's Xingyang 滎陽, Henan). It served as an intermediate collection point for the transport of grain to the capital Xianyang 咸陽 (today in Shaanxi), as well as to the military garrisons in Beihe 北河 (River Ugab 烏加河, Inner Mongolia), from where the campaigns against the steppe federation of the Xiongnu 匈奴 started. The still-existing Lingqu Canal 靈渠溝 in the modern province of Guilin supplied Qin troops engaged in warfare against the southern Yue 越 tribes.
During the Former Han period 前漢 (206 BCE-8 CE), grain was shipped from the Shandong Peninsula to the capital Chang'an 長安 (today's Xi'an 西安, Shaanxi) at the banks of the River Wei 渭. In the early Former Han, 1 million shi 石 "bushels" (see weights and measures) of grain were transported anually. Yet transport was difficult due to the rapids at Dizhu Cliffs 砥柱 in the Sanmen Gorges 三門峽, and substantial grain was lost en route. Following the suggestion of Zheng Danshi 鄭當時, Emperor Wu 漢武帝 (r. 141-87 BCE) had the canal widened to make transport easier, so that an annual amount of 4 to 6 million shi could reach the capital. During the reign of Emperor Xuan 漢宣帝 (r. 74-49 BCE), Geng Shouchang 耿壽昌 proposed a change of the transport routes, and suggested to bring in grain from the commanderies of Sanfu 三輔, Hongnong 弘農, Hedong 河東, Shangdang 上黨 and Taiyuan 太原 (all in present-day Shanxi), instead of from the east.
The Aocang Granary was, under the Later Han dynasty 後漢 (25-220 CE), administered by the metropolitan magistrate of the capital Luoyang 洛陽 (Henan yin 河南尹). Transport was taken over by up to 60,000 soldiers (zu 卒), and was managed by local commandants-protector of transport (hucao duwei 護漕都尉). The tribute grain was brought to imperial granaries (taicang 太倉), which understood the Chamberlain for the National Treasury (dasinong 大司農). The location of Luoyang was much more suitable for the transport as Chang’an, as the distance to the places where the grain was produced was much shorter. In 48 CE, the Yangqu Canal 陽渠 south of Luoyang was built, and in 69 CE, Wang Jing 王景 organised the refurbishing of the Grand Canal between Yingyang and Qiancheng 千乘 (close to present-day Gaoqing 高青, Shandong). This hydrological project was the first step to connect the Huai River region to the metropolitan region.
On several occasions, grain for campaigning troops was shipped along the river systems of northern China, like during Wang Ba's 王霸 (d. 59 CE) campaign against the Xiongnu. During the reign of Emperor An 漢安帝 (r. 106-125 CE), Yu Xu 虞詡 (d. 137) created a canal system to supply the commandery of Wudu 武都 in the far west. The network of canals was extended in the Huai River region during the Wei period 曹魏 (220-265), when the Jiahou Canal 賈侯渠, the Taolu Canal 討虜渠, the Huaiyang Canal 淮陽渠 and the Baizhang Canal 百丈渠 were constructed. These supported the economies of the military agro-colonies (tuntian 屯田) established in the eastern regions. The capital of the state of Wu 吳 (222-280), Jianye 建業 (today's Nanjing 南京, Jiangsu), was also connected with the hinterland, in order to ensure the supply of grain.
During the late Western Jin period 西晉 (265-316), the first sluice system was established along the Jiangnan Canal (江南運河), namely the Dingmao Sluice (丁卯埭). Somewhat later, the government overhauled the stretches of the Hangou Canal 邗溝 and the Honggou Canal 鴻溝, which connected the Huai River with the capital in Luoyang. The transport system around the city of Pengcheng 彭城 was reconstructed, in order to better manage the waters of the rivers flowing through that region, mainly the Wen 汶, Ji 濟 and Si 泗.
The Sui dynasty 隋 (581-618) had a canal built that linked the Yellow River to the Huai River region and, ultimately, to the Yangtze Basin. The Shanyang Canal 山陽瀆 reached from Shanyang 山陽 (today’s Huai'an 淮安, Jiangsu) to the Yangtze, the Tongji Canal 通濟渠 from Xiyuan 西苑 (close to Luoyang) to the Yellow River, and then again from Banchu 板渚 (today's Sixian 汜縣, Henan) to the River Huai, yet there was also a direct connection along the Zhihang Canal 直航道 (later called Guangji Canal 廣濟渠), the Yongji Canal 永濟渠 from the Yellow River to Zhoujun 涿郡 (close to Beijing), and the Jiangnan Canal from the Yangtze to Yuhang 余杭 (Hangzhou 杭州, Zhejiang). This artery, from the Qiantang River (錢塘江, near Hangzhou, Zhejiang) to the Yellow River and Chang'an, served as the basis for the great canal system in use until the nineteenth century.
Important granaries were built in Liyang 黎陽, Heyin 河陰, Changping 常平 and Guangtong 廣通. Others were called the Luokou Granary 洛口倉 and the Huiluo Granary 回洛倉. The grain was transported in a relay system (jieyun 接運), in which grain was reloaded on other boats for the stretch along the Yellow River, the River Luo, and the River Wei.
This canal system and transport method (called chuanbanfa 轉般法 "relay method") continued during the Tang period 唐 (618-907) and was institutionalised by Pei Yaoqing 裴耀卿 (681-744) and Liu Yan 劉晏 (716-780), who adhered to the formula that "Yangtze ships do not enter the River Bian, those of the River Bian not the Yellow River, and those of the Yellow River do not enter the River Wei". The amount of grain transported in the early phase of the Tang was, therefore, not more than 200,000 shi per year. Later on, Emperor Gaozong 唐高宗 (r. 649-683) changed the transport system in the southeastern stretch and ordered the use of "direct transport" (zhiyun 直運, changyunfa 長運法), which saved much time because grain was not to be reloaded, and allowed the transport of 1 million shi of grain annually.
In 742, a new stretch was, under the supervision of Li Qiwu 李齊物 (d. 761), dug near close to the Sanmen Gorge of the Yellow River, the so-called New Canal from the Kaihe Reign 開元新河. This allowed the transport of an annual volume of 4 million shi. A special office had been created for its management, the office of boats and boatmen (zhoujishu 舟楫署) in the early Tang, yet it was soon abolished, and the transport was instead, from the mid-8th century on, managed by transport commissioners (zhuanyunshi 轉運使). They involved the local governments of the districts along the canal in maintenance and transport. The system was critically disrupted during the rebellion of An Lushan 安祿山 (703-757), and grain was transported from the lower to the middle Yangtze region, from where it was shipped up the Han River 漢 and then overland to Chang'an. Only in the early ninth century was the old canal system revived by Li Xun 李巽 (747-809) and Wang Bo 王播 (759-830).
The Northern Song dynasty 北宋 (960-1126), with the capital in Kaifeng 開封 (today in Henan), linked the River Bian 汴 with the east, and transported each year an amount of up to 7 million shi, not only to Kaifeng, but also to other regions in the border area. There were four points of access from which grain reached the capital: The Huai River region (along the River Bian), Shaanxi (through the Sanmen Gorges and along the Yellow River), Shaan-Cai 陜蔡 (along the Rivers Huimin 惠民河 and Caihe 蔡河), and the Shandong Peninsula (along the Wuzhang River 五丈河). The canal system dates to the Tang period but was later refurbished with double sluices (fushi chuanya 復式船閘), a modern technical development. The transport was nominally overseen by the transport commissions (zhuanyunsi 轉運司 or caosi 漕司) of each circuit who understood the State Finance Commissioner (sansishi 三司使). Transport was primarily organised as a matter of the state (guanyun 官運 "state transport"), but was supplemented by transport by commissioned merchants (shangyun 商運 "transport by entrepreneurs").
The huge rise in the amount of tribute grain was partially caused by an increase in population over the previous thousand years, but also by the creation of a bloated officialdom and a huge rise in the number of troops. Kaifeng was also much closer to the place of origin of the tribute grain, and hydraulic technologies and shipbuilding techniques had advanced, so that each year 5 to 6 million shi of rice reached Kaifeng, and in some years even up to 8 million. In autumn, grain from the circuits of Jianghu 江湖, Liangzhe 兩浙 and Subo 宿亳 was brought to four large relay granaries (chuanbancang 轉般倉) in Zhenzhou 真州 (today's Yizheng 儀徵, Jiangsu), Yangzhou 揚州, Chuzhou 楚州 (modern Huai'an) and Sizhou 泗州, from where it was, in the next spring, transhipped to Bianjing 汴京 (Kaifeng). This method was necessary because the canal's water level was too low for transport during winter. It was called "equal-distribution system" (pingdi 平糴). In Zhenzhou, a supply commissioner (fayunshi 發運使) was residing who observed the grain transport from the circuits of the Jiangzhe 江浙 region, and in Sizhou, another commissioner, who was responsible for the transport between Zhenzhou and the capital.
Part of the grain in the relay granaries was reserved to supply nearby regions in the event of famine. For these reserve volumes, the places of origin delivered a compensation in money (called tiaodi zhi ben 糶糴之本), while the rest of the tribute quota was delivered in kind and brought to the capital. The collection of rice was managed by transport commissions (zhuanyunsi), but its shipment and storage were by the supply commission (fayunsi 發運司). When the waters were high enough for transhipment, the supply commission purchased grain at low cost from nearby granaries and transported it along the route. While the reserve money originally amounted to 1 million guan (strings, each worth 1,000 cash), it was subsequently increased to 3.5 million. This was sufficient money not only for supplying the capital with an annual volume of 6 million shi of rice, but also to fill the granaries in Zhenzhou and Sizhou for several years.
The supply commissioners had around 6,000 boats at their disposal, but after 1069, private boats were hired to increase the transhipment volume. While the quota of tribute grain was not fixed in the early Song, the year 981 saw a volume of 3 million shi of grain from the Southeast defined as the annual quota. It was raised to 5.6 million in 995, 6 million in 1006, and 7 million in 1008, but was then lowered again to 5.5 million in 1027. In fact, it continued to increase in practice after that date, owing to excellent transport conditions at the time, and reached a peak of approximately 8 million shi in the mid-eleventh century. The fleet not only transported tribute grain, but also other "miscellaneous [commodities] of the southeast" (dongnan zayun 東南雜運): salt, brocade and other textiles (as part of the household tax), iron from Xuzhou 徐州, as well as tea – all being items, in the distribution of which the state was involved (see tea tax). Under the Counsellor-in-Chief Cai Jing 蔡京 (1047-1126), the relay transport system was abolished, and direct transport was introduced.
The Song-period economy was characterised by a transition from a commodity-based to a monetised economy. State officials and troops were originally paid their salaries in kind, but in the Song period they were paid a specified proportion in money to purchase their food. The distribution of grain to places with concentrations of government offices and military garrisons was therefore of even higher importance than before. In addition to that, it was allowed from the late Tang period on that the field tax (tianfu 田賦) was paid in money instead of in kind. While in earlier ages grain had been the common form of field tax and was therefore readily available, the staple food of the officialdom and the soldiery was, from the later Song period onward, acquired as a special tax. This was the tribute grain. Apart from grain, the court also received monetary silver ingots (jinyin 金銀), stringed-up cash (minqian 緡錢, i.e., commercial tax revenue), textile fabric from the household tax, incense, medicine, and other commodities.
The situation of the canal system changed during the Southern Song 南宋 (1127-1279), when the capital was in Lin'an 臨安 (Hangzhou, Zhejiang), in the middle of China's "breadbasket". Nevertheless, grain from central China and Sichuan was also shipped down the Yangtze River to meet the demand of the many troops scattered along the border with northern China, which was occupied by the Jin dynasty 金 (1115-1234). The amount of tribute grain transported during that time was as much as 6 million jin.
After the downfall of the Northern Song, the northern parts of the Grand Canal fell into oblivion. The Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) used Yanjing (also called Dadu, today's Beijing) as its capital, thereby significantly altering the transport policy for tribute grain. Instead of by river, they had transported the larger part of tribute grain by sea (haiyun 海運) around the Shandong Peninsula. The first batch of 60 ships transporting tribute grain from Zhejiang and Jiangsu to the north was dispatched in 1282.
The transport was organised by Luo Bi 羅璧 (fl. 1279), Zhu Qing 朱清 (1237-1303) and Zhang Xuan 張瑄 (d. 1302). The ships, in turn, brought back beans, wheat, pears, and dates. The ships moved along the shore, and it took them two months to cover the entire distance because they were often impeded by shallow waters. After that, Li Fu 李福 discovered a faster and more direct route through the open sea, which took between 10 and 30 days. The route began in Liujiagang 劉家港 (today's Liuhezhen 瀏河鎮, Jiangsu), touched the Three Chongming Banks 崇明三沙 (close to Shanghai), crossed the so-called Heishui Sea 黑水洋 (east of Jiangsu province) to the Cape of Chengshan 成山 (today part of the county of Rongcheng 榮成, Shandong) and directly led to Zhigu 直沽 (today's Dagu 大沽, Tianjin). The grain was shipped twice a year, once in spring and once in summer. The organisation of the transport was so effective under the Yuan that the amount of rice shipped rose from a measly 46,000 shi in the beginning to 3.52 million shi in 1329.
The sea transport was overseen by the Sea Transport Section (haiyun ke 海運科) of the Palace Secretariat (zhongshusheng 中書省), and managed by two institutions, namely the sea transport brigade (haidao du caoyun wanhu fu 海道都漕運萬戶府) in Pingjiang 平江 (today's Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu), responsible for the southern part (called chengyun 承運 "continued transport"), and the chief transport office (du caoyunshi si 都漕運使司) in Zhigu and the Capital chief transport office (Jingji du caoyunshi si 京畿都漕運使司) in Dadu, for the northern part (jieyun, "relay transport").
Although sea transport was much more effective than transport through the many sluices of the Shandong canal, there were also many losses on this route, running up to 100,000 shi per year. A smaller part of tribute grain was therefore transported along a new inland canal system. In 1281, the Jizhou Canal 濟州河 was opened, linking the Rivers Wen and Huai with the Daqing River 大清河, a tributary of the Yellow River. The boats then went down to Lijin 利津 at the sea coast, from where the rice was transported to Zhigu, where it was again reloaded to lighters, to be brought to Dadu. A decade later the Huitong Canal 會通河 and the Tonghui Canal 通惠河 were dug through the eastern parts of the modern province of Shandong and extended to Dadu. A canal system called Jiaolai Canal 膠萊運河 crossed the whole Shandong Peninsula, connecting Jiaozhou 膠州 (close to Qingdao 青島) with Laizhou 萊州.
The management of the inland transport on the canal was quite sophisticated. The whole length was divided into two parts, namely the southern one administered by the chief transport offices of Jiang-Huai (Jiang-Huai ducao si 江淮都漕司), and the northern one by that of the Capital (Jingji ducao si 京畿都漕司). The annual volume transported on that route was 300,000 shi. The modes of transport were two: On the southern track, short-distance transport (duanyun 短運, duanban 短般) was used, and the boats were moved by troops (therefore also called junban 軍般 "military batches"). On the northern parts of the canal, long-distance transport (changyun 長運) was in use, and it was mainly carried out by private boat owners, but there was also a small state-owned fleet (guanchuan 官船). In the last decades of the Yuan period, the political situation in the empire was detrimental to the organisation of sea transport. Canal transport therefore played the main role during that time. The main organisers of grain transport during these years were Zhang Shicheng 張士誠 (1321-1367), Fang Guozhen 方國珍 (1319-1374) and Chen Youding 陳友定 (1330-1368).
SSea transport continued to play a role when the Ming dynasty 明 (1368-1644) relocated the capital to Beijing. Each year, about 1 million shi of rice were transported by sea, whereas four times that amount was shipped along the Grand Canal in later periods. The refurbishing of the Canal began in 1411, with a focus on the stretch between Jining 濟寧 and Linqing 臨清 (the so-called Huitong Canal 會通河). In 1415, the Qingjiang Canal 清江浦河道 was created, a project that finally ended maritime transport. 3,000 ships were built under the supervision of Chen Xuan 陳瑄 (1365-1433), who had flat-bottom boats constructed able to transport 100 or several hundred shi of grain each, the largest of them even 1,000 shi or more.
The exact quota of tribute grain was first defined by Emperor Taizu 明太祖 (r. 1368-1398), who ordered that the capital Nanjing - actually quite close to the "breadbasket" - might receive annually 3 million shi of grain. In 1472, it was decreed that the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Henan and Shandong should produce yearly 4 million shi of rice, to be transported to Tongzhou 通州 (today's Tongxian 通縣), the terminal of the Grand Canal close to the northern capital Beijing. This was the average volume of grain brought to Beijing until the late Ming period, yet the peak was at 6.74 million shi during the Xuande reign-period 宣德 (1426-1435). Exceptions to the tax grain quota were permitted in cases of crop failure due to drought or flooding. The amount of grain transported by the authorities declined during the late Ming because it became common to replace part of this tax (up to 2 million shi) with a monetary payment.
In addition to the tribute grain that served mainly to hand out (in kind) the pay of troops (junxiang 軍餉) in the capital and the border garrisons, the Ming began to levy an additional type of tribute grain to supply the palace and the Court of the Imperial Clan (zongrenfu 宗人府) and as salary for the officials in the capital. This grain came from five prefectures in Jiangsu, namely Suzhou 蘇州, Songjiang 松江, Changzhou 常州, Jiaxing 嘉興 and Huzhou 湖州, and consisted of "white" husked rice and glutinous rice (bai shu jing-nuo mi 白熟粳糯米, see bailiang 白糧). This practice was continued under the Qing dynasty 清 (1644-1911).
At the beginning of the Ming period, the head of the grain transport system was the Capital Chief Transport Office (Jingji du caoyun si 京畿都漕運司), whose president was the grain transport commissioner (caoyunshi 漕運使). His office was soon abolished and replaced by an agency called the Grain Transport Office (caoyunfu 漕運府) and headed by a grain transport commander (caoyun zongbingguan 漕運總兵官). From 1451 on, the transport was overseen by Director-General of Grain Transport (caoyun zongdu 漕運總督). The shipment was carried out by twelve garrisons of transport command (weijun 衛軍) with a total strength of 127,600 troops and having 11,700 boats at their disposal.
Sea transport was conducted by 7,000 naval troops (haijun 海軍), who moved a flotilla of 350 ships. These troops were known as the "transport troops" (yunjun 運軍). In the grain-producing districts, rice was collected by so-called tax captains (liangzhang 糧長) who commandeered "dispatch households" (jiefu 解戶) and transporters (yunfu 運夫), who served in corvée labour to bring the grain from the sites of production to the granaries, where it was made ready for shipment.
In the early phase of the Ming, the capital was located in Nanjing, very close to China's “breadbasket”, but with the transfer of the main seat of the dynasty to Beijing, sea transport once more became fashionable. Yet as demand for grain in Beijing increased, sea transport became infeasible and was ultimately fully replaced by canal transport. For this purpose, the canal system was refurbished, the Huitong Canal 會通河 constructed, and 3,000 boats built. In addition to that, large granaries (called caoliang cangku 漕糧倉庫 or shuicicang 水次倉) were built in Huai'an 淮安, Xuzhou 徐州, Linqing 臨清, Dezhou 德州 and Tianjin 天津 that served as nodes for the relay transport. Relay Transport (zhiyunfa 支運法, zhuanyunfa 轉運法) along this new route was first carried out in 1415 under the supervision of Chen Xuan, in four instalments per year. Peasants serving in the transport system were rewarded with a tax-free year (see juanmian), while those paying taxes (delivering grain) were exempted from the corvée labour.
Transport costs were then subsumed under the amount of grain to be delivered. Chen Xuan's method saved the government a tremendous amount of money. Transport by private entrepreneurs would have cost four or five times as much. In 1430, Chen Xuan tested another method, the "exchange transport method" (duiyunfa 兌運法). In this mode, peasants brought the grain to transport terminals in Hui'an, Guazhou 瓜州 or Jining, from where the transhipment was taken over by transport troops. The cost of the military transport was equally added to the grain tribute. The amount was fixed in 1431 in the precedents for transport cost (jiahao zeli 加耗則例, see also transport-loss surcharge) and was geared to the distance to transhipment terminals. The transport fee included the cost of shipment, rice for the transport troops, and also a wearout fee for repairing boats. Over time, this system became prevalent and gradually replaced the corvée transport mode. In 1471, Teng Zhao 滕昭 (1421-1480) developed a variant of this transport method, the "altered exchange method" (gaiduifa 改兌法), in which the government assumed full responsibility for transport along the entire length of the Grand Canal. It was therefore also called "long-distance method" or "direct method" (changyunfa 長運法, zhidafa 直達法), and included an additional fee for bringing the grain across the Yangtze River. It consisted of no less than 1 dou 斗 per shi (10 per cent). The Ming did not permit a replacement of grain with a substitute monetary payment. Only in cases of havoc by natural disasters, when boats were missing or the transport channels blocked, it was allowed to deliver a substitute payment for a certain amount of the grain tax due.
With the opening of the Zhongyun Canal 中運河, the Qing dynasty solved the obstacle to crossing the Yellow River. At the same time, the construction of nodal shipment points on the Yellow River and the Huai River alleviated the problems of water-level fluctuations and siltation. The transport modes by and large followed that of the Ming. In the grain tribute policy (caozheng 漕政), the following quotas were fixed: An annual amount of 3.3 million shi of grain was to be brought to the capital granary (called zhengduimi 正兌米 "main part of the exchange rice"), and a smaller volume of 700,000 shi was shipped to the granary in Tongzhou (called gaiduimi 改兌米 "altered exchange rice"). When the tax grain was collected, a portion of the rice was converted into other commodities (gaizheng 改征), and another portion was substituted with a monetary payment (zhezheng 折征). The district and prefectural administrations were ordered to retain part of the yield in local granaries (jiecao 截漕 "subtracted from the tribute") to serve as reserves for rainy days. In extreme cases the reserves could also be used to supply districts in the neighbourhood. There was also, in some districts of Shandong and Henan, a portion of tribute grain (called boyun 撥運 "launched shipment") earmarked for the special purpose of supplying the local Banner garrisons as well as the households maintaining the imperial tombs (lingqin 陵寢).
The organisation of the tribute grain fleet differed from the Ming period. The fleets were organised by the prefectures. Ten boats, each manned by ten persons, constituted a "squadron" (bang 幫). The total size of the state-owned fleet was increased from 10,450 to 14,500 boats, yet only 7,000 of them were deployed in daily operations. A boat could carry up to 500 shi and was also permitted to transport various commodities that could be sold privately. This private trade was later forbidden. In general, the Qing preferred a state-managed organisation of the transport, with shipments overseen by specialist troops (yunding 運丁) of the Green Standard units. Each boat was headed by two soldiers, who were responsible for hiring up to ten boatmen (shuishou 水手). The number of boatmen run up to around 10,000 men in total. The head of the transport system was the Director-General of Grain Transport (caoyun zongdu)who resided in Hui'an, and next to him were tax-circuit intendants (liangdao 糧道), each in a separate province. They were responsible for the collection of tribute grain and the organisation of transport, and therefore had the right to dispatch troops and to commandeer local officials for management purposes. They oversaw and controlled the delivery of grain from the local granaries to the boats, inspected the transport patrols, and ensured that everything arrived in Huai'an as requested.
In later periods, these duties of strict observation and escorting the transport (yayun 押運) were assumed by assistant prefects (tongpan 通判). The rank of officials assigned to these important duties declined over time. It was, therefore, later decided that the tax circuit intendants might resume their duties. In Huai'an, Jining, Tianjin and Tongzhou, transport-control censors (xuncao yushi 巡漕御史) rechecked whether everything was done correctly. There were three further critical points, namely Huai'an itself, where a *commander (zhendao jiangling 鎮道將領) inspected the effective movement of the boats, and Zhenjiang 鎮江 and Guazhou, where a regional commander (zongbingguan 總兵官) or vice commander (fujiang 副將) controlled the crossing over the Yangtze River.
In 1825, a bureau was founded in Shanghai to oversee the sea transport. This was the *Central Bureau of Sea Transport (haiyun zongju 海運總局). In Tianjin, the grain was received by the *Reception Bureau (shouduiju 收兌局). The first shipment over the sea was organised by Kišan (Ch. Qishan 琦善, 1786-1854). In 1826, an amount of 1.63 million shi of grain from the imperial granaries (taicang 太倉) in Suzhou, Songjiang 松江, Changzhou 常州 and Zhenjiang 鎮江 was brought to Tianjin. The ships left the Huangpu River 黃浦 , crossed Wusongkou 吳淞口 and steered into the open sea. Four thousand li 里 north, they arrived in Tianjin, where the grain was reloaded to lighters, to be brought to Tongzhou and Beijing. While the transport from Tianjin to Beijing was again in the hands of the government, the whole sea transport was organised by private merchants. About half of all tribute grain was shipped by sea during the Grand Canal crisis of the 1820s; in later years, even more, with a ratio of 1.2 million shi by sea, and 0.12 million by canal. Transport costs rose substantially, not only todue of maritime transport but also along the Grand Canal. The management of it by the government, whose cost was borne by the population, added to the general exploitation of the peasantry.
The turmoil of the Taiping Rebellion 太平 (1851-1864) put an end to the grain tribute system. As the Taiping occupied substantial parts of the southeast and controlled the lower Yangtze River, the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Henan were permitted to substitute their grain deliveries with monetary payments, whereas grain from Jiangsu and Zhejiang was transported entirely by sea. Only rice from Shandong and the northern parts of Jiangsu arrived in Beijing in the traditional way along the Grand Canal. In 1855, the Yellow River changed its course towards the south, so that the Grand Canal was unusable north of the Yangtze River. The silts of the Yellow River blocked the old transport artery. In 1901, therefore, the government-organised transport of tribute grain to the north was ended officially.
The annual quota was not changed by the Qing dynasty; instead, it was regulated: part of the tribute grain was brought to the capital, while the rest had to be stored in each province as a reserve (liucun 留存). While the Ming dynasty had relied on private transport (minyun 民運, shangyun) and transport by troops (junyun 軍運), the Qing relied on government-organised collection and transport (guanyun 官運) of tribute rice and the substitute payments. Yet in practice, the system was private transport overseen by the officialdom (guandu shangyun 官督商運). The Ming had managed the canal system through two offices: the grain transport commissioner (caoyufu zongbingguan 漕運府總兵官) and the Director-General of Grain Transport (caoyun zongdu 漕運總督). For the collection of the tribute grain and its transport, special officials were dispatched by the Ministry of Revenue (hubu 戶部) and the grain transport bureau (caofu 漕府).
After 1872, the transport was fully laid into the hands of private "logistics enterprises", which more and more made use of modern transport methods, such as motorised ships and railways.
Yet in general, the tribute grain transport system came to a halt and was abolished in 1909. The term caoliang was still used in the Republican era (1912-1949), but it denoted a special type of tax collected in money, still with a conversion rate of between 2–7 Yuan per shi of grain.