Huai-nan

Every aspect of the salt trade required official sanction and the issue of permits. As an illustration, let us consider the marketing of a consignment of salt from the Huai-nan salines to an up-river port such as Hankow or Ta-t'ung. The yard merchant (ch'ang-shang) at the salines had to report his output of salt daily to the salt receiver (ch'ang-kuan), and could carry salt for sale to Shih-erh-wei only on the requisition of the Huai-nan general office (Huai-nan tsung-chü) at Yangchow, transmitted through the salt receiver; when he received this, the had to apply back to Yangchow for a transport permit (ch'ung-yen chih-chao) and to his local branch office (fen-ssu) for a cargo certificate (ts'ang-tan).

Marco Polo was right to be impressed by Huai-nan and Liang-che. By a mixture of favourable market opportunities, government support and considerably technical ingenuity at least, they recovered a lead for chien over shai in China which was not lost until the nineteenth century.

When he reached Yin-ling 陰陵,²⁶⁵ he lost his way and asked an old farmer.[...] ²⁶⁵ A county northwest of modern Ting-yüan 定遠 County in Anhwei (Wang Li-ch'i, 7:182n.) about 25 miles east of modern Huai-nan 淮南 City (see also T'an Ch'i-hsiang, 2:19).