Single whip law

The Single Whip Law (simplified Chinese: 一条鞭法; traditional Chinese: 一條鞭法|p=Yi Tiao Bian Fa) was a fiscal law first instituted during the middle Ming Dynasty, in the early 16th century, and then promulgated throughout the empire in 1580 by Zhang Juzheng.

The measure aimed primarily to simplify the complex fiscal code under Ming law, by commuting most obligations towards the central government - from land and poll taxes to the labour obligations of the peasantry and the tributes of prefectural and county officials - into a single silver payment, at a level based on the population and cultivated land in each prefecture. Therefore, by reducing complexity, the Single Whip law reduced the costs of tax collection, while also increasing the tax base.