Note 71 — CONCLUDING REMARKS

Many people think that likin, an inland tax, levied by the provincial authorities on foreign goods in transit (loti-shui being a terminal tax), is an illegal blackmail, but it rests on precisely the same foundation as every other Chinese ordinance—an Imperial Decree—and its legality was certainly recognised by the British and German Governments when they accepted seven likin collectorates as collateral security for the last Anglo-German loan.