In late imperial China (circa 1650-1850), excessive exploitation came not from the sovereign but from his agents, who had shorter-term goals and narrower interests than their ruler did. While the emperor’s interest in preempting rebellion militated against

overtaxation, his agents had incentives to exploit the taxpayers for their own benefit. Due to weak oversight, the emperor had to keep the taxes low and his bureaucracy small to mitigate this “tyranny at the bottom” effect. This fiscal weakness of the Chinese state had long been masked by its huge tax base; however, the economic expansion of the eighteenth century exacerbated the problems of administrative control, further squeezing the nation’s finances and leaving China ill prepared for the challenges of the nineteenth century.