In the late 17th century, the war between Ming and Qing Dynasty
led to loss of a large number of salt workforces. In order to
recover coastal salt production quickly, the government begin to
resume the examination of the salt workers, and intended to
strictly implement the mandatory and hereditary salt workforce
management system, but ultimately failed to materialize. By the
late Qianlong period (AD 1735e1796), the salt workers had no
difference with the other people, and the system collapsed; salt
production was no longer undertaken on an obligation basis, i.e.,
everyone could find a job in salt production (Xu, 1972). Therefore,
many saltworks became difficult to control, and private salt production
increased.