Under the authoritarian regime, the government realized the
development and utilization of coastal land and marine resources
by the highly centralized control system (Liu, 1996). On the Jiangsu
coast, in order to strengthen the monopoly control of the coastal
natural resources and salt industry, the government set up a strict
administrative system to enforce coastal management, and to
safeguard salt industry production in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The duties of this system included the stabilizing of coastal salt
making, management of the coastal land, implementation of
coastal engineering, combating private salt production, and
forbidding private reclamation (Fig. 3). Further, the administration
was also responsible for organizing labors and funds.