The Single whip law or the "Single whip reform" 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 sil...
