Abstract: This article discusses Guo Songdao and his relationship to the late Qing lijin tax system. The author identifies three stages in Guo Songdao’s attitudes toward the lijin tax. In the 1850s Guo proposed the lijin tax, in the 1860s he put it into practice but eventually he opposed the tax. This change in thinking and the development of his thoughts on foreign affairs matured simultaneously. His new interpretations of traditional ideas such as “the concept of conflict between morality and profit” and the “theory of four classes,” and his proposal for private management of capital all exhibited a distinct modernity.