中间商与近代中国对外贸易制度——以近代华茶对外贸易为例

Middlemen and Foreign Trade System in Modern China:Taking Tea Trade in Modern China as an Example

近代对外贸易将中国传统经济纳入世界经济范围,茶叶是其中最主要的商品之一。结合近代华茶对外贸易的历史过程,文章运用制度经济学相关理论和分析方法,考察了近代中国对外贸易制度对华茶出口的影响。研究发现,在中外茶叶贸易中,具有市场优势地位的洋行与茶栈等中间商共同主导构建了近代华茶对外贸易制度。该制度保障了中间商对贸易的垄断和利益的实现,却阻碍了近代华茶贸易及茶业的发展。由于近代中国社会和政府无力对此贸易制度进行相应变革,致使近代华茶贸易转型与茶业发展更加困难。文章的计量分析也支持了洋行、茶栈主导构建的贸易制度对华茶衰落最具解释力的结论。对这些问题的研究与反思,能对当前中国的改革和制度建设具有借鉴意义。

Modern foreign trade introduced Chinese traditional economy into the world economy,and tea was one of the most important goods.Based on the historical process of tea trade in modern China,this paper employs theoretical and analytical methods of institutional economics to analyze the impact of foreign trade system on tea export in modern China.It comes to the conclusion that,in tea trade between China and foreign countries,Matheson and Ch'a Chans as middlemen,with market power,dominated the establishment of modern Chinese tea trade system.The system protected their monopoly on trade and interests,but hindered the development of modern Chinese tea trade and tea industry.The inability of modern Chinese society and governments to reform the trade system resulted in more difficulty in the transformation of modern Chinese tea trade and the development of tea industry.The empirical test also supports the hypothesis that the trade system dominated by Matheson and Ch'a Chans provided the strongest explanation for the decline of tea trade in modern China.To study and rethink these problems may provide some insights for current reform and institutional construction in China.