中国古代的礼品交换与商品交换

The Gifts Exchange and Commodities Exchange in Ancient China

礼物馈赠理论提示我们,一个民族的商品经济的产生与发展不仅仅简单取决于生产力发展水平,还与该民族的生活方式或文化类型密切相关。中国古代的朝觐聘问与美拉尼西亚人的"库拉贸易"在仪式和功能两方面均有惊人的相似性,甚或说朝觐聘问就是从一种类似库拉的部落交往发展而来。礼品交换与商品交换始终同时共存而非前后相继,有时两者也并不相容。中国人看重礼品交换的社会学意义,从而发展了礼品交换,而限制了商品交换。

Theory of Gift-giving indicates us that the emergence and development of a nation＇s commodity economy depends not only simply on the development of productive forces, but also is closely related to the nation＇s lifestyle or culture type. Pilgrimage in ancient China and the Melanesian ＂Kula trade＂have a striking similarity both on ceremony and function. It is even deemed that pilgrimage dirived from tribal contacts as Kula. The gifts exchang and commodities exchange always coexist rather than succeed one after another, and sometimes the two are not compatible. Chinese people paid more attention to the sociological significance of gifts exchange, which developed the gift exchange and limited the exchange of commodities.