清政府对牙行的管理及其问题

Studies of the Qing Government's Management of Intermediary Business and Its Problems

牙行是一种沟通信息、媒介商品交易的中介组织,在商品经济的发展过程中,牙行和牙人是不可或缺的;但在清代,牙行也担负着特定的政治职能,它不仅是政府征集商税的一种半官方组织,也是其借以管理市场和民间商业的一种间接手段。为了实现牙行的政治功能,清政府采取了额定牙行制度,并加强了对牙行和牙人的管理。然而,随着商品经济的发展,牙行的政治管制必然会与商业自由发展的要求之间产生冲突,而传统官僚体系和政治制度则进一步凸现了清代的牙行问题。

Intermediary business is an agent institution involving in information exchanges and merchandise transactions.And brokerage firms along with brokers played an indispensable role in the development of commercial economy.Moreover,intermediary business shouldered a certain political function in the Qing Dynasty,it is not only a half-official organization in charge of commercial tax collection,but also an indirect manipulation to manage market as well as non-governmental business.In order to achieve this goal,Qing government adopted rating intermediary business institution and enhanced the management of brokerage firms and brokers.However,intermediary business political supervision is doomed to conflict the requirement of free commercial development with the booming of business,and traditional bureaucrat system together with the political setup made this problem more prominent.