晚清军品走私及其屡禁不止之缘由

Weaponry Smuggling and the Reason for It in Late Qing Dynasty

鸦片战争以后,中国国门洞开,清廷腐败无能、内陆沿海民变频起,军品走私猖獗。走私方式主要有夹带和隐藏两种;走私主体既有混迹于中国的各国洋人,也有实力雄厚的各洋行,还有中国本土的各种反清组织、商人、匪徒、官僚等。港澳地区和与之毗邻的广东地区是军品走私的重灾区,上海、天津、东北等地区也是军品走私多发之地。晚清军品走私屡禁不止,根本上缘于低效的缉私体制和列强的长期掣肘。

After the Opium War broke out, the Qing government was corrupt and unable to handle the rebellions and uprisings throughout the country and weaponry smuggling increased considerably. There were two main methods of smuggling ： secret carrying or hiding. The smugglers were mainly foreigners who traveled or worked in China, powerful foreign firms, and anti-Qing organizations, businessmen, bandits, bureaucrats. Hang Kong and Macao and their neighboring Guangdong were heavily infested with weaponry smuggling, whereas Shanghai, Tianjin and Northeast China were also ridden with smugglers. In the late Qing Dynasty, weaponry smuggling prospered in spite of official bans. The basic reason was the inefficiency of the an- ti-smuggling system and the interference of foreign powers.