试论鸦片经济对清帝国的影响

The Dependence of the Empire on Opium:To Ban or Not to Ban——the Qing Dynasty's Opium Policy after the Second Opium War

在19世纪,清政府的鸦片政策以第二次鸦片战争为界分为两阶段:前一阶段政府的主导政策是禁烟,尽管成效不著,但禁烟政策基本是真实的;后一阶段则基本采取了纵容政策,既不禁进口,也不禁自产自销。到19世纪中后期,清帝国患上了严重的鸦片依赖症。这种鸦片依赖症突出表现为,罂粟种植成为鸦片产区农民生存的基本手段;鸦片贸易成为地区发展的重要动力;鸦片税收成为清政府解决财政困难的重要途径;鸦片成为日常消费品和新兴城市文化的媒介。此前,学术界一般将清朝的鸦片政策归结为清政府的腐败和无能,这种看法过于简单,实际原因是清帝国从上到下、从日常生活到经济社会,都已经无法离开鸦片,导致清政府在鸦片政策上陷入弛与禁的两难。

In the 19^th century, the Second Opium War marked a watershed in the Qing Dynasty＇s opium policy. Before the War, the Imperial Court of the Qing Dynasty made and actually implemented a policy to ban opium, although with little consequence. After the War, the policy on opium ban remained a mere rhetoric, while opium was actually allowed in practice. The fact was that in the late 19th century, the Qing Government heavily depended on opium, which was manifested in several aspects. First, the Imperial Court heavily depended on opium market as a source of its revenue. Second, a dominant voice among politicians and literati at the time was to drive imported opium out of the Chinese market with domestically grown opium. And third, taking opium became a part of daily life of the ordinary Chinese people who were innocent of the harm of opium. The prevailing view that attributes the Qing Dynasty＇s opium policy to its corruption and impotency is over simplified. The fact was that the Imperial Court＇ s heavy dependence on opium led it into a dilemma on whether to ban opium or not.