19世纪中后期的长崎贸易与徽州海商之衰落--以日本收藏的程稼堂相关文书为中心

The Nagasaki Trade in the mid to late 19th Century and the Decline of Huizhou Sea Merchants——A Research Centered on Japanese Collections of Documents Related to Cheng Jiatang

由明迄清,徽州海商的主体存在着一个重要的转变,即从明代武装走私的私人贸易转向清朝政府特许经营的海外贸易。及至19世纪60年代,东亚海域世界的国际形势发生了重大的变化。而中国国内太平天国的兵燹战乱,又对中日贸易造成了剧烈冲击,加速了徽州海商之衰落与长崎唐馆的解体。本文聚焦的徽州巨商程稼堂,曾是长崎贸易中举足轻重的海商首领。但在19世纪中后期,他与海商同行、长崎会所、借贷商人之间,不断地发生各类债务纠纷,其本人则为了躲避债主的纠缠而到处东躲西藏,并多次将各类财物作为抵押。这些,显然反映了其人已徘徊于破产的边缘。程稼堂的遭遇,折射出昔日富甲天下的徽州海商之困境。其人的盛衰递嬗,可算是煊赫一时的徽州海商之最后一曲挽歌。

This essay mainly utilizes documents that are held in the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture in Japan and makes an intensive inquiry into the Nagasaki trade during mid and late 19th century and the decline of Huizhou sea merchants. The thesis points out that there was an important shift in nature for the Huizhou sea merchants from Ming（1368-1644） to Qing（1644-1911）, i.e. the private trade that involved armed smuggling in Ming had transformed into overseas trade franchised by the Qing government. The 1860s witnessed the vicissitudes of the international climate of the East Asian Seas. Domestic warfare during the Taiping Rebellion（1851--1864） damaged the Sino-Japanese trade ties and accelerated the decline of I-tuizhou sea merchants and disintegration of the Tojinyashiki（the Chinese factory and settlement）. This essay focuses on the once eminent Huizhou merchant Cheng Jiatang, who was the captain of the sea merchants in the Nagasaki trade. However, in the mid to late 19th century, he was entangled in liability disputes between him and his sea merchant colleagues, the Nagasaki kaisho（the Nagasaki Accounting House）, and the loan merchants. He had to dodge about in order to avoid his creditors and offer his properties as collateral. This obviously shows that he was hovering on the verge of bankruptcy. His conditions reflect the dilemma of Huizhou sea merchants who had prospered in the past. The vicissitudes of such a man may be taken as the final elegy for the lost glories of the Huizhou sea merchants.