广州十三行与英国东印度公司——基于对外贸易政策和官商关系的视角

Thirteen Factories of Canton versus British East India Company from the Perspective of Foreign Trade Policy and the State-Merchant Relationship

英国东印度公司和广州十三行同是16~18世纪欧亚贸易大规模扩张的产物,并都带有那一时期的垄断特征。然而,二者虽同为贸易垄断组织,但在组织形式、运行方式和经营内容上非常不同。本文认为中英两国在对外贸易政策和官商关系上的巨大不同造就了广州十三行和英国东印度公司在组织形式、运行方式和经营内容上的巨大不同,也造就了二者不同的商业成就和命运归宿,以及中英两国不同的国家命运。英国东印度公司为英国获得海外霸权和国家崛起做出了巨大贡献,并在国家崛起后失去存在意义,最终被解散;广州十三行曾在一定时期帮助清政府应付了海外贸易急剧扩大的巨大压力,也为朝廷提供了一定的财富,为自己积累了一定的财富,但行商们一直是在中外挤压下苟存,清朝廷对海外贸易扩大的权宜性应对政策和其对行商的限制压迫是行商最终破产失败的主要原因。

The British East India Company(EIC)and the Thirteen Factories of Canton(TFC)were both products of the 16th-18th century Commercial Revolution,in which trade between Europe and Asia increased tremendously.Although both institutions enjoyed a trade monopoly privilege granted by their courts,their organizational infrastructures,business operation mechanisms,and relationships with their states differed greatly.This paper explores the huge differences between the two institutions and their causes from the perspective of the foreign trade policies and the state-merchant relationship.It concludes that the EIC was established with a goal to explore the Asian market and expand overseas trade,which resulted in its many non-commercial functions and operations while competing with other European maritime powers and encountering local rulers.In contrast,the Thirteen Factories of Canton stayed and operated within China,acting as an agent for the Qing court to deal with the dramatically increased demand for Chinese goods by foreign traders,and at the same time acting to maintain the existing order of Chinese society.The EIC and TFC operated very differently and played very different roles in their respective countries,which resulted largely from the fact that Britain and China maintained very different trade policies and state-merchant relationships.