从牙行到公所:明清苏州工商业的中介组织

From Yahang to Gongsuo:The Intermediary Organizations of Industry and Commerce in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

明清时期苏州地区工商业繁荣昌盛,贯通海内,具有代表性和特殊性,是彼时区域经济社会发展状况的一个缩影。伴随着工商业的发展,明清苏州工商业中介组织也应运而生,并经历了从牙行到公所的制度转换,这种制度转换背后的实质性意涵,是公所对牙行职能的承继与创新。牙行的行业准入职能具有强制性、模糊性和针对性,公所的行业准入职能则具有自愿性、明确性和广泛性。牙行的市场规制功能以市场价格为导向,公所的市场规制功能则以市场规则为导向。公所还具有独特的生养死葬和供奉祭祀职能。从牙行到公所的制度转换与职能演进,在一定程度上昭示着明清时期工商业运行模式从自由散漫到政府管控再到行业自治的发展历程。这种由外而内的结构-功能转变,正是明清时期工商业法制发展的有力见证,也为当代中国工商业的自治与规制提供了有益的历史启示。

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the prosperity of Suzhou＇s industry and commerce, represented the regional econom ic and social developmentat that time. W ith the developmentof industry and commerce, industrial and commercial intemediary organizations were born in time and experienced institutional transformation from Yahang to Gongsuo. The essence behind this system transformation was the inheritance and innovation of the functions of the public sector. The m arketadm itted function of the Yahang had the characteristics of compulsion, fuzziness and singleness, while the admittance function of the Gongsuowas voluntary, clear and extensive. The market regulation function of Yahangwas guided bymarketprice, while market regulation of Gongsuo. The Gongsuo office also had a unique function of raising, burying and offering sacrifices. In a certain degree, the transform ation and functional evolution from Yahang to Gongsuo revealed of the developm entof industrial and comm ercialoperation m ode from the unregulated to the governm entcontroland then to the autonomy of the industry in the M ing and Q ing Dynasties. The structure function transfomation from outside to inside was the powerfulwitness of the industrial and commercial development in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This also provides a historical inspiration for the construction of rule of law in the modern Chinese industry and commerce.