1760～1843年广州外国人居住区的商业街

The Shopping Streets in the Foreign Quarter at Canton 1760-1843

通常认为,18世纪中叶至19世纪中叶的广州一直存在着三条商业街,分别是新瓷器街、(旧)瓷器街及猪巷。我们可以证实在1760~1822年后两条街是确定存在的,事实上早在18世纪40年代或许更早的时候就有了猪巷,但是没有确凿的证据显示在这段时期还存在着另一条街即新瓷器街。由于近年来关于这些街道的名称、位置、所建时间成为学术界讨论的热点,同时大家又对新瓷器街的两种主要来源存在着一些争议,因此本文将致力于证明在1760~1822年只有两条商业街。在1760年以前,小商贩都分布在商馆周围的各个区域,形成了瓷器街、丝绸街、漆器街等。行商们开设的洋行主要分布在西郊各处,并不是都建在夷馆所在的码头附近,1748年瑞典人所画的广州商馆地图(见图1)向我们清晰地展示了这一点:蔡昭复的洋行远离码头北岸;叶上林的洋行位于西边远处;潘启官的洋行位于商馆区的北部;Attay(Attai)和Chetquas(Kjetqva)的洋行位于运河对岸的码头东侧。

The shopping streets in the foreign quarter at Canton(Thirteen Hong district十三行地区)before the Opium Wars have been the subject of much interest and many studies.But there has been much confusion and disagreements among scholars as to their names and the years that they were established.New data has now emerged to clarify this confusion.Prior to 1760,there was only one shopping street located in the foreign quarter,and it was called“Hog Lane”.In this early period of the Canton trade other shopkeepers were scattered about the western suburbs on numerous different streets,outside of the foreign quarter.In 1760,“China Street”was created in the foreign quarter and all shopkeepers selling items to foreigners were required to move to this new location.This was done so that Chinese officials could monitor them more effectively.From 1760 to the great fire of November 1822(when the foreign quarter was burnt to the ground),“Hog Lane”and“China Street”were the two main shopping streets.When the area was rebuilt in 1823,a third shopping street was added,which came to be called“New China Street”(Chinese called it Tongwen Jie同文街).Contrary to what is commonly believed,this third street did not exist before 1823.With the new data that has now emerged,we can show clearly what shopping streets were in existence before the Opium Wars,and when they were established.