雍正欠铜案与苏州的洋铜商人

Copper Shortages in the Yongzheng Period and Suzhou Copper Merchant

有清一代曾长期从日本长崎进口铜材(洋铜)以保证国内铸币所需。康熙后期到乾隆初年实行"发帑办铜",由官员携帑至江浙招募商人承办,苏州作为办铜的中心之地,吸引了大批以泛海为生的商人和船工聚集于此。由于史料所限,我们一直很难具体窥见他们的经商和生活状态。本文利用搜集到的户科题本并结合日方记载,以雍正初年苏州的两起欠铜案为切入点,细致分析卷入案中的众多商人事例,揭示了当时活跃于苏州乃至东南沿海的洋铜商人--这个对日贸易群体的"素颜"。

In the Qing Dynasty,copper had long been imported from Nagasaki,Japan to ensure the domestic coinage needs.From the late Kangxi to the early Qianlong reign,the government even implemented policies of" using treasury funds to purchase copper." It was carried out by off icials who recruited merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.Suzhou,therefore,became the center of this business,which attracted many merchants and boatmen.Due to limited historical materials,it has been diff icult to conduct a comprehensive and detailed research of these business activities and living conditions.Focusing on two cases in Suzhou in early Yongzheng era,I use recently collected routine memorials of the Board of Revenue to analyze merchants who were involved in those cases,and to further reveal and describe the merchants who were active in Suzhou and the southeast coast.