亦■亦商亦私——清末民国广东乌石盐场的私盐及运作

Saltfield Holder, Merchant and Private Trader: Private Salt and the Operation of Wushi Saltworks in Guangdong Province in the Late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China

民国初年广东乌石盐场的设立,将清代以来雷州半岛西南沿海以盐为生的人群纳入国家的盐业管理制度之中。乌石盐场在原有盐业生产格局基础上形成的"厂-围-■"组织机构并不利于课征收,盐场由此设置围甲,围甲使当地土著有机会进入并开始控制盐的产运销。当地宗族成员既是户又是运商的身份,使其易于在场盐配运中达到走私目的。这些亦亦商亦私的本地人是乌石盐场的实际操控者。盐场制度不是规整其从事盐业的准则,而是可以灵活利用的生存机制。

Establishing in the early years of the Republic of China in Guangdong,Wushi Saltworks had incorporated the salt-dependent population of the southwestern coast of the Leizhou Peninsula into the national system.The Chang-Wei-Lou organization formed by the original salt production pattern went against the levy of the tax.The saltworks thus set up the Weijia that gave the indigenous people the opportunity to enter and began to control the production and transportation of salt.The members of the local clan were both the tenants and the carriers,making it easy to achieve smuggling purposes in the salt distribution.These locals who were also salt merchants and private traders that were the actual controllers of Wushi Saltworks.The salt field system was not a criterion for regulating its salt industry,but a survival mechanism which could be flexibly utilized.