晚明的白银北流问题

The Problem of the Northern Outflow of Silver in the Late Ming Period

在晚明时期,为了满足防卫蒙古的军事要求,从全国征收的大量税银被搬运到北边九镇,“白银北流,往而不返”成为当时人士慨叹银荒的习以为常的话语。本文从经济思想的角度,对晚明白银北流问题加以探讨。本文分为三个部分:第一部分着重讨论白银北流问题和当时政治抗争的关系。反对隆庆和议和北边款市的论者特别尖锐地批评白银流出作为款市的恶果,以媚外和贪污为由攻击内阁当权者。第二部分分析当时通过铸钱、开矿等方法来试图解决银荒的若干提议,并且探讨提出这些方案的论者之经济观。第三部分在中国经济思想史发展的长期视野中讨论这些议论的意义,指出晚明人士对待白银北流问题的思考方法为清初康熙年间和清代后期道光年间银荒时期的经世论者所继承。

In the late Ming period,a large volume of silver collected as tax from all over the empire was carried to the northern military bases to meet the expenditures for the war against Mongols.Officials and intellectuals of the time deplored the scarcity of silver caused by the northern outflow of silver,and the phrase "silver flows to the north and never returns" became their cliche.This article analyses the problem of the northern outflow of silver in this period from the viewpoint of economic thought,and discusses the political context and intellectual influences of the silver-outflow debate.