古代“丝路贸易”的延续——16—18世纪中国南海“世界贸易中心”的生成

Continuation of Ancient“Silk Road Trade”:The Formation of the“South China Sea”World Trade Center in the 16th-18th Century

近代早期,“南海”世界贸易中心的地位不是中国人自己开创的,而是欧洲“大航海”造成的。古代中国作为“丝绸之路”的起点,曾经是东西方贸易—“丝绸之路”的东端货源地。15、16世纪,“大航海”成功之后,欧洲寻求的贸易对象实际上还是指向“中国”,即当时所谓的“契丹”;只是贸易路线发生了转移,由以陆路贸易为主的“丝绸之路”变成了海上的“新航路”;贸易中心也由中世纪的“中东”变成了近代早期的中国“南海”。在16—18世纪的世界贸易中,“南海”是东西方贸易的集中地,中国的“朝贡贸易”规则是世界各国普遍遵守的WTO规则,世界贸易货币—“白银”产量的一半也流入中国境内,“南海”因此有“东方地中海”之称。a世界贸易之所以一度出现这样的局面,原因是刚刚由封建领地转化而来的欧洲民族国家还处在重商主义而不是工业主义阶段,其拥有的生产能力尚不足以撼动中国“大一统”的小农经济。

In the early modern times,the status of the“South China Sea”World Trade Center was not created by the Chinese themselves,but by the“Great Navigation”of Europe.As the starting point of the Silk Road,China used to be the eastern supplier of ancient East-West trade.In the 15th and 16th centuries,after the success of the“Great Navigation”,the trade objects sought by Europe actually pointed to“China”,that is,the“Cathay”at that time,but the trade routes shifted from the“Silk Road”on land to the“New Route”at sea,and the Trade Center changed from the early“Middle East”to the“South China Sea”in modern China.In the early colonial era of the 16th and 18th centuries,the“South China Sea”was the center of world trade,and China’s“tribute trade”was the WTO rule that the world trade generally abided by.Half of the world’s silver output also flowed into China’s territory.Therefore,the“South China Sea”was known as the“Eastern Mediterranean”.China occupied the commanding heights of world trade in early modern times.The reason for the appearance of such a pattern in world trade lies in the fact that the European nation-states just transformed from feudal territory are still in the stage of mercantilism rather than industrialism,and their capabilities are not enough to shake the“unified”small-scale peasant economy of China.