“万里茶道”与清代羊楼洞边贸茶

“The Sino-Russian Tea Road”and Yanglou-dong Border Trade Tea Industry in Qing Dynasty

鄂南羊楼洞于五口通商后成为中俄万里茶道新起点和边贸茶收购制作中心,主因为当地茶商早在清乾隆初年即与晋商开始合作,为道咸间大批晋商由福建武夷茶区迁鄂打下基础。边贸茶业的发展给羊楼洞茶业、工艺、百业及地方社会均带来深刻变化,当地茶商亦主动引入输英红茶并把握机遇南下行商。以全球视角观照,羊楼洞边贸茶随“万里茶道”渐趋式微,原因应与外贸萎缩、交通革命及战争息息相关。

Yanglou-dong is at the South of Hubei Province,being the starting point of the Sino-Russian tea road and one of the border tea trade acquisition and production centers.After the five ports of commerce,due to the fierce competition from compradors of British businessmen as well as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement,Jin merchants moved into Yanglou-dong on a large scale from Wuyi tea area in Fujian.In fact,Jin merchants and local tea merchants in Yanglou-dong had begun to cooperate in the early years of Qianlong period in the Qing Dynasty,laying the foundation for a large number of Jin merchants to move to Hubei during Daoguang and Xianfeng period.The development of the tea industry in the Qing Dynasty border trade brought profound changes to the local society in Yanglou-dong,such as the expansion of tea plantation,the renewal of tea-making process,the transformation of Yanglou-dong society,the local tea merchants open up the black tea market and seize the opportunity to go south for tea business.Yanglou-dong border tea trade declined with the Sino-Russian Tea Road,from the global trade perspective,it can be ascribed to the loss of export international markets,the competition of new global tea roads,the disruption of the Sino-Russian tea trade and other factors are inextricably linked.