从财政角度看明代胡椒及其海内外贸易

The Pepper Trade of Ming Dynasty from the Financial Point of View

胡椒作为海外贸易商品输入中国历史悠久,但真正使其改变了奢侈品身份,成为“百姓生活日用之物”却是在明代。本文主要讨论胡椒在有明一代海内外贸易经历的由朝贡向私人海外贸易转变的历程。明初在实物财政秩序框架下,将胡椒作为重要的财政支付手段,从明初开始以胡椒折俸支付两京官员和卫所军士,形成了一个深度、广度都超越前代的胡椒消费市场。这一市场的形成使两广沿海官员对胡椒之利倚赖甚重,促使其采取更为宽松的对待海外贸易的态度。而各级官员权贵对胡椒私贩成风,更是助长了明中后期以胡椒为大宗商品的私人海外贸易的兴盛。

Pepper has a long history of being imported into China as an overseas traded commodity,but it has truly changed its status as a luxury item and became a “daily life item for the common people” in the Ming Dynasty.This article discusses the transformation of pepper from tributary item to private overseas trade commodity.In the early Ming Dynasty,under the framework of the barter financial order,pepper was used as an important means of financial payment.The pepper was used to pay the officials and military as salary in the two capitals,forming a pepper consumption market that surpassed the previous generation in depth and breadth.The formation of this market made the coastal officials of Guangdong and Guangxi rely heavily on the benefits of pepper,prompting them to adopt a more laxity attitude towards private overseas trade.The popularity of private trade of pepper by officials at all levels contributed to the prosperity of private overseas trade using pepper as a large scale commodity in the mid to late Ming Dynasty.