清代湘西玉米种植研究

Research on Maize Cultivation of Xiangxi in Qing Dynasty

与以往学者认为的人口压力导致玉米种植解释模式不同,本文认为清代玉米与湘西传统的刀耕火种技术结合,取代部分传统作物成为新杂粮作物,是国家政策、市场化和生态利用等多种因素交融激荡的结果。雍正实施“改土归流”政策后,统一的市场网络和外来人口进入湘西,带动桐油业兴盛,促使本地部分区域出现玉米集中产区,而嘉庆的“屯政”则进一步扩大了油桐树种植规模,推动原有的苗族聚居区成为新的玉米集中产区。

Different from traditional explanations arguing that population pressure led to the cultivation of maize,this paper believes that maize in the Qing dynasty planted by traditional slash and burn farming method of Xiangxi took the place of some conventional crops and became a new coarse cereal,which was caused by multiple factors such as national policy,market and eco-utilization.Emperor Yongzheng’s policy of the bureaucratization of native officers formed a unified market network and attracted external population to western Hunan,boosting tung oil industry and creating some areas of western Hunan with concentrated maize.Besides,emperor Jiaqing’s policy of agricultural collective production helped further expand the planting scale of tung trees and enabled the Miao-populated area to become the concentrated production region of maize.