徽会与二十世纪四五十年代苏南地区的非正式金融

Huizhou Credit Association and Informal Finance in Southern Jiangsu Province from 1949 to 1958

合会是民间自发的非正式金融组织,发轫于徽州的徽会是二十世纪中叶流行于苏南地区的一种合会形式。几乎同时出现在苏州城乡的“苏州会”和“潭东会”,二者的运作方式、参与者社会网络等存在差异,最终在国家政策指引下形成不同的演变路径。基于合会案例的比较分析,可知国家经济政策变动对于民间资源流动性分配的重塑,是影响非正式金融的外在诱因;而非正式金融走向衰落的内在关键因素,乃是扩展型合会自身存在的履约困境。潭东会的倒会,以及由此引发的参与者对社会网络之调整,为理解传统徽州商帮的转型与衰微过程提供一种微观视角。

Rotating credit associations were a type of informal,non-governmental financial organization.Huizhou Credit Association,which originated from Huizhou Area,was a notable example of rotating credit associations,particularly popular in southern Jiangsu during the mid-twentieth century.This paper compares two prominent cases of rotating credit association,Suzhou Credit Association and Tandong Credit Association,both of which emerged simultaneously in the Suzhou area.Due to differences in operational formats and participant social networks,their evolutionary paths are also divergent within the context of shifting national economic policies.This paper demonstrates that changes in national economic policies,which reshaped the liquidity allocation of folk resources,served as external stimuli for informal finance.It also argues that the decline of informal finance was primarily due to the inherent challenges faced by expansive rotating credit associations in fulfilling contracts.The fall of Tandong Credit Association and the subsequent adjustments in participantssocial networks provide a micro-level perspective in revealing the transformation and decline of traditional Huizhou merchantsgroup.