晚清政府护侨兴商的尝试——以厦门保商局为例的分析

The Late Qing Government’s Attempt to Protect Overseas Chinese:A Study of the Amoy Bureau of Trade Protection

论文梳理了晚清时期厦门保商局的创建与推广历程,分析了晚清政府在护侨兴商方面的尝试及其成效。1899年,兴泉永道恽祖祁在厦门设立保商局,通过制定护侨章程,旨在吸引侨商返乡投资兴业,以应对内忧外患及经济凋敝的困境。然而,厦门保商局承袭了官场的诸多积弊,官员冗余、贪污浪费严重,护侨效果未达预期。面对内外压力,保商局虽多次整顿,但因未触及旧体制的根本症结,成效有限,最终为福建暨南局所取代。通过分析厦门保商局的筹建背景、推广过程及其护侨举措的成败得失,论文揭示了晚清护侨观念与体制转轨之艰难。厦门保商局的设立,标志着晚清政府开始在体制内建立专门机构来保护华侨权益,虽然未能充分发挥预期作用,但其为此后的侨务管理制度化和规范化奠定了基础。

Based on archives and other historical materials held in China and overseas,this paper analyzes the establishment of the Bureau of Trade Protection in Amoy and discusses its successes as well as failures.In 1899“Xingquan Yongdao”Yun Zuqi set up a new bureau in Amoy,meanwhile implementing new legislative measures with specific purposes of protecting foreign trade and attracting overseas Chinese investments.Unfortunately,this bureau did not function well;as it operated within the Imperial Qing Government,it was not immune from various problems such as overstaffing and wastage of public funds.The Amoy Bureau of Trade Protection was eventually replaced by the“Jinan”Bureau after several reforms.Despite its limited achievements,this bureau pioneered protecting the Chinese overseas within the Chinese Government.Its experience may reflect many difficult institutional reforms that the late Qing Government tried to adopt,in particular concerning overseas Chinese matters.