明清文献中“浙商”一词的初步考察

A Textual Study of the Terminology Zhejiang Merchants in Ming and Qing

明清文献中的“浙商”称呼较多,其中包含了“两浙商人”“淮浙商人”“江浙商人”或“浙商”,他们不仅在淮扬深耕盐业,而且远赴天津、镇江、南京、福建等地从事盐引的活动。此外,他们还涉足高利贷、米业、钱业、航运业、铁路等行业。浙商在捐输报效、急公济饷、修筑海塘河工、灾害赈济等项奉纳朝廷。明清时代的浙商虽然在原始资本积累上与当时的晋商、徽商还有一定距离,但涉及的产业、遍及的城市,以及积累的政府社会资源也为近代浙商的崛起埋下了历史伏笔。

The present paper,analyzing in detail the terminologies in relation to the group of merchants from Zhejiang,who not only worked hard on the production of salt in the region of Huaiyang and managed the sale of salt in many key Chinese cities but also involved themselves in finance and transportation,argues that their endeavors foreshadowed the rise of Zhejiang merchants in very near future,even though they were then less powerful than Shanxi and Anhui merchants.