為商人做辯護？「富者貧之母」的明清政治經濟學 In Defense of Businessmen? The Political Economy of “the Rich Nourishing the Poor” in Ming-Qing China

自16世紀至19世紀的大約300年間(1550-1850)，中國國內長程貿易日益發展，並伴隨出現了一個國內不同經濟地區相互連繫的國內勞動分工體系。近十多年來，少有學者繼續否定16世紀以後中國市場經濟蓬勃發展，但質疑市場經濟不受明清政府支持，以及當時中國缺乏足夠產權保障故而市場經濟無法進一步驅動社會與政治變遷，則仍是目前學界的主流看法。此次網上講座將針對「抑商」政策在明清中國的衰亡，特別是介紹晚明以後「重商以利農、富者貧之母」等思潮如何落實在相關政策與法令，進而形塑了當時重要的制度變遷。明清中國這些政治經濟體制的變化，雖然不能相應地概括在近代歐洲「理性資本主義」或是「現代社會」特徵之內，但在近代人類歷史上，可能也走出同樣值得關注的某種「市場演化」之路。

Between the mid-sixteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, long-distance trade in China underwent great expansion. This was accompanied by the growth of a regional division of labor. During the past decade or two, it has become increasingly rare to see scholars deny the vigorous development of a market economy in China after the sixteenth century. However, it is still widely accepted that this market economy was insufficiently supported by the Ming and Qing governments, and that it was unable to further drive social and political changes because of the lack of adequate property-rights protection. This webinar focuses on the decline and fall of the “suppression of business” policy during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and in particular, introduces how tenets such as “fostering businessmen to benefit the peasantry” and “the rich nourishing the poor” were implemented in relevant policies and laws, and thus shaped important institutional change after the late-Ming period. These changes in the political economy of Ming-Qing China cannot be summed up in terms that directly correspond to the characteristics of a European “modern rational capitalism” or “modern society”; however, they constitute a noteworthy trajectory of “market evolution” in modern human history.