The Ambient Condition of Long-Distance Trade and the Problem in the Social Economic Structure of China from the 16th to the 19th Century

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370836
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of Asia and Africa
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: xiong yuanbao 早稲田大学, 理工学術院, 教授 (50386588)
• Research Collaborator: Ma Debin ; Wang Di ; He Wenkai ; Wu Qi ; Xu Tan ; Wang Zhenzhong ; Wang Qisheng
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 商業信用 / 会館 / 遠距離貿易 / 金融 / 倭寇 / 都市空間 / 商業ネットワーク / 飲料水

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project started in 2014 and finished in 2018. From the early 16th century on, silver entered China from Japan and America through the international commerce trading silk and porcelain. Based on the presence of those abundant silver in China, the investigation explores the change of Chinese social economics over the long course of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. As an important result, active domestic and international commerce brought about long-term changes in Chinese social economics. The flow of silver from outside China was one of the reasons.
In the past five years, the researcher conducted archival and on-site investigations. The results of this research were presented in the international academic conference that the researcher participated in and international academic workshops that the researcher organized.

Free Research Field

アジア史・アフリカ史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

この課題の研究は、グローバルの視点から人・物・情報・金銭等の空間移動、とりわけ物流に関する歴史条件、社会資本、外部（国家）の関与、社会内部の制度創出、また空間流動・流通や社会変革の中心的役割を果たす都市の実態、伝統都市における社会分層と経済・社会の空間構造、また伝統都市の生活システムと人々の環境営為などの問題を通して、16－19世紀における中国商業環境の実態検出、社会経済構造の解明、即ち伝統中国の長期的社会経済変動を理解する際に基礎的作業であり、さらに新しい視点の提起と歴史研究の理論と方法の模索も知的生産に貢献できる。