A Study Of The Sino-Japanese Trade In The Early Qing Dynasty

In Qing Dynasty, China and Japan were the two most important countries in East Asia. Although they didn't established official relationship with each other, China and Japan had maintained some trade connection, both countries not participating fully in global competition in marine time. While the connection belonged to private overseas trade, the large trading scale, long duration, profound influence and wide participation were deeply impressive. Trade between China and Japan did have impact on politics, economy, culture, custom and other social aspects for both sides. But the important subject, which is of academic and realistic significance, has not been attached to enough importance. To be clear about the issue on the whole is of significance for the study of economic development of Qing Dynasty, China-Japan relationship and trade framework in East Asia.The study of this thesis is from 1644-1840, that is, the whole Qing Dynasty before Opium War. Historian circle have studied greatly the economic trade between China and Japan during this period, but it's not enough. Firstly, pre-existing research findings are scattered, which is difficult to give people a clear and complete impression as for this issue. The author combines crosswise study on China-Japan trade system and lengthwise evolution of their trade course, which dynamically shows general appearance of China-Japan trade in Qing dynasty. Secondly, previous studies focus on Kang-Yong period excessively, and seldom research China-Japan trade after Qian Long, especially the period of Jia Qing and Dao Guang. The lower limit of the author's research is 1840, and the author analyzes and expounds the evolution track of China-Japan trade from Shun Zhi's entrance into Central Plain to Opium War, which clarifies sequence of ideas of China-Japan trade during early Qing Dynasty. Thirdly, previous research studied roughly the China-Japan trade, especially seldom studied the detailed policy which the thesis explores deeply. Fourthly, in the previous research, books appeared as the form of the appendant of trade. In fact, book trade between China and Japan is not only special in trade procedure with high profit, but also has a great influence on both China and Japan. Therefore, this thesis expounds this issue in detail. Fifthly, when previous studies talked about the influence of China-Japan trade on Japan, they focused on exchange of thoughts and culture driven by economic trade, and they seldom expounded the direct influence on economy. The author expounds comprehensively the influence of China-Japan trade on Japan's society and economy. Sixthly, how did Japanese government supervise Chinese businessmen in Nagasaki port and how did they live when they tarried in Japan? Chinese researchers talked about this issue with a few words in related articles, they lacked detailed discussion. The author talks about this issue delicately and comprehensively based on the materials from China and Japan, especially Japan. In a word, the author studies systematically and deeply China-Japan trade in Qing Dynasty before Opium War in five aspects:trade background, trade policies, trade participants, tradables and profit margin, trade influence.Part One introduces the background of Sino-Japanese trade in Qing Dynasty. First of all, the increasing development of domestic commercial economy laid a solid foundation for the Sino-Japanese trade development. Secondly, navigation and shipbuilding technique effectively reduced the voyage risks and became a necessary safety guarantee for the Sino-Japanese trade. Thirdly, the sole channel of Sino-Japanese trade as the result of closure policy of Mufu government increased the needs for the other side's goods.Part Two covers how Qing Dynasty drafted and adjusted the Sino-Japanese trade policy. After Qing Dynasty established the control of the central plains of China, Emperor Shunzhi began adjusting the Sino-Japanese trade policy. He ended rejection and repulsion policy of Ming Dynasty and adopted the policy of appeasement. Before the establishment of tribe system to each other, Sino-Japanese personal trade was allowed to exist. After Emperor Kangxi reclaimed Taiwan, the previous prohibition policy was ended and personal sea trade was officially permitted. Sino-Japanese trade developed quickly. To solve the arising problems in Sino-Japanese trade process, Emperor Yongzheng continued the previous policies and established business network system. After the Emperor Qianlong, Sino-Japanese trade took up decreasing percentage in national economy. Thus Qing Dynasty kept the Sino-Japanese trade policy stable and policy didn't change greatly.The third part deals mainly with Japanese trade policy toward China. Japanese trade policy can be divided into two parts-macrocosmic policy and microcosmic policy. The former refers to the general trade policy made by Japanese government, which experienced six modifications from Silk-permission Tally System, Relative Business Law, City Law Policy, Zhenxiang Order, Nagasaki Amendment to Trade Order, and Zhengdeng New Order. Generally speaking, the developing process shows the trend of being loose to tight and being free to rigid. The latter refers to the concrete measures for implementation, including the concrete procedures of trade, the collecting and disposition of trade tax, the appointment of officials, the employment of work force, and the management of businessmen getting into the port. It is the detailed aspects about how to carry out the macrocosmic policy. Either from macrocosmic perspective or microcosmic perspective, we can see clearly that Japanese trade policy toward China experienced a developing process from being immature to mature. During the making and carrying out of the policy, the guiding principle of economic profits uppermost is worth learning by Qing government.The fourth part analyzes the participants of Sino-Japanese trade. Because China's Trade with Japan varies a lot from place to place in Qing Dynasty, the writer adopts the method of region division to have respective study. From the end of Ming Dynasty, Guangdong district had been the main area for Sino-Japanese trade. Entering Qing Dynasty, Guangdong lost its geographical advantage and began to decline. But it was still one of the important regions for Sino-Japanese trade. Under the protection of the Zheng's Maritime Trade Group and with the Banning Foreign Trade for other provinces, Fujian district occupied the core status for Sino-Japanese trade at the beginning of Qing Dynasty. After Kangxi's open sea policy, Jiangzhe district became prosperous by its advanced handicraft industry, favorable geographic location, and the policy support of Qing government and took the place of Fujian as the new central region for Sino-Japanese trade. Besides these three main areas for Japanese trade, at least twelve other provinces in China at that time also participated in Sino-Japanese trade, from which we can see the extensive coverage of Sino-Japanese trade.Part five focuses on the illustration of major commodities and profits of Sino-Japanese trade in Qing Dynasty. In terms of commodity trade, there are two patterns in general:import and export. China exports silk, sugar, books, traditional herbal medicine, china, plants and animals to Japan. While on the other hand, Japan export seafood and copperwares to China, and occasionally accompanied with art-crafts and weaponries. Sino-Japanese trade in Qing Dynasty fits into the category of private trade, with the pursuit of profit serving as the sole aim of trade. Aware of the diversity in type as well as the shortage of written records for small commodities, the author of this article has conducted a statistical study on the profits yielded by trades of commodities of scale. The findings has shown that profits yield by Sino-Japanese commodity trade are fairly remarkable with the exception of copper.Part six is devoted to the discussion on the impacts of Sino-Japanese trade. There are two sections in the part. Section A is developed from the Chinese perspective. Firstly, prosperity in Sino-Japanese trade stimulates the development of manufacturing industry in China. Secondly, it helps advance the market integration. Thirdly, the input of copper in quantity has its significant influence on the monetary market. Fourthly, the exposure to Japanese literary and artistic works, such as dancing, singing, and painting diversifies people's life, adding glamour to the otherwise monotonous daily routine. Section B examines the topic from the Japanese stand. To begin with, the Japanese market flourishes with the inflow of Chinese commodities in large quantity. In addition, businesses closely connected to silk, seafood in Japan enjoy rapid development thanks to bilateral trade. What's more, the exchange in commodities gives rise to the exchange in culture, which in turn expands the practice of Confucius. The mobility of Confucian monks promote the development of Buddism. Last but not least, the inhabitants of Tang Dynasty introduce Chinese culture to Japan after living in Japan for decades. The customs they bring take roots in the daily lives of Japanese, some of which survive as far as today.