근대 중국의 海關과 『中國舊海關史料(1859-1948)』

Abstract

The Qing Dynasty(淸朝) set up the maritime customs in order to manage the foreign trade and the tributary trade as well. The Kangxi Emperor(康熙帝) set up four maritime customs houses in the four provinces including Guangzhou(廣州) in 1684. In September 1853, due to the rebelling Shanghai Xiaodaohui(上海小刀會), the maritime customs in Shanghai wound down its operations. Wujianzhang(吳健彰), after negotiating with the consuls from Great Britain, America and France, had inspectors who were recommended by every consul assemble the Board of Inspectors. It was the first case in which a westerner was appointed to a customs house in China. From that moment, the right concerned with administrative controls was handed over to foreigners. According to the treaty signed between Great Britain, France, America and China in November 1958, the method to hire foreigners at the customs house was initiated at every port in the same way and the foreign tax accountant system was expanded to all over China. In May 1859, an Englishman, H. N. Lay, was appointed as Inspector General of Shanghai and he appointed another Englishman, H. T. Davies, as a Commissioner of customs to deal with businesses at the customs house in Shanghai. From that point, a practice that Inspector General appointed Commissioner of customs at every port was brought in. In addition, as R. Hart was appointed as Inspector General, the customs houses began to be well organized. The Chinese Maritime Customs published six types of publications, among which, Statistical Series was the most extensive and important publications. Moreover, Returns of Trade(貿易統計) and Reports of Trade(貿易報告) are the main contents of Statistical Series and they paved the way for research of the history about the Chinese modern trade as they were filed into Zhongguojiuhaiguanshiliao(中國舊海關史料). However, there are differences in compilation methods among Returns of Trade as well as Reports of Trade in accordance with their publishing time. In here, the characteristics of the compilation methods and the statistical data were divided into 6 periods to trace back the development and the changing process. ① 1859～1881: R. Hart, after being appointed as Inspector General, tried to organize the business of the maritime customs. Later, groundbreaking changes took place in the compilation methods and the record. ② 1864～1881: Reports of Trade at each maritime customs began to be published from 1865 and the nationwide trade statistics were complied from 1867. ③ 1882～1904: From 1882, compilations of Returns of Trade and Reports of Trade were published together. Moreover, Returns of Trade and Reports of Trade were translated into the Chinese language, the former was published from 1875 and the latter was published from 1889. ④ 1905～1919: From 1905, the reports of trade entered a new phase. From 1904, F.O.B.(Free on Board) and C.I.F.(Cost Insurance Freight) was applied to the statistical prices and the amount of trade became more accurate. In addition, the separate Chinese translation disappeared and the whole statistic books were changed into the style where the English language and the Chinese language co-existed. ⑤ 1920～1931: From 1920, the returns of trade and the reports of trade were not included. ⑥ 1932～1948: The change in the maritime trade statistics was an amendment of provenance and destination for trade items. Decennial Reports(十年報告) are the maritime customs reports which have the longest term period of the report object. They depicted developments of politics, society and cultures in the neighboring areas centered on the seat of the maritime customs. Total 5 compilations were published: the first covers 1882～1891, the second 1892～1901, the third 1902～1911, the fourth 1912～1921, and the fifth deals about what happened 1922～1931.