条约制度与沿海边缘社会————鸦片战争后的和约谈判及条约文本再解读

鸦片战争后签订的《南京条约》等系列条约属于“不平等条约”已是定论,但这一系列条约的内容和对中国历史的影响尚未被充分了解。这些条约的背景是明清时期国家与沿海边缘社会的紧张关系和由此造成的沿海边缘社会发育不良、身份含糊,以及开放广州对外贸易的同时严格限制中外接触。所以,条约的核心内容是解决中外之间社会经济在通商口岸“自由”交流问题,由此形成中外之间的纽带———沿海边缘社会。中外条约谈判过程中围绕“誊黄公布释放汉奸”和天主教传教自由展开激烈的争执,与我们今天的关注点有很大差异。了解这一史实有助于全面认识鸦片战争前后中外之间和中国内部存在的问题,以及战后历史变动的趋向。

The Treaty System and the Coastal Peripheral Society: Reinterpreting the Negotiations and Texts of Peace Treaty after the Opium War

Researchers at home and abroad have concentrated their attention on two aspects of the treaties : their unequal nature and the change of trade regulations . That is to say,the focus of attention has been on the political and economic effects rather than the social influences of the treaties from the perspective of a peripheral society . The connection between China and the West after their collisions in the modern age was the establishment of diplomatic relations and the flow of goods and people .It is important for us to put our emphasis on the establishment of port cities and a peripheral society between China and foreign countries as they were the appeals of″N anjing Treaty″a nd a series of other treaties . Therefore,a shift in research perspective is necessary .This paper starts from an analysis of the relationship between the internal state and the coastal society within China,the diplomatic relations between China and foreign countries,and the problems in those relations . This reexamination of the treaty negotiations and their connotation following the Opium War will lead to a deeper understanding of″N anjing Treaty,″of the appeals and concerns of both parties of the negotiations,and of the influences of this series of treaties on the Chinese society and on the relationship between the state and the society . The direct cause of the Opium War was the trouble in trade and diplomatic mechanisms between China and the UK . One major problem was that in spite of the huge trade volumes between the two countries,their transaction had been monopolized by the East India Company and the Hong Merchants of Canton,impeding the formation of port cities and a mature coastal society . This situation seriously limited the sales of British products in China,causing trade imbalance and the opium trade thereafter .In the meantime,the conflicts between the royal court and the peripheral coastal society within China since the Ming and Qing dynasties had resulted in many problems such as the undeveloped coastal society,the barriers between China and foreign countries and the lack of mutual trust between the dynasty government and the coastal society,which even caused a traitor panic on a large scale during the Opium War .Therefore,this series of treaties and trade regulations signed after the Opium War,mainly expressing the demands of Britain,America and France,etc .,were focused on the following targets : clearing away the trade barrier between China and other countries,breaking the Hong Merchants'm onopolies and setting up the so-called free trade . In other words,it was necessary to build unrestricted social communications and employment relations between China and other countries and to form a peripheral port society in order to expand trade space and seek commercial profits . However,the rulers of the Qing dynasty were only concerned about the safety of their regime and the maintenance of a relative separation between the Chinese society and foreign countries . Therefore,in the course of the negotiations,China did her best to meet the foreigners'd emands on trade and tax,but had a fierce argument with Britain and France on the two issues of releasing traitors by publishing Tenghuang and the free propagation of Catholicism in China . The purpose of the argument was to prevent the emergence of a Sino-foreign hybrid peripheral society .This is the key point of this series of treaties and also the concern of both parties of the negotiation . Previous researches have ignored this aspect of the treaties,which this paper attempts to cover .