中西本末观中手工业地位差异的比较分析

历史上中西方经济的发展中均出现过重农抑商的经济思想，但是在那之后却出现了中西方经济发展截然不同的道路。笔者发现大多数学者在中西方经济比较时，凡涉及到农业与工商业之间的关系问题时，把手工业与商业统称为工商业，实际上仅仅在谈论商业，手工业多是一笔带过。笔者认为，除了文化和政治制度上的不同导致“重农抑商”政策存在差别外，中国古代抑的是手工业和商业，而西方抑的是商业。这种对手工业的不同对待，笔者认为也是导致中西方经济发展道路不同的重要原因之一。

A Comparison and Analysis of the Different Statuses of Handicraft Industry between the Fundamental and the Incidental Values in China and the West

During the process of economic development in history, no matter whether it was in China or in the West, the economic thought, ＂stressing agriculture and neglecting commerce＂, came into the society. However, after that, the Chinese and the Western developments of economy went into different paths. The writer of the present paper found that when most scholars studied on these different ways of development and the different views between China and the West, they combined handicraft industry and commerce, and gave it the name of ＂ industry and commerce＂. Actually, they neglected the importance of handicraft and were just concerned about the aspect of commerce. The present paper intends to point out that besides the influence from different cultures and different political systems on the thought of ＂stressing agriculture and neglecting commerce＂ and the later economic development in China and in the West, the different treatment was also important. In China, both handicraft industry and commerce were neglected, while in the West, commerce was not respected clearly. It is one of the important reasons that the different treatment of handicraft industry led to different orientation for economic development in China and in the West.