新安商人の研究（1）

From the beginning of the Ming dynasty to the end of the Ch’ing dynasty, in the southern part of the Anhui 安徽 Province, there existed the Hui-chou-fu 徽州府 that consisted of the six prefectures, 歙, 休寧, 婺源, 祁門, 黟, and 績溪. Previously 徽州 had been called Sin-an-chün 新安郡. Even in the Ming and Ch’ing periods, 徽州府 was called 新安 on several occasions. The groups of the Sin-an Merchants carried great weight in the commercial world during these periods. Another power, the Shansi 山西 Merchants, existed in North China. The internal commerce was generally carried out under the rule of these two powers.In these times rice, salt, tea, cotton, silk, irons, and many other commodities had very wide spheres of circulation. In the Kiang-su 江蘇, Cheh-kiang 浙江, Fuh-kien 福建, Kuang-tung 廣東, and other provinces, various handicrafts began to prevail not only in cities but also in rural districts. The village communities which had been in nearly self-supporting condition, gradually passed into the status of circulating economy. Generally talking, the south-eastern provinces provided the interior provinces with their manual works in exchange for the agricultural products of the latter.But the relation between the south-eastern and the interior provinces, was not like that between the modern European capitalism and the colonial agriculture. The handicrafts and commercial agricultures were directly or indirectly under the control of the 客商, the big merchants who moved in wide commercial spheres, and almost all part of the profits was squeezed by these merchants. It was the Sin-an Merchants that played a vital role as 客商