洋銅から滇銅へ : 淸代辦銅制度の轉換點をめぐって

Abstract

The aim of this study is to clarify the course of the gradual shift during the decades of the 1720s and 1730s of the source of copper procured for the Baoquan 寶泉 and Baoyuan 寶源 mints, which were the major producers of copper coins for the Qing government, from Japan copper to Yunnan copper. The Yunnan provincial government, which attempted to both secure profit margins through the consumption of Yunnan copper and the stability of the conversion rate between copper coinage and silver through the control of the minting of copper coins, took advantage of rapid assessments of various movements of the two mints regarding copper procurement to aggressively sell Yunnan copper. Examining the situation of the influx of Japanese copper and the actual copper procurement at the time, one sees that the comprehensive shift to Yunnan copper during this period was but one possible option. Moreover, the Qing government, which seldom responded to problems other than costs, did not plan to procure the Yunnan copper nor the various provincial governments that ordered the provision of copper for the two mints ever once request the procurement of Yunnan copper themselves. Nevertheless, the fact that the procurement of copper was consolidated into a single source of Yunnan copper was precisely the result of Yunnan provincial government's aggressive moves. Limiting the discussion to specific examples that are dealt with in this article, it can be said that in terms of a stable bureaucratic system, the system of central authority of the Qing dynasty functioned as a catalyst, promoting the finding of areas of compromise among the three entities, i.e., central authority of the Qing dynasty, the various provinces charged with procuring copper, and the Yunnan provincial government, which all had disparate interests, rather than as a tool for the central headquarters to collect information and then determine and implement policy. The consolidation of the procurement that settled on the procurement of Yunnan copper in 1738 was nothing other than a haphazard system that appeared as a result of coincidence of disparate interests and was not backed up by some wide-ranging, rational decision. However, the unforeseen result was that the minting of copper coins in Beijing smoothly entered its heyday.