二〇世紀前半における米生産をめぐる蘇北と蘇南の經濟關係

Abstract

The rice crop in Jiangsu in the first half of the 20th century did not consist of rice grown by farmers for their own consumption and the excess rice sold on the market, but fundamentally all the rice that was produced was sold. In other words, the farmers of Sunan 蘇南 primarily grew non-glutinous Japonica variety rice, sold it all and purchased the less expensive non-glutinous Indica variety rice produced in Anhui and the Lixiahe 裏下河 region of Subei 蘇北 for their household consumption. On the other hand, the farmers of the Lixiahe region of Subei who produced mainly Indica rice sold all of it and purchased less expensive wheat and miscellaneous grains as their staple. Furthermore, just as the soybean wastes were sent from Subei to Sunan turned into fertilizer and higher costs were invested in producing higher value, night soil from Sunan was sent to Subei to be used as fertilizer thus lowering the cost of production of the less expensive variety of rice. In other words, the production and sale of Japonica variety rice in Sunan was predicated on the massive supply of lower priced Indica variety rice from Anhui and Subei, and conversely the production and sale of Indica variety rice in Subei became possible due to the demand for stable and massive quantities of Indica variety rice in Sunan. Moreover, in regard to fertilizer, with the transfer of soybean wastes from Subei to Sunan and of night soil from Sunan to Subei, the two agricultural areas were mutual dependent. Furthermore, the cessation of the transfer of soybean wastes from Manchuria and Northern China heightened the degree of reliance of economies of Sunan farming villages on those of Subei farming villages. In this manner, the relationship of the economies of farm villages in Subei and Sunan was structural and not merely the coexistence of a wealthy advanced region and an impoverished backward region. Then, within structure of the farm village economy formed in this way, as the Lixiahe region of Subei in modern times began to develop as main production center that was gradually able to produce stable and massive quantities of Indica variety rice, and in contrast supplied the rice markets in Nanjing and Zhenjiang in the western regions of Sunan as well as in the provinces of Nantong 南通, Haimen 海門 and Qidong 啓東 via Haian 海安.