试论唐至清初潮州的海外贸易与海上走私

潮州与海外诸国的贸易往来很早就有,但在唐至清初这一时段里,潮州诸港从未成为官府承认的、合法的、正式的对外贸易港口。潮州通番走私贸易从内容上看,有非法地从事贸易与非法地从事违禁物品贸易之分;从形式上看又有下海通番与坐地通番之别。长期从事违禁贸易进一步助长了潮州人蔑视官府,视违禁为快速致富之路的不良风气,此种风气可以说是于今余绪犹存。

On the Overseas Trade and Maritime Smuggle of Chaozhou from the Tang to the Earlier Stage of the Qing Dynasty

The overseas trade of Chaozhou can be traced far back, but the ports in Chaozhou had never been acknowledged as legal and formal ports for overseas trade by the governments from the Tang Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty. The smuggle trade between Chaozhou and the overseas countries can be divided into illegal trade and illegal trade of contraband goods when classified by contents, or into illegal overseas trade and illegal local trade if by localities. The far back engagement in smuggle trade further encouraged the harmful practices in Chaozhou that despised the authorities and regarded illegal trade as a shortcut to prosperity. Such practices have arguably remained, to some extent, in Chaozhou so far.