Chapter Five Village, Town, and City

第伍章 村、镇与城市

Having discussed the place of the gentry in the political structure of China, I now turn to their place in the economic order. But, in order to understand this, we must first make clear the difference in form between rural and urban communities and the nature of the economic and other relationships which hold them together. Five types of concentration of population may be recognized: the village, the walled or garrison town, the temporary market, the market town, and the treaty port.

● POPULATION AND URBAN COMMUNITIES

What do we mean by "urban" as applied to a community? This question is difficult to answer. In the United States the Bureau of the Census calls a community of 2,500 people or more a city; and a community in which the incorporated area has a population of 50,000 and the outlying suburbs a population density of 150 per square mile is termed a metropolitan area. But not all sociologists agree to this standard. In fact, there exists no absolute generally accepted standard. Mark Jefferson, for example, calls a city an area with a population of 10,000 per square mile, while, for Walter F. Willcox, 1,000 individuals per square mile is enough to enable him to designate the area as a city.[1] Although these men disagree as to the numbers to be used, both use population density as the criterion for differentiating rural and urban areas. This is possible because in the United States a dense population is always organized into a city. But in China the situation is different. For instance, in my native province of Kiangsu the average population density is over 500 per square mile; in Shantung it is 615; in Chekiang, 657; and in some parts of these provinces it is more, even, than 6,000 persons per square mile.[2] If we applied Willcox's criterion, this whole area should be called a city. But to do so would be simply to abandon common sense. If we accept the notion that different standards must be adopted for the situation in China, which is so different from that in the United States, the question arises: What sort of standard, then, shall we use? It is clear that the density of population alone is insufficient for differentiating rural from urban communities.

In studying urban and rural communities from the point of view of population, the emphasis should be laid not upon quantity or density but rather upon distribution. We see that, as economic life develops among human beings, the population begins to concentrate at certain points which seem like nuclei of cells. The nuclear concentration in an area may be called urban; the area surrounding it, rural. Inevitably, there will be a difference in population density related to the process of concentration in the nucleus and in the area surrounding it. But we cannot pick this or that number of persons per square mile as a basis for distinguishing communities at different stages of economic development. Assuming a high density of population, our main problem is to analyze why the population concentrates in a few spots.

在讨论了士绅在中国政治结构中的地位之后，下面我们来看一下他们在经济秩序中的地位。但是，要理解这一点，我们先要认清城乡社区形式的差别以及把城乡结合在一起的经济和其他关系的本质。我们可以看到人口聚集的五种类型：村、衙门围墙式的城、临时集市、镇和通商口岸。

● 人口与城市社区

怎样的社区才能算是一个“城”呢？这个问题很难回答。美国人口局规定2500人以上聚居的地方称作“城”；市区人口超过5万，近郊区域的人口密度为每平方英里150人以上的社区，称作“都会”。但是，并不是所有社会学者都同意这个标准。实际上，没有绝对的被广泛认可的标准。例如，马克·杰斐逊就认为，人口密度在每平方英里1万人以上才能称作城市，而沃尔特·弗朗西斯·威尔科克斯则认为每平方英里有1000人已足以称为一个城市。[3]虽然他们在数量问题上意见不一，但都把人口密度作为划分城乡的标准，这种做法是可行的，因为在美国人口密集的地方往往就会建成一个城市。中国的情况则有所不同，例如在我的家乡江苏省，平均人口密度为每平方英里超过500人，山东为615人，浙江为657人，在这些省的某些地方，人口密度甚至超过每平方英里6000人。[4]如果采用威尔科克斯的标准，这些都可以叫做城市社区了，这显然与常识不符。如果我们认同说情况与美国截然不同的中国要有一套不同的标准的话，那么问题是：我们应该用哪一种标准呢？很明显，仅人口密度不足以区分城市和乡村社区。

从人口角度来研究城乡社区时，重点应放在人口的分布上而不是数量或密度上。我们认识到，随着人类经济生活的发展，一个区域里会产生若干人口密集的中心地点，像是细胞中产生了核心。一个区域的核心就是“城”，核心的外围人口密度较低的地方是“乡”。在人口聚集过程中，核心和外围区域在人口密度上不可避免地会产生差别，但是我们不能以每平方英里的这个或那个人数作为区分不同经济发展阶段的社区的基础。假设一个地区人口密度高，我们的主要问题是分析为什么人口会聚集在少数几个地点上。

In self-sufficient economies, whether nomadic or agricultural, each unit may live by itself, and its population may be dispersed over an area. There is no economic necessity for a nucleus, and, even if individuals come together, there is no economic differentiation. In cultivating the land, for practical reasons, if for no other, we should expect to find farmers settled on their own land so as to be near their work and to have their produce close at hand. This is what we call the dispersed type of agriculture, which is the usual thing in America.[5] But in China, except for a few places, such as the hilly areas of Szechwan, the situation is quite different. Chinese farmers live not in isolation but close together in villages. Two factors, the kinship organization and the need for mutual protection, are important in particular in bringing this about. Where, as in China, brothers inherit their father's land equally, all tend to remain together upon the land. If there is any free land near by, the family may spread out, and in the course of several generations a clan village may be developed. The fact of kinship keeps people living together in the same locality. Moreover, it is true that, although the lengthening of the distance between farms and living quarters is disadvantageous from an economic standpoint, living together in one place has great advantages from the point of view of security. Farming communities are easily invaded, and the best way to be safe is for the farmers to concentrate their families and produce in one place which is easier to protect and which may be inclosed with some sort of wall. A concentration of farm families of this sort we call a village.

The emphasis on defense appears from the very construction of the farmhouses themselves. In the mountains and hilly areas villages are smaller, and there may appear scattered homesteads with their own walled inclosures like primitive fortresses. Or, if structures of this sort are lacking, we will see that in the outer walls there are no windows, so that the house looks entirely inward. In larger villages we often find a central walled-in place to which the people can retire when necessary and where they can store their produce in case of an attack from outside. Even in more peaceful and orderly spots like Kiangsu, which we call Paradise, where river transport is more important than roads, the river will be blocked with a wooden gate every evening or in case of emergency. But here the form of the houses is modified, and windows are open to the street.

在自给自足的经济中，无论是游牧还是农业，每个生活单位都可以独立生存，人口可能在一个区域上散布开来。没有什么经济需求促使人口聚集，即使个体聚集在一起，也不会存在经济上的差等。以耕种土地而言，如果不考虑其他而只考虑实际的原因，农民最好是住在他所经营的土地上，便于耕种和收获。这就是所谓的散居式的农业，在美国极常见。[6]但在中国，除了几个地方，如四川的山区，其他地方就很少有了。中国的农民不是各自独居的，而是聚居在村落里。这种模式的形成有两个特别重要的原因，就是亲属的联系和互相保护的需要。在中国，兄弟平均继承父亲的土地，他们都希望共同生活在这片土地上。如果周围还有闲散的土地，家庭就会开垦扩展土地，几代之后就可以发展成一个小的同姓村落。亲属的联系也使他们住在同一个地方。另外，土地和居住地点间距离上的增大在经济上的确是不利的，但是这种聚居在安全上却是大为有利的。农业社区很容易遭到侵略，农民获得安全的最佳方式是将他们的家庭集中起来，在一个地方从事生产工作，这样更容易保护，周围可以围上墙。这种农户的聚居点我们称作“村”。

从农舍的建筑本身就可以看出对防卫的重视。山区的村落较小，分散的农家建筑带有围墙，像是原始的堡垒。或者，如果建筑不是这种结构，我们会看到外墙上是没有窗户的，整座房子完全是向内的。大一些的村落里有的在中心区域还筑造了围墙，必要时居民可以撤退到围墙之内去，每家的农产品也可以储存在这里以备受外来侵略时用。即使在较为安定、秩序较好、水运比陆运更为重要的地区，比如被称作天堂的江苏，每晚或在紧急情况时，河道都要以木门隔断。但是这里的建筑样式有所改变，窗户朝向街道。

Whatever the variation in form and whatever the size, as an assemblage of self-sufficient units, without a differentiation of function or division of labor among its members, we may recognize it as a village or rural community rather than as a town or urban center. The village, then, may be seen as one type of organization. The towns of China, on the other hand, are not all of one type but vary according to their function.

● THE WALLED OR GARRISON TOWN: A POLITICAL CENTER

An important type of urban center is the walled town or ch'eng. The original meaning of this word is "wall," "inclosure," or "defense work." Constructions for defense may vary in size and quality. Sometimes they are built for a single family; sometimes for a village. But, when the word ch'eng is used, it designates a wall or defensive construction on a larger scale, one built to protect a political center. To make a wall of this sort is a big enterprise which cannot be accomplished by private means alone; it must be a public work shared in by the people over a large area. Both political power and political purpose are needed to construct this kind of large wall.

A ch'eng, then, is an instrument of the ruling classes in a political system where power resides in force. The ch'eng is the symbol of power and also a necessary tool for the maintenance of power. As a result, the location of a ch'eng is usually chosen with its political and military uses in mind. In the places where the representative of the monarch was used to stay there had to be a wall to protect him. Every hsien had to have a ch'eng where the representative of the emperor resided. Sometimes, however, when a hsien could not afford to build a ch'eng, the representatives of several hsien would concentrate in one ch'eng. In other words, the ch'eng existed in order to protect the yamen (the bureaucracy). And the existence of the ch'eng clearly illustrates the theory expounded in previous chapters that, in China, monarchical power needed always to be vigilant and on the defensive.

作为一种自给自足的生活单位的聚居，无论其在形式和大小上如何变化，只要成员之间没有功能上的区位分化和劳动分工，我们就把它认作是村或乡村社区，而不是镇或城的中心。村落可以看作是一种组织。另一方面，中国的镇不止有一种，而是根据功能的不同而在类型上也有所不同。

● 衙门围墙式的城：一个政治中心

一种重要的城市中心类型就是有围墙的城镇或者说“城”，这个字最初的含义是指“城墙”、“包围”或“防御工事”。防御工事可以在大小或质量上有所不同，有时一家，有时一村。但是称作“城”时，则指较大规模的城墙或防御工事，它所保卫的是一个政治中心。建造这样一个大的城墙工事不是私家所能单独完成的。这必是一个公共的工事，由较大区域的人民共同负担。这种大的城墙工事是要凭借政治权力和政治目的才能修建的。

因此，在一个依靠武力来统治的政治体系中，城墙是统治阶级的保护工具。城是权力的象征，是维护权力的必要工具。所以，城的地点经常是依照政治和军事的需要而定的。在皇权代表的驻扎地点必然要有一个保卫设施的城。每一个县在皇帝的代表知县住的地方要有一个城。如果有的县不能单独建造城的话，几个县的政府有时合住在一个城里。换句话说，城是为了保护“衙门”（官署）的。城的存在清楚地表明了前面讲过的理论，即在中国，皇权常常需要保持警惕和自我保护。

In Yunnan we see that, in building a walled city, the custom is ordinarily to build the wall partly on a hilltop and partly on the plain because this type of construction is easier to defend. If built on flat ground, a moat, called a ch'ih ("pond") or huang ("ditch") was dug about it. (By extension, the guard who rules the district in the spirit world, who is a counterpart of the magistrate who rules this world, was called a ch'eng huang.) It is clear that the wall and the moat have symbolized a seat of authority far back in Chinese history. Within the walled inclosure, even in cities such as Peking and Nanking, there was usually a large amount of cultivable land which in case of siege even in these days has often been useful for providing perishable foodstuffs. The ideal city, from the traditional point of view, was a self-sufficient castle. And even now the government may, in emergencies, order the gates of a city to be closed. Recently, even before martial law was established in Peking, the city gates were closed every evening at seven o'clock.

Although the ch'eng symbolized security, the population within the walls might not necessarily be greater than in communities outside. In fact, in Yunnan it is common to find the walled towns smaller in size than the adjacent villages. Yet the well-protected area of the town had its attractions for certain people. To be a rich man, or even one just a little well-to-do, has never been safe in China, as we said before. Owing to the low cost of labor, landowners need not be very wealthy in order to be freed from the necessity for working their own lands, and in such a case they might feel moved to rent out their land and move to the walled town. Riches obtained from exploitation need to be protected by political power, and governmental authority might be used, when necessary, to collect rent for absentee owners. In Yunnan a troop of soldiers was, at one time, sent to collect rents.[7] As previously described, the landowners tend to maintain a close personal relationship with the bureaucracy. And it was this combination of officialdom and landed gentry which gave the walled or garrison town its special character.

For the use of the dwellers in the walled town there developed handicraft industries. The greater the concentration of landowners as well as of wealth, the greater the development of craftsmen and the more skilled and varied the types of things produced. The silver of Chengtu, the embroidery of Soochow, the silk of Hangchow, and the cloisonné of Peking are all examples of art handicrafts which attained a high degree of development. In centers of this sort a more far-reaching trade in the local specialty as well as in local country products, such as fur or herbs, might grow up. But the walled town was not typically a trading center, nor did it serve to supply the needs of the peasant population. Luxury goods of the sort mentioned above were not within the reach of the country people living on an economy of bare subsistence. The craftsmen who lived in the walled towns, such as the tailor (who occupied a place at the front gate of a big house and served as gateman as well), the carpenters, the dispensers of drugs and tonics, the silversmiths, and all the others did not serve the villagers but rather the landlords, somewhat as the artists and craftsmen in the Middle Ages served their lords. Economic activity in these fortified centers of administration, then, was based not on an exchange of goods between producers but on the purchasing power of consumers who gained their wealth largely from exploitative relationships with the country.[8]

在云南，我们看到，建造县城的通常做法是一半在山丘上，一半在平地里，以易于防守。如果建在平地里，沿城要掘一道环城的水道，叫“池”（有水的城池）或“隍”（无水的城池）。（由此延伸，在神灵世界中控制这一地区的守卫者，就是与现实世界中的县令平起平坐者，叫“城隍”。）很明显，城和池是久远的中国历史上的权力之位的象征。在城墙内，即使是在北京和南京这样的大城市内，也通常有一些可以耕种的土地，万一城市被围困，这些田地可以供给居民不易储藏的食品，即使到今天也是如此。依照传统的观点，理想的“城”是一个能自给自足的堡垒。即使在今天，遇有危急情况，官府也要下令关上城门。最近，即使在北京的军事管制实行以前，城门每晚都是七点钟关闭的。

虽然城象征着安全，但城区的人口并不一定要比外面社区的人口多。实际上，云南有许多县城比邻近的村子要小，但是，有着良好防御工事的城区有它吸引人口的力量。像我们前面讲过的那样，在中国，一个富有的人或稍有些财富的人从来都是不安全的。由于劳动成本很低，地主不必非常富有就可摆脱耕种土地之累，在这种情况下，他可能更愿意把土地租出去，然后搬到城里去住。剥削而来的财富需要得到政权的保护，必要时用政治权威来为不在当地的地主收租。在云南，一队士兵曾被派去收租。[9]像前面所描述的那样，地主希望与官僚保持密切的私人关系，正是官僚与地主阶级的这种联合使得围墙式的城镇有其特色。

为了城里居民的需要，手工业发展起来。地主集中的数量越多，积累的财富越多，手工艺从业者也就越多，这类手工业品的种类也越多，手艺也越精细。成都的银器、苏州的刺绣、杭州的丝绸和北京的景泰蓝都是手工业高度发展的例子。在这类中心地区，各地的土特产如毛皮或药草等影响更加深远的贸易也可能发展起来。但是城并不是一个典型的贸易中心，也不为农民提供生活用品。上面所列的那些奢侈的消费品不是生活在拮据经济状况下的农民所能购买的。生活在城里的手工业者，如裁缝（在大户人家的前门占一块地，也同时充当门房）、木匠、卖药的、银匠以及其他人，他们并不为农民服务，而是为地主服务，有点儿像中世纪时为他们的主人服务的艺匠。这些行政防御中心地区的经济活动，并不以生产者之间的商品交换为基础，而是以主要通过剥削农民而获得财富的消费者的购买力为基础。[10]

Besides their money from rents, landowners derived income from investing their capital in pawnshops, in the loaning-out of money at high rates, and in rice shops. Once I asked a resident of a walled town about how much moneylending went on there and was told by him that everyone in town engaged in this activity. He probably merely meant that most of the townsfolk did so. And the poor country people who come to borrow money will usually be forced to sell their land eventually in order to pay their debts.[11]

The investment of the rice-shop owner may be increased through speculation as well as through merely buying and selling rice. He will then buy rice when the price is low and keep it to sell when the price is higher. In a number of places the rice shop had still another function—that of husking the rice, either, as in former times, by means of machinery run by water power or, as at present, by crude-oil or electric power. (But in the villages of the interior, in particular, we may still see the villagers husking their rice by pounding it.)

In general, this type of town was not conducive to the development of either industry or commerce, and that which did exist, for the most part, served the wealthy classes who had taken up their residence there for political or security reasons.

● MARKETS AND TOWNS DEVELOPED FROM TRADE

Self-sufficiency was highly developed in the rural economy of China, but it was not complete. Some of the necessities of life of the villagers came from exchange with other villagers and some from the outside. So we do find trading activities in the rural areas, and this is another factor in the concentration of population. We may distinguish, as centers of trade, temporary markets from market towns.

地主除了从地租获得收入之外，还利用他的资本从事典当、高利贷、米行等经济活动，以此来增加收入。我在一个县城里调查放高利贷的情况时，一位朋友就告诉我：“城里这些人全是放债的。”这句话并非完全是事实，他可能只是说放债的人很多罢了。那些贫穷的乡下人来此借债最终不得不把地卖掉来还债。[12]

而米行老板的投资可以通过投机和单纯的米的买卖来获得丰厚回报。他在米价低时买进，等到米价高时再卖出。在许多地方，米行还有另外一个功能，就是碾米，以前是利用水力，现在则用柴油机或电机。（但特别是在内地的乡村，我们仍可见到人们是用舂米的方式。）

总的说来，这种城对于工业和商业的发展都无益，即使是实际存在的工商业，很大程度上也是为那些由于政治和安全的考虑而居住于此的富有阶层服务的。

● 由贸易发展而来的集市和镇

在中国，乡村经济自给程度很高但不完全，有些农民所需的必需品是从别村或外界交换而来。所以我们在乡村也能见到贸易活动，这是人口集中的另一个因素。作为贸易中心，我们可以把临时性的“集市”与“镇”区分开来。

In interior China temporary markets are still common. These have names which vary with the locality and which indicate that they are a local development rather than something imposed from the top and alike throughout the country as the ch'eng. The terms for temporary market refer to places where producers exchange goods among themselves.[13] Since the producers cannot engage in trade every day, this kind of market usually takes place only every few days (in Yunnan the common practice is to hold a market every six days). On market day the villagers bring to the market the things they wish to sell and bring back, at the end of the day, what they have bought in exchange. The size of the market varies according to the area which it covers, large markets having sometimes more than ten thousand people. On the Dragon Day, Sheep Day, or Dog Day markets in Yunnan, when one stands on the top of a hill and looks down, there appears to be a sea of human beings moving back and forth like waves. People are so crowded together that their shoulders touch, and it is hard to move. But the crowd does not last long. At sunset they will be leaving, and by evening the place will be empty.

Markets of this temporary nature do not represent a community. The term "market" refers merely to a location which has been selected for its convenience in communication. Usually it must be a large open space, often the open area near a temple, where people are apt to gather. Where trading is more developed, markets of this sort become more frequent. Gradually around the big open space will spring up small storehouses for the merchants who buy up local products and transport them to other places as well as teahouses for those who wish to sit and rest. As the demand grows for more supplies from outside, what is brought in by the peddlers will not be enough. In time a store may be established close to the market center, and eventually there will develop a permanent community which we call a market town, or shih.

In the Lake Tai area, where communication by water is much quicker than by land, this type of town has had more chance to develop. As described in Peasant Life in China, a so-called "agent boat" buys things for the villagers, each boat roughly serving about a hundred households. By using the morning to go to town and the afternoon to come back, a boat of this sort can cover quite an area. In town there are usually hundreds of these agent boats, supplying tens of thousands of rural families. The stores in town have special arrangements with one or more boats for their supplies, and thus, by having access to such a large number of consumers, a large commercial center may be maintained. But in the interior of China, where communication is difficult, towns of this sort are very few.

在中国内地，临时性的集市仍旧非常普遍。各地方的名称不同，意味着它们是在地方上发展起来的，而不是像“城”一样由上面推行、遍及全国。临时集市是指生产者之间相互交换的场合[14]，由于生产者不能每天都从事贸易活动，因此这样的集市每隔几天才有一次（云南通常是六天一次）。赶市的那一天，各村的乡民提着他们要卖的东西上街，赶集日结束时再带回交换所得的东西。各地集市大小各不相同，大的集市有时会有上万人。在云南的龙街、羊街和狗街，站在山坡上往下看，人山人海，来来往往的人群就像起伏的波浪。人群太过拥挤，接踵摩肩，连前行都很困难。但拥挤的人群并不会持续很长时间，太阳落山时，他们先后离去，到了晚上就没有人了。

临时的集市不代表社区，它不过是一个交通方便的地点。一般来说，它必须是一片开阔的空地，附近有庙，易于人们聚集。随着贸易的发展，这种集市变得越来越频繁。渐渐地，在空地周围出现了贩运商品的小型栈房和供人休息的茶舍。随着对外界商品需求的增长，贩运商人运来的商品已不够用。一段时间后可能就会在靠近集市中心的地方出现囤积商品的仓库，最后发展成为永久的社区，我们不妨将此叫做“镇”，或者“市”。

在水运比陆运快捷的太湖流域，镇尤其易于发展。像我在《江村经济——中国农民的生活》一书中所描述的那样，有一种为村民买东西的“代理航船”，每只航船代理一百多户农家。它们每天一早从村子驶出，下午回来，能为很大一片区域提供服务。在镇上，常常有几百只船为几万农家办货。镇里的商店和个别的船只维持着专门的供应关系，有了这样大的消费区域，大的商业中心可能得以维持下去。但是在交通不便的内地，这种镇是很少的。

Market and garrison towns can be differentiated not only theoretically but also by mere inspection. In Yunnan their aspects are very different. Around Kunming, which is a big walled city, there are six or seven temporary markets. It is true that Kunming has recently also become a commercial center, but it has not developed through rural consumption. On the main street of Kunming there are department stores selling foreign goods and merchants selling gold. Those who buy here are mostly city dwellers or traders from various other towns. Very few villagers come to buy things directly from these shops. They buy the things they need from the markets which surround the city walls.

We may take another example of a small garrison town of Yunnan in which there is only one main street inside the town walls. On this street are several teashops, a barbershop, and a shop with miscellaneous drygoods and sweets. Outside the walls, a fifteen-minute walk away, is the Dragon Day market. Though within easy reach of the town, it is quite distinct from it. The town represents a political center in which, the chief interest being security, the location chosen was a hillside, which is easier to defend. The latter, developing through trade, selected a position at a crossroads, which makes it easily accessible to the villagers round about. In the Lake Tai area in my own native district, Wukiang, the garrison town is much smaller and less prosperous than the nearby market towns, such as Chen-tse. In the Ch'ing dynasty this garrison town contained two district governments, but, besides the governmental yamens, it had mainly private residences and only one main street. Here one sees clearly the difference in function between garrison and market town.

It is true that these two types of town do have certain similarities, since the market town is also the place where landowners gather. When they live in an economic center, they have more opportunity to make commercial use of the capital which they have accumulated from the land. But, according to traditional standards, the landlord who engaged in trade occupied a lower position than did the landlord who was an official in the ch'eng. However, as this tradition has been gradually breaking down, a high position in the market town is often a step toward a high position in a garrison town. In the market town, where the shops are the center of the community, there are also small industries and handicrafts developed to serve the community itself and for export to rural areas. In this way the two types of town also resemble each other.

市镇和城不但在概念上可以区分，事实上也是常常分开的。在云南这种情形可以看得很清楚。昆明这个大城的附近就围绕着六七个临时集市。当然昆明最近已发展成一个商业中心，但它不是通过乡村的消费而发展起来的。昆明的主要街道上有卖洋货的百货公司和金店，从这里买东西的人多数是城里的居民和从别的镇来的商人，只有很少的村民直接从这些店铺里买东西。他们是从环绕着城墙的集市上买自己所需要的东西。

我们可以举云南的另一个衙门围墙式的小城为例，其城墙内只有一条主要街道。这条街上有几家茶舍、一家理发店和一家干货糖果店。在城外，步行十五分钟就是龙街，虽然与城相隔不远，但却截然不同。城代表了政治中心，以安全为主要目的，地点选在山坡上，易于防守；而集市由贸易发展而来，地点选在十字路口，便于附近的村民往来。以太湖流域的情形说，我的故乡吴江县的县城远不及附近的震泽等市镇大和发达。在清朝，两个县政府同在这个县城里，但是除了政府衙门之外，主要是私人住户，只有一条主要的街。由此我们可以清楚地看出城和市镇的不同功能来。

城和市镇确实有着一些相似之处，因为市镇也是地主们蚁集之所。当他们居住在经济中心时，就有更多的机会把从地里得来的钱财用作商业目的。但是，根据传统的标准，做生意的地主比在城里的官僚地主地位要低。然而，随着这个传统渐渐被打破，镇上的高位往往意味着离城里的高位更迈近了一步［参照费孝通著《乡土中国与乡土重建》，原意为“镇的地位事实已有超过了县城的”（台北：风云时代出版公司，1993年，第136页）——编者注］。在镇上，店铺成为社区的中心，随之发展了一些小型的工业和手工业来为社区服务，并向乡村地区出售产品，在这方面很类似于城。

But even though these two types of towns do tend to overlap and are sometimes even combined into one community, it seems worth while to try to differentiate them conceptually, the garrison town as the seat of traditional bureaucratic authority and the wealthy gentry, the market town as a link between the peasants' local industry and more highly developed commerce and manufacturing.

● THE TREATY PORT

We come, then, to the last type of concentration of population—the treaty port. I should like to make clear here that the Chinese modern city which developed from the treaty port not only differs from the traditional town, either of the market-town or of the garrison-town type, but also differs notably from the modern metropolitan city in the West. Those who advocate urbanization in China usually take the position that a city such as Shanghai is similar to New York and London. Such a conclusion is most misleading, because there is a real and very essential difference between Chinese cities and Western metropolises. Metropolitan cities like New York and London may be viewed as nerve centers for a wide economic area. The development of the center indicates the development of the hinterland, since they are bound up together. Through this relationship the economic division of labor of the different areas is facilitated. But Shanghai is different. It is not the center of an economically independent area but rather is a treaty port which was forced open by political agreement. It is a gateway to an economically underdeveloped continent, opened toward the Occident, rather than a city which, like New York or London, grew up through the economic development of its own hinterland. Shanghai and other treaty ports are the result of the impact of economies at different levels. Thus Shanghai originally was only a small fishing village occupying an insignificant position in the traditional economy. Since it has become a gate to the interior, it has entirely changed and has prospered mightily.

But its prosperity does not mean the prosperity of the hinterland, because it represents not a mutual development but rather the establishment of a superior economic force working its way toward a dominance of a less-well-developed area. The fact that treaty ports like Shanghai had for a long period a special political position as foreign settlements where Chinese power could not reach was no accident, since economically they were also separate from Chinese economy. On the one hand, they were a gate by means of which foreign goods could come in; on the other, they served as ratholes for dribbling away Chinese wealth. When I call the treaty ports "economic ratholes," I mean that they were fundamentally similar to the garrison towns, a community of consumers and not of producers. I may be challenged on this point by those who point out that commerce is mutual benefit and that the importation of foreign goods must be balanced by the export of other goods or that otherwise trade will stop. This may apply to New York, but it does not apply to Shanghai. To be sure, there are exports from Shanghai, not only Chinese raw materials but also silver and gold, when other goods are not enough to make a balance of trade. But these goods are not produced in Shanghai or in the industrial areas near by. They are raw materials from the countryside. If Shanghai played the role of connecting foreign consumers with their own producers, it might claim a status similar to that of New York or London. But the fact is that the producers of goods for export do not get back an equal value in imports. The Shanghai people collect the raw materials and sell them to foreign countries and then themselves consume the foreign goods which come in as imports. This relationship is quite similar to the traditional system in the garrison town, which I described above.

即使城和镇互相交错，甚至有时会联合成一个社区，但是把它们从概念上区分开来似乎仍很必要：城是传统官僚地主和富有士绅的基座，镇是联系乡村工业和更为发达的商业与制造业的纽带。

● 通商口岸

现在我们讨论最后一种人口聚居的形式——通商口岸。应该认清的是，从通商口岸发展而来的中国现代城市不仅与传统的镇或县城有所不同，也与现代西方大都市有着明显的区别。那些提倡在中国实行都市化的人常常认为上海与纽约、伦敦相似，这是一个很大的误导，因为中国的城市与西方的都市有着真正的和本质的区别。纽约和伦敦这样的大都市可以看作是一个大的经济区域的神经中枢。中心地区的发展预示了内地的发展，因为它们连成一体，通过这种联系促进了不同地区劳动的经济分工。但上海不同，它不是一个经济自立区域的中心，而是由于政治协议而被迫开放的口岸。它是通向经济不发达的内陆地区的大门，向着西方开放，而不是像纽约和伦敦那样通过自身内地的发展而发达起来的。上海和其他通商口岸是不同层次的经济影响的结果。上海起初只是一个小渔村，在传统经济中的地位无足轻重，但自从成了内地对外开放的大门之后，它发生了巨变并极度繁荣起来。

但是上海的繁荣并不意味着内地的繁荣，因为它并不代表共同发展，而是一种高级经济力量的确立，以逐步支配欠发达的地区。像上海这样的通商口岸，很长时间以来都占据着特殊的政治地位，它们是外国人的居住地，不受中国的控制，这一事实并非偶然，因为从经济上来讲，它们也是与中国的经济相脱离的。一方面，它们是外国商品得以进入中国的大门；另一方面，它们也是中国财富外流的老鼠洞。我把通商口岸称作“经济鼠洞”，是指它们根本上是与县城相似的，是消费者的社区，而不是生产者的社区。那些认为商业是互利行为，进口与出口要达到平衡，否则贸易就会停止的人也许会对这一点提出疑问，对于纽约也许是这样，而上海则不同。可以确定，上海有出口商品，包括国产的原材料、金和银等，而其他商品不足以达到贸易上的平衡。但是这些商品都不是在上海或附近的工业区生产的，它们是来自农村的原材料。如果上海可以使外国人来消费中国产品，那么它或许可以与纽约或伦敦获得相似的地位。但事实却是，出口商品的生产者不能从进口商品中获得同等的价值。上海人收集原材料出口到国外，而自己消费进口商品，这种关系与我上面所提到的县城里的传统体制非常相似。

But there is a difference between the treaty port and the traditional garrison town. In the latter, goods are consumed which are produced in the local area or at least near by, while, in the treaty port, the goods consumed are largely those imported from foreign countries. The treaty port itself, as a great center of foreign influence, is very effective in bringing about the substitution of foreign goods for those produced at home. So we find a new class of wealth and influence in China—the comprador.[15] Part of the foreign goods pass into the towns of the interior, but the main market remains the treaty port or the international settlements. Because of the relative political freedom in these places, they collect all those people who feel they cannot stay in the interior, and, in fact, they become "Grand Hotels" for refugees of all sorts. In calling them "Grand Hotels," I am referring to the fact that most of those who enter the settlements bring with them money to spend. The source of this money is not the treaty port itself but is in the rural areas round about. Straws of various sizes thrust into the rural areas suck out the wealth of China into these ports. It is quite obvious that such an industrially undeveloped metropolis as Shanghai, with a huge population next in size to New York and London, cannot have a self-sufficient economy but depends for its income upon the countryside.[16] As such, it is a garrison town and a community of dependent consumers and parasites rather than a highly developed city of the modern type.

但通商口岸与传统的县城有一点不同，后者的商品在其生产地或至少是附近地区消费，而在通商口岸，消费品大多是来自国外的进口商品。通商口岸本身作为受外国影响的一个巨大中心，在买进本国产品的国外替代品时是非常有效的。所以我们在中国又发现了一个有财富、有影响的阶层，即买办阶层。[17]一部分外国商品进入到内陆城镇，但主要市场仍是在通商口岸或外国人的居住地。由于这些地区的政治相对自由，这里聚集了所有自认为不能呆在内地的人，实际上成了各种难民的“大旅馆”，这样称呼是因为大部分人都带着钱来到这里消费，这些钱并不来自通商口岸，而是来自附近的乡村。乡村的财富如同被粗细不一的吸管不断吸出，涌入这些通商口岸。显而易见，上海这样一个工业不发达的都市，拥有仅次于纽约和伦敦的人口，不能自给自足，而要靠来自乡村的收入。[18]这样看来，它只是一个县城，一个依靠别人的消费者和寄生虫聚集的社区，而不是一个现代的高度发展的都市。

Modern metropolises are the products of industrialization. A country which has not been industrialized cannot have urban centers like New York or London. The treaty port brought about the invasion of an industrialized economy into an economically inferior area, where a simple economy still prevailed. This created a peculiar community which should not be classed with modern urban centers. In order to understand the nature of such a community, we need more research than has so far been done.

现代都市是工业化的结果。一个非工业化国家不会有纽约或伦敦这样的城市中心。通商口岸带来了工业化经济对简单经济仍占主导地位的不发达地区的入侵，这就产生了一种不应该归入现代城市中心的特殊社区。为了理解这一社区的特征，我们现在所作的研究还远远不够。

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[1] Walter F. Willcox, Studies in American Demography (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1940), chap. vi, "Density of Population: Urban and Rural," p. 117. The Mark Jefferson reference has not been found.

[2] China has never had a real census. Rather, population has been computed for purposes of taxation and compulsory labor on the basis of not very accurate estimates. However, from 1932 to 1937, seven experimental censuses, confined to one hsien (district) each, in the case of six, and part of a hsien for the seventh, were taken. These hsien were scattered through five provinces, three in Kiangsu, and one each in Hopeh, Shantung, Chekiang, and Fukien (Tâ Chen, Population in Modern China [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1946]).

[3] 参见《美国人口研究》，沃尔特·弗朗西斯·威尔科克斯著，纽约伊萨卡：康奈尔大学出版社，1940年，第6章“人口密度：城市和乡村”，第117页。马克·杰斐逊的参考文献出处未知。

[4] 中国从未有过真正的人口统计。为了赋税和徭役的目的，才在非常不精确的估计的基础上计算人口数量。但是，1932年至1937年期间，做了7次实验性的人口统计，其中6次是限于一个县内，第7次是一个县的局部地区。这些县分散在5个省，3个在江苏省，其余分别在湖北、山东、浙江和福建。参见《现代中国人口》，陈达著， 芝加哥：芝加哥大学出版社，1946年。

[5] The dispersed farms of America are the exception, of course. Throughout the world old farming populations tend to cluster their houses into villages and go out to their fields.

[6] 美国分散的农场当然是例外。全世界传统的农业人口都往往是聚居在村子里而到村外面去耕作。

[7] "Landlords of big estates establish their own rent-collecting bureaus, and petty landlords pool their claims with them…. At the end of October, the bureau will inform each tenant of the amount of rent that should be paid that year. The information is forwarded by special agents. These agents are employed by the bureau, and have been entrusted with police power by the district government" (Hsiao-tung Fei, Peasant Life in China [New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1939], p. 188).

[8] Compare with Pirenne's description of medieval towns of Europe during the period of closed domestic economy: "As can be easily seen, the burgs were, above all, military establishments.... In case of war, its inhabitants found there a refuge; in time of peace, there they repaired to take part in the assemblies of justice, or to pay off the prestations to which they were subject. Nevertheless, the burg did not show the slightest urban character.... Neither commerce nor industry was possible or even conceivable in such an environment. It produced nothing of itself, lived by revenues from the surrounding country, and had no other economic role than that of a simple consumer" (Henri Pirenne, Mediaeval Cities [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1925], pp. 75 and 76).

[9] “大地主建立了自己的收租机构，小地主与他们合伙……到10月底，收租机构会来通知每个佃户当年应该交纳的地租数目。这件事会由专门的代理人来传达。这些代理人由机构雇佣，并由当地政府授予他们以警察一般的权力。”引自《江村经济——中国农民的生活》，费孝通著，纽约：杜冬出版公司，1939年，第188页。

[10] 与皮朗所描述的封闭经济时期欧洲中世纪的城镇相比：“显而易见，城镇首先是军事设施……战争爆发时，居民把它当作一个避难所，和平时期在此参加公众正义集会，或还清他们在这里所借的贷款。但是，城镇没有显示出丝毫的城市特征……在这种环境下，任何商业或工业都是不可能的，甚至是不可想象的。它不生产任何东西，依靠从周围的农村获得的税收来维持，除了作为一个单纯的消费者之外，没有任何经济上的作用。”引自《中世纪的城市》，亨利·皮朗著，普林斯顿：普林斯顿大学出版社，1925年，第75、76页。

[11] D. K. Lieu, in his recent China's Economic Stabilisation and Reconstruction [New Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University Press, 1948], does not quite agree with Fei's picture of the typical landlord. "While there are landlords who exploit tenants, the worst kind of exploiters, both of tenants and small farmers, are the professional money lenders…. In some sample studies made before the war, the rate of interest charged by these rural Shylocks was from 50 to 100 per cent per annum, or many times the rate on bank loans in the cities, which was from 10 to 15 per cent before the war.... While miserly landlords often lend money to their tenants on the same terms as the money lenders, they are comparatively few. It is to their interest to keep the tenants from being unduly burdened with debt, which would affect the latter's work on the farm, and thus also affect the rent to be collected, especially if it is on a share-cropping basis. Besides, the landlords, particularly the larger ones, have their social standing, and would not like to be regarded as belonging to the same class as the money lender…. In some cases, however, landlords may lend to independent farmers, with the object of obtaining possession of their land, since these farmers, when they are heavily burdened with debt, are usually compelled to sell their land for debt settlement; but such scheming landlords are not very common" (pp. 42–43).

[12] 刘大钧在他最近出版的《中国的经济稳定与重建》（新泽西新布朗斯维克：鲁特格斯大学出版社，1948年）一书中，不太赞同费先生对典型地主的描述：“虽然地主剥削佃户，但是剥削佃户和小农户最厉害的是那些职业的放贷者……在战前做的一些案例分析中，这些农村的‘夏洛克’们收取的年利息一般是50%—100%，比城里银行10%—15%的战前利息高出很多倍……虽然吝啬的地主经常以与放高利贷者相同的条件借钱给佃户，这样的人相对很少。避免让佃户背上过重的债务也符合地主的利益，因为那样会影响佃户种地，因而影响收租，特别是在共同耕种的情形下更是如此。而且，地主——尤其是较大的地主——有一定的社会地位，不愿意与放高利贷的人混为一谈……在有些情况下，地主可能把钱借给自耕农，目的是想占有他们的土地。因为当这些农民债务累累时，他们经常被迫卖地来偿还债务。但是这种狡诈的地主并不多见”（第42—43页）。

[13] "The intimate relation between the periodic market and local production, which is overwhelmingly agricultural, is shown in the monthly sales record for livestock for the year 1932 in central market Sun-chia-chen. Sales fluctuations correspond entirely to the local agricultural calendar.... During the sowing season, fertiliser, hoes, plows, and other market implements connected with the work of the season are sold widely on markets. In harvest seasons, the markets are abundantly supplied with sickles, ropes for bundling stalks, screens and mats for threshing grains. Immediately after harvest, when farm work is in a temporary lag, markets are alive with cardboards for making shoes, cotton yarns and shuttles and other weaving supplies, silk threads and other sewing articles....

"Among the total traders of eleven markets, in one market day, 69.8 per cent of them came to sell their own service and products, both agricultural and handicraft....

"Inquiry into thirty-seven farm families shows that thirty-three rely entirely upon the periodic markets for disposing of their agricultural products; and only four, whose farms are larger than the rest, sell about 25 per cent of their grains directly to merchants…. Products of home industry such as hand loomed cloth, home-made shoes and sewing materials, depend on the market as the sole outlet" (Ching-kun Yang, A North China Local Market Economy: A Summary of a Study of Periodic Markets in Chowping Hsien, Shantung [New York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1945], pp. 10–11).

[14] “中心集市孙家镇1932年每月牲畜买卖的记录表明了定期集市与当地产品（主要是农产品）的密切关系。买卖的波动与当地的农业节气完全吻合。……在播种季节，肥料、锄头、犁以及其他与播种有关的用具在集市上广泛出售。在收获季节，集市上则大量供应镰刀、捆庄稼的绳子、筛子和打谷用的席子。收获季节刚过，到了农闲季节，集市上又出现了做鞋用的纸板、棉纱、梭子和其他纺织用品、丝线和其他缝纫物品……

“在11个集市的所有商人中，一天内有 69.8%的人出售自己的劳动或产品，包括农产品和手工业品……

“对37户农家的调查表明，有33户完全依靠定期集市来处置他们的农产品；只有4户拥有较多农田的人把25%的粮食直接卖给商人。……家庭工业产品例如手织布、自制的鞋和手工缝制的物件只能依靠集市出售。”引自《华北的地方集市经济：山东邹平县定期集市研究》，杨庆堃著，纽约：太平洋国际学会，1945年，第10—11页。

[15] "I possess no sufficient data on the family background of those who form the first line of contact with Western traders, but I strongly suspect that those 'secondhand foreigners,' were, at least for the early period, recruited from the outcasts of the traditional structure, who had lost their positions and sought their fortune by illegal means. Treaty ports are open to them. If they find regular employment in the community, such as servants or interpreters in a foreign concern, they gradually become compradors, or first-boys; if they fail, they form gangs. They live in, and take advantage of, the margin of cultural contact. They are half-caste in culture, bilingual in speech, and morally unstable. They are unscrupulous, pecuniary, individualistic, and agnostic, not only in religion, but in cultural values" (Hsiao-tung Fei, "Peasantry and Gentry," American Journal of Sociology, LII [July, 1946], 14).

[16] Compare this with the imperialism of ancient Rome. "All this brilliant expansion of urban civilisation had in it the seeds of its own decline. It was an external and superficial development, like that of Modern European civilisation in the East, or in the eighteenth century Russia. It was imposed from above, and was never completely assimilated by the subject populations. It was essentially the civilisation of a leisured class, the urban bourgeoisie and their dependents, and though the process of urbanisation promoted the advance of civilisation, it also involved a vast increase of unproductive expenditure and a growing strain on the resources of the empire. As Professor Rostovtzeff has said, every new city meant the creation of a new hive of drones" (Christopher Dawson, The Making of Europe [London: Sheed & Ward, 1932], p. 12).

[17] “对于那些与西方商人直接接触的人，我没有关于他们家庭背景的足够材料，但我可以充分地料想，那些‘二手洋人’，至少在初期，主要是来自被传统社会排斥的人群，他们在社会中已经丧失了地位，试图通过非法手段捞取利益。通商口岸对他们开放。如果他们在社区里找到正常的工作，例如给洋人当差或当翻译，他们就逐渐变成了买办；如果找不到工作，他们就组成帮会。他们生活在文化接触的边缘，同时也在利用这个边缘。他们在文化上处于中间地带，操两种语言，道德上处于不稳定状态。不仅在宗教上，而且在文化价值上，他们都肆无忌惮，推崇金钱、个人主义和不可知论。”引自费孝通，《农民与士绅》，载于《美国社会学学刊》第52卷，1946年7月，第14页。

[18] 以此与古代罗马的帝国主义相比较。“所有这些明智的城市文明的扩张都埋有自取毁灭的种子。这是一种外部和表面的发展，像东方或18世纪俄罗斯的现代欧洲文明。这是由上层强压下来的，从未被下级百姓完全吸收。它本质上是有闲阶级、城市资产阶级及其仆从的文明，虽然都市化进程促进了文明的进步，但是它也导致了非生产性花费的大量提高以及帝国资源吃紧的不断升级。正如罗斯托夫教授所说，每一个新的城市都意味着创造出一个新的蜂巢。”引自《欧洲的诞生》，克里斯托弗·唐森著，伦敦：席德与沃德出版社，1932年，第12页。