工业发展与城市变化:明中叶至清中叶的苏州(中)

五、明清苏州城市的人口变化道光《苏州府志》卷10说晚明的苏州府,“聚居城郭者十之四五,聚居市镇者十之三四,散处乡村者十之一二”,亦即城市人口占到全府人口的十分之八九。虽然这个说法无疑有夸大,但城市人口在苏州府总人口中所占比重很高则是可以肯定的。苏州府本是明清江南城市化水平最高之处,而苏州地区（即吴、长、元三县）又是苏州府内城市化水平最高的地区。仔细来看,在本文所研究的三个世纪中,苏州城市人口有很大变化。对于这个变化,我们也从府城与郊区市镇两个方面来进行考察。（一）府城的人口变化明代后期苏州府城（城…     

工业发展与城市变化:明中叶至清中叶的苏州(下)

七、工业发展与城市变化之间的关系　　早在半个世纪以前 ,宫崎市定就已深刻地指出 :明清时期的苏州 ,“不仅是一个政治城市 ,而且还是一个商业城市 ,并逐渐变化为一个轻工业城市” 。这个结论十分正确 ,因为到了清代中期 ,仅只就工业中的一个部门———丝织业而言 ,就成为了苏州府城的经济支柱。正如后人所言 :“有清一代 ,苏垣东半城几全为丝织业所聚居……地方经济之荣枯 ,亦几视丝织业之兴衰为断” 。这里我们要强调的是 ,虽然宫崎氏所说的苏州仅只是苏州府城 ,但是他的这个结论同样也适用于本文所说的苏州城市。简言之 ,由于本文…     

工业发展与城市变化:明中叶至清中叶的苏州(上)

在明中叶至清中叶的三个世纪中 ,苏州城市有显著扩大。这个扩大同时表现为城市地域范围的扩展与城市人口的增加。苏州城市变化的主要趋势 ,是城市从府城内扩大到城厢附郭和郊区市镇 ,从而形成一个以府城为中心、以郊区市镇为“卫星城市”的特大城市。苏州城市变化的主要动力来自城市工业的发展。城市工业的发展 ,并非单纯的府城工业向外转移 ,而是在比较优势的基础上形成的合理的地域分工。经过这三个世纪的发展 ,到了清代中期 ,城市工业在苏州经济中已经居于主导地位。苏州的城市变化代表了明清中国城市发展的一种新道路 ,亦即傅衣凌先生所说的“苏杭型”城市的发展道路     

嘉道年間江南的漕弊

嘉道年間的漕務是與積弊聯繫在一起的,作爲一種常態而存在的漕弊,本身即是制度的組成部分。在財政層面,漕弊主要表現爲旗丁幫費問題、大小户問題、漕糧的浮收勒折與虧空問題。嘉道年間的江南,一方面是倉漕衛所規費、旗丁幫費、官紳漕規、州縣浮收逐年遞增,而另一方面,捏災、短漕、虧空也隨之愈演愈烈,這導致了漕糧河運制度在道咸之交的崩潰。本文認爲:從財政結構的角度來看,所謂漕弊是各種浮費代表的額外財政對於額定財政的空前侵蝕。     

军阀与内阁——北洋军阀统治时期内阁阁员群体构成与分析(1916-1928)

北洋军阀统治时期,军人干政成为北京政治生活中的常态。内阁作为北京政府的最高行政机构,不仅掌握着中央财力的分配权和地方督军、巡阅使的任命权,且作为正统的合法性来源,成为军阀竞相角逐的对象。内阁阁员群体的社会结构和社会网络表明,地域因素、同学关系、亲属关系等都是影响内阁群体构成的重要因素。这表明中国在封建王朝向近代国家转变的过程中,传统社会关系对现实政治具有深刻影响。     

1916-1924年中国银行广东分行的三次停兑风潮

1914年6月,中国银行广东分行成立,银行成立之初,信用坚挺．所发纸币流通较广,成为地方金融中枢。1916年粤省政局迭变,引起金融风潮．粤中行先后经历了三次停兑,最终导致破产。     

George V and Repulicanism, 1917-1919

This article is a study of the British monarchy's reaction towhat it saw as a republican threat at the end of the First WorldWar. It challenges the widely received view that the most importantrepublican moment in modern British history was in the early1870s. Written from previously unused material in the RoyalArchives, it chronicles the emergence of Palace worries aboutthe rise of militant socialism, which the royal family equatedwith republicanism; and it illuminates the tactics designedby the King and his advisers to take the republican edge offthe labour movement and to deal with the immediate social andeconomic crisis. Lord Esher summed up Palace policy in the phrase‘the "democratization" of the monarchy’. In practice,this meant expanding the royal family's social and charitablepurposes to ensure the Crown's survival. The policy would havean enduring influence on royal thinking and behaviour. ¹ This article was written for the Visiting Fellows' Colloquium,All Souls College, Oxford. It expands a line of argument thatwas put more tentatively and with far less documentation inChapter 6 of my book Royal Bounty: The Making of a Welfare Monarchy(London, 1995). By gracious permission of Her Majesty the Queen,I have been able to make use of material from the Royal Archivesat Windsor.     

The Romney Street Group: Its Origins and Influence--1916-1922

Contemporary historians tend to be drawn to study formal institutions,largely because they leave formal records. But as politicalscientists have long argued, informal networks can be of equalimportance and influence. Throughout the last century, dininggroups were amongst the most common of these networks; and theRomney Street Group, which has been existence in various guisessince 1917, is eminent amongst them. This article looks at themethodological problems of analysing such groups, as well asits early history. Amongst its early members were R.H. Tawneyand Tom Jones, symbolizing the link the group forged betweenthe liberal intellectuals behind The Athenaeum and Lloyd George'snewly formed Cabinet Secretariat. Its principal focus was thepostwar reconstruction of industrial and international relations.Although its immediate impact appears to have been small, itcontinued to keep reconstruction ideals alive, in general throughjournalism and the private contacts of its members and in particularthrough Tom Jones, who was successively the confidant of LloydGeorge and Baldwin.