Tongzhou's Commerce in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

During the Ming and Qing dynasty, Tongzhou was not only a riverside port city for transporting grain to the capital, a key site for goods storage, but also witnessed the means of transportation of commercial goods from southern China changed from water to land, where commercial goods imported to Beijing together with those to be sold in northern China splits. Both the Ministry of Revenue (Gongbu) and Ministry of Works (Hubu) set up their customs in Tongzhou, respectively, and Zhangjiawan was the subsection of the customs; the major commercial goods including grain, liquor, distiller’s yeast, textiles, and groceries, were transferred through the customs of Ministry of Works. Judging from the establishment of broker house and broker tax, the volume of commodities being transported via Zhangjiawan might be bigger than Tongzhou. Shanxi merchants established guild halls (huiguan) in both Tongzhou and Zhangjiawan. They transported bulk commodities such as textiles and tea to the north of China, while Zhangjiakou and Guihuacheng were their main resale destinations. In other words, both Tongzhou and Zhangjiawan were important transportation ports for the businesses of Shanxi merchants regarding their trades within the northern territory as well as the trade at Khyagt between late imperial China and tsarist Russia.     

明清北京通州运河水系变化与码头迁移研究

明清时期,通州是大运河北端的漕运枢纽,漕运物资悉经通州码头转运至北京。由于通州一带土质松软,水道迁徙频繁,对漕运码头影响巨大。在自然水道自身变化和人力整治的叠加作用下,通州运河水系格局屡有变迁,位于通州附近的运河码头分布和功能也随着水系格局改变而迁移和调整。本文从分析明清时期通州运河水系格局变迁入手,梳理通州码头兴衰起伏和迁移分布过程,以阐述河道变迁与通州漕运码头之间的依存关系。通州码头变迁实际上是人与自然之间互相作用,互相影响的结果。