清末小额通货更替与灾赈货币流通转型——以光绪三十二年江北赈案为例

庚子之后,清政府的官方小额通货铸造出现了由制钱向铜元的更替,清末灾赈中的货币流通机制也由此发生转型。光绪三十二年的江北赈案中,铜元短缺成为阻碍赈灾的首要困难,而遵循"以钱导粮、以钱导民"理念的《官义合办赈务章程》进一步增加了银钱兑换与铜元运输的压力。江苏当局通过奏请增铸铜元、采买外省铜料与铜元、倡导民间义捐铜元以及粜价归赈等措施来筹兑铜元,基本缓解了铜元困境。以此赈案为例可知,清末灾赈中小额通货的控制权与主导权发生明显转移,原有的"钱赈"机制出现转型,铜元融通问题成为赈款流通链条的核心环节,而官方通过控制铜元的供给与调运实际主导了灾赈的运转。

The Replacement of Small Cash and the Transformation of "Copper Cash Relief" in the Late Qing Dynasty:A Case Study of Jiangbei Famine Relief in 1906

After the Boxer Uprising,the official small cash casting of the Qing government changed from traditional copper coin (one-cent) to the new one (ten-cent),at the same time the currency circulation mechanism in the famine relief of the late Qing Dynasty also changed greatly.In the famine relief of Northern Jiangsu Province in 1906,the shortage of copper coins became the primary difficulty that hindered the relief,and the Official Regulations for Famine Relief,which followed the idea of "guiding grain by copper coins" and "guiding the people by copper coins" further increased the pressure on the exchange of silver for copper cash and the transportation of cash.The Jiangsu authorities mainly raised the new copper coins by requesting increased casting of copper coins,buying copper and copper coins from other provinces,soliciting private donations,and implementing famine relief by using the copper coins obtained from selling relief grain.These measures basically alleviated the difficulty of supplying copper coins.Taking this famine relief case as an example,it can be seen that the "copper cash relief" in the late Qing Dynasty had an obvious transformation,that the exchange of new copper coins became the core link in the circulation chain of relief funds.Meanwhile,the control of small cash in famine relief also witnessed an obvious transformation,in which government led the operation of "copper cash relief " by controlling the supply and transportation of copper coins.