近代中国邮政空间的“国进民退”

近代中国邮政空间主要是以民信局、国营邮政、侨批等多种企业实体构成。清朝邮政成立后即开始蚕食小额民间资本支持下的民信局经营空间,而基于对1936年《中华民国邮政舆图》的数字化工作发现,历经40余年经营,国营邮政基本整合了全国范围内的邮政空间,也基本完成了本领域的“国进民退”。在此过程中,国营邮政审慎模仿民信局的经营方式,使用多种创新经营策略,除了在大中城市内部和城市之间构建了便捷快速的邮政网络空间,更借助邮政代办的方式以极低的成本将营业网络“下沉”到铁路和公路无法覆盖的农村地区,较好地与传统农村“定期市”网络完成耦合,基本达到了通商处必通邮的效果。国营邮政点和邮路集聚所形成的“邮政聚集区”也成为一种显著的近代化外在空间表征,同时成为界定所谓“核心—边缘”结构的系统可信、定量可验证的空间指标。

“The State Advances as the Private Sector Retreats” in Modern Chinese Postal Space

Postal network was a modern element with the characteristic of “spatiality”. For modern China, it was mainly composed of various corporate entities such as Minxin (native postal services), owned by small private capital, and state-run postal services. After its establishment, the Chinese Imperial Post began to encroach on the operating space of Minxin. Based on the digitization work of the 1936 Postal Atlas, published by the Post of Republic of China, it was found that after nearly 40 years, the state-run post had basically completed the integration and construction of a nationwide postal space. In this process, the state-run postal service prudently imitated the operation modes of the Minxin and adopted a variety of innovative business strategies. In addition to building a convenient and fast postal network within and between large and medium-sized cities, the state-run postal service also adopted new business strategies such as “postal agency” in rural areas that could not be covered by railway and road at a very low cost, and completed the coupling with the traditional rural grassroots “periodical market” network. Basically, it has achieved the effect wherever there was commerce, there was postal service. The “postal agglomeration” formed by the state-run postal network and the concentration of postal points have also become a prominent external spatial representation of modernization and a good macro-external indicator for defining the so-called “core” and “peripheral” spaces.