明代漕運の研究

by 星斌夫

Dr. Hoshi's detailed reconstruction of the Ming tribute grain system offers ideas and materials of relevance to several different fields of investigation. To the historian of political institutions it provides a case-study of the workings of a specific branch of the imperial Chinese administration from the highest to the lowest levels over a period of three hundred years. To the economic historian it offers a mine of information on the nature and scale of Chinese and waterway transportation, both as regards the techniques of transport and the flow of goods. To the comparativist seeking insight into the reasons for China's failure to expand overseas in the manner of early modern Europe it gives a new perspective on the withdrawal of the Ming government from the sea: the perfection of inland waterway transport made it necessary to maintain a strong naval capacity to provide and protect the shipping that carried northwards the Court's supplies of grain. To the military historian it reveals something of the foundations of that extraordinary logistical capability that helped to keep the Chinese empire together and to prevent the fragmentation and erosion that befell Western Europe and Byzantium respectively. Such, however, is the careful objectivity of the work that, for the most part, the reader is left to ask his own questions and draw his own conclusions. This book is a summary translation. Includes maps and translation notes for clarity.

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1981