清代前期における人参採取制度と内務府商人

抄録

This article studies changes in government policy on ginseng business from the late Kangxi to the early Qianlong period, by examining the role of merchants of the Imperial Household Department (nei-wu fu) in ginseng gathering from 1714 to 1744. In the late years of Kangxi, nei-wu fu's merchants directly purchased all ginseng permits from the government and resold them to local businessmen. Due to overstocking and the numerous defects of this system, the government abandoned ginseng permits in the first year of Yongzheng's reign, and directly hired ginseng diggers. The government restarted the issuing of ginseng permits in the eighth year of Yongzheng's reign; nei-wu fu's merchants were in charge of distributing the permits with flexible quotas. However, with decreasing ginseng supply and because of the responsibility of paying for losses in case diggers fled, nei-wu fu's merchants deliberately limited the total number of ginseng permits issued each year. To deal with this, the Qing government applied a fixed ginseng permits system that required nei-wu fu's merchants to issue a fixed number of permits and pay for any losses. This system led to huge fiscal deficits for the nei-wu fu's merchants and consequent termination of this new business model. Afterwards, the government took over the distribution of ginseng permits with local liquor store owners in the northeast serving as diggers' sponsors.