乾隆朝地方物品消費與收藏的初步研究：以四川省巴縣為例

A Preliminary Study of Local Consumption during the Qianlong Reign: The Case of Ba County in Sichuan Province

近年來關於近代早期的消費史研究，已經開始質疑西方中心觀，指出同時期中國的消費現象可能並不亞於英國或西歐。遺憾的是關於當時中國人消費日用奢侈品的紀錄，幾乎都局限在社會上階層，如宮廷、高級官員與大商人等。至於一般社會階層的物質消費，幾乎很難找到確切的歷史紀錄。由是，除了上層社會之外，其他的社會階層是否有能力消費日用奢侈品？這是一仍待解決的問題。本文從乾隆朝四川巴縣的例子，透過對竊盜案檔案中失竊物品的考察，說明十八世紀中葉以後，一個非經濟核心地區的物質消費情況。首先是看到被竊物品中有大量的服飾、錫器、銀飾品與銅器等奢侈品，可見不僅是社會上階層，而是有更多屬於社會中間階層，亦即傳統中國所謂的「中人之產」者或「中人之家」也有能力消費得起奢侈品。其中，主要是聚集在城市的商人階層所占比重逐漸增加，他們也是奢侈風氣的帶動者。再從被竊的日用奢侈品反映地方上經過市場經濟洗禮後，造成人們在物質消費生活上的變化。此外，從被竊物品中還可以發現江南地區的流行服飾，甚至還有「洋貨」，此亦反映了流行時尚的影響範圍。本文雖是微觀的例子，卻反映了十八世紀中國人的消費能力是不容小覷的。

Recent research on the history of consumption during the early modern period has begun to question Eurocentric approaches, pointing out that China's consumption trends may have been similar to those of Britain or Western Europe at same period. However, the relevant Chinese documents focus overwhelmingly on the material culture of the upper classes, and historical resources regarding the common people's ability to consume luxury objects are rare. Through an analysis of the inventories of stolen goods from 1757 to 1795, this essay investigates the consumers of Ba County in Chongqing Prefecture, a relatively uncommercialized part of the empire, showing that the victims of theft increasingly came to consist of people engaged in commerce and industry. This was a new group of consumers, belonging to the middle segments of society and able to consume such luxury objects as high quality clothes, tin, silver and bronze objects, and the like, that emerged in the eighteenth century. The stolen goods reflected the rapid commodification of the local economy and the changes in people's consumption patterns. In addition, fashion styles from the Jiangnan area and even imported ＂foreign goods＂ could be found among the stolen goods, reflecting the range of outside influences on consumption. Although this essay is a microhistory, it reminds us that China's consumption in the eighteenth century should not to be underestimated.