清末廣東的賭商

Gambling Farmers in Late Ch'ing Kwangtung

有關清末廣東賭商之學術研究，似不可一睹，此或與以下因素有關：一、過去學者所注意的，厥為活躍於歷史舞台的顯赫商業勢力，諸如山西、徽州商人、揚州鹽商和廣東洋商等，或為這些商業勢力以外，漸露頭角的商幫。與上述活動範圍遼闊的商人群相較，清季廣東賭商顯得相形見絀，故不為學者所重視。二、賭博為當日社會輿論所非議，道德價值所不容，人所諱言，是以有關賭商經營及活動的資料，貧如鳳毛麟角，賭商的研究亦因資料缺乏而不易著力。本文撰寫的目的，一方面在彌補上述的缺陷；更重要的，是希望以清末廣東賭商為中心，藉此具體而微的反映時代的政治社會特色，俾有助於進一步體認清季官商之實質關係。至於本文面對之最大困難，厥為文獻不足徵。是以作者僅能把零星片段的史實貫串起來，重建一略為完整的歷史面貌，俾後繼者在此基礎上，能對此問題作更深入之討論。本文除探究認餉承賭的鉅商外，對其他粵籍以賭為生者在省外之活動，也有所論及。

Few serious scholarly studies have been undertaken regarding the gambling farmers of Kwangtung in the late Ch'ing dynasty. There are two principal reasons for this. First, most scholars have heretofore focused on prominent mercantile forces that played an active role in history, such as the Shansi merchants, the Hui-chou merchants of Anhui, the salt merchants of Yang-chou and the Co-hong merchants of Kwangtung, as well as other merchant groups that displayed signs of growing vitality. Consequently, scholars have paid comparatively less importance to the gambling farmers of the late Ch'ing. Secondly, in the past gambling was censured by public opinion because it was considered to have a corrupting influence on public morals. Since gambling was regarded as taboo it was seldom mentioned. Therefore, source materials on gambling operations are rare, making the study of this area a difficult undertaking. This article aims first to fill an existing historiographical gap and, more importantly, to employ the case study of gambling operations in Kwangtung, with particular reference to the responses they elicited from both government and society, to provide a better understanding of official-merchant relations during the late Ch'ing dynasty. The most serious obstacle to conduct this study is the paucity of available written materials. Therefore, the author limits himself to threading together available fragments of historical information in order to outline the essential features of gambling operations in late Ch'ing Kwangtung. It is hoped that this study will encourage further debate regarding this issue. In addition to discussing the large investments of gambling farmers within Kwangtung, this article also examines the activities of Kwangtung natives outside of their province.