The Zinc Administration in Southwest China, 1700 - 1850: Instiutional, Economic and Social Case Studies

在清朝时期(1644-1911)铸造中国现金硬币所用的合金含有30%到50%的锌。这个项目将补充对清代货币管理的研究，到目前为止，清代货币管理主要集中在铜上，铜是货币中数量最大、价格最高的金属。锌的产量可能至少相当于铜的产量，而且锌不仅作为一种造币金属，而且在私人、国内和国际贸易中都很重要。这个项目将分析保存在宫殿纪念馆中的锌运输数据，最近发现的铸币金属管理手册中规定的锌采购规定，以及霸县地方档案(今重庆)文件中包含的锌运输和精炼的具体信息。更好地理解国家在管理、促进或阻碍锌开采、冶炼和运输方面的作用，从而为探索国家在经济领域的能力提供了一个富有成效的领域。将对贵州省选定的矿山、进出省内的运输路线、锌的冶炼和精炼以及锌的运输进行比较调查，重建“锌管理”的整个范围，探索其与铜管理的异同。

The alloy used for casting Chinese cash coins during the Qing period (1644-1911) consisted of 30 to 50 percent zinc. This project will complement research on the Qing monetary administration that hitherto has largely concentrated on copper, the largest in volume and most expensive of the monetary metals. Zinc production probably at least equalled that of copper and the metal was important not only as a mint metal but as in private domestic and international trade. This project will analyse data on zinc transportation preserved in palace memorials, regulations governing zinc procurement as specified in a recently discovered manual on mint metal administration, and specific information on zinc transports and refining contained in documents of the local archive of the Baxian magistracy (modern Chongqing). Gaining a better understanding of the role of the state in administrating, furthering or hampering zinc mining, smelting, and transportation, its use for minting and for the production of other objects therefore provides a fruitful field of exploring state capabilities in the economic arena. A comparative investigation of selected mines in Guizhou, transport routes in and out of the province, zinc smelting and refining as well as zinc shipments will be carried out that reconstructs the whole range of the "zinc administration", exploring its similarities with and differences to the copper administration.