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

清朝（1644 - 1911）铸造中国货币所用的合金含有30%至50%的锌。该项目将补充对清朝货币管理的研究，迄今为止，清朝货币管理主要集中在铜上，铜是数量最大且最昂贵的货币金属。锌的产量可能至少与铜相当，这种金属不仅作为造币金属，而且在国内和国际私人贸易中也很重要。本项目将分析保存在宫廷奏折中的锌运输资料、新近发现的一本铸币金属管理手册中关于锌采购的规定以及巴县地方档案中关于锌运输和冶炼的具体信息。因此，更好地理解国家在管理、促进或阻碍锌的开采、冶炼和运输方面的作用，以及将其用于铸造和其他物品的生产，为探索国家在经济竞技场中的能力提供了一个富有成效的领域。通过对贵州部分矿山、进出黔运输路线、锌冶炼、锌运输等方面的比较研究，重构"锌政"的全貌，探讨其与铜政的异同。

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.