“替代农业”视角下中国近代水果产业的发展-《中国农史》

文章信息/Info

Title:: The Development of Fruit Industry in Late Imperial and Modern China from the Perspective of "Alternative Agriculture"

Author(s):: ZENG Jiang1 ZHOU Jianbo2; （1. Business School, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing 100088; 2. School of Economics, Peking University, Beijing 100871）

Keywords:: horticulture; fruit planting; commercialization of agricultural products

摘要:: 近代时期，在农产品商业化程度日益加深的背景下，水果种植的高收益逐渐吸引了越来越多的农民从事水果专业化生产，农民不仅在高山、荒地、沼泽等处开辟果园，而且还将原先用于种植粮食的土地改种果树，并将所产绝大部分果品销往各大商埠。这一“替代农业”的现象反映了中国近代水果产业发展的基本微观逻辑，即从农业生产角度为提高土地经营收益而做出的变革。审视19世纪后期至20世纪30年代，在供给方面，中国近代水果产业发展表现为在引种改良的基础上扩大专业化种植，在需求方面则表现为稳定在华外国人群体的需求，同时亦注意培育本国消费者和海外消费者群体的消费习惯。然而20世纪30年代之后，水果产业发展严重受到储藏与交通技术落后的影响，并在国际竞争中受到贸易条件变化的冲击，这表明“替代农业”的发展并非一帆风顺，其在发展过程中也存在着波折与瓶颈。

Abstract:: As agricultural products became widely commoditized in late imperial and Modern China, the relatively high yield of fruit planting attracted more people to engage in specialization, establishing orchards in mountains, wastelands and swamps, converting lands from grain growing into fruit planting, and selling most of the fruits produced to major commercial ports. This characteristic of "alternative agriculture" was the basic micro-logic of the development of modern fruit industry, which embodied a reform aimed at improving the income from land management. From late 19th century to 1930s, specialized cultivation increased a lot based on the popularization of introduction and improvement technology. Meanwhile, demands for Chinese fruits had extended from foreigners in China to domestic and overseas consumers. However, the development of fruit industry was seriously limited by the lagging storage and transportation technology, and was impacted by changes in the terms of international trade by 1930s, which indicated there were setbacks and side effects in the progress of "alternative agriculture".