本文探討清末中國按西方國家郵政制度設立「大清郵政」以後，與原有的民營通信業者的關係與互動，從而探索晚清郵政通信的現代性。1896年大清郵政由中國海關在總稅務司赫德的倡議與協助下建立，使公、私遞信皆納入國家的管理。然而清廷「不奪小民之利」，以不影響中國原有民營信局經營為准允開辦國家郵政的條件，與大清郵政採西方國家郵政特許專營的理念相悖。另方面，對民信局而言，大清郵政的出現卻是「國家」介入私人通信事業的開端。過去研究多認為民信局等「舊」體系是延誤近代中國郵政的發展與現代化的因素之一，並對民信局加以汙名化。如此新舊二元對立的觀點過度簡單化近代中國郵政發展，以及郵局與民信局之間的關係。本文從大清郵政開辦後的實際運作，重新探究大清郵政與民信局之間的關係與角力，由此探討海關兼理的大清郵政代表「國家」身分的正當性為何？郵局與民信局之間如何競合？民信局又如何應對郵局來勢洶洶的競爭與挑戰？最終本文試圖以近代中國郵政的「國家化」，探討近代通信事業變遷的現代性意義。本文意在指出大清郵政存在的十五年之間儘管試圖收編民信局，但實際上中、西郵遞體系間相互競爭、合作，進而彼此影響與融入，並在近代中國郵政轉型中扮演不同角色。

This paper examines the competition and cooperation between the newly This paper examines the competition and cooperation between the newly established Chinese Imperial Post and the original Chinese minxinju (private postal agencies) and explores the modernity of postal services in the late Qing era. The national postal system was introduced and proposed by Robert Hart, Inspector General of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service, and approved by the Qing government in 1896. It was the first national postal service in China to follow the western model, aiming at state-building in order to “wanhui liquan” (restore national economic rights), but it was subject to the Qing court’s requirement to preserve the business of the minxinju because of the political ideal of “bu yu min zheng li” (non-competition with the people’s economic interests). For the Imperial Post, the conflict was with the national postal service’s monopolistic management principle, which suggested that minxinju should come under state ownership. However, this was the first time that the state had interfered in the private postal business through a nationalised institution in China. This paper aims to answer how interactions between these two fundamentally different systems can be evaluated, to what extent the Imperial Post’s national postal authority could legitimately incorporate minxinju, and why minxinju were such indomitable competitors and able to survive. Previous research followed H. B. Morse’s viewpoint in the early twentieth century, which regarded minxinju and other original Chinese postal systems as an obstacle to progress. They were in opposition to the national postal service and delayed China’s modernisation of postal communication. However, their traditional vs modern binary opposition seems to simplify the development of China’s postal communication in the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century and ignore the complicated relationship between the national postal service and minxinju. The paper suggests that China’s nationalisation of postal services was not a narrative that the old should be successfully replaced by the new. Instead, it was an intriguing commercial cooperation and asymmetric competition between the state and society. These two systems not only imitated each other but also gradually became integrated. They played different roles, but together led to the transformation of postal communication in China.

民信局;郵政;大清郵政;海關;現代性

postal service; Chinese Imperial Post; Chinese Maritime Customs Service; minxinju (private postal agencies); modernity