ロバート・ハートと近代中国郵便の発展についての研究

Abstract

本論文の目的は、近年中国内外の研究者によって再評価が進んでいるイギリス人外交官ロバート・ハートに関する諸研究をもとに、ハートが、黎明期の中国郵便事業にとって欠かすことのできない重要な働きをしたことを確認することである。近代中国郵便システムの初期の混乱した状況にあって、ハートは、自国政府の利益を守りつつ、同時に中国郵政の近代化を推進するという、時として矛盾する困難な課題に取り組んだ。具体的に、ハートは、清朝朝廷の正式な承認と各級の官僚の支持を得て、他の郵便手段との関係を適切に処理するとともに、中国の伝統的郵便制度であった民信局での経験を活かしつつ、近代的な郵便制度の樹立を推進した。またハートは、関税収入を用いて郵便事業を強化するなど一連の措置を実施することによって、西側諸国の郵便制度と中国社会の実情との調和を図った。ハートのこうした多岐にわたる活躍なしには、近代中国郵便のシステムは樹立され得なかっただろう。

This article intends to analyze the historic role of Robert Hart in the foundation of a modern post office system in China during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. He was sent to Hong Kong as a British diplomat in 1854 and afterwards he was employed as a bureaucrat by the Qing Dynasty Government. He was expected to be in charge of the Chinese custom houses and post office. At that time, Great Briton and other powers had established their own post stations over China. Therefore, his task was a tremendously difficult one, because he had to develop China's national post office system without damaging the interests of the foreign powers. This dual position caused two opposite views on him : one criticized him as an agent of imperialism and the other admired him as a pioneer of modernization of China. However, there have been recently appearing more objective studies on him, rejecting these simple interpretations in the past. In line with this new tendency, this paper tries to trace his activities concerning the postal system from a neutral and objective point of view, emphasizing, among others, his contribution in the introduction of efficient administrative method in the Chinese post office system. At the same time, the fact that a foreigner managed China's postal system in its initial times explains to some extent why the foreign post stations were maintained much longer in China than in Japan, where the post office system managed by nationals could abolish the foreign post stations in the decade of 1880s.