自19世紀中葉開始,隨著上海、寧波等口岸開埠通商,國際茶市對中國茶葉生產與銷售的影響日益深入。在市場利好的刺激下,徽州婺源產茶區的一家農戶通過增加茶葉生產與制作的勞動力投入,提高家庭的現金收入。同時,這家農戶還因應家庭規模的變動,投入大量勞力開墾土地,擴大糧食種植面積,從而緩解口糧不足問題。這個個案說明,一方面,國際貿易未必會引起晚清小農經濟的危機,反而可能為其發展提供一定契機。另一方面,晚清小農經濟的發展,不僅受到國際市場、賦役制度的影響,還與家庭發展周期、土地開發等因素密切相關。因此,在研究晚清小農經濟時,有必要從小農家庭的角度,討論晚清農戶應對各種地區性、全國性與國際性政治經濟變動的策略,從而更深入理解晚清小農的生存處境。

Since the middle of the 19th century, with the opening of Shanghai, Ningbo and other treaty ports, the international tea market increasingly affected the production and sale of Chinese tea. Stimulated by the favorable market factors, a peasant family living in the Wuyuan tea cultivation area in Huizhou increased its cash income through an increased investment in labor for the production of tea leaves. Meanwhile, because of the changes in this family’s size, it put a lot of effort into cultivating land and enlarging its acreage for grain, thereby resolving the problem of food shortages. This case shows that, on one hand, international trade did not necessarily result in a crisis for the peasant economy in the late Qing period. Instead it perhaps provided some opportunities for the development of the peasant economy. On the other hand, the development of the late Qing peasant economy was not only affected by the international market, taxes, and corvee systems, it was also closely tied to factors like family development cycles and land development. Therefore, when researching the peasant economy of the late Qing, it is necessary for us to adopt the perspective of peasant families to discuss their strategies for dealing with various regional, national, and international political and economic changes, in order to more deeply understand their living situations.