16—19世紀中日兩國貨幣流通制度的演進路徑發生兩次重要分流。第一次分流發生在16世紀中下葉以降,從貨幣發行管理權的視角看,中國是"主導權下移",表現為自下而上的貨幣稱量銀化,以及政府貨幣發行權動搖、弱化了對核心貨幣的管理干預能力;日本則是"主導權上移",表現為幕府建立了政府主導的金銀銅三貨制度,有能力多次改鑄貨幣、調節貨幣流通市場。19世紀下半葉,中日兩國在建立近代貨幣金融體制的過程中呈現出更明顯的分流。中國貨幣金融制度不但發展遲緩,而且呈現出混亂不堪的局面,貨幣主權遭遇嚴重侵蝕;日本較早且較順利地建立起近代貨幣金融制度,確立了國家貨幣主權。這不僅影響了中日兩國的歷史命運,也彰顯了國家金融能力的傳統特質對構建近代金融體制的深層次作用,折射出歷史遺產的路徑依賴對于制度變遷的深層影響。

Between the 16 th and the 19 th centuries,two important divergences occurred between China and Japan in the evolution of currency circulation.The first of these occurred from the mid-to late 16 th century.Seen in the light of the administrative power to issue currency,in China this was represented by the "decentralization"of power with the increasing bottom-up"silverization"of currency metage,together with the shaky nature of the government’s power to issue currency and its weakened ability to manage and intervene in its core currency;In contrast,in Japan it was characterized by the"centralization"of power,as seen in the shogunate’s establishment of a government-led trimetallic monetary system using gold,silver and copper.Japan thus had the ability to repeatedly recast coinage and regulate the currency circulation market.In the second half of the 19 th century,the Chinese and Japanese establishment of modern monetary and financial systems was even more divergent.China’s monetary and financial system not only developed slowly,but was also in total disarray,and its monetary sovereignty was seriously eroded.Japan set up a modern monetary and financial system earlier and more smoothly,and thus established its national monetary sovereignty.This not only affected the historical destiny of the two countries,but also highlighted the deep-seated influence of the traditional features of national financial capacity on the construction of the modern financial system,reflecting the strong impact of the path dependence of China’s historical heritage on institutional change.