现代“公债”概念的生成及其在晚清民初的流播

中国古代曾有国家举债之事,但无论是从观念还是制度上看,都并非现代财政意义上的“公债”。经过相关人士的译介,现代财政意义上的“公债”概念渐为晚清社会所知晓。“公债”的词义亦经历了由古至今与中西交汇的转换与融合演进过程。“公债”概念形成与演进的过程,同时也是清廷财政变革的实践过程。甲午战后,朝野逐渐对公债举借背后所关涉的国家财政制度、债权关系、国家信用等问题进行了较为深入的讨论。晚清民初,现代意义的“公债”概念以及知识与制度体系逐步被塑造和建构起来。在国家财政制度剧烈转型之时,清廷亦展开了公债发行的艰难尝试与制度移植。

The Concept of Modern“Debt” and Its Circulation in the Late Qing and Early Republic of China

The ancient Chinese had the national debt,but whether it is from the concept or the system itself was not the word“debt”in the modern sense.After the practice of borrowing foreign bonds in Qing dynasty and the related public figure's concept translation and know ledge introduction,the concept of public debt and national debt in the modern financial sense was gradually known in the late Qing society.The concept of“debt”also experienced the process of modern conversion and fusion evolution from ancient times to the present and the intersection of Chinese and Western in the meaning of words.The process of the formation and evolution of the modern concept of“debt”is also the practical process of the financial reform of Qing Dynasty.After the Sino-Japanese War,with the Chinese people's deeper understanding of the Western modern public finance cognition,the ruling and opposition parties gradually conducted a more in-depth scientific understanding and discussion of the national financial system,creditor's rights relations,national credit and other issues involved in the debt borrowing.The concept of“debt”and the system of knowledge and institutions in the modern sense in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China were constantly shaped and constructed.At the time of the dramatic transformation of the state's fiscal system,the Qing government also launched the practice of difficult public offerings and institutional transplants of modern public debt.