In no language could the conversation have been any more definite and in none could fewer words have been used. In spite of its barbarous nature pidgin was quite sufficient for all commercial transactions and in default of any other means of communication could over a wide range of subjects. During a Japanese air raid in Chungking last summer I shared the hospitality of a dugout with a distinguished French delegate to the League of Nations. He had a fair command of pingin and in the two hours that we had to wait for the air-clear signal we carried on an animated conversation on a variety of subjects form Wilson’s policy at Versailles to the high price we had to pay for the beer in Chungking.

沒有任何語言可以用更少的字數來表達地更明確。不去看它的原始狀態，這語言足以應付所有商業交易，還可以在缺少其他溝通方式的狀況下，用來討論廣泛的事務。去年夏天日本人在重慶發動空襲，我跟一位高雅的，國際聯盟的法國代表一同躲進防空洞，他對pidgin有相當的瞭解，在等待防空警報解除的兩個小時裡，我們談論了許多不同層面的事；從美國威爾生總統對凡爾賽條約的政策，到重慶市裡貴得嚇死人的啤酒。（編按：”League of Nation”，翻譯成國際聯盟，是第一次世界大戰後，英、法、美、三國主導的凡爾賽條約之後誕生的世界組織，由威爾生總統提出的構想，目的是防止世界再度陷入大戰。不過你也知道的，世界大戰終究還是打了第二次。）

 

These pidgin English conversations between the taipan and the compradore were of daily occurrence. They discussed in detail every transaction in which the firm was engaged or had in prospect and exchanged opinions as to the state of the market. The lack of language medium in which nice distinctions could be drawn and opinions qualified made for efficiency in the conduct of business. Each expressed approval by “can do” and disapproval by “no can.” Any further comment or explanation would have been mere garrulity from which their limited vocabulary saved them. But within the limits of a few hundreds words they found plenty of conversation. Aside from his house-hold servants the compradore was the only Chinese with whom the foreign business man came into daily contact. If he had any curiosity about the customs and life of the strange country in which he was living he took the word of his compradore as the final authority. As a result many strange ideas were perpetuated for the compradore was seldom an educated man and many of them were entirely ignorant about everything except business. Because of his sole reliance on the compradore the old-fashioned taipan was often appallingly ignorant about China.

這些原始的商業英語對話出現在大班與買辦每天的交談當中。他們討論公司現在或是未來規劃中的每一筆交易，彼此交換意見像是市場狀況等等。在缺乏語言媒介之下，在生意經營中美好的願景被描繪，經過篩選的意見表達地更有效率。每一個意見被「can do」贊成，或是被「no can」否定。任何更進一步的評論與解釋都顯的多餘，也還好他們有限的字彙解救了他們。但是在這有限幾百個字彙中，他們做了大量的對話。除了家裡的傭人，買辦是外國商人每天要接觸的中國人。假如他對所居住的奇怪國家某些生活習慣感到好奇，他會把買辦的意見當成權威。結果許多奇怪的觀念被保存下來，原因是買辦是沒受過教育的人，而且許多的買辦除了做生意的本領外，幾乎是不學無術。因為只能信任買辦，通常老一輩的大班對中國的無知近乎讓人感到毛骨悚然。

 

The compradore became a synonym for wealth and was a lordly figure on whom petty shopkeepers looked with awe. He was a daring trader and often made immense fortunes not only for himself but for the firm which employed him. Some of them acquired legendary reputations for an ability to tell which way the market in silk or silver or tea was going to turn. Foreigners who speculated in commodities would risk fortunes on a hint from him. The Englishman who talked to him might be an Oxford graduate but he treated his illiterate compradore with respect.

買辦變成富有的同義字，以及小店主們必須敬畏看待的權勢象徵。他是個敢於冒險的生意人，並且幫自己與受雇公司賺進不可思議的財富。有些人擁有能看出市場交易上絲、銀、或茶葉風向轉變的能力，而得到傳奇的名聲。外國商人依照他的提示賭上家產來做投機生意。一個跟他談話的英國人可能會是牛津大學的畢業生，但他對沒受過教育的買辦依舊是畢恭畢敬。

 

He was considered to be indispensable in the conduct of any general import and export trade. When a firm started in business, whether it was a one-man show with a few thousand dollars of capital or a huge limited liability company, the first and most important thing to do was to engage a compradore – or possibly a half-dozen of them – one for each department. There were always plenty of applicants for the position, for the import and export business promised a volume of trade and liberal profits which were not to be found in the more restricted and highly competitive domestic trade.

買辦被視為一般進出口貿易經營裡不可缺少的一環。當一家公司開始營運，不管是一人獨秀基本額只有千把塊美金的小公司，或是大型股份有限公司，最重要的第一件事就是雇用一個買辦 – 或許可能是半打買辦 – 每個部門一個。總是有許多人申請這職位，因為進出口貿易保證有大量的生意與充足的利潤，在受限制且競爭激烈的國內市場可找不到這樣的油水。

 

If the compradore was satisfied that there was money to be made in the agencies and if the foreigner was satisfied that the compradore had connections which would enable him to make sales and secure produce on favorable terms they began to talk over the arrangements. Usually the terms provided that the foreigner paid the compradore a salary and from his salary he would meet the wages of the Chinese staff. While the compradore’s quarters were always crowed with Chinese assistants and every foreigner had more clerks and office boys than he knew what to do with, this did not necessarily mean a large pay roll. They were all dependant relatives of the compradore. In many cases the employees got no salary at all. He fed, lodge and clothed them and at the end of the year they got a share of the profits.

假如買辦很滿意在代理公司有錢賺，而假如外商也很滿意買辦擁有能夠讓他銷售與存貨的人脈關係，他們會開始商討該如何安排適當的契約。通常契約裡有提到，外商支付買辦薪水，這份薪水可以讓他來雇用中國籍的員工。儘管買辦的辦公室總是擠滿助理，外商裡有些員工與小弟甚至連老闆都不知道他的職責是什麼，卻不代表需要一份龐大的薪資表。他們通常是跟買辦有關係的人。在許多例子下，雇員根本沒有領薪水。買辦對這群員工包吃、包住、包穿，然後在年尾的時候包個大紅包給他們。

 

Then there was the very important question of how much capital the compradore would put into the enterprise and just how the profits would be divided. The arrangement differed with each concern but usually the compradore was supposed to supply the working capital. In actual practice a good many foreigners got started in business with little investment beyond the price of a ticket to China. No matter what the other details of the arrangement might be the compradore always handled the current cash. In the early days this consisted of a great variety of Chinese and foreign silver dollars, each having different and fluctuating value to say nothing of a fair amount of counterfeits which were just as valuable as the genuine coins if they contained enough silver. Few foreigners ever pretended to master the intricacies of Chinese currency or have more than a theoretical knowledge of the Chinese banking system. In many cases the taipans kept their own books in their own national currencies either U.S. dollars or pounds sterling.

然後這裡產生了一個非常重要的問題，買辦投入多少資本到公司，而利潤又要怎麼分配。不同的狀況有不同的作法，但是通常買辦一般都要負責勞力資本。實際運作上，許多外國商人只靠著比到中國的船票還要再多一點的資本來開始新事業。不管契約的其他細項是什麼，買辦總是掌控著現金。在早期這些現金是由中國與外國的銀幣所組成，每種各有其不同與波動的價格，更別提有大量銀含量跟官方鑄幣一樣高的偽幣混雜在其中。極少數的外國人曾經假裝要掌握中國貨幣的複雜性，或是實際操作過中國的銀行系統。許多狀況下，大班們只管自己國家的貨幣像是美元與英鎊，不去插手這方面的事。

 

The compradore, through his staff, made all the sales to Chinese, guaranteed the accounts and made the collections. He also financed the purchase of export cargo. Every activity of the hong was divided between “taipan pidgin” and “compradore pidgin.” For example it was the taipan’s business to pay for the English-language stationery and forms and the compradore’s business to pay for Chinese-language forms. The compradore paid the insurance to cargo until it was stored in the taipan’s godown, where it became his responsibility. The money to be made from the sale of waste packing material went to the compradore. As it was also his responsibility to provide the godown coolies he usually short-circuited what would otherwise have been a complicated and troublesome business by giving the coolies the packing cases in lieu of wa1ges.

買辦透過他的員工跟中國市場做買賣，保證獲利且越賺越多。他也投資買進出口貨物。公司每個行動被分成「大班的事」與「買辦的事」。舉個例子來說，大班要負錢買英文文具與表格，而買辦要買中文樣式的。買辦要付貨物保險，直到貨物被存放在大班的倉庫裡，才變成大班的責任。銷售包裝貨物時所產生的廢棄材料的所得歸買辦。當買辦也要負起提供倉庫搬運苦力責任時，他經常會忙到「秀抖」，不然在發薪水的地方要提供這些苦力搬運器材一直是件複雜又繁瑣的作業。

 

In theory and according to any legal interpretation of the contract, the compradore had no proprietary interest in the business and might be discharged like any other employee. This was a rare occurrence and I do not remember that it was ever done except by a few small and new firms. The compradore not only controlled the entire Chinese staff but all connections either for the sale of merchandise or the purchase of produce. A change meant making an entirely new start, handicapped by the vengeful animosity of the old compradore’s friends and business associates.

理論上與根據合約上的任何法律解釋，買辦沒有公司的財產股份，也可能像其他員工般被解雇。但這情況很少發生，除了幾家新的小公司外，我不記得這種事發生過。買辦不止控制所有的中國籍員工，還有買賣銷售的管道。這樣的改變意味著全新的開始，以及要面對買辦的老朋友與商業組織報復性的妨礙行為。

 

The taipan did not concern himself with small things. The compradore accumulated the Chinese produce for export by innumerable small purchase; disposed of the imported merchandise by means of innumerable small sales. The taipan had nothing to do with these deals and was often unfamiliar with his sources of supply or the identify of his customers. He dealt only with large sums of money as represented by the value of completed cargoes. He usually talked in terms of “lakhs” which meant a hundred thousand ounces of silver. All personal accounts such as club bills and household expense were settled through the compradore. Instead of writing checks on the bank for these and other items the manager or foreign members of the staff would write “compradore orders” which was an order to the compradore to pay the amount specified. These slips of paper had about the same legal standing as bank checks and were accepted by banks for deposit. When it occasionally happened that the compradore of a large concern was in difficulties and failed to honor these orders there was as much of a scandal as would have been created by a bank failure.

大班對小事情並不關心。買辦藉由數不清的小量買進囤積出口的貨物，用數不清的小量賣出來處理進口的貨品。大班與這些交易豪無關連，而且經常不清楚這些貨源供給與顧客到底是打哪來的。他只有處理全部貨物的大量金額交易。他通常使用”lakhs”這個詞，代表著十萬盎司的銀。所有個人帳目像是上酒家的帳單、家庭開支都是經由買辦處理。外籍經理或是員工不會用銀行支票來支付這些款項，而是寫一張「買辦匯票」，讓買辦來付這些條列項目的總額。這些紙條有接近支票一般的法律效力，並被銀行接受當成借款的保證。當偶而發生大型公司的買辦有困難而無法兌現這些匯票時，這樣的醜聞幾乎就像銀行破產般嚴重。

 

In large and prosperous establishments the compradore was a ever-useful friend to junior foreign employees who were inclined to spend more than their income. They would draw compradore orders in payment of their debts on the theory that the amount would be deducted from salary. But if the firm as prosperous and the compradore was making money, he was not inclined to press too harshly for the prompt liquidation of these balances, which might be carried on from month to month or year to year. Many an unwise young foreigner who gambled too heavily had his credit saved by the compradore who honor his order in settlement and discreetly said nothing about it to the taipan. He was not unaware of the fact that the young man he was placing under such obligations might in a few years be sitting at the taipan’s desk.

在生意昌旺的大型企業，買辦對有入不敷出傾向的年輕外籍雇員來說，是個「永遠好用的朋友」。他們會用買辦匯票提領現金來支付債務，理論上應該是要從薪水理扣得。但是假如公司生意很好，買辦一直在賺錢，他不會傾向太嚴厲要求馬上清算這些結餘，所以可能這樣的狀況會月月年年持續下去。許多賭債滿屁股的愚蠢年輕人被買辦挽救過他的信用，買辦用匯票結算這些爛賬，而且很小心沒讓大班知道。他不知道事實上，這個滿屁股爛債的年輕人，在幾年之後可能坐上大班的位置。

 

It often happened that a compradore would be rolling in wealth while the firm of which he was an employee would be struggling for an existence and the taipan unable to meet his personal bills. This was never surprising. It was the custom for the compradore to live frugally and save his money and for the taipan to live lavishly and spend his. Under circumstances like this the compradore would naturally not allow the firm to crash and many were saved from bankruptcy by help from the compradore and others continued for years going deeper and deeper into debt to him. This did not involve any change in the relationship between the compradore and the taipan except that the former had a little more to say about running the business.

這種事情經常發生。當買辦受雇的公司陷入經營困境，大班無法償付個人的帳單時，買辦會賺進一大筆財富。這從來不會讓人驚訝。買辦生活儉樸會存錢，大班生活奢華會花錢。在這種狀況下買辦自然不會允許公司倒閉，許多公司靠買辦的幫忙倖免於破產，而其他的公司在債務堆裡越鑽越深維持了幾年。這並不會讓買辦與大班的關係有任何改變，除非前者有點想要對經營管理發表意見。

 

In some cases the foreigner’s interest in the business was absorbed completely, and the oldish fellow whose name appeared on the letter heads of the concern and who signed the checks and endorsed the bills of lading was really the employee of the compradore he had hired in his young days. This reversal of position was often accomplished pleasantly and painlessly. The elderly foreigner was ready to retire, the salary he received from the compradore enabled him to do this gracefully, and his duties as normal head of a business did not demand his attention for more than a few hours a day. There is not a little sentiment in those business relationships, for through years of association the foreign business man and his Chinese compradore grow genuinely fond of each other.

在一些案例裡，外國人的股權被完全吸收，老傢伙真的變成了買辦的雇員；他的名字曾出現在公司信件的開頭，他曾簽過支票、在貨物收據背後簽名，還有，他曾在年輕的時候雇用這名買辦。這種職位的對調經常是和諧且無痛的。老外已經準備要退休，他從買辦手裡拿到的薪水夠讓他優渥地過下半輩子，而且名義上的經理頭銜讓他一天花不到幾小時的心力在公司上。這些商業的關係感情非淺，經過這麼多年的合夥，外國商人跟中國買辦真誠地喜歡彼此。

 

With a well-organized compradore department a firm might do a fairly large business with a very small foreign staff, or with no staff at all outside the foreign owner or manager. The only routine duty demanded of him were to take care of the foreign correspondence, countersign the invoices and bills of lading and interview the bankers about arranging an overdraft or getting an extension of time on the payment of drafts which had been accepted. His tiffin at the club might last well into the afternoon or he might go from the tiffin table to the golf course with the comforting assurance that while he was enjoying the fresh air, the compradore was piling up profits. During the sailing ship era the only time when the foreign members of the staff were actually busy was on mail days when they might sit up all the night writing letters and reports to catch a mail closing the following morning. Mails are now received and dispatched with greater regularity but the old custom continued and visitors are not welcome on the day before a steamer sails.

一間公司可以在一個組織良好的買辦部門與一小搓外籍員工，或甚至是只需要外籍老闆或經理的情況下做好一大筆生意。這些人每天日常的職責就只剩管理外國來的郵件、在貨物的發票與帳單上簽名，跟銀行家會面商討關於借貸或是讓對方同意增加匯票付款的延展期。他在俱樂部的午餐可能氣氛愉快地吃到下午，或是他可能吃完飯後帶著愉悅的信心去打一場高爾夫球，這信心就是，當他在享受新鮮空氣時，買辦正在努力堆高鈔票。在海運時代，外籍員工唯一真正忙碌的時間只有在郵件日，他們可能熬夜一整晚撰寫信件與報告，好趕上明天早上截止的收件時間。現在郵件的收發有著更加規律的時間，但是老習慣依舊，在蒸汽船出航前他們是不歡迎訪客的。

 

Even in the matter of banking the taipan was not indispensable. The compradore had his own banking arrangements with the native bankers and if the Scotchmen who managed most of the British banks were too glassy-eyed he might get credit after the taipan had failed. Each leaned heavily on the other. At infrequent intervals – usually once a month- there was a settlement at which accounts would be checked over and a payment made to one or the other. Thus a large and prosperous establishment might receive or pay out only one check a month covering local transactions. The compradore often handed the taipan a native order or a check for amounts that would represent several tons of silver but there was usually plenty more where that came from. By and large he made more money than the taipan.

即使在銀行事務上大班也並非不可缺少的角色。買辦有屬於他自己跟當地的銀行家建立的管道，而且假如掌管大多數英國銀行的蘇格蘭籍主管們顯得興致缺缺，買辦可能在大班失敗後，由自己的管道得到信貸。彼此互相倚重。偶爾一次 – 通常是一個月一次 – 會有一次清算；帳目會被檢查，看該誰付款。因此一間生意好的大公司可能一個月收到或是付出一張支票，用來包含所有的交易。買辦常會交給大班一張價值有幾噸銀那麼多的本地匯票或是支票，但是通常它的源頭還比這些更多。總而言之，買辦賺的錢比大班還要多。

 

There was seldom any tendency to inquire into the sources of compradore prosperity. Obviously one with money in the bank was more useful than one was heavily in debt and it was taken for granted that everyone was entitled to some perquisites aside from his regular income. Some taipans might collect secret commissions for their own personal accounts. This was not at all common but such unethical if not fraudulent practices are amply provided for in the phrases of the most generally used and highly respectable code books.

幾乎沒有任何傾向去調查買辦事業興旺的來源。明顯地一個在銀行有錢的人比一個滿身債務的人要有用的多，而且基於一種假設，每個人除了自己固定的收入之外，都會有些津貼。有些大班的私人帳戶會收集秘密的佣金。如此不道德的事一點也不常發生，即使不算是詐欺的實踐，也被廣泛地提供給受重視且最常用的教科書當成範例。

 

Until it was destroyed by Japanese air raids there was in Hankow a very fine foreign residence which stood as a symbol of compradore prosperity and of gratitude to a system which had enabled the easy accumulation of wealth.

直到被日本人的空襲摧毀之前，在漢口這地方聳立著代表買辦成功象徵的洋樓群，也同時代表著對這個容易累積財富的制度一種感激之情。

 

A Russian dealer in brick tea returned from a long absence at home to find that his compradore had built, as a present to him, the kind of house that he had been dreaming about fore years but had not been able to afford. After he moved into his fine new home he continued to wonder how it had all happened. A careful review of the volume of business done from the day the compradore was employed failed to explain how he could possibly have saved money for purchase of the land and the construction of the house through legitimate earnings. But the house was there and without a cent of indebtedness against it.

一個交易磚茶的俄羅斯商人在離開好長一段時間後回到家，發現他的買辦建造了一棟他一直夢想很久但負擔不起的房子，當成禮物送給他。直到他搬進新家之後，還持續在想這種事倒底怎麼發生的。他仔細檢視過從雇用這名買辦的那天起所做過的交易，都無法解釋買辦怎麼可能從合理的收入裡存到這筆錢來買土地蓋房子。但是房子就是在那，而且還沒有半分錢的債務要付。

 

It was just one of those mysteries of a strange country it was futile to attempt to solve. The one indisputable fact was the possession of the title to a piece of property the Russian would never have been able to buy for himself. I have never heard of a second gift of that magnificence but quite a number of foreigners are living in house built for them by their compradores. They pay a very low rental but the compradore keep the title to the property which he hopes will increase in value. Valuable gifts by the compradore are assumed as a part of the established order of things. The wife of the taipan would feel hurt and neglected if the Christmas season didn’t bring her a very handsome present from the compradore but I never heard of anyone ever remembering a compradore in that way. Once a year the compradore gives a dinner to the foreign employees of his hong but there the friendly courtesies begin and end. No one ever entertains a compradore. His position is something like that of a chief steward on a baronial estate, a very useful person whose services are indispensable but no to be considered as a social equal.

這只是這個不可思議的國家所擁有的其中一個無望解開的謎團而已。另一個無需爭辯的事實是關於這些財產的所有權，例如俄羅斯人不可能買得起的那棟房子。我未曾聽過有第二個如此貴重的禮物，但是有部分外國人的確居住在買辦為他們蓋的房子裡。他們只需支付一點點房租，但是買辦保留這些建物的所有權，希望以後能增值。買辦送貴重的禮物好像被當成理所當然的成規。聖誕節要是買辦沒有準備個非常大方的禮物送給大班的妻子，她會感到受傷與被忽視；但我從沒聽過任何人有對買辦做出相同的回禮。曾有一年買辦為外籍員工辦了一場晚宴，但是友好的禮數在那裡開始也在那裡結束。沒有人回請買辦。他的角色有點像男爵莊園裡的總管家，他的人相當有用，他的服務不可或缺，但他的身份地位不被認為是對等的。

 

In spite of the fact that the wars were fought and treaties were forced on China in the interest of the foreign trader he was not the only one to benefit. For centuries the domestic trade of China had been as stagnant as the Chinese mind of that period. There were no new routes, no new markets, no new articles to sell. The foreign trade which developed as a result of the treaties was a stimulant and a tonic and a blood transfusion. The entire trade of the country took on a new vigor and health. The hereditary of Shansi bankers and the equally hereditary dealers in silverware, silk and tea constituted about the only wealthy guilds and until foreign trade opened new avenues to wealth, the newcomer in business was restricted to the retail shop. The treaties changed all this. Chinese whose ancestors before them had been nothing but petty tradesmen saw new opportunity in the sale of foreign articles or in the purchase of Chinese produce for export.

儘管中國在外國商人的利益下被迫戰爭與簽訂條約，但外國商人並不是唯一的受益人。幾個世紀以來中國的國內市場一直呈現停滯狀態，就像那時期的中國人思想一樣。沒有新的管道、沒有新的市場、沒有新的商品可以賣。條約簽訂之後的外貿發展有如一針興奮劑、一帖補藥以及一次大換血。整個國家的貿易呈現全新的活躍健康氣象。外貿打開通往財富的新管道之前，世襲的山西銀號與商人們在銀器、絲、茶葉的交易上建立起壟斷的行會，新進者只能被限制在零售店。條約改變了這一切。這些因世襲制度壓迫而祖先皆是微不足道的小商人們見到了全新的機會，販賣外國商品與出口中國商品的機會。

 

For a thousand years the only population movements in China had been caused by flight before an invader. Successive invasions from the north and driven millions to the south until Canton became the largest city in the country. The raids of Japanese pirates drove all but fishermen from the coast. With the opening of ports for the residence of the foreign trader there was the entirely new phenomenon of people being attracted toward new homes instead of being driven from old ones. There was a steady influx of Chinese toward the open ports. Shanghai provided the most powerful magnet, but there were many others: Ningpo, Foochow, Swatow, Chefoo, Wuhu, Hankow, Shasi, Chungking, Tientsin. Most of these people were unimportant villages until the trade of the foreigner made them important ports. Foreign traders set up their hongs in all of these places, gave employment to many Chinese and provided business opportunities for many others. Real-estate values in China had remained unchanged centuries but now they rocketed. Many a wealthy family in Shanghai possessed a century go nothing more than an acre of rice land. In every section that came under foreign influence there was that wholesome stimulation of the social as well as economic life of the people that comes with the creation of new wealth and the lifting of families from poverty to a certain degree of prosperity.

一千年來中國唯一一次的人口遷移是為了逃避入侵者。從北方來的入侵行動驅使數百萬人逃到南方直到廣東變成最大的城市。日本倭寇的侵擾幾乎把除了漁民之外的所有人驅離海岸。伴隨著港口開放給外國商人當居住區，遷移產生了一種全新的現象；人民是被吸引向他們的新家，而不是從老家被驅離。中國人穩定地流入各個開放後的港口。上海是最吸引他們的，但是還有其他許多地方：寧波、福州、汕頭、煙台、蕪湖、漢口、沙市、重慶、天津。這些地方以前大多是不重要的小鄉鎮，直到對外貿易讓這些小鎮變成重要的港口。外國商人在這些港口都設置了公司，給予許多中國人工作機會，並提供許多商機給其他人。不動產的價格幾世紀以來都沒有變動，但現在有如火箭升空一般。許多上海的富有家庭一百年前只是擁有一英畝農田的農民而已。受到外來影響的每一個地區，社會的生氣蓬勃如同人民的經濟生活一般，伴隨著新財富的創造，把一些家庭由貧困提升到某種程度的富裕。

 

The compradore was symbolic of this change. He bridged the period when foreigners didn’t know very much about the Chinese, and Chinese didn’t know very much about the foreigner. Considering his limitations he did a very good job of interpreting the two civilizations. He was not a Cnfucian scholar but he was a personification of much that is typical of China. On the whole he was generous and honest. Many a deal representing thousands of dollars rested on a guarantee no more definite than a compradore’s “can do.” Many a foreigner escaped bankruptcy only because he would tear up a contract rather than go into court to enforce his rights.

買辦是這種改變的象徵。當外國人與中國人彼此不熟悉時，他成為這段時間的溝通橋樑。考慮他受到的限制，他在解釋兩個文明的工作上表現得相當出色。他不僅是孔老夫子的學者更是中國典型的象徵。整體來說他是慷慨且誠實的。許多幾千美元的生意不需要更明確的條約，單靠他一句「可以做」就能安穩得到保障。許多外國人免於破產的厄運只是因為他願意撕毀合約，而不上法庭強制執行他的權力。

 

The increase in the volume of foreign trade made the role of the compradore: appear to be one of increasing importance. There were more compradores and they did a great amount of business. But actually with the passing of each year he became less and less of a necessity. The old-fashioned taipan luxuriated in his ignorance of the Chinese language and of everything that was connected with China. Even those who grew gray through their years on the China Coast persisted in the whimsy that they were only temporary residents who would make a fortune and go home in a few years and so it wasn’t worth while getting acquainted with the country. The old-fashioned compradore never abandoned his Chinese gown and cloth-soled shoes and never improved his rudimentary knowledge of English. Each continued in his comfortable groove, disturbed by nothing more serious than the prospect of diminishing profits. The clumsy arrangement was dictated by necessity but neither made any attempt to change it.

對外貿易的總量增加讓買辦的角色看起來也越來越重要。有更多的買辦出現並做了更大量的生意。但實際上買辦的必要性卻逐年變得越來越低。老一代的大班不懂中文與其他關於中國的事，依然奢侈逍遙地生活。他們就算在中國沿岸地區活到鬍子灰白了，仍然堅持著奇特的想法：他們只不過是短暫停留的居民，在幾年內賺到錢就要回家了，所以不想浪費力氣去認識這個國家。老一代的買辦從來沒有放棄中國馬掛與棉布鞋子的穿著，而且也從不打算改進只具雛形的英文。他們各自維持自己感覺舒服的軌道，除了錢途黯淡之外沒有其他事可讓他們困擾。雙方必須以笨拙的口述來安排工作，但卻沒人試圖去改變。

 

Each thought that his sons would follow in his footsteps. The sons thought differently. Sons of compradores went to American universities and returned to China speaking flawless English. The sons of the taipans were born in China and most of them spoke Chinese and English with equal facility. To them China was not a country of terrifying mysteries, but the land of their birth for which they had a permanent affection. Neither members of this generation needed a go-between in order to do business in China and their conversations were not confined to pidgin English. Young Chinese went into the import and export business and the work of compradore and taipan was done at the same desk. Some of them employed foreigners as assistants. New foreign firms were established without thought of employing a compradore. Smart young Chinese were employed as salesmen, and as departmental managers. There weren’t any Chinese who could hold positions of this kind when the Treaty of Nanking was signed. The Chinese salesman was one of the developments of modern China – along with Chinese girls who bobbed their hair, played golf and tennis and danced the tango.

每個人都會想，他們的兒子應該會跟隨他們的腳步。可是兒子的想法總是不一樣。買辦的兒子留洋美國大學，回來時說著無瑕疵的英文。大班的兒子在中國出生，大部分的人中文跟英文一樣流利。對他們來說中國不是一個充滿恐怖謎團的國度，而他們也給予這個出生地長遠的影響。他們這一代不需要中間人才能做生意，對話也不被限制在pidgin英文裡面。年輕的中國人投入進出口事業，過往大班與買辦的工作在同一張辦公桌上就能解決。有些人甚至還聘用外國人當助理。新的外商公司設立時不再想雇用買辦。聰明年輕的中國人被聘用為銷售員或是部門經理。在南京條約簽訂的時期，根本沒有人可以應付這樣的職位。中國銷售員是中國現代化之下的產物，跟留著短髮、打高爾夫與網球、跳著探戈的中國女孩一起出現。

 

Beside them the compradore represented the age of the quill pen and the letter-copying press and all the other business gadgets of the days before the Civil War. He is a vanishing figure.

除了他們之外，買辦代表著國共內戰之前，一個毛筆、活版印刷機與所有其他商業小玩意的時代。他是個只存在於歷史的人物表徵。

 

“If two men unite, their money will buy gold.”

兩人同心，其利斷金

 

The British traders who went to Canton in the eighteenth century and the Americans who followed them could not speak the Chinese language and few made any attempt to learn it. Cantonese is the most difficult of all the spoken dialects of China. Words of the same sound are given a variety of meanings by changes in tone. A single slip in the tone of a word may change the whole meaning of a sentence and turn a pious phrase into a ribald joke – a circumstance of which Chinese punsters have taken the fullest advantage. Anyone who undertakes to learn that particular dialect must not only master the vocabulary but also become as proficient as a professional singer in the control of his voice.

十八世紀來到廣東的英國人與後來跟隨他們美國人都不會講中文，而且很少有人嘗試要學。廣東話是中國最困難的方言。相同發音的字會因為音調的改變而有不同的意思。音調輕輕微地滑動就能改變整個句子的意思，把一句好話變成下流的笑話，就像中國愛說雙關語的人最擅長的。任何人試圖學習這個特殊方言不僅要精通字彙，還必須變得像職業歌手的專家，擅長控制自己的聲音。

 

Under the most favorable circumstance it would have taken years of study to become proficient enough in the language for it to be of any practical use. There were no teachers. The Manchu government had threatened with death anyone who taught the language to a foreigner. This was not a new regulation directed against this new generation of traders. For several thousands years there had been a similar prohibition against the teaching of the language to barbarian tribes which was relaxed in the case of Marco Polo and others as a mark of Imperial favor. The early missionaries learned Chinese and translated and printed their tracts by methods as clandestine as those of the counterfeiter.

在最理想的狀況下，需要幾年的時間來熟練語言到足夠實際應用的程度。過去沒有老師。滿州政府威脅人民，教導外國人語言者需處死。然而這並不是直接對抗這一代貿易者的新法規。早在幾千年前，就有相似的禁令阻止野蠻部落學習中國話，但對馬可波羅與其他帝國的貴客們是例外。早期的傳教士學習中文，並用類似偽造者所使用的方法，偷偷摸摸地翻譯、出版他們的教義。

 

The foreign merchant in fact was equipped with nothing more than a cargo of opium, furs or sandalwood, or a few barrels of Spanish dollars and a desire to trade with the Chinese. He did not know how or where to secure the cargoes of tea and other Chinese commodities, or what he should pay for them. He had only general and often mistaken ideas as to what Chinese might to buy. The problems of finding markets in the interior for the sale of goods or the purchase of produce; of packing and inland transportation and complicated transit taxes were all mysteries and his Chinese associates did not help him to solve them. That was their secret and they guarded it carefully.

外來的商人除了鴨片、毛皮與檀香木這些貨物，幾桶西班牙銀幣，一股想跟中國人做生意的渴望之外，沒有帶上其他東西。他不知道如何或是上那去買茶葉與其他中國商品，或是他該拿什麼付錢。他只有普遍而且經常是錯的想法，像是中國人可能會想要買什麼。在內地如何找到市場做買賣、打包與運輸、複雜的通關稅，這些問題都是團謎，而且被雇用的中國人不會幫忙解決。這是他們的秘密而且被小心看守著。

 

The Treaty of Nanking which opened a number of ports to the foreigner also ended the Cantonese trading monopoly and gave every Chinese equal opportunity to sell and buy from the foreigners. They were quick to see the possibilities of profit in this new business but there were as helpless as the foreigners in all matters beyond their own shores. Except for the clerks who had worked with foreigners in Canton the Chinese had only a vague idea of what kind of goods a foreigner bought and sold. They knew little or nothing about ocean freight, marine insurance, bill of lading, exchange contracts and all the other complicated mechanism by which the goods of one country are shipped across the sea and sold to the customers in another. Like the British and the Americans, the Chinese business man was faced by the language difficulty. He had an inadequate knowledge of English, the language in which nine-tenths of the international commercial correspondence of the world was conducted.

開放一些港口給外國人的南京條約，不僅終止了廣東人的貿易壟斷，還給予每一個中國人跟外國人做生意的平等機會。中國人馬上就聞到新事業賺錢的可能性，但是對於遠在海岸之外的世界，他們跟外國人一樣無助。除了曾在廣東跟外國人一起工作過的職員，中國人只有大概知道，什麼樣的貨物是外國人想要買賣的。他們幾乎不知道遠洋貨運、海事保險、裝卸費用、交換合約以及其他要把這國家的貨物運送過海賣給另一個國家的顧客，這些複雜的機制。就像英美兩國人，中國生意人被迫面對語言窘境。他大概不知道，全世界有九成的商業通信是用英文在流通的。

 

This gap between two groups of business men was bridged by the employment of the compradore, a personage peculiar to the China Coast, who represented the taipan in all of hid dealings with Chinese traders. The name is derived from the Portuguese word “compra,” which means “to buy” and it is probable that the first compradores were solely engaged in buying tea and other Chinese produce for export trade. The exporting of Chinese produce was the most important function of the foreign trade at the time that the first compradores were employed. When the foreigner finally found goods the Chinese wanted to buy, the compradores took on the task of selling them. He was a good trader but a pool salesman and it was not until the selling of goods to the Chinese became of equal importance with the purchase of produce from them that he began to lose his dominant position.

雇用買辦這方法替兩個集團的生意人搭起一座橋。買辦是中國沿岸一個相當獨特的角色，他代表大班去處理所有面對中國人的交易（編按：大班就是老闆）。這個名字是由葡萄牙文的「compra」所衍生出來的，意思是「去買」，而且很可能第一批買辦的任務就只是去買要出口的茶葉與其他商品。在那時候，出口中國商品是對外貿易裡最重要的功能。當外國人終於發現中國人想要什麼商品時，買辦同時也被賦予販賣的任務。他是個好交易員卻是個差勁的銷售員，但他不會失去他舉足輕重的職位，直到進貨與銷售變得同樣重要為止。

 

The foreign trader could not do business with the compradore and the compradore could not do business alone. Each supplied the defects in the knowledge and the training of the other so that foreign trade was made possible only by the dual system in which each played his part. Although each safeguarded himself by contracts and agreements, no written undertakings could possibly foresee and provide for all of the problems which might arise and the arrangement was practical and workable only because of the mutual trust and confidence which was built up between them. Assuming a reasonable amount of honesty and fair play in each side this was a natural growth.

外國商人缺少買辦無法做生意，買辦自己一人也無法做。他們互相彌補知識上與歷練上的弱點，所以對外貿易在彼此各司其職的雙系統運作下變得可能。雖然他們彼此還是會靠一些合約與協議來防衛，但是白紙黑字寫下的承諾並不能預見以及提供來解決所有可能發生的問題；不過基於建立於他們之間的信任與信心，協議依然是實際可行的。假設兩邊各有合理的誠實與公平，信任自然就會滋長。

 

Neither learned the other’s language. A staff of Chinese interpreter took care of translating documents. The compradore and foreign manager carried on their conversations and negotiated very important deals by the use of pidgin or business English, a language which had been invented by the Cantonese clerks and servants so that they could make themselves understandable to their employers. The word pidgin represents the Cantonese attempts to pronounce the word business. The language contains a vocabulary of several hundreds English words adapted to Chinese pronunciation. The words are used without regard to English grammar but placed in the sentence as they would be in Chinese phrase. In fact the language developed through attempts to make word for word translations from Chinese into English, expressing the sounds of English words by means of Chinese characters in which many words can only be approximated. This accounts for the fact that the English word “security” becomes “sclew” and “that” is hardly recognizable as “lat.” Most of the early British traders came to Canton by way of India and brought with them a few Hindustani words which came into general use and added to the picturesqueness of the pidgin glossary.

誰都沒去學習對方的語言。文件檔案的翻譯由另一個中國翻譯員來處理。買辦與外國管理者繼續用商業英文或是一種被稱為pidgin的奇特語言來對話以及談判重要的交易，這種語言是由廣東籍的辦事員與服務生所發明，好讓雇主可以瞭解他們所想表達的意思。Pidgin這個字代表著廣東人嘗試對business的發音。這種語言包含著數百個被發成廣東腔的英文單字。文字的使用根本不管英文文法，而是把它們放進中文句子裡。事實上這種語言是把中文句子一字一字翻譯成英文字而來的，而發音的方式也是藉由較相似的中文字來表示。這解釋了英文字「security」會被唸成「sclew」，「that」變成難辨認的「lat」。（編按：不要問我這是哪兩個中文字，我投降了。Orz…）大多數早期經由印度來到廣東的英國商人帶來一些常用的印度語，也被加進pidgin這個想像力豐富的專業辭典。

 

（編按：11/13補充。香港朋友Kary提供一種假設，sclew發音近似「實Q」，廣東話意指吝嗇。「Q」在閩南話也有類似的意義。所以security原意是保護好自己的東西，用吝嗇去聯想還蠻有道理的。）

 

The language is adequate for most business purposes. For example a typical conversation in the office of a foreign hong might run as follows.

  Taipan: “How fashion that chow-chow cargo he just now stop godown inside?”

  Compradore: “Lat cargo he no can walkee just now. Lat man Kong Tai he no go ploper sclew.”

  Taipan: “How come you talkie sclew no paper? My have got sclew paper safe inside.”

  Compradore: “Aiyah! Lat scelw paper he no can do. Lat sclew man he have go Ningpo more far.”

To the outsider this conversation would be completely meaningless but to the taipan and the compradore and any old-time resident it was perfectly intelligible. The inquiry was about the reason why a shipment if mixed cargo (chow-chow) was still in the godown (warehouse). The compradore replied that the cargo could not be moved (walkee) because security (sclew) of Kong Tai, the purchaser, was not in order. To the taipan’s assertion that he had the security in his safe the compradore replied that it was now worthless because the man who had guaranteed payment for the cargo – “sclew man had go Ningpo more far” – which was the local idiom for stating that he had defaulted and run away from his creditors.

這種語言對大部分的商業用途來說足夠了。舉個例子，下面是一般外國公司辦公室裡的典型對話。

大班：「怎麼這樣 那個 混裝 貨櫃 他 還 現在 停 倉庫 裡面？」

買辦：「那個 貨櫃 他 不 能 走 還 現在。那個 人 光泰 他 沒 得到 合約書 保證。」

大班：「怎麼會 你 說 保證 沒 合約書？ 我 有 得到 保證 合約書 保險櫃 裡面。」

買辦：「唉呀！ 那個 保證 合約書 他 不 能 做。 那個 保證 人 他 有 去 寧波 更 遠。」

對一個局外人來說這場對話完全不知道在講什麼，但是對大班、買辦還有老居民來說完全可以理解。詢問的內容是關於什麼原因讓混裝的貨櫃(Chow-Chow)現在還停在倉庫(godown)裡。買辦回答，貨櫃還不能移動(walkee)，因為買家「光泰」的保證(sclew)不在訂單裡。大班堅持說，他的保險箱裡有擔保品，買辦說那已經沒有價值了，因為那個保證要付款的人- “sclew man had go Ningpo more far” – 這是一句當地的土話，表示他已經違約，跑給債主追去了。

 

（編按：Aiyah! My English no want go bad, A mi tou fuo.）

 

 

 

 

The traders endured their isolation and exile by making it as comfortable as possible. The honorable company maintained its own living quarters for the staff and all ate a common mess. When private British and American companies were established and prospered they followed the same custom. Chinese cooks soon learned how to prepare the strange food the barbarians ate and there was competition to see which mess could set the best table. There was perpetual open house and constant visits back and forth from one mess to another. In default of anything else social life centered around the table and sideboard.

貿易者靠讓日子過得盡可能舒服來忍受離鄉背井的隔離。東印度公司為員工維持他們自己的生活區，所有的人都在一起用餐。私人的英美公司設立而發達時，他們也有同樣的風氣。中國廚師們很快就知道該怎麼準備奇怪的野蠻人食物，而且開始那個食堂可以設立最好的座位這類的競爭。有了永久營業的餐廳，不斷有訪客來來去去從這家吃到那家。除了社交生活之外的所有例行公事，圍繞著餐桌與餐具櫃的中央打轉。

 

For the greater part of the year these early traders were almost completely isolated from the rest of the world. They left all social constant behind them, lived in a community of men where there were no restraining influences except those which they imposed on themselves. To replace the conventions of their homes they built up a rigid code, which, though often broken, was never denounced. They keynote of the code was that the prestige of the white man must be maintained by clean living and honest trading. The British had brought a part of code with them from India and the Americans adopted it as did the other foreigners. When the center of foreign trade moved from Canton to Ningpo and then to Shanghai, the code went with the traders and although changed conditions have modified it, it still exists.

一年到頭早期的貿易者幾乎處於跟世界完全孤立的狀態。他們不理身旁的世事，住在一個除了自己強加在自身上的規範外，幾乎無拘無束的社區。為了取代家鄉的習俗，他們建立了嚴格的規矩，但除了常被打破外，也沒人受到譴責過。這些規範的主旨在於必須維持白人清白地生活與誠實地貿易的聲譽。英國人從印度帶來某些規矩，而美國人像其他外國人一般地遵守。當貿易的中心從廣東轉往寧波再到上海，這些規矩跟隨著貿易者；雖然環境的變更也更改了它，但還是依然存在。

 

A great many local amenities were established. Every ship carried mail for every other ship or for every business house, but no mail was ever delivered until the ship which had brought it was ready to sail. Any letter in the ship’s mail bag might contain information of great value to a competitor, and so mail day coincided with the sailing rather than the arrival of ship. After the cargo was stowed, and the hatch battened down and the ship ready to sail, the heads of firms would call for a farewell drink with the captain and he would distribute the letters which may have been locked away in his safe for a month or more.

許多當地的福利設施也建立了。每一艘船運送著給其他船或公司的郵件，但是郵件直到船已經準備好出航才會被送到船上。任何在船隻郵件包裡的信件可能包含著競爭對手想要的重要資訊，所以寄郵件的日期恰好是船離港的時間而非到達的時間。在貨櫃裝好、老闆跟船長舉杯順風之後，他才會把可能鎖進保險箱一個多月的郵件拿出來分派。

 

Although American trade started with small ships and limited capital, it was not long before one of the greatest of all of the princely houses of the China Coast flew the American flag. This was Russell & Co., founded by Captain Samuel Russell of Middletown, Connecticut. The firm was so successful and gained such a reputation for honesty and fair dealing that it became a synonym for wealth, honor and power. It has been out of existence for more than sixty years but it is still talked about on the China Coast, and a few old men are able to boast that they were once Russell employees.

雖然美國人開始貿易時開著小船以及只擁有有限的資本，但不久之後中國沿岸其中一間富麗堂皇的辦公大樓就飄揚著美國旗幟。那是Russell貿易公司，由出身於康乃迪克州中部鎮的Samuel Russell船長所創設。這間公司是如此成功，贏得了誠實公平的信譽，並跟富有、榮譽與強大這些字眼劃上等號。這公司已經關閉超過六十年還有許多人津津樂道地談論，有些老人還因曾經受顧於這家公司而自吹自擂。（編按：挑個小毛病。作者這邊的記憶有誤，本書出版於1940年，而這間公司於1842~1891年，自關閉後只有經歷五十年而已。Russell本人是耶魯大學骷髏兄弟會的成員之一。）

 

After one or two voyage to China on trading ventures, Captain Russell saw that an agency was needed in Canton to take care of the business affairs of the sailing-ship skippers who were not always good business men as well as good seamen. His firm was established for the sole purpose of acting as commission agents for other traders, to sell and buy cargo for them and take care of all of the shore details of the business. Before the establishment of his firm, the skippers of the sailing ships had not only the responsibility of the long and difficult voyage but also that of disposing of the old cargo and the purchase of new.

在經歷一兩次到中國的航海貿易之後，Russell船長發現他需要一個代理人在廣東幫忙處理商業事務，因為好的海員不見得都是好的商人。他設立公司的目的僅僅是需要一個委託窗口來處理貨物買賣，並且幫忙注意沿岸商業的詳細資訊。在他的公司設立之前，運輸的海員不只要應付長途與艱困的航海，還要負責處理舊的貨物與採買新的。

 

The Russell venture succeeded from the very beginning. Business men in America now consigned their ships and cargo to this firm and had no further worried about the business abilities of the skipper or the responsibility of a supercargo. Russell & Co. collected a commission on the sale of cargo and on the purchase of tea or other China produce, and no matter how the deals went they always made money. Soon the company was able to maintain an establishment as luxurious as that of the Honorable company itself. The wine cellar was well stocked and it was taken for granted that any distinguished American who visited Canton would be the guest of the Russell hong. As other ports were opened to foreign trade a branch of Russell & Co. was be found in each one and the same pattern of princely hospitality was duplicated. The Russell mess was as well stocked as the largest hotel. Commodore Perry, who was a guest both at Macao and Shanghai, tells of having expressed a preference for a certain brand of table water and it was immediately produced and served to him daily during his stay. Money was made so fast that and with such certainty that there was a constant stream of young partners coming out to engage in the business and old partners going back home to retire. The names of the partners read like a blue book of Boston society, for most of them came from that city.

Russell的事業開始的時候相當成功。在美國的生意人把船與貨物交給他在中國的公司，再也不必擔心海員的商業能力或是貨物管理員的責任。公司被集中委託賣出貨物與買進茶葉和其他中國商品，而且不管交易怎麼談，總是賺錢。很快公司有能力維持一棟像東印度高貴公司般豪華的設施。酒窖藏滿紅酒，眾所皆知任何高貴的美國人只要訪問廣東，都會成為Russell的座上賓。當其他的港口陸續開放，每一個港口都有Russell分公司，慷慨的好客行為一個個被複製。Commodore Perry曾在澳門與上海作客，告訴我們他當時曾經表達過喜歡某種牌子的餐桌開水，很快這牌子的開水在他停留的日子裡每天出現在餐桌上。錢是賺得如此快又肯定，以致於新的合夥人像小河般流向中國從事這行業，而舊的合夥人流回家鄉退休。合夥人的名冊讀起來就像一本波士頓官方藍皮書，因為很多人來自於那個城市。

 

The company soon went into the private banking business, became the agents of the great firm of Baring Brothers, and financed shipments not only for Americans but for British. Partners who had made their fortunes and returned to live in America invested in the shipping business and the company acted as their agents. As profits piled up the firm gained a reputation not only for integrity and princely generosity but also for a canniness in trade which was little short of the miraculous. Their ships beat the British in the race to London with the first tea of the season. The ponderous Indiamen, bulky and slow running, slipped into second place, for the clipper ships built by the Russell partners and managed by the Russell hong were the fastest things afloat. They built the first telegraph line in China. The first steamships on the China Coast and the Yangtze were owned by Russell. The Russell partners appeared to have the touch of Midas. The steamship venture had meant a huge investment and at the beginning of the year 1864 the company was a million dollars in debt. But when the books were closed at the end of the year the debt had been wiped out and there was a balance in the bank. The Russell ships have long since disappeared but they left a pleasant memento behind them. Russell brought out Negro cooks to teach the Chinese, and the American tradition has been preserved in all China Coast boats, for hot cakes and syrup are always to be had for breakfast and baked beans are on the menu once a week.

公司隨即踏進了私人銀行的事業，成為霸菱銀行的代理商（編按：就是在1995年被自己員工Nick Lesson搞垮的那一間），提供英美兩國商人船務融資。賺到錢回美國退休的合夥人也投資在運輸事業上，公司成為他們的代理。當鈔票越堆越高，公司不只正直慷慨的行為，還因貿易上近乎於奇蹟的機靈而備受讚揚。他們的船在運送當季第一批茶葉到倫敦的競賽上打敗了英國人。龐大的印度人級商船，笨重緩慢地跑著，滑到了第二名，因為由Russell伙伴建造，由他自己管理的快艇是浮在水面上最快的東西。他們也建造了中國的第一條電報線路。第一艘在揚子江與中國沿岸上跑的蒸汽船，也是Russell所有。Russell的伙伴看起來被麥德斯摸到過，全身金光閃閃（編按：麥德斯是希臘神話的神祉，能點石成金）。蒸汽船事業意味著一大筆投資金額，在1864年開始的時候，公司負債一百萬美元。但故事結束，當年年尾債務已經被消彌，銀行居然還有結餘。Russell的船儘管已經消失很久了，還是留下許多令人緬懷的記念。Russell把黑人廚師帶到中國傳藝，美國傳統還一直保留在中國沿海的船上，早餐供應熱蛋糕與楓糖漿，還有菜單上一週一次的烤豆子。

 

The monopoly of Honorable company came to an end in 1834 and other princely houses grew up under the British flag. One of the most famous was that of Jardine, Matheson & Co., founded by Dr. Jardine, who had been a surgeon on one of the Honorable company’s boats. He established new traditions of efficiency by having only one chair in his office – the one occupied by himself. There was no opportunity for callers to sit down for a comfortable chat. But that was as far as the Jardine inhospitality went. The French chef at Shanghai was famous for his skill, and the wine cellar was even better than that of Russell.

高貴公司的壟斷在1834到了尾聲，另外一些英國公司開始崛起。其中最有名的一家是由曾在東印度公司船上當外科醫師的Jardinen所創立的。他建立了一些有效率的新慣例，像是他的辦公室裡只有一張椅子，就在他的屁股之下。拜訪者根本沒機會坐下來好好聊天。但幸好他的冷淡只到這裡而已。他雇用的法國大廚在上海享有盛名，而且他的酒窖比Russell的還要好。（編按：Jardine的財富是用鴉片堆出來的，他可說是促成中國第一次鴉片戰爭的要素。）

 

The princely tradition persisted long after keen competition had made trading anything but a princely occupation and the business formerly monopolized by a few big concerns was divided among dozens of smaller ones. But through good times and bad, the China Coast was always a spendthrift place where a man would spend his last dollar entertaining his friends or possibly go into debt by spending money he did not possess. There was always the chance that one would get a break and be able to meet all obligations. In a foreign trade based on silver currency of constantly fluctuating value, any man in business was likely to go to bed broke and wake up prosperous, or vice versa, with complications either way. There was a strong element of chance in all business and the reckless spirit of gambling crept into most business transaction.

激烈的競爭使得每項東西都可以拿來交易，但是慷慨除外，所以這樣的傳統還是維持了很長一段時間；而且過去生意由少數企業壟斷的局面也變成幾打的小公司互相競爭。但是不管時機好壞，中國沿海依舊是個揮霍無度的地方；在這裡一個人可能會花掉身上最後一毛錢來娛樂他的朋友，或是揮霍不屬於自己的錢而債臺高築。這裡總是有機會讓你想得到一個好運時，卻搞的滿身爛債。對外貿易根據價值不斷起伏變動的銀色波浪上上下下，身在其中的人也許晚上上床前破產，早上起來卻變成大富翁，或是剛好相反，不過任何一種都伴隨著混亂。在所有生意裡都有很強烈的機會成分，以及魯莽的賭博精神在大部分的交易裡蠕動著。

 

When I arrived in Shanghai in 1911 there were a half-dozen business concerns which maintained private bars where business or personal friends could drop in for a drink an odd moments during the day. This was before higher customs and excise duties had raised the prices of liquor. As everything was cheap the fact that a business firm should maintain a private bar was considered no more unusual than that a business man should have a box of cigarettes on his desk, for the convenience of his callers.

我在1911年抵達上海，那裡還有半打的公司在自己的辦公室裡設置私人酒吧，讓你商業的或是私人的朋友可以大白天隨時泡在那。但這是在高額的關稅與貨物稅提高酒類售價之前的事。什麼東西都便宜的時候，公司應該設立酒吧的想法，被認為跟商人應該在自己的桌上放一盒香菸來招待拜訪者是差不多的。

 

In fact the China Press, the paper on which I was city editor, maintained a private bar for the staff though there was nothing free about it, and the Chinese cashier, who was suspected of having a silent partnership in the enterprise, always deducted the bar bill from the pay checks. The managing editor insisted that having a bar in the office made the reporters hurry back after covering the assignments and also was personally a great time-saver as it made it unnecessary for him to leave the office.

事實上我在當編輯時，中國郵報就設置了一個酒吧，雖然沒有一樣東西是免費的，而且中國出納員被懷疑私下跟公司合作，在員工的薪水裡扣除酒吧消費的帳單。總編輯堅持在辦公室裡有個酒吧可以讓記者們在跑完新聞後趕快回來，而且個人因素上，酒吧還是個很棒的節省時間方式，讓他可以不用離開辦公室。

 

For various reasons many of these private bars were discontinued and ten years ago there were only there of them left. The most famous was that maintained by the great Hongkong & Shanghai Bank. To be invited to enjoy its hospitality was an honor reserved for exchange and bullion brokers and people with heavy overdrafts. It was distinction something like that of being known as a friend of the Morgans. A more democratic bar was that of Lane, Crawford and Co., general storekeepers. Every morning at 10:30 the venerable Mr. Crawford, who had been doing the same thing for more than twenty years, would empty a bottle of gin in a pitcher of ice, add other ingredients and serve a drink which was known as a “Crawford Special”. This was a daily ritual attended by a half-dozen or more old cronies and there were usually a dozen more who would drop in for a drink before noon. As the famous old private bars disappeared, Caldbeck, McGregor & Co., the premier wine and spirit merchants of the Far East, included in plans for their new building a replica of an old English tap room which is an architectural joy. A list of those who have enjoyed its hospitality would include some of the most famous of the many famous visitors to Shanghai.

基於很多原因私人酒吧無法再維持下去，到十年前只剩下三座。最有名的是由香港上海匯豐銀行所維持。想要被邀請享受銀行特地保留的好客尊榮，你必須是外匯、金塊交易的經紀人，或是超額借貸的客戶。摩根銀行也有些類似這樣的特點。另一個比較大眾化的酒吧是在Lane Crawford公司。過去二十年每天早上10:30，令人尊敬的Crawford先生都會喝乾一壺由冰塊、其他原料與琴酒調製而成的「Crawford特調」。這是六、七個好朋友每天的儀式，到中午之前加入喝酒行列的人通常會增加到一打以上。當著名的老式私人酒吧消失之後，遠東地區最早的紅酒與烈酒商人們，Caldbeck McGregor公司計畫在新大樓裡蓋一個賞心悅目的英式酒吧。有一份曾經接受過招待的名單上，包含一些來過上海的名人中的名人。

 

In good old days drinks were provided free to passengers on the British boats in the China Coast trade just as wine is considered a part of the meal on French boats and, incidentally, on French airplanes today. I can imagine there was a terrible uproar when this practice was discontinued. The companies must have had a difficult time getting passengers to pay for their drinks. To this day every ticket sold for passage on the Yangtze or the Coast contains a bold-face notice warning passengers that the passage money does not include drinks, which must be paid for at bar prices.

在往日的美好時光裡，中國沿岸的英國船隻有提供免費酒類飲料給乘客，就像在法國船隻與今日的法國航空，紅酒被認為是餐點的一部份。我能夠想像這項服務被宣布終止時的恐怖騷動。這些公司為了讓乘客為酒類付費，必定有過一段相當難熬的時間。今日每一張渡過揚子江或是海岸的船票上面都印有粗體黑字提醒、警告乘客，運費裡沒有包含酒精飲料，必須依照吧台的定價付費。

 

“If you have money, you can make spirit: turn the mill.”

有錢能使鬼推磨

 

 

Around the tree-shaded spots in the hills of Manchuria and Korea there grows an indigenous wild plant with bifurcated roots which usually assume a rough semblance of the form of the human body. Because of this suggestive shape it has long been believed by the Chinese that the root has a medicinal value and would greatly prolong the virility as well as the life of a man. It is the most sought-for herb in China’s pharmacopoeia, where it is given the name of ginseng. Some large old roots which have a more than ordinarily striking resemblance to the body of a vigorous man sell for fabulous sums – hundreds of dollars an ounce. This is also the demand at good prices for inferior and broken roots from which an aromatic mucilaginous tea is made and consumed by old and middle-aged men who fancy that it gives them a return to the robust thrills of youth.

在東北與韓國樹影環繞的山上，生長著一種根部帶有分岔的野生植物，外型看起來略微像是人體的輪廓。因為這種具有暗示性的外型，長久以來中國人相信它的根部具有能夠延長人類壽命的強大藥效。它也是中國藥典上被查閱最多次的草本植物，人參。一些年代久遠的大型人參，長得比一般人參更像精壯男子，能夠賣到難以置信的價錢：幾百美元一盎司。較次等或是損毀的人參也有能賣到好價錢的需求，做成一種芳香黏膩的茶，來賣給一些幻想重新得到青春悸動的中老年人。

 

This is one of the oldest of Chinese medicines. It has been used for centuries and in spite of the fact that foreign doctors have declared it to be valueless, its use still continues. One can see the roots on display in the window of any first-class medicine shop in China. At one time ginseng was dug up in such wholesale quantities in Manchuria that there was danger of its extinction, and it was protected by an Imperial mandate which threatened death to anyone who collected it except by Imperial license. The conservation measure came too late to be of any practical benefit, for it was already so rare in Manchuria that it was not worth while trying to export it and the few roots which were found were sold locally. This gave that was practically a monopoly to Korea, and the exports of the herb for more than a century balanced the negligible foreign trade of that hermit nation. Once a year the pack train, which carried tribute to the Emperor of China, set out from Seoul and was accompanied by traders carrying loads of ginseng which were sold in Perking for such good prices that the proceeds paid for the Chinese goods which Korea imported. The choicest roots formed part of the tribute to the Emperor.

這是最古老的中國醫學之一。已經有好幾世紀的歷史，而且儘管外國醫生已經宣告人參是沒有療效的，還是繼續持續下去。你可以在第一流的中國藥店看到這些被展示在櫥窗裡的人參。有一段時間東北的人參被大量挖掘發售，以致於面臨滅絕的危險，帝國下令禁止沒有得到許可的挖掘，違者處死。但這些保護措施來的太晚而收不到實質的效益，東北的人參已經少到沒有出口的價值，僅僅只有一些少量的人參在當地販售。這對韓國來說真的是壟斷的生意，光是出口人參就能平衡這個偏遠的國家一百多年來微不足道的對外貿易。曾有一年有列要向中國皇帝進貢的隊伍，從首爾出發並伴隨了滿載人參要到北京交易的商人們，結果人參的價錢好到收益能夠彌平進口到韓國的貨物。而細心挑選過的人參被拿去進貢給皇帝。

 

There is a similar plant, of the same species but not the same variety, found in the hills of Massachusetts; and when the colonies, having gained their independence from England, started in to build their foreign trades, the roots of this herb constituted the only salable commodity they had for export, and China was the only market where it could be sold. Thus the freakish geographical distribution of a curious and useless botanical product threw together two peoples who were about as widely separated geographically as it was possible to be.

有一種相似的植物，是人參的變種，被發現於美國麻薩諸塞州；當美國從英國殖民地裡獨立後並開始自己的對外貿易，這些植物的根部是他們唯一可以出口的有價貨物，而中國是唯一可以銷售這東西的市場。這個令人好奇而且沒用的貨物因為它的地理分佈，將可能是地理上相隔最遠的兩種族群給拼湊起來。

 

Another herb which contributed to American interest in China was tea. The movement which led to that independence had been punctuated by Boston Tea Party when the chests of China tea were thrown into the harbor. Tea constituted one of the few luxuries enjoyed by the colonists; and it should have been very cheap, for they bought only the inferior grades that could not be sold in England. But the monopoly of the East India Company enabled it to demand high prices, and this was one of the standing grievances of the colonies. The ability to import their own tea became a kind of symbol of independence, and turned the attention of American traders toward China. Americans had no manufactured goods to sell. They had little in fact but a boundless energy occasioned by their poverty and stimulated by their recently found independence. But the Chinese had tea and the Americans had ginseng, though they didn’t know what a very poor quality of ginseng it was.

另一種引起美國人興趣的草本植物是茶葉。將幾箱中國茶葉丟進海港裡的波士頓茶葉事件，正是造成美國獨立的導火線。茶葉是殖民地人民能享用的少數奢侈品之一，而且一直很便宜，因為那是在英國不能銷售的次等茶葉。但是英國東印度公司壟斷這項產品並且索取高價，讓各殖民地許多長期的抱怨又添上一筆。進口他們想要的貨物變成獨立的一種象徵，並讓美國貿易者的注意力轉向中國。但美國人沒有工藝商品可以銷售。他們除了被貧窮磨練過，而且又被獨立行動激勵出的無窮無盡的活力之外，幾乎一無所有。但是中國人有茶葉而美國人有人參，然而他們並不知道美國人參的品質到底有多糟糕。

 

Less than three months after General Washington had watched the evacuation of the last of the British troops from New York, the frigate, Empress of China, sailed from that port on the long journey to Canton. The first American venture in foreign trade was ambitious and theatrical. The sailing of the ship was delayed so that it would fall on Washington’s birthday, February 22, 1784. The promoters were undoubtedly conscious of the fact that their ship would come under the critical eyes of the officials of the East India Company who were stationed at Canton.

華盛頓將軍監視最後一批英國軍隊撤離紐約後的三個月內，護衛艦中國女皇號，展開了從紐約到中國廣東的長征。美國在第一次的外貿探險上相當有企圖心而且戲劇性，這艘船甚至延至1784年的二月二十二日華盛頓生日那天才進港。策劃人無疑地，想讓東印度公司派遣在廣東的官員們，用他們挑剔的眼睛好好看一看這艘船。

 

The boot was of striking large size for an American merchantman. It measured no less than 360 tons and $210,000 was invested in the enterprise. The cost was divided between a number of partners, the principal one being Robert Morris, the Philadelphia financier who had raised the money to pay Washington’s troops. The only cargo carried consisted of a few tons of the Massachusetts ginseng.

中國皇后號對一個美國商人來說是過大了。它重達360噸並花了二十一萬美元投資在這項事業上。這些成本是由一群合夥人共同資助，領頭的一位名叫羅伯˙米勒，他同時也是資助華盛頓將軍的一位費城金融家。唯一的貨櫃只裝載了幾噸的麻薩諸塞人參。

 

The ship made a good impression on the China Coast, as the Americans had hoped it would; and the British in Canton were more friendly than had been anticipated, but financially the venture was not a success. The ship was too large, the investment too heavy, and the cargo of ginseng did not command the price the owners thought it would bring. When the tea the ship brought home was sold and the balance sheet finally drawn up, there was not enough profit for an entirely satisfactory division between owners, officers, consignees, and crew.

中國皇后號如美國人所希望，在中國海岸帶來極深的印象；而且在廣東的英國人也比預期中要友善的多，但是財政上，這趟冒險失敗了。這艘船太大，投資金額太重，那貨櫃的人參也沒有贏得預期的好價錢。帶回去銷售的茶業清算完畢，最後攤開收支表，根本就沒有足夠利潤分給老闆、幹部、承銷者以及船員等，這些表現令人滿意的團隊。

 

The voyage called attention to possibilities of the trade with China, and later American ventures were on a less spectacular but more practical basis. British traders at Canton may have laughed at the tiny size of American ships which followed the Empress of China but most of them made money, and a few made profits which were almost unbelievable. Americans were good shipbuilders and good sailors, but there was no money for large enterprises nor did the buying power of the impoverished country justify bringing in large cargoes. There were many American ships of less than a hundred tons which made the voyage to Canton and returned with cargo which sold for many times the cost of the ship, the investment in the cargo, and all expenses. Tyler Dennett tells of the notable voyage of the Betsey of 93 tons sailing from New York, 1797. In a voyage of a little less than two years she went to the South Sea by way of Cape Horn, thence to Canton and back to New York by the way of Good Hope. Of the crew of thirty, not one was more than twenty eight years old. The total cost of the vessel, outfit, insurance, and interest was $7,867 and the net proceeds came to more than $120,000.

這趟航海引起人們對中國貿易可行性的注意，後期美國投資事業則建立在較實際而不華麗的基礎上。看過中國皇后號之後，在廣東的英國人可能會嘲笑美國人相較之下小到不行的船隻，但是這些船大部分都賺錢，有些甚至海削到讓你不敢相信。美國人是優秀的造船者與水手，但他們沒有錢搞大事業，這個貧窮國家也沒有能進口大筆貨物的購買力。有許多少於一百噸的美國船隻航行到廣東，帶回來的貨物價值是船隻、貨物成本以及其他花費總和的好幾倍。泰勒˙丹耐特講述93噸的貝絲號於1797年從紐約出發的著名航海故事。在不到兩年內，這艘船從南美洲南端的和恩角航行到南中國海，然後到廣東，再從南非的好望角回到紐約。船上三十個成員，沒有一個超過28歲。包含船艦、全部裝備、保險與利息總共是7,867美元，但是淨利卻超過 12萬美元。

 

With profits like these each successful voyage encouraged the building of more ships, and in their haste for profits the builders often did not give the timbers time to season; and many unseaworthy ships made the voyage successful only because of luck and the skill and daring of their navigators. The ginseng business soon played out as a bonanza; and though some of the worthless roots are still exported to China, it was never the big business that had been anticipated. The wild roots found in Massachusetts and those later grown in ginseng farms had the same suggestive appearance as the Korea product, the Chinese herb dealers soon discovered the difference and would not pay the high prices. Customers said the medicine brewed from them was not efficacious. While New England ginseng did not provide the fortunes Americans had expected to make, it did ruin the fortunes of others and played a part in changing the map of the world. It broke the Korean monopoly and upset its foreign trade and started that unfortunate country on the downward road which eventually led to annexation by Japan.

這些成功的航海事蹟鼓勵了船艦的建造，但是建造者為了早點賺到錢，常常使用季節不對的木材；許多不適於航行的船能夠成功完成航海，只是由於這些航海者的運氣、技能與膽量都很好。人參這項事業來得容易去得也快；雖然還有一些沒有價值的根部（編按：作者很鄙視人參，常用roots這字眼替代）出口到中國，但這事業一直沒有預期中那樣龐大。在麻薩諸塞出產的野生人參與後期種植在農場裡的人參外表上都與韓國出產的一樣，但中國草藥商馬上發現到差異而不肯再出高價。他們的顧客說這些人參做成的藥酒一點效用都沒有。當新英格蘭區農場的人參無法提供美國人想像的富裕，同時也毀了其他國家的錢途，並且間接改變了世界地圖。韓國人參的壟斷局面被打破，意外弄垮了韓國的對外貿易，引起這個擋在日本南下道路上的倒楣國家，最終被吞併的局面。

 

The American trade with China would not have flourished had it not been for the more or less accidental discovery of the fur resources of the Northwest. This was the first of a long series of incidents in which good fortune appeared to conspire with American energy and ingenuity to send the impoverished country on its way to prosperity. It would be difficult to imagine a combination of circumstances more opportune than that connected with the fur trade. There was a wealth of furs in the Northwest and a very profitable market for them in China. Americans were not only good shipbuilders and good sailors but most of them had at least an amateur experience in trapping and the curing of pelts.

要不是多少有些意外地發現美國西北部的毛皮資源，美國對中國的貿易不會那麼興盛。在一連串靠著美國人的活力與獨創性讓這個貧窮國家興盛起來的事件裡，這是最早的例子。我們很難去想像有比毛皮貿易更恰當的環境組合。在美國西北有大量的毛皮而且在中國市場能得到相當大的利潤。美國人不僅是優秀的造船者與水手，他們大部分的人都有一些設陷阱捕獵與剝取毛皮的業餘經驗。

 

Interest in foreign trade and foreign shipping was more widespread then than now. Ships designed for foreign trade were launched at Albany and at a surprisingly early date from Cincinnati. Capitalists of Boston, Salem or Providence scraped together enough money to buy or build a sloop, usually of less than a hundred tons. Provisions were secured for a voyage of six months or a year or two years and a crew engaged. Often the crew consisted of relatives of the captain or the owners. There was, in fact, no sharp dividing line between owners, officers and crew. The barbarous cruelties of the American sailing ship were to come later with the fierce competition of the fast clipper ships. Frequently there was no pay roll to meet for the members of the crew received a share of the profits of the voyage.

對外貿易和對外運輸的同業比現在更廣泛地散佈。外貿船從紐約州的Albany出發，令人驚訝地是這船更早之前是由辛辛那提州開出的。波士頓、Salem與Providence(編按：Salem在現今加拿大，Providence是康乃迪克州的暱稱，因為在獨立戰爭中大力支援糧餉而得名。)的資本家勉強地籌措出足夠的錢來買或是建造單桅帆船，通常都小於一百噸。糧食足夠讓船員從事六個月或是一兩年的航海。通常船員是由船長或是船東的親戚所組成。事實上，過去船東、幹部與船員根本沒有明確的區隔。與快速帆船的競爭，對這些美國船隻來說很野蠻殘忍。常常船員賺不到航海該有的利益。

 

The ship often sailed with nothing but ballast in the hold. Arrived on the Northwest Coast the crew trapped and cured the pelts or secured them from the Indians in ways that were never inquired into too closely. When the ship was loaded, or the stock of provisions ran low, or the season of favorable winds approached, sail was set for Canton. Here the pelts were bartered for tea and silk and other produce of China. It was as profitable as working the gold mines of California became a half century later, or whaling after the fur business ceased to be a bonanza. Sometimes pelts which could be bought for less than twenty cents on the Northwest Coast sold for $100 in China. If there were empty spaces in the holds when the ship sailed for China Coast the Americans anchored in the Sandwich Islands and cut down the odorous sandalwood trees for sale to the Chinese. One pious Salem hypocrite had a clear conscience about stealing the trees from the Hawaiians but worried about the trade because it provided the Chinese with materials for making incense “which might be used for idolatrous purposes.” But he kept on cutting down the trees. He might have spared himself that specialized qualm for the sandalwood was principally used in making the frames of fans and only the sawdust and splinters went into the making of incense.

船隻經常空蕩蕩地只有壓艙物就出海。當抵達西北岸邊，船員捕捉獵物、剝取毛皮，並用曾來沒有被詳細調查過的方式驅離印地安人。當船裝滿貨物、或者是存糧偏低、或是季節順風來臨，他們就航行到廣東。他們用毛皮來交換茶葉或是絲等等中國貨物。這些利潤相當於半世紀之後在加州挖金礦一般，或是在毛皮交易像泡沫結束後展開的捕鯨事業。有時在西北海岸可以用20美分買到的毛皮，可以在廣東賣到100美元。假如開到中國的船艙裡空空如也，美國人會在夏威夷群島下錨，然後砍伐檀香木來賣給中國人。Salem這地方有個偽善者發表過明確的憂慮，擔心從夏威夷人手中偷取樹木並賣到中國，可能會提供原料給中國人製造「崇拜偶像」的香。但他還是繼續砍樹。他可能已經寬恕自己關於檀香木這個特別的憂慮，因為大部份的檀香木被拿來製造成扇子的骨架，只有木屑與碎片會被拿來做成香。

 

Often the voyage was continued to Europe, where the China produce was sold for cash or traded for other merchandise. Calls at ports at India often made possible profitable deals in opium, and pepper and spices were picked up in Sumatra. Someone sold a Connecticut skipper the nuts of the wild nutmeg tree which have no more taste or flavor than a piece of wood, and so a state acquired its nickname and a generation of traders a reputation shared by posterity. Perhaps the reputation was deserved, though there were never any nutmegs actually manufactured from wood.

通常航海會繼續到歐洲，在那裡中國貨物可以換成現金或是其他商品。在印度停靠通常可以靠在蘇門達臘群島上船的鴉片、胡椒與香料拿到合理的利潤。有人賣給康乃迪克州一位航海者野生肉豆蔻樹的果仁，這些果仁的味道或是香氣基本上就跟木頭一樣，這一州也因此讓後代子孫得到它的暱稱而且被當成這一代貿易者的評價。也許這樣的評價是應得的，因為根本沒有一種肉豆蔻是用木頭製造出來的。（編按：康乃迪克州是美國最有錢的一州，它有許多暱稱，像是憲法之州與上面提到的Providence等等，其中一個就是作者這裡提到的Nutmeg State，肉豆蔻之州。這州在18、19世紀以進口並銷售肉豆蔻聞名，當時有批來源已不可考的「木頭仿造肉豆蔻」，居然在小販市場上流通。我個人猜想這或許有可能是美語罵人Nuts的由來。）

 

The Americans, whether they came from Connecticut or some other states, were sharp traders and efficient smugglers. A great deal of the opium brought to China by British was smuggled up and down the coast by the Americans who with their smaller and faster boats were better equipped for the business. They could slip into the small harbors used by Chinese fishermen and get away quickly if danger threatened. They sold the smuggled opium for silver or anything else of value that was offered. Many a piece of mediocre Chinese porcelain now treasured as heirlooms in old New England families was picked up in exchange for a ball of smuggled opium. If the Yankee smugglers gave more than a very small ball of opium they got the worst of the deal for most of the heirlooms are worth intrinsically only a few cents. Sometimes the ship was absent three or four years but by the time it had returned to the home port the cargo had been turned over several times and always at a profit. By these methods the Yankee traders amassed some capital and abandoned the slow process of trapping and curing their own furs. They traded cheap trinkets to the Indians, or worn-out muskets or handfuls of powder. One resourceful skipper set up his forge on the deck and put his blacksmith to work making iron rings which the Indians wore as collars, establishing a style vogue which was very profitable.

不管是來自康乃迪克還是其他州的美國人，都是狡猾而且有效率的走私商人。更小與更快的船能讓他們更有能力在中國沿海四處流竄，經營英國人帶進來的鴉片事業。他們可以溜進漁夫出入的小港，然後在警覺到危險之前快速逃離。他們用鴉片來交換銀子或是其他買家能提供的有價物品。很多在美國新英格蘭區家庭被當成傳家寶的次等瓷器，就是當時被拿來交換一小球鴉片的。如果美國北方佬拿大一點的鴉片來交換，那這項交易簡直遭透了，因為大部分這些傳家寶根本不值幾分錢。有時這些船三、四年音訊全無，但等到回到家鄉港口之前，這些貨物早就被賣了好幾翻，而且總是賺錢的。利用這些方式，北方佬聚集了一些資本並且放棄了原本需要捕捉與剝取這些緩慢過程的毛皮事業。他們賣一些廉價的小飾品給印地安人，或是殘破不堪的毛瑟槍，或是一小撮火藥。一個有策略的商人還在自己船上甲板設置熔爐，讓鐵匠打造一種讓印地安人掛在脖子上的鐵環，創造了一個賺錢的流行風尚。

 

The principal competition which the Americans met in China came from the Honorable East India Company whose tea had been thrown into the Boston Harbor. The Americans and British represented the extremes between penury and opulence; between individual efforts and initiatives as compared with what was at the time the world’s greatest treading organization, backed by the most powerful country. The Honorable Easy India Company was in fact an integral part of the British government itself. While the Americans found it difficult to raise enough money to build a ship of a hundred tons, the company was equipped with the largest and finest of merchant ships. They were so much superior to all others that they had a nautical classification of their own and were known as “Indiamen”. But in the tea trade, which was the most important, the two did not come into such direct competition with each other as might be supposed. Americans bought the cheaper grades because those were the grades which found a ready market not only in America itself but in the European markets which the American traders supplied. In fact, a very large part of American tea consisted of cargo which the company refused to accept as too poor for the London market.

美國人在中國市場上的主要競爭對手來自於茶葉被倒進波士頓港的高貴的英國東印度公司。美國人與英國人呈現著兩個極端；貧與富，個別的努力進取與當時世界上由最強盛的英國在背後撐腰的最大貿易組織。高貴的東印度公司事實上就是英國政府本身。當美國人沒錢建造百噸以上的船隻時，該公司擁有最大與最好的商船。這些商船是如此優異以致它們擁有自己的區別，而被稱為「印度人」。但是在最重要的茶業貿易上，這兩方並沒有進入一般想像中的直接競爭。美國人買比較次等的茶業不光是因為這些次等茶葉已經有穩固的本地市場，而且在它們掌握的歐洲市場也是如此。事實上，美國貨船上的茶業有相當大的部份是東印度公司認為品質太差而拒絕賣到倫敦市場的。

 

The opulent British company and the poor individual American traders suffered from the same handicap. Neither country produced any goods that had the least interest to the Chinese customers. It was one-sided business for both. China was the great storehouse of things the world wanted: tea, silk, licorice, and the hand-woven cotton which was so much superior to the hand-woven fabrics of other countries. Its hand looms and spinning wheels were the most numerous and its workers the most skillful. Every fashionably dressed gentleman of England and America had his knee breeches made of China cotton. The chinaware and porcelain manufactured in England and France were copies of Chinese products and inferior to the original. The age of steam had not yet begun to change manufacturing methods and China was far in advance of other countries in the production of merchandise. So far as America was concerned, it was very largely a cash and carry business. When furs and sandalwood were not available, kegs of Spanish or Mexican silver dollars were carried on the ships and traded to the Chinese dealers.

富有的英國公司與個別的美國商人遭遇到同樣的障礙。這兩個國家都沒有生產讓中國人感興趣的貨品。對他們來說這是一場單邊貿易。中國是個大商店，擁有許多全世界都想要的商品：茶葉、絲、甘草與其他國家所比不上的手工棉織品。中國有最大量的手紡織機以及紡車，還有最精巧的工匠。每一個穿著時尚的英美兩國紳士都有中國棉製的及膝短褲。在英法等地製造的陶瓷器都是仿造中國的次級品。工業革命還沒開始改變製造方式之前，中國在製造商品方面是優於其他國家的。目前為止美國所關切的，是需要攜帶大量現金的生意。在毛皮與檀香木生意還沒開始前，西班牙橡木桶或墨西哥銀幣被運載上船與中國商人交易。

 

The British balanced their trade in the only way possible, by selling opium, which was imported from India and Persia just as America sold furs from the India country and sandalwood from Hawaii. But there were no national lines in the opium business and Americans engaged in it as freely as the British. The only reason the British trader was the more important was because of the greater opportunities for securing supplies. Opium was such a generally accepted article of commerce in the Far East that when Americans negotiated the first treaty with Siam in 1833 it was taken as a matter of course that an attempt should be made to secure permission to import opium into that country.

英國靠唯一可能的方式來平衡貿易逆差，從印度與波斯進口鴉片，就像美國從印地安地區取得毛皮以及從夏威夷取得檀香木一樣。但在鴉片生意裡並沒有國界，而美國跟英國一樣沒有節制。英國商人能越來越重要只是因為他們有掌握住供給的大好機會。鴉片在遠東是如此熱銷的商品，美國在1833年第一次與泰國談判條約時，把嘗試談判進口鴉片到這個國家的許可當成一個重要的議題。

 

Lack of cargo which the Chinese would buy was not the only handicap to trade. Business was conducted according to a procedure as topsy-turvy as China itself appeared to be in Western eyes. The Chinese government had shown a celestial disdain for anything so base as trade and had set apart a little corner of crowded Canton as the one place where the foreign devils could purchase the priceless products of the empire. The British and American traders who were the only permanent residents of this strange community lived a ghetto-like existence similar to that of the Dutch on the Japanese island of Deshima. It was much like carrying in business inside the walls of a jail; mitigated by the fact that the Chinese jailers were not very strict disciplinarians and no one took the regulations too seriously. The Son of Heaven declined to deal directly either with the foreign devils themselves or with the diplomatic emissaries of such remote barbarian countries. A small group of Cantonese merchants was given the monopoly of foreign trade and the responsibility of taking care of foreign relations and the Son of Heaven then washed his hands of the entire business. Foreign merchants and officials could deal with the Cantonese group and no one else.

缺乏中國人會買的貨物並不是貿易的唯一障礙。做生意的門路在西方人眼中就像中國本身一樣亂七八糟。中國官方對任何貿易上的事一直表現出天朝的傲慢，只劃出廣東一塊擁擠小角落給洋鬼子來購買極為昂貴的產品。只有英國人與美國人才能成為這地區的永久性居民，這社區就像貧民區，有如住在日本長崎港出島的荷蘭人。這比較像在一個高牆監獄裡做買賣，還好中國獄卒並沒相當嚴格地執行紀律，也不太把規範當一回事。天子拒絕接見由遙遠的野蠻國家來的洋鬼子或是外交特使。一小群廣東商人被給於外貿的壟斷權和處理外交關係的責任，然後天子就從整個事業中抽手了。外國商人與官員只能跟這群廣東人打交道。

 

On paper it was the most impractical arrangement that could be imagined. The trader was entirely at the mercy of the Cantonese monopoly for he could neither sell to nor buy from any one else. Sailing ships were slow, there were no cables and every transaction was a gamble. If the Chinese offered a ridiculously low price for the foreigner’s cargo or demanded an absurdly high price for theirs, he could either take it or leave it. There was no alternative. But the Chinese were not arbitrary, and in actual practice the system worked out very satisfactorily. With a reasonableness which is characteristic of the race, the Chinese concerned that each party to a transaction must make a profit. They haggled and bargained but in the end almost everyone made money. In fact relations between the foreigners and the Chinese were remarkably friendly and pleasant as soon as they grew to know and trust each other. Each extended credit to the other in reckless fashion and often huge debts were wiped out so as to give some unfortunate traders of either nationality a fresh start. Business was done in a big, expansive way with plenty of give and take in either side and small regard for petty details. It was a business in which great fortunes were made and lost, but those who lost returned home and as only the successful remained, there was always an air of opulence and prosperity.

理論上這是最不切實際的安排。貿易者完全要靠這群廣東人的憐憫，因為在他們的壟斷下無法向其他人買賣任何東西。航行的船隻很慢，過去沒有電報，每一場交易幾乎都是場賭博。要是中國人提供了太荒謬的低價給外來的貨物或是索取不合理地高價給他們的商品，他們不是要接受就是要離開。這裡沒有互相論價的空間。但是中國人並非獨斷的，這套系統實際運作上非常令人滿意。合情合理是這民族的特性，中國人關切每一夥人都能在交易裡獲利。他們討價還價但最終每個人都有賺到錢。事實上中國人與外國人的關係馬上明顯地變得友善與和諧，在他們認識和信任彼此之後。每個人非常魯莽地擴張信用到其他人身上，常常為了讓對方能東山再起，大筆的債務就這麼一筆勾消。生意在兩邊龐大、昂貴的施與受之下經營，很少去關切那些小細節。這種龐大的獲利與損失模式，失敗的人回家，成功的人繼續經營，這裡永遠充滿著富裕的香氣。

 

 

 

　　在香港的金融中心裡會去翻看這本書，全是因為封面上那個性感的中國女孩，可是如果她還活著，大概老的可以當我阿媽了。然後我想，既然對其他名牌都沒興趣，乾脆就買本書回來當紀念好了。某天我開始細看導讀時，才發現這是一位曾在二十世紀初曾到上海經商的美國人所寫的傳記。我覺得很好奇，因為從來沒有聽過外國人是怎麼描述中國，而以前課本上所教的東西又有某種程度的掩飾，或許這本書可以幫我打開新的視野。

 

　　不知不覺中，我漸漸訝異於作者對中國的瞭解程度，可能不遜於本地人；更由於他自己外來者的身份，對許多現象往往切入地一針見血，精闢透徹。我曾經寫過一張bucket list，裡頭有一項就是要翻譯一本書，怎麼能想到當初動機不純正的狀況下，居然讓我遇到了！就是這本了！況且這本書初版於1940年，早就過智慧財產權的保護年限，放上網路來更是沒問題。

 

　　有興趣的人可以一起討論，不管是我的翻譯還是對書內的見解提出的補充有誤，都歡迎！

 

　　我出去一下。

 

　　終於，成功把台灣地圖裝進iPhone裡面了，折磨阿。由於Apple第三方軟體的開發一定會有版本搭配問題，比方說甲先生寫了A程式，乙先生幫忙做了B程式，然後甲先生又寫了C程式；由於每個人寫程式的方法不同，甲乙兩人一定沒有協調好，然後等程式出到X版本時，Bug根本無從抓起。這還只是被簡化的例子。所以爬文找解答有時需要一點運氣。我運氣不錯，有人搞了好幾個禮拜，我兩天就解決了，但這真的是有沒有拜拜而已。

 

　　不用帶紙本地圖環島了，真爽。

 

　　在網路上看過許多人魄力十足地拋下一切，浪跡天涯的故事，對他們的作為感到敬佩。自己說要環島，一個月了還沒出發。儘管可以對朋友說天氣不好，體能不足，裝備沒買齊等等理由，卻還是不明白什麼阻擋了當初的熱情。很多事情總是開始了，才知道並不是當初想像的那樣，便洩了氣。有時想到別人的氣魄，總覺得自己很遜。

 

　    可是我還是想做。不是為了證明什麼，因為這世界上厲害的人太多，想跟他們比肩是自尋煩惱。夢想的確有大小之分；但即便是小小的夢想，對擁有人還是很重要。如果我想做的事被拿來比較，被拿來評論，那都無所謂。我去做那些事，只是因為我想更喜歡我自己而已；因為我需要一份驕傲：一份能向裡面那個膽小鬼誇耀的驕傲。

 

　　這一天整個是天兵狀況。首先，下午一點騎車出門，到新店游泳，沒有防曬，一路上整個背部像著火般；我邊騎邊幻想，汗如果滴到柏油路上，應該滋一聲會冒起白煙。出門前鳥說有件古怪的禮物要送我，去游泳池前順便繞到他那邊，看到他取出一件T-Shirt，正面寫著「我們的神」；這小子什麼時候開始信教了？？翻到背面一看，哈，居然是「高樹瑪麗亞」，果然他就算信神，也應該是「宅」神。他說，他認識的人裡面，一、穿的下XL size，二、能接受這樣東西的，大概只有我。

 

　　哪弄來的？穿這衣服等於上街幫AV女優打廣告耶！你馬幫幫忙，下次請記得我比較喜歡「小澤瑪麗亞」。

 

　　游完泳，騎車回淡水，到家之後已經九點了。我忍住想吃東西的慾望，沖完涼就想上床睡覺。平時睡前都有吃一顆維骨力保養膝蓋的習慣，可是今天不知哪根筋不對，我看到一顆維他命B群掉在桌上，居然想也沒想也吞了下去。明明身體就很疲累，可是整晚就睡不著！後來連肚子也開始咕嚕咕嚕叫了，慘！

 

 

  　　早上起來量體重，居然回到兩位數了！放鞭炮！一個月下來少了四公斤。

 

　　繼續操練，要能穿的下兩年前的褲子才行。

 

　　本來想上陽明山訓練，車頭一偏，就彎往濱海公路的方向；想想騎到基隆看看也好，四十六公里，再回頭。過了三芝後，心理突然就想，乾脆就這樣開始我的環島好了。不是也有個外國喜劇演員，跟朋友說他出去買個東西，結果就這樣開始他的旅行，幾年後才回來？東西沒帶齊，路上再看看好了，什麼證件沒帶都無所謂，反正有提款卡就OK………

 

　　提款卡？！

 

　　我摸了摸口袋，那傢伙出門也沒帶提款卡嗎？嗯，金錢不是萬能，可沒錢萬萬不能，真要搞遊民環島嗎？我很快就打消這念頭，畢竟，這跟我一開始構思的不一樣。有辛苦也要偶而奢侈一下，已經不再青澀的年紀了，不需要整個旅程都睡公園這麼困苦吧。

 

　　去的路程裡，的確像每個環過島的人所說，看到什麼新鮮的地點就想轉彎；可是隨著殺人太陽完全發威，車頭轉的方向都只有涼亭、樹蔭而已 。而且在大太陽底下牽車走了兩公里的沙灘這樣的事一點都不浪漫，雖然遇到的遊客會說你怎麼那麼厲害，其實他只是不好意思說，你怎麼瘋的那麼厲害。當我好不容易把車子拖離沙灘，有氣無力來到一條木頭的棧道時，我呆了呆，這地方明明沒來過，為什麼會這麼眼熟？棧道微微高起，在樹林間轉個小彎，將潔白的雲絮留在身後，那個畫面……

 

　　阿！這是電影「不能說的秘密」其中一個景阿！小倫某天就是載小雨經過這條路回家的！

 

　　感覺真的好像中樂透，我把這條短短的棧道頭尾騎了一遍。歐，如果車上載的不是幾公斤的水而是小雨有多好，雖然是八倍的負擔，甜蜜絕對是無窮倍。

 

　　離開麟山鼻，經過富基漁港，暗暗吞下一口唾沫，孤鳥旅遊雖然自由度超高，隨時可以改變行程，但是遇上這種群鳥才能豐湃啄食的地方，只能含淚離開。我總不能只叼一隻龍蝦吧？何況行囊已有買好的午餐，唉，以最快的速度逃離吧。

 

　　三芝、石門，亂轉亂轉的，進入金山時我聞到雨的味道。亞尼克果子坊就在不遠的地方了，我，我還是只能馬上調頭逃跑。今天是怎樣？怎麼美食老是跟我過不去？

 

　　回程上坡路不僅多，還是逆風！就是那種下大橋還要拼命踩踏板的逆風。拼老命回到淡水，只剩下動指頭的力氣了，晚餐就是早上買的漢堡蛋。唉，美食真的跟我無緣阿。

 

 

 

　　晚上家裡打電話來，跟老媽聊還好，跟老爸的對話內容卻很火爆。大概，我有二十年沒這樣跟他嗆。雖然他嘴裡說只是想知道我的未來計畫，語氣早就洩漏他的不滿，一直以來，他根本不支持我，只是一直在強忍情緒而已。我很失望，說真的，畢竟是父子，我希望從他身上得到的更多。本來想忍一忍就算了，不知怎麼的，突然覺得如果對自己最親近的人還要帶面具，是種更大的悲哀。可是講著講著，還是生氣了。

 

　　過了一陣子，心理感到不安，想想畢竟還是自己不對，又打了通電話回去低頭認錯。老媽接的，老爸拖了幾秒才來接電話，語氣出乎意外的溫和：「幹嘛道歉，父子哪有甚麼話不能講。」聽到這句話，我好感動，馬上就想把自己真正的想法說給他聽，「爸，其實我的想法是……」。爸爸也馬上截斷我的話，開始又說一遍他上通電話的想法，我只能在電話另一頭苦笑，嗯嗯回應著。等到他講完了，我精神一陣準備說話時，「你不需要講你的想法給我聽，我只是希望你能好好想想，晚了，有甚麼話明天在說吧。」

 

　　我無奈的掛上電話，帶著一頭的冷水。看來，代溝不是這麼容易跨越的。唉，看來觀念調整這樣的事急不得吧，今晚大家都睡的著就好了。也只能先這樣了。

 

　　套句漫畫家最喜歡的台詞，「出外取材，休刊。」

 

　　中午下了一場大雷雨。不知怎麼的，有了想出去淋淋雨的念頭。穿了條海灘褲，挑了件舊T-shirt，只帶了鑰匙，走出門，雨點打下來還真有點麻麻的痛。被注視的感覺有點怪。路上的人不是低頭撐傘，不然就是在雨簾子後的廊下躲雨，也有不穿雨衣狂奔過去的機車騎士，但是對於我這手插在口袋，像平常一樣在逛街的落湯雞，顯然反應不過來。

 

　　一個上半身濕透的國小生，背著書包很高興的跑過去，還回頭開心的對我笑了笑，跑向街道的盡頭，家的方向。我想他回到家後，有送上的毛巾與熱飲，還有香噴噴的飯菜，大雷雨中的奔跑只是另一場遊戲。而我，在這一天的午後，我的待辦事項欄是空的，我的口袋是空的，所以就算渾身濕透也沒有任何不方便。可是我卻有點迷惑。我要到了自由，然後呢？

 

　　我要到哪裡去？

 

　　一清早醒來，身體很沈重，稍微伸展一下肢體就能感受到，潛藏的新生力量即將甦醒。歐， I love tihs feeling.!