漢文帝放鑄立意析論

漢文帝放鑄歷來評價不一，但皆就其影響討論，鮮少就放鑄立意作系統與深入分析，以致觀點稍有出入、偏頗。為呈現此政令頒布背後動機，本文嘗試從《史》、《漢》、漢代諸子等傳統古籍，輔以漢簡與今人對出土貨幣、錢範的考察，綜合對比抽繹其脈絡。文中發現漢文帝於即位之初，同時面對政治、社會經濟、國家財政與貨幣的錯綜複雜，經過通盤考量，決定下詔聽民鑄錢。政治上，對漢初功臣集團與同姓諸侯王，採取一剛一柔的不同手法，穩定政局，亦做出讓步。社會經濟上，承繼高帝、惠帝、呂后以來，皆以休養生息、厚植民生為首務。持續社會經濟復甦，使商品經濟逐漸取代自然經濟，加速商業興盛。國家財政上，為解決當時皇室或國家財政困境，文帝力行簡樸、強調務本、減輕農民租稅。同時，將稅賦轉嫁至商賈，藉此增加皇室與國家收入。貨幣上，由於銅材取得不易，故半兩錢輕重歷經三次變易。這種現象造成物價上揚、影響商業發展，更造成貨幣銅量不足。有鑑於此，漢文帝決定將鑄幣權下放，分散銅材缺乏困境。同時，採用國家管控方式，使公私鑄幣皆達到一定水準，從而穩定物價，商品經濟達到前所未有的高度，四銖半兩也確立其長達半個多世紀的不朽地位。

關鍵字

放鑄；半兩錢；貨幣；商品經濟

並列摘要

The openness to monetary casting by the Emperor Wen of Han has been a controversial issue. However, there is a lack of objective assessment because an in-depth analysis of the reasons behind this policy has never been performed. In order to reflect the motivation behind this policy, this study attempts to investigate the traditional and ancient books, such as Records of the Grand Historian, Book of Han, and various scholars in the Han Dynasty, as well as to inspect the bamboo slips from the Han Dynasty and metal currencies and metal molds unearthed, to perform a comprehensive analysis. This study finds that during the early reign of the Emperor Wen of Han, he faced extremely complicated political, socioeconomic, and national financial and monetary policies. After full consideration, he declared his policy of openness to monetary casting. Politically, this policy compromised the interests of loyal courtiers and feudatories in the early Han Dynasty. Socioeconomically, this policy passed down the idea of prioritizing the recuperation and economic development of citizens after the reigns of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Emperor Hui of Han, and Queen Lu. The continuation of socioeconomic recovery made it possible for a commodity economy to gradually replace natural economics and accelerate commercial progress. In terms of national finance, in order to overcome the royal or national financial difficulties at the time, the Emperor of Wen promoted austerity, emphasized pragmatism, and reduced taxes levied on farmers. Moreover, more taxes were imposed on businessmen in order to increase royal and national revenue. In terms of currency, due to the lack of bronze, the currency ＂half a Ling＂ was changed 3 times. Such a phenomenon caused inflation, affected commercial development, and even led to on insufficient supply of bronze for currency. As a result, Emperor Wen of Han decided to implement the policy of openness to coinage rights in order to overcome the difficulty of the lack of bronze. Meanwhile, he also implemented national monetary control to make public and private currencies achieve a certain standard in order to stabilize inflation. Therefore, a commodity economy reached its acme, and the immoral status of ＂four Chu half a Liang＂ was ascertained for approximately half a century.