跨國視野中古巴苦力的國籍再定義過程，1874-1878

Transnational Nationality: The Qing Dynasty’s Cuban Coolies in the Late 19th Century

李聿康(YU-KANG LI)

指導教授 ： 陳熙遠

國立臺灣大學/文學院/歷史學研究所/碩士(2022年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU202200436

摘要

古巴苦力貿易是西班牙於十九世紀以契約勞工的名義進行的強迫勞動買賣。1847年到1874年間，超過十萬名中國人前往古巴，成為當地的契約勞工。由於買賣和勞動過程中高度的壓迫性質，古巴苦力貿易在當時的國際上惡名昭彰。古巴的苦力制度於1873年受到大清的直接干預，清廷派遣調查團前往古巴，其調查的結果最終成為清廷與西班牙外交談判的的依據，導致古巴苦力貿易的落幕。古巴調查團的派遣歷來受研究者重視，許多研究者認為，這是清廷視野中海外華人從「奸民」轉為「子民」的里程碑。較少人注意到的是，古巴的中國苦力成為大清子民並非只要大清願意承認，即不證自明的必然結果。古巴苦力貿易期間，有許多國家對古巴苦力敞開入籍的窄門，苦力自身也有衡量利益後，選擇國籍的主動空間。在此前提下，古巴苦力實則經歷了一段不斷變動的國籍變化過程，前人研究所說的「奸民」到「子民」僅為此一過程的一個面向。本文將該過程理解為多國對苦力國籍的競爭與苦力的生存策略的互動過程，以此視角，試圖打破僅從單一政府視角出發看待這段過程的限制，並讓讀者對該過程中，苦力本身的主動性，以及內中的跨國脈絡，有更深刻的理解。

關鍵字

古巴華人 ； 國籍 ； 跨國史 ； 苦力貿易

並列摘要

In nineteenth century, Spain start a force labor trade by the name of contract labor from China to Cuba. This trade was called coolie trade of Cuba, which started from 1847 until 1874. During this time, more than 10,000 Chinese when to Cuba as contract labors. Because of the severe oppression in the processes of trade and labor condition, this trade became notorious in the international world resulting the direct intervention from Qing dynasty in 1873. A committee was sent by Qing to Cuba to investigate the situation of Chinese coolies in Cuba. The investigation of the committee was used by Qing as proof in the negotiation with Spain, resulting the ending of the trade.
Many researchers receive the sending of the Cuban committee as a cornerstone in the transition of Oversea Chinese from “oversea traitors” to “Chinese subjects” in the view of Qing dynasty. The thing which less people noticed is that Chinese coolies did not definitely became Chinese subjects in the condition of Qing’s recognition. In the period of coolie trade of Cuba, lots of countries tried to absorbed Chinese coolies, giving them nationality. Besides, coolies themselves also had their agency: they could choose nationality according to their best interest. In this condition, Chinese coolies actually experience a process of nationality changes, and the transition from “traitor” to “subject” is just one of the dimensions of this process. This article tries to understand this process as an interaction between the competition of different states toward coolies’ nationalities and coolies’ strategy of survival. Through this perspective, this article aims to breakthrough the limitation of the view of single government, and let readers to have better understanding about coolies’ agency and the transnational context in this process.

並列關鍵字

Cuba ； Chinese Cuban ； Coolie Trade ； Transnational History ； Nationality ； Oversea Chinese

參考文獻

一、 檔案史料

（一） 檔案

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Arquivo de Instituto Diplomático do Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, https://idi.mne.gov.pt/pt/arquivo-e-biblioteca, Accessed in November 23, 2021.