历来有关鸦片战争起因之分析,均注重于鸦片贸易的危害性,这诚然是一个理所当然的探讨方向,但仅止于此,是远远不够的。中英两国之间的关系,最终决定于各自内部生产力和生产关系以及社会组织形态。因此,即便是探索一次对外战争的原因,也必须将眼光投向所在国内部的经济、政治和社会结构。广州通商制度是鸦片战争前80余年中外贸易和邦交的唯一渠道,也是清政府锁国封关的象征。它在战前引起中外日益频繁的磨擦和战后被彻底废除的事实,说明它 The historical analysis of the causes of the Opium War have all focused on the dangers of the opium trade. This is, of course, a natural course of exploration. However, it is far from enough. The relations between China and the United Kingdom ultimately depend on their respective internal productive forces and relations of production as well as the social organization. Therefore, even to explore the cause of a foreign war, one must also look beyond the economic, political and social structures in the host country. The system of trade in Guangzhou was the only channel for Sino-foreign trade and diplomatic relations more than 80 years before the Opium War and was also a symbol of the Qing government’s lock-up of the country. Before the war it aroused the increasingly frequent friction both in China and abroad and the fact that it was completely abolished after the war,