中國(guó)擬取消沿行兩千年的鹽業(yè)專營(yíng)

中國(guó)擬取消沿行兩千年的鹽業(yè)專營(yíng)

China plans to scrap its state monopoly on the sale of salt, marking the end of a system with nearly 2,700 years of history. The move is intended to bolster competition, the Beijing Youth Daily reported, citing the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

中國(guó)計(jì)劃取消鹽業(yè)專營(yíng)，這標(biāo)志著一個(gè)已有近2700年歷史的制度的終結(jié)?！侗本┣嗄陥?bào)》援引工業(yè)和信息技術(shù)部的話稱，此舉是為了促進(jìn)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

China’s economic planners have tried for years to eliminate the monopoly, but faced opposition from the China National Salt Industry Corporation, the state-owned agency that controls salt distribution, and from consumers concerned about prices and food safety.

中國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)規(guī)劃者數(shù)年來一直試圖取消鹽業(yè)專營(yíng)制度，但遭到控制鹽類分銷的國(guó)有企業(yè)中國(guó)鹽業(yè)公司及擔(dān)心物價(jià)及食品安全的消費(fèi)者的反對(duì)。

A monopoly on salt production was introduced as early as 685 B.C. in the state of Qi on the Shandong Peninsula, though it may have existed even earlier than that, the scholar Rowan K. Flad writes in “Salt Production and Social Hierarchy in Ancient China.”

學(xué)者傅羅文(Rowan K. Flad)在《古代中國(guó)的鹽業(yè)生產(chǎn)和社會(huì)等級(jí)》(Salt Production and Social Hierarchy in Ancient China)一書中寫道，早在公元前685年，山東半島的齊國(guó)就開始對(duì)鹽業(yè)生產(chǎn)進(jìn)行壟斷，但這種制度或許出現(xiàn)得更早。

Under the system, the government designated who could produce salt, and the shipping of salt outside authorized districts was banned. The salt trade was long a significant source of revenue for the state, and helped provide revenue and pay for troops in far-flung outposts of the Chinese empire.

在這種制度下，政府指定鹽類生產(chǎn)商，禁止將鹽運(yùn)送至授權(quán)地區(qū)之外的地方。鹽類貿(mào)易長(zhǎng)期以來一直是政府的重要收入來源，在一定程度上帶來收益，為中華帝國(guó)偏遠(yuǎn)前哨的士兵提供軍餉。

As China has industrialized, the contribution of the salt monopoly to overall tax revenues has greatly diminished, but it has still served important functions. As recently as the mid-1990s, China experienced widespread problems of preventable developmental disabilities because of a lack of iodine in children’s food supply. In 1995, the country mandated that edible salt be iodized to reduce the problem, and the salt monopoly was used to enforce that rule.

隨著中國(guó)實(shí)現(xiàn)工業(yè)化，鹽業(yè)專營(yíng)制度對(duì)總稅收的貢獻(xiàn)大幅減少，但仍然發(fā)揮重要作用。最近，也就是在1990年代中期，由于兒童食用的食物缺乏碘，中國(guó)出現(xiàn)了廣泛的可預(yù)防的發(fā)育性殘疾問題。1995年，中國(guó)下令生產(chǎn)加碘鹽，以減輕這一問題，政府利用了鹽業(yè)專營(yíng)制度來實(shí)施該規(guī)定。

Studies have found a significant reduction in levels of iodine deficiency since the requirement was put in place.

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，自實(shí)施上述規(guī)定以來，缺碘水平大幅降低。

Consumers have long complained about efforts to end the salt monopoly. When a proposal was put forward to eliminate the system in 2009, the central government backed down in the face of online opinion surveys that showed a majority of respondents wanted the government controls to remain in place, the China scholar James Reilly wrote in his 2011 book “Strong Society, Smart State.” Those concerns have revived again, as online comments have raised concerns about the inclusion of toxic industrial salts being mixed with edible salt, the magazine Foreign Policy has noted.

消費(fèi)者長(zhǎng)期以來一直反對(duì)終結(jié)鹽業(yè)專營(yíng)制度的舉措。中國(guó)問題學(xué)者詹姆斯·賴?yán)?James Reilly)在2011年出版的《強(qiáng)大的社會(huì)，聰明的國(guó)家》(Strong Society, Smart State)一書中寫道，相關(guān)機(jī)構(gòu)在2009年提議取消專營(yíng)制度，但網(wǎng)絡(luò)調(diào)查顯示，大多數(shù)參與調(diào)查的人希望政府繼續(xù)控制，中央政府最終放棄這一提案?！锻饨徽摺?Foreign Policy)雜志指出，隨著一些網(wǎng)絡(luò)評(píng)論引起人們對(duì)有毒工業(yè)用鹽與食鹽混雜在一起的現(xiàn)象的關(guān)注，這種擔(dān)心再次出現(xiàn)。

Some scholars have argued that the state monopoly system actually contributed to the phenomenon of tainted salt, and that overhauling the system while enforcing food quality laws should help improve safety. In a 2010 paper, Sun Jin, Fan Zhou and Qin Li of Wuhan University noted that the monopoly meant that the price consumers paid for salt was three to four times higher than the price the China National Salt Industry Corporation paid for salt from authorized producers.

一些學(xué)者曾辯稱，國(guó)家壟斷制度實(shí)際上在一定程度上造成了食鹽遭到污染的現(xiàn)象，在改革制度的同時(shí)實(shí)施食品質(zhì)量法律應(yīng)該有助于提高安全性。在2010年的一篇論文中，武漢大學(xué)的孫晉、范舟、秦麗指出，食鹽專營(yíng)意味著，市場(chǎng)上的鹽價(jià)比中國(guó)鹽業(yè)公司從授權(quán)生產(chǎn)商手中收購(gòu)的價(jià)格高出兩到三倍。

While the average consumer does not feel the price difference because salt makes up such a small portion of a typical grocery bill, the markup supports a vast and pernicious underground market, the authors wrote. Such salt often does not contain iodine and can have harmful impurities, they noted.

這些作者寫道，雖然由于食鹽在平時(shí)的雜貨開銷中所占比例較小，普通消費(fèi)者沒有感覺到價(jià)格差別，但這種利潤(rùn)支撐著一個(gè)規(guī)模龐大的、有害的地下市場(chǎng)。他們指出，這種食鹽通常不含碘，可能含有有害雜質(zhì)。