第一章：1840年之前的上海：只是个「小渔村」？/ Chapter 1: Shanghai Before 1840: Just a "Small Fishing Village"?

小朋友们，你们去过上海的外滩吗？站在外滩的江边，看着对岸陆家嘴的摩天大楼直插云霄，身边那些有着一百多年历史的欧式建筑在阳光下闪着光，是不是觉得上海从来都是这么繁华、这么洋气，天生就是个国际化大都市呀？如果我跟你说，在1840年鸦片战争之前，这里根本没有这些高楼，连电灯都没有，甚至很多人觉得上海只是个“小渔村”，你信吗？

Dear little friends, have you ever been to the Bund in Shanghai? Standing by the river on the Bund, looking at the skyscrapers of Lujiazui across the river, and the European-style buildings with more than 100 years of history around you, do you think Shanghai has always been so prosperous and modern, and is born to be an international metropolis? If I tell you that before the Opium War in 1840, there were no such tall buildings here, not even electric lights, and many people thought Shanghai was just a "small fishing village", do you believe it?

其实啊，“上海是小渔村”这个说法，就像把现在的深圳说成是“小渔村”一样，只说对了一半——深圳改革开放前确实只是个小渔村，但上海在1840年之前，已经是个有上百万人口、经济非常发达的江南大城了。今天我们就坐上时光机，回到1840年的上海，看看那时候的上海到底是什么样子。

Actually, the saying that "Shanghai is a small fishing village" is like saying Shenzhen is a "small fishing village" now - it's only half right. Shenzhen was indeed just a small fishing village before the reform and opening up, but Shanghai was already a large city in the south of the Yangtze River with a population of over one million and a very developed economy before 1840. Today we will take a time machine back to Shanghai in 1840 and see what Shanghai looked like at that time.

一、上海这个名字，是怎么来的？

How Did Shanghai Get Its Name?

很多小朋友可能不知道，“上海”这两个字，并不是从古至今就有的。现在上海所在的这片土地，最早在唐朝天宝十年（公元751年）才正式设县，那时候的名字叫“华亭县”，范围比现在的上海大得多，包括现在的上海、苏州、嘉兴、杭州的一部分，是江南地区非常重要的行政中心。

Many little friends may not know that the two characters "Shanghai" did not exist from ancient times. The land where Shanghai is now was first officially established as a county in the 10th year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty (751 AD). At that time, its name was "Huating County", which was much larger than current Shanghai, including parts of current Shanghai, Suzhou, Jiaxing and Hangzhou. It was a very important administrative center in the south of the Yangtze River.

到了宋朝，因为这里有一条从吴淞江（古称“松江”）分出来的支流，名字叫“上海浦”，“浦”就是小河流的意思，所以在这一带设镇的时候，就取名叫“上海镇”。等到了元朝至元二十九年（公元1292年），中央政府正式把上海镇从华亭县分出来，设为“上海县”，这就是上海这个名字的由来。

In the Song Dynasty, because there was a tributary called "Shanghai Pu" (where "Pu" means small river) branching off from the Wusong River (anciently called "Songjiang") here, when a town was set up in this area, it was named "Shanghai Town". It was not until the 29th year of Zhiyuan in the Yuan Dynasty (1292 AD) that the central government officially separated Shanghai Town from Huating County and set it up as "Shanghai County". This is the origin of the name "Shanghai".

<标签：历史节点> <!-- 纸书格式：时间线加粗标红 --> <!-- 电子版格式：可点击跳转对应历史事件详情 --> <!-- Markdown标签：历史节点-上海建县 -->

• 公元751年（唐朝）：设华亭县，上海地区首次纳入正式行政管辖
• 公元1253年（宋朝）：设上海镇，因上海浦得名
• 公元1292年（元朝）：正式设上海县，“上海”之名沿用至今

那时候的上海浦，就是现在黄浦江的前身。黄浦江是上海的母亲河，从太湖流出来，一路向东，在上海注入东海，把上海分成浦东和浦西两部分。在1840年之前，黄浦江比现在宽得多，也没有那么多跨江大桥，两岸的交通全靠渡船，所以那时候的上海人说话都爱说“过江”，就像现在的小朋友说“过马路”一样自然。

At that time, Shanghai Pu was the predecessor of the current Huangpu River. The Huangpu River is Shanghai's mother river, flowing out of Taihu Lake, all the way east, and injecting into the East China Sea in Shanghai, dividing Shanghai into Pudong and Puxi. Before 1840, the Huangpu River was much wider than it is now, and there were not so many cross-river bridges. Transportation between the two banks depended entirely on ferries, so people in Shanghai at that time liked to say "cross the river", just like children nowadays say "cross the road" naturally.

二、上海的地理位置，天生就是“发财的地方”

Shanghai's Location: A Natural Place for Making Money

你有没有发现，上海的位置特别神奇？它刚好在长江的入海口，又是中国海岸线的中间点，往北可以到山东、河北、北京，往南可以到浙江、福建、广东，往西可以通过长江走到湖北、四川、重庆，甚至可以通过京杭大运河走到江苏、山东、河北，是当时中国最大的水路交通枢纽。

Have you found that Shanghai's location is particularly magical? It is exactly at the estuary of the Yangtze River, and also at the middle point of China's coastline. To the north, it can reach Shandong, Hebei and Beijing; to the south, it can reach Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong; to the west, it can go to Hubei, Sichuan and Chongqing through the Yangtze River, and even to Jiangsu, Shandong and Hebei through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It was the largest water transport hub in China at that time.

对于古代的人来说，水路就是“高速公路”，运费比陆路便宜得多，速度也快得多。所以上海就成了全国货物的集散地：南边运来的大米、茶叶、丝绸、瓷器，北边运来的棉花、大豆、皮毛，都可以在上海装上船，要么运到全国各地卖，要么运到国外卖。那时候的上海，就像现在的义乌、上海港一样，是全国最大的商品交易市场之一。

For ancient people, waterways were "highways", which were much cheaper and faster than land transport. So Shanghai became a distribution center for goods all over the country: rice, tea, silk and porcelain from the south, cotton, soybeans and fur from the north, could all be loaded on ships in Shanghai, either sold all over the country or sold abroad. At that time, Shanghai was like Yiwu and Shanghai Port now, one of the largest commodity trading markets in the country.

```mermaid graph TD A[长江/黄浦江水系] --> B[上海港] C[京杭大运河] --> B D[东海/近海航线] --> B B --> E[江南：米、茶、丝、瓷] B --> F[华北：棉、豆、皮毛] B --> G[海外：东南亚、欧洲] style B fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px ``` 这张图就是1840年之前上海的交通网络，所有的货物都通过水路汇聚到上海，再运到全国各地和海外，所以上海天生就是个“风水宝地”，只要给机会，就一定会发达起来。

This picture shows Shanghai's transportation network before 1840. All goods were gathered in Shanghai through waterways, and then transported to all parts of the country and overseas. So Shanghai is naturally a "treasure land of Fengshui". As long as there is an opportunity, it will surely prosper.

<小知识：Fun Fact> 那时候的上海人，早就开始做“外贸”啦！明朝的时候，上海的棉布就卖到了东南亚、欧洲，很多外国商人专门跑到上海来买棉布，那时候的上海棉布，可是“中国制造”的拳头产品呢！ <!-- 纸书格式：小知识用浅蓝色背景框标注 --> <!-- 电子版格式：侧边栏弹出“上海棉布出口地图” --> <!-- Markdown标签：经济史-外贸> At that time, Shanghainese had already started doing "foreign trade"! In the Ming Dynasty, Shanghai's cotton cloth was sold to Southeast Asia and Europe. Many foreign businessmen came to Shanghai specifically to buy cotton cloth. At that time, Shanghai's cotton cloth was a star product of "Made in China"!

三、1840年之前的上海人，靠什么吃饭？

How Did People in Shanghai Make a Living Before 1840?

既然上海不是小渔村，那那时候的上海人都是做什么工作的呢？主要有四大行当：种棉花、跑漕运、捕鱼晒盐、做买卖，这四大行当撑起了整个上海的经济。

Since Shanghai is not a small fishing village, what did people in Shanghai do for a living at that time? There are four main occupations: growing cotton, running the grain transport, fishing and salt making, and doing business. These four occupations support the whole economy of Shanghai.

1. 种棉花织棉布：上海人的“老本行”

Growing Cotton and Weaving Cloth: The "Old Business" of Shanghainese

上海所在的松江府，是中国最早种棉花、织棉布的地方之一，比英国工业革命搞棉纺织业还要早几百年。那时候的上海农民，家家户户都种棉花，农闲的时候就坐在家里织棉布，织出来的布叫做“松江布”，质量特别好，又软又结实，卖遍全国，还出口到国外。

The Songjiang Prefecture where Shanghai is located is one of the earliest places in China to grow cotton and weave cotton cloth, hundreds of years earlier than the British Industrial Revolution's cotton textile industry. At that time, farmers in Shanghai grew cotton in every household, and wove cotton cloth at home during the slack season. The cloth woven was called "Songjiang Cloth", which was of very good quality, soft and strong, sold all over the country, and even exported abroad.

<!-- 纸书格式：此处配插图《上海农民织布图》，画面是一个农民坐在织布机前织布，旁边堆着棉花和织好的布 --> <!-- 电子版格式：点击图片弹出“松江布制作工艺”短视频 --> <!-- Markdown标签：产业史-棉纺织业> 那时候的一个普通农民家庭，一年能织20多匹布，每匹布能卖1两银子，一年的收入就有20多两，足够一家五六口人吃喝，还能剩点钱买点零食、给孩子做新衣服。所以那时候的上海农民，日子过得比很多地方的农民都要好。

At that time, an ordinary farmer's family could weave more than 20 bolts of cloth a year, and each bolt of cloth could sell for 1 tael of silver. The annual income was more than 20 taels, which was enough for a family of five or six to eat and drink, and they could also save some money to buy snacks and make new clothes for their children. So the farmers in Shanghai at that time lived a better life than farmers in many other places.

2. 跑漕运：上海的经济“大动脉”

Running the Grain Transport: The "Economic Artery" of Shanghai

漕运是清朝最重要的经济命脉，简单说就是把江南地区种的大米，通过水路运到北京，给皇宫、官员、军队当粮食。每年要运300多万石大米，相当于现在几十亿斤，这些米都要经过上海转运。

The grain transport was the most important economic lifeline of the Qing Dynasty. Sim