About the Merchant Networks website, produced in Australia.

澳大利亚商务网简介

Merchant activity, trading, commodity handling in the Age of Sail, as Europeans term it, can be a fascinating topic, dealing also with world exploration and cross-cultural contact. It was, of course, the long period when European ships began to cruise along the Chinese coast.

商业活动、贸易、和欧洲人称为的航海时代的商品贸易, 一直是个非常时髦的话题。正如欧洲人从很早就开始航行于中国海岸，贸易活动探索了世 界，穿越了不同的文化。

Now, two economic historians are trying to develop a new a approach to the ways historians can study the work and lives of merchants. The approach is to examine merchants in terms of the networks they are part of, where concentration on individual merchants is reduced.

现在, 两位历史经济学家正试图从一个全新的角度入手, 来研究商人的工作和生活。这种方法着眼于商业的活动网络,而不是注重商人本身。

Merchant networks tend to be organic. They expand or contract, or change in response to new opportunities, the loss of old opportunities. They can act to exclude members who behave badly. They can actively recruit new members or passively ignore those who want to become new members. They can fade away as technology changes. Members of networks can engage in political activity to advance their interests. They can, as shown by The Chinese Opium Wars (as those tragedies have been called), also cause serious conflict.

商业网络是一个有机的网络。根据新机会的出现和旧机会的丧失，网络可以扩大、缩小或者有所改变。他们可 以排除那些行为不端的成员，也会积极地招募新成员，或者不理睬那些不合条件但一心想成为会员的人。商业网络也可能随着科技的发展逐渐消失。网络成员会从事 政治活动来推进他们的利益，当然也可能如鸦片战争一样, 导致严重的冲突。

The Merchant networks website then is a project seldom if ever developed for the Internet…a website to return to… a website intended to be of greatest use for anyone interested in economic history… maritime history… history as it changed with the use of new technology in the Nineteenth Century.

商业网络网站是一个为任何一个对经济历史, 以及随着19世 界科技发展变迁的海洋历史有兴趣的人所创建的一个项目。

The two men behind the website are Ken Cozens (London, UK) and Dan Byrnes (Armidale, New South Wales, Australia).

网站的发起人是Ken Cozens (London, UK) 和Dan Byrnes (Armidale, New South

Wales, Australia).

About the authors:

关于作者：

Ken Cozens has had a long interest in Thames-side history and British maritime history. He gained his Masters degree in History at Greenwich University in 2005. (At Greenwich Maritime Institute). He has lately become more interested in using a variety of website technology to promote his interests in history. He is much-traveled in South-East Asia.

Ken Cozens长期关注泰晤士史和英国海洋史。于2005年获得Greenwich大 学海洋学院硕士学位。近年来更是着眼于以一系列的网络技术推进他的历史研究。他经常游走于东南亚。

Kenneth J. Cozens, Greenwich University / Greenwich Maritime Institute, 2005: Dissertation to MA in Maritime History: See: Kenneth James Cozens, Politics, Patronage and Profit: A Case Study of Three 18th Century London Merchants.

Kenneth J. Cozens，2005年毕业于Greenwich大 学海洋学院：海洋史硕士。参见： Kenneth James Cozens, Politics, Patronage and Profit: A Case Study of Three 18th Century London Merchants

Dan Byrnes has a long interest in the history of convict transportation from England/Britain to both North America and Australia. He gained an Honours degree in History from University of New England (Australia) in 1996. (Dan Byrnes – noted as an Australian poet in The Oxford literary Guide to Australia. 1987 under “Tamworth”)

Dan Byrnes长期研究英国至北美和澳洲的犯人运输历史。1996年荣获澳洲新英格兰大学历史学荣誉学位。（在The Oxford Literary Guide中被誉为澳洲诗人。1987年于Tamworth）。

E-mail the webmaster: Dan Byrnes

请致电邮给网站管理员：Dan Byrnes

Webmaster: Dan Byrnes: E-mail: dan@danbyrnes.com.au

网站管理员：Dan Byrnes: E-mail: dan@danbyrnes.com.au

Other Contact: For e-mail or snail mail. Please send any e-mail in plain text (ASCII) only.

其他方式：e-mail或普通信函。请用纯文本方式（ASCII）发送e-mail。

Kenneth J. Cozens,

C/- Suzanne Bowles, Greenwich Maritime Institute,

University of Greenwich,

Park Row, Greenwich London UK SE 10 9LS