The Salt Merchants of Tianjin : : State-Making and Civil Society in Late Imperial China / / Man Bun Kwan.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Backlist (2000-2014) eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Kwan, Man Bun,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2001]; ©2001
• Year of Publication: 2001
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (248 p.)

For nearly four hundred years the Changlu salt merchants played a leading role in the urbanization, commercial development, and social change of the city of Tianjin. As early as the fifteenth century, this small yet important group of citizens negotiated with the state as revenue-farmers, developing and defending their businesses and customs while evolving their own urban culture. In this the first detailed study in English of the mercantile activities and social role of Tianjin's salt merchants, Kwan Man Bun reveals how they helped stabilize the city and assumed many civic responsibilities, providing relief, charities, and other services to their fellow citizenry. Although these developments resemble the emergence of an idealized "public sphere" as in Europe, Kwan makes clear that Tianjin's social changes were not grounded on "rational discourse" but rather drew their strength and continuity from merchant networks based on exclusivity, wealth, education, and kinship.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. THE CITY -- 2.THE GABELLE AND BUSINESS -- 3. the household and the law -- 4. merchant culture -- 5. social services -- 6. changing times -- 7. SHIFTING POLITICS -- 8. THE CRASH -- EPILOGUE -- Notes -- Glossary -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author