Introduction

Abstract

A typical feature of Chinese mercantile history from the late Ming period onwards was the tendency for groups of merchants with the same regional origins to monopolise a trade or profession in a certain district. Many Chinese socio-economic historians have therefore studied the role of these mercantile groups in China’s economy and society from various viewpoints, such as those of migration, national finance, or market structure. They thought that such groups were the historical product of the development of long-distance trade and the migration of travelling merchants (keshang) who gradually became resident dealing merchants (zuogu) in commercial cities from the late sixteenth century onwards. In order to live and seek success in a place where the customs, the life-style, or even the language, were different from those of their native area, the incoming merchants had to cooperate and present a united front to the outside world. As a group of resident merchants with the same local origins grew into a prominent group, they would build a guildhall (huiguan) in order to aid newcomers from their native district who came to go into business or to take the civil-service examinations.