@article{FinancialMarketsinLateImperialChina:3448,
      recid = {3448},
      author = {Lowenstein, Matthew},
      title = {Financial Markets in Late Imperial China, 1820-1911},
      publisher = {University of Chicago},
      school = {Ph.D.},
      address = {2021-08},
      pages = {519},
      abstract = {	This dissertation studies the financial system of  northern China in the late Qing dynasty, with a focus on  the period from 1820-1911. During this time, merchants from  Shanxi province elaborated sophisticated commercial  networks that connected the Qing empire with Inner Asia and  Russia. The Shanxi merchants also developed an array of  financial institutions and practices. At the grassroots  level of rural life, these included lineage trusts,  rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs), and  village firms. In commercial hubs of high finance, they  included specialized banking institutions and massive,  itinerant settlement fairs known as biaoqi. Drawing on  “popular sources” from the private collection of Liu  Jianmin— including original Shanxi merchant business  correspondence, commercial contracts, financial ledgers,  and business primers—this dissertation offers a detailed,  empirically grounded view of how Shanxi financial  institutions and markets functioned. Ultimately, it argues  that financial markets in Qing China were, in large part,  integrated in two key respects. First, markets were  integrated geographically. Capital and credit flowed, over  time, to regions where they could be most productively  deployed. Second, financial markets were integrated across  different strata of society. Peasants could deposit money  in rural financial institutions, which could then deploy  their capital into larger markets. Similarly, entrepreneurs  in commercial centers could recirculate credit into rural  areas when presented with favorable market opportunities.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/3448},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.3448},
}