Hankou Merchants And Their Capital During The Republic Of China (1912-1936)

Hankou always had been famous inland commerce and transportation center long before modern times,which,especially 1861 when Hankou was open,was obliged to entangle interim from old-style economy to new-style economy after The Opium War.With such heavy background,the development of Hankou industry and commerce has presented a completely new appearance along with the new-style merchant capital arisen.This paper views Hankou merchants and their capital during modern times as the topic and then further probes into the characteristics and influencing factors of Hankou merchants and their capital during The Republic of China.The paper reveals roundly the evolvement and operation condition of Hankou merchants and their capital during The Republic of China,which is from the following five aspects as Hankou commerce development and merchants' transformation after The Opium War,the various development of Hankou merchant structure during The Republic of China,the development and change of Hankou merchant organizations,the operation,management and variance of Hankou merchant capital and then the characteristics and influencing factors of Hankou merchants and their capital during The Republic of China.Firstly,the paper traces back to the basic developmental thread of Hankou industry and commerce development and merchant transformation since The Opium War. Secondly,it reveals the various development of Hankou merchant structure in this period,which encloses the development of foreign trade,new-style commerce and modern finance industry during The Republic of China.Thirdly,it reflects the development and change of merchant organizations in this period,which is through the investigation into the decline of merchant organizations,the rise of C of C and then the rise and development of the industry and commerce guild.Fourthly,it probes into the composing and the change and development of management of Hankou merchant capital in this period,which is through the analysis into the operation system of merchant capital,the movement and influence and then the rise and development of management modes of new-style merchant capital. Finally,on the basis of the above few aspects,it further summarizes the characteristics and influencing factors of Hankou merchants and their capital during The Republic of China.It believes,since The Opium War,Hankou traditional commerce has been under the impact of the west so that the unexpected development of the foreign trade and new-style commerce could promote the modern transformation of Hankou merchants.Into The Republic of China,the constant increase of foreign trade and new change of finance field have led to various development of merchant structure.Meanwhile,Hankou merchant organizations and guild constantly have grown in strength.On the process of merchant capital operation,though the composing and management of Hankou merchant capital still have kept some traditional characteristic,some new details have been added because of western management modes.In addition,in this period,the capital accumulation and movement have been more obviously different than before the late Ching Dynasty.On the aspect of capital accumulation,incomes of comprador agents have been one important change.On the aspect of capital movement,transfer to industrial capital also has been one new characteristic.But,these still have kept some traditional details such as acquiring capital accumulation through commerce and investing in lands and so on.Of course,there have been also own characteristics which have been the main influencing factors of development of Hankou merchants such as the governmental actions and policies,the transformation of merchant concepts,communication and transportation and then the change of social environment and so on.