On The Relationship Between The Sino-Russian Kyakhta Trade And The Development Of Shanxi Merchants

The Sino-Russian Chaktu trade has been formed since the seventeenth century in the context of political,diplomatic,and economic exchanges,based on the consideration of their respective national interests and the needs of civil exchanges.Ketu is the center of the trading system.Sino-Russian trade began in the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nibuchu in the 28 th year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty(1689)on the terms of Sino-Russian mutual trade.The rise and development of Chaktu trade was the six-year(1728)signing of the Chucktu Treaty,and China and Russia conducted commercial trade on the border between the two countries with Chaktu as the center.The Chaktu trade began its history of ups and downs for a century and a half.The development and rise and fall of Chaktu trade is a product of constant exchanges and collisions between China and Russia,and is also the mainstay of Chinese trade-the product of the active participation of Shanxi merchants.The decline of Chaktu trade has become one of the important yardsticks for measuring Sino-Russian relations.The trade of Chaktu has greatly promoted the development of Sino-Russian economic and trade relations.In the then China(Qing),there appeared a window of foreign trade in northern China,which corresponds to the 13 th line of the southern Guangdong,Chucku.The two constitute the two major foreign trade channels on the land and sea in the Qing Dynasty and one south and one north.Shanxi is located in the north-south traffic route of China,and it has become a transportation hub for goods circulation in the middle and late period of Chaktu trade.The convenient location advantage has enabled Jinshang to take the lead in participating in the Chucku trade.In addition,Jinshang dares to be thefirst to fight for the spirit,and implements innovative management measures such as “the shopkeeper system” and “folk shareholding system”.After more than a century of business activities,Jin merchants eventually became the Sino-Russian Chaktu trade.A dominant business group.The Shanxi merchants are one of the key factors driving the Sino-Russian Chaktu trade to prosperity.Although the Sino-Russian Chaktu trade is defined as the border trade in the historical records,it is traded with the caravans of the capital city of Beijing in the Qing Dynasty.It is not the trade between the Mongolian region of China and the Russian Siberian region,but through the border trade.The inter-country trade carried out by the form is also an important practice for the integration of China into the international trading system in the Qing Dynasty.Sino-Russian Chaktu trade has had an important impact on international relations and international trade in the entire East Asian region.Before being included in the process of Western modernization,the East Asian region generally prevailed in the East Asian tributary system dominated by Chinese civilization.Under the tributary system,the commercial trade in the entire East Asian region is mainly reflected in the official exchanges between tributes and gifts and the non-governmental exchanges based on the following layers of commerce.During this period,the international trade system that prevailed in the West has not really entered East Asia.The Sino-Russian Treaty of Nibuchu in 1689 was an attempt to break the traditional ban on the East Asian tribute system.After this,the "Chaktu Treaty" signed by China and Russia further brought the Western modern international relations system into the traditional areas of East Asia.Sino-Russian Chaktu trade has injected new impetus into the traditional economic and trade system of East Asia.The trade between Shanxi merchants and Chaktu is mutually reinforcing,complementing each other,and being proud of one and the other.Sino-Russian Chaktu trade is a mutual trade formed by China and Russia under relatively equal conditions and based on bilateral border agreements.The ability of peer-to-peer trade and state to maintain commercial trade is a key factor for Shanxi businessmen to participate in the trade of Chucku.After the Opium War,especially after the signing of the Beijing Treaty in Xianfeng(1860),Russia gained the right to purchase goods in the hinterland of China.The status and role of the Sino-Russian border trade has changed.Russia is gradually reducing its dependence on Chaktu trade.In addition,Russia has acquired an unequal trade privilege,which has caused the Shanxi merchants to lose the main advantage of the previous monopoly of Chaktu trade.With the decline of Sino-Russian Chaktu trade,the Shanxi merchants have gradually gone from prosperous to decline.