Research On Daily Necessities Production And Fairs In The West Of Shandong Province During The Period From The Middle Qing Dynasty To The Republic Of China

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,relying on its favorable geographical advantages,Western Shandong Province has gradually developed into an important economic zone along the canal,and the agriculture,handicraft industry and country fairs in this region have made rapid and significant development.In 1855,the canal silted up because of the Yellow River changed its course,and the areas from Zhangqiu Town to Linqing City in the west of Shandong Province basically didn’t have shipping capacity in the following time,which inevitably has made a notable impact on the economic development in this region.Taking the historical process during the period of the Ming and Qing Dynasties as our ground,we described the social change of the western regions of Shandong Province as an example of “ups and downs with the rise and fall of the canal”,while the truth is not like that.Taking the introduction of daily necessities production and fairs in the west of Shandong province during the period from the middle Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China,through collating and analyzing the daily necessities’ production type,scale,sales and other aspects,there are some results as below: Firstly,in agricultural planting,this area realized obvious planting structure change in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China,wheat,sorghum and corn gradually became the main food crops in the western regions of Shandong Province,instead of traditional millet crops;Secondly,the cotton textile industry is the most developed in the handicraft industry,which makes cotton one of the bulk exports of Western Shandong Province,But during the period of late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China,homespun cloth production dwindled because of the introduction of machine-woven cloth;Then,in terms of fairs,both the number and opening frequency of fairs kept increasing during the period from the middle of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China.The market trade of cotton,cotton cloth,smoked jujube and other raw materials used in handicraft is more developed.There were special cotton fairs in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.Finally,in the aspects of commodity circulation and market structure,the commodity circulation in the west of Shandong Province based on canal shipping was transferred into waterway transportation and road transportation;During the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China,the commodity market structure changed significantly,the export of local daily necessities was declining while the export of primary raw materials was increasing,resulting in imported goods gradually prevailing in the market of western Shandong province.In conclusion,western Shandong province has experienced economic recession due to the impact of the canal cutoff.However,the economic stimulus brought by the prosperity of the canal shipping continued to serve as internal momentum to a certain extent for the economic development in this area after the canal dried-up,which lasted for a long period.In modern times,our country has entered the transforming period of economy and society which also invigorated the economic development.The handicraft industry kept developing;the waterway,highway and railway(indirectly connected)networks operated well;we have seen frequent trade contacts between this area and other central cities and coastal cities.All these contributed to the short-term “Economic Regeneration” of western Shandong province during Late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China.