Financial Markets in Late Imperial China, 1820-1911

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