Hankow: Commerce and Society in a Chinese City, 1796-1889

This is the first volume of a two-volume social history of the commercial hub of central China in the nineteenth century. The emphasis here is on the dynamism of late imperial commerce, the relation of the metropolis to the hinterland, and the corporate institutions of the city, notably its guilds. The second volume, Hankow: Conflict and Community in a Chinese City, 1796-1895, focuses on the people of Hankow.