Late Imperial China

Abstract:

Using archival records of the Gao Pu jade-smuggling case of the late Qianlong reign, this essay reconstructs the life story of Zhang Luan, the case's merchant protagonist. By foregrounding how Sanyihao, a Shanxi trading firm based in Guihuacheng (Hohhot), shaped Zhang's career, I aim to reveal unknown details about the Shanxi firms' operation and provide new perspectives on the evolution of the Chinese firm prior to the nineteenth century. I argue that the thriving long distance trade on the Qing Empire's northern frontier provided a crucial stimulus in spurring the development of the firm organization in China during the eighteenth century.