Studies On The Hui Warehouse In Zhangjiachuan

The studies of economic issues in ethnic mimority area are hotspot and difficult problems of ethnology. The economic development in ethnic mimority area not only influences the production and life of local people directly, but also influences the development of religion, education and other social affairs, and what's more, it also has something to do with the stability and the construction of harmony society in this area.Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County lies in the southeast of Gansu province, and there are many mountains and deep ditches in this area. However, there is a noticeable economic force growing in this area, which is the trade of transfer furs operated by Hui from generation to generation. The corporation which operates the trade is called warehouse by local people. Hui Warehouse mainly acts as making businesses for both buyer and seller together on a certain proportion of commission basis. Some run a profitable sideline that earns money from price difference between purchase and selling. The primary character of Hui Warehouse is agent middleman and the secondary character is middleman.The main clue of this dissertation is the history of the development of Hui Warehouse in Zhangjiachuan. The author uses the structural-functional theory to analyze the embedding and the influence of Hui Warehourse in the local society. According to the order of time, the dissertation will be divided into two parts.In the first place, the studies on the Hui Warehouse in late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China. Hui Warehouse appeared in Zhangjiachuan in 1888. The emergence correlated closely with the special history, geographical environment and human factors in the local society. Due to all kinds of mechanisms operating with each other in the local society, Hui Warehouse turned into leading force in the provincial economy's development by monopolizing, issuing qian tie and cooperating with foreign firms during this period. Because Hui Warehouse accumulated a large amount of wealth, the funds flow became the author's focus. When the author analyzes this question, the author must discuss the mode of production and life of local Four Hundred who were bosses of warehouse. The influence of Hui Warehouse was not limited to economic field, and it is also in noneconomic field such as religion, education, and so on. By means of interacting with religion and infiltrating into education, it had a great influence on them. Because of joint state-private ownership in 1954, the Hui Warehouse of the period came to an end.The second place, studies on the modern Hui Warehouse. In 1983 the Hui warehouse revived in Longshan town in Zhangjiachuan and reached a period of great prosperity in the following 10 years. The prosperity of Hui Warehouse not only helped the development of local economy, but also had direct or indirect influence on religion, education, the mode of production and life, ideas of local society, and so on. However, with the deepening process of market transformation, Hui Warehouse was not adapted to market economy and tended to decline step by step. The result was caused by the exogenous influence, depending on the traditional economic model, the deficiencies of local soft and hard environments, and so on. At the same time, the local society influenced by warehouse was depressed too. During the process of market transformation, Hui Warehouse must break through the limitations of the old model and seek new ways of transformation on the foundation of tradition. Only by those means, Hui Warehouse can perform active functions in local society again.Although the main clue of this dissertation is about the discussion on Hui Warehouse in Zhangjiachuan, we always link it to the local society where it comes into being and performs functions. In some sense, the dissertation reconstructs the developmental history of Hui Warehouse in Zhangjiachuan and reappears the history of social development in Zhangjiachuan.