Qinghai Civil Business And Socio-economic Expansion, Modern (1895-1949)

Due to the special geographical environment and complex historical reasons, the farming and pastoral areas had been governed separately in various ethnic groups in Qinghai region during the early period of modern times. The rulers of successive dynasties drew up the articles of tea -horse trade to limit the business contact between the farmers and herdsmen. The tea-horse trade originated in Tang and Song dynasties, developed in Yuan and Ming Dynasties and declined in the early years of Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty prospered in its early period and brought the Qinghai, Mongolian and Tibetan areas into the territory of the united multinational country. By the thirteen years of Yongzheng(1735) the tea-horse trade had been stopped, and the officially monopolized tea horse system which lasted for thousand years had been cancelled. Since then the free non-governmental trade had developped well into the middle and late period of the Republic of China. The freedom of the non-governmental trade and the unbounded movement of the businessmen had promoted the communication and conbination of the originally isolated farming and pastoral economic zones. The inner social and economic operation form of Qinghai had also been changed so that the gap between the farming economic zones and pastoral economic zones had been bridged within the micro-environment of Qinghai region both in western and eastern parts. These changes had exerted great influence into the economic development of this multinational community and laid the meterial foundation for the construction of the modern Qinghai Province. The background of this artical is set in the rising non-governmental trade in the precess of the national and local changes in Qinghai during the Qing Danasty and the Republic of China(1895-1949). By adopting the interdisplinary theories and means and the new perspective of the recent research , this paper intends to explore the process of changes and operating mechanism of the non-governmental trade, which relies on the all-levels markets of cities and towns and were led by the businessmen from all ethnic groups. Through thorough discussion, this paper anticipates to reveal the attribution the non-governmental trade added to economic expansion of Qinghai area by placing the interaction between the non-governmental trade and local economic expansion as the main line .The fur trade is the engine to promote the non-governmental trade in Qinghai area. Driven by the fur trade, the non-governmental trade as a special way of circulation of commodities which confirmed to the historical trend had changed accordingly. With the rise of the fur trade, the natural economy in farming and pastoral areas of Qinghai had gradually been impacted. Thus, along with the deepening of commercialization of agriculture and animal husbandry products, the old economic structure of Qinghai region continued to break down and the new economic factors continued to grow. A multilevelled market structure of cities and towns majored by a city market centered in Xining, and a town market center in temple town, military castle, and county legacy had gradually formed and then transformed into a part of the open ,national and even international market. The prosperity of the wool trade had also brought profound impact and changes to the business structure of Qinghai. The businessmen of Qinghai involved in the commercial transactions continued their traditions and at the same time moved forward to take the new form. Though the Hui bureaucratic commercial capital had been on the arise, the civil businessmen still clung to the commercial activities. During this historical period, Han, Hui, and Tibetan businessmen inside and outside the province as well as the monastery traders are either peddlers , shopkeepers or wholesalers and retailers. They are either involved in overload industry or rest home and other industries. These supported the normal operating mechanism of the civil commercial trade of the modern Qinghai Province.Along with the continuous expansion and prosperity of non-governmental trade , the non-governmental trade which based on the city and town trade and was led by the businessmen from all ethnic groups had been carried out in a large scale. This increasing non-governmental trade had strengthen the economic and culture exchange of different ethnic groups and promoted the harmonious co-existence of all ethnic groups. What's more important is the free private trade has brought opportunities for transformation from the traditional period to the modern period of industrial structure,the employments structure and the social life. In addition, the non-governmental trade had also provided a certain level of space for the economic expansion of different ethnic groups in Qinghai region and gave strong impetus to the economic development and social change of Qinghai Province.