A Study On Catering Trade In Lin'an

The catering trade was regarded as the most important service trade in ancient times. During the Southern Song Dynasty, in Lin'an, the capital of the country, the catering trade was not only significant, but also characteristic, which is worth researching. On the basis of the former scholars' academic study, this thesis has a profound and systematic discussion on the topic, analyzing from six aspects. For marketing, the catering trade in Hangzhou had already had a mature formation before the Southern Song Dynasty. The occurrence of the immense net of the catering trade market rooted in three reasons: first, the advanced and convenient transportation in the Southern Song Dynasty guaranteed the import of the food resources; second, the food resources themselves diversify in many types and large quantities; third, the society needed a prosperous and diversified catering trade.For occupational composition: first, it was composed of seven main occupation entities; second, for the sake of its reasonable composition (in the shape of the pyramid), it was able to cater for customers from various consuming levels.For occupational distribution: even if this occupation has the feature of scattering wide, it concentrated on the vital transportation line, commercial areas, entertainment districts and the West Lake region. For occupational dimensions: it was a big entity with great numbers and some large entities. Catering trade enterprises were widely spreaded as well as formed two concentration regions. For trade features: the variety of the means to attract customers and the high service quality were thought highly; trading forms were flexible and mobile: enterprises explored mass but untypical trades, management could be flexibly switched and the account sale and employment appeared. For service personnel: employers and employees. Employers' backdrops differed a lot, with great number of the intellectual and governmental officers, and many employers emigrated from Kaifeng, whose off springs usually inherited the careers. There were wide economical strength gaps amongst employers. The quantity of the employees was large, too and their salaries were usually rather low.The reason why Lin'an was thriving in catering trade was that it was a most typical consuming capital. However, seeing throughout the country at that time, the economy was not that good, which had a negative impact on the economy of Lin'an. Two main reasons were behind the situation of Lin'an's prosperity: one, the interest of the catering trade was very high which lured many investors; two, the social psychology of being chasing for luxuries and hedonism strongly pushed the catering trade consumptions. Comparing with the catering trade in Kaifeng, the capital of Northern Song Dynasty, the one in Lin'an had a great development, with lots of new traits. On the whole, the means of dealing with the catering trade made progresses: all the citizens especially the intellectual and the governmental officers participated more into the catering trade business, and therefore, which reflects the advancement and maturity of the capitalism in the Southern Song Dynasty.