Research On The Market Of Bamboo And Timber Of Wuhan In Modern Times

In the ancient China, bamboo & timber were the very basic materials used widely in building houses and irrigation works and in making the transportation devices and furniture. That is why bamboo & timber had become an item of important goods in the traditional commodity economy. With the prosperity of the trade of bamboo & timber, special markets at all levels were set up and developed gradually. With such markets as the center, the businessman (trader groups), the porter and the administrative department had been reaching the balanced state in sharing benefits with each other. This paper plans to make a case study on the market of bamboo and timber in Wuhan from a modern point of view. By investigating the development of the market of bamboo and timber in modern Wuhan, the paper strives to track the transition of the Chinese traditional commodity market to modern times.In the mid-19th century, Wuhan had already become the center of bamboo & timber collection and distribution in Central China and even the whole country, reaching its great prosperity from the late Qing Dynasty to the initial stage of People's Republic of China. In particular, the market of bamboo & timber in Parrot Continent of Hanyang had been the biggest trade center, with its volume of collection and distribution second to none across China. As a result, the development of this area played a vital part for areas along the Yangtze River as well as many other places of the country at that time. Starting from modern times, there have been numerous businessmen and trade groups in the market of bamboo & timber, particularly the Hunan group, which had the greatest influence. These trader groups also had their own associations and organizations, which were established to coordinate and stand up for their benefits in the same trade. In addition, bamboo & timber trade of that time was mostly conducted in traditional ways,though it even began to take on some modern features.Still, The development of the trade and the growth of the market spelled a high demand of porters. Organized into cliques similar to those trade groups, porters of bamboo & timber was the main component of the urban labor market, carrying its color of the old system which was hard to get rid of in the city's process of transition to modern times.