| Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, silk, as the pillar industry in the towns of Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou, has been well-known both at home and abroad. The history of economic development in the towns of Tongxiang County, which, though, is the less developed county in the given areas, also represents the direction of development in the above areas. For this reason, the paper takes the towns of Tongxiang County for example. In the present paper, the process of the economic transition appearing before and after the opening of Shanghai, is investigated.The paper consists of the following five parts:In the part of introduction, the paper begins with the delimitation of the title scope and the major concern of this research. And what is followed is the recent studies on the economic history of the towns in the south of the Changjiang River by the scholars both at home and from abroad. As for the research methodology, the economic theories together with the basal historical theories are employed to penetrate the problems.In Chapter One, the reasons for the prosperity of the towns in Tongxiang County before 1843 (mainly the periods of the Ming and Qing Dynasties) are referred to. In this chapter, the rising of the silk industry in the towns of Tongxiang County is expounded in terms of Natural Rescouces Endowment Theory in regional economics.The second chapter begins with the situations after 1943. At that time, great changes took place in the production and vendition of the raw silk in the areas of Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou. The market pattern was characterized by such changes that the domestic markets played a major role and the overseas markets were accessorial during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and that the overseas markets surpassed the domestic ones after 1843, which offered a new turning point for the development of the silk industry of the towns in Tongxiang County. In this chapter, the hypothesis of China's eight-level economical hierarchy in the late 19th century, proposed by G. William Skinner, is introduced to analyse the correlation among the central markets, middle markets as well as the grass-roots markets in Tongxiang Areas and the regional markets. By means of Theory of Location of Industries by Alfred Web, the paper analyses the predominant factors of production in the trade of this region and the choosing factors in the regional production.In Chapter Three, the paper refers to the transition of sale patterns in the world, silk production and the further infiltration into the native markets by the western capitalism. By the end of 1920s, the silk industry of the towns in Tongxiang County had fallen into decay totally as a result of the backward production technology and lack of variety. Besides, the decay resulted from the fact that there appeared no thorough innovation in the production and sale patterns of the silk industry. Meanwhile, however, the introduction of the western modern technology and the advanced ideology brought some vigor to the towns of Tongxiang County. On the one hand, the changes of the silk trade in the international markets are analysed in terms of Factor Endowment Theory proposed by the Sweden economist Ohlin. On the other hand, in this chapter, the Theory of Industrial Location is employed again to expound the choosing factors why Shanghai gradually takes the place of this given area. From the above two facets, it can be concluded that, to some extent, it is an inevitable consequence that the decay of towns in Tongxiang County is caused by the natural selection of the economic laws.In the final part of conclusion, the internal logic relationship, factors and functions of development of an economic area are revealed, grounded on the investigation into the economic transition of the towns in Tongxiang County. The property, extent and limitations of the town economy are assessed objectively. And finally, the internal and external factors, which restrict the economic reforms of small towns, are analysed. |
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