Since The Five Trade Of Shanghai And Ningbo Foreign Trade And Immigration (1843-1913)

Shanghai and Ningbo were opened after the First Opium War. Both of the two ports had a centuries-old tradition of foreign trade. And their locations are near to each other.But their destinies were completely different since the opening.Shanghai exceeded Guangzhou and became the center of Chinese foreign trade quickly.And Ningbo just became a feeder port of Shanghai gradually.The increasingly prosperity of Shanghai attracted the migration from all of China. Many Ningbonese also came to Shanghi and found a new space for their development at that time. They became the most powerful migration group in Shanghai and controlled its economy gradually.This paper is mainly based on the reports of Maritime Customs and British consulates of the two ports and reviewed the foreign trade and emigration of different phases of such a period which is from the Opening of the Five Ports to the eve of the First World War. After careful analysis and discussion, I got the conclusion.During this period,the foreign trade which extended continuously were the most important pulling power for the development of the two ports.And at the same time,the difference of the scale of foreign trade between the two ports decided there was a huge difference of the development speed and degree between their economy. And this difference made a long-term status that the emigration was mainly from Ningbo to Shanghai.I also got the conclusion that the reason why Ningbonese could win the competitions between the different migration groups in Shanghai was due to the talent and the comprehensive resources they had.