Tooth Story

Broker and broker-house is the theme of this thesis, which is based on the authors' own life. Broker is the middleman between the buyer and the seller, and the broker-house is not only the association of the brokers, but also the place where the business is completed. Broker and broker-house were common in pre-modern China, it involved almost all kinds of goods in country fair. This thesis focused on the livestock's exchange.Based on the historical document, the thesis reviewed the evolution of the broker and broker-house, especially the transform of the brokers' status in the Chinese big tradition. By means of the participant observation and interview, the author provides a deep case analysis about the contemporary broker and broker-house. The Hui brokers' practice has both Islamic and Chinese traditional cultural features, which is useful to other Chinese-Islamic cultural phenomenon and gives expressions to necessity of dialogue between different civilizations. The thesis also exhibits the present Hui's rural life, and it will throw some light to those who care about Chinese Western Development.This thesis consists of 5 sections. In section 1, "introduction", the author tells motivation and reasons for choosing this topic, the meaning and methods, and the expressions of the thesis. Defamiliarization, the combination of the historical documents and local chronicles analysiswith the fieldwork were the main methods to complete the study. In section 2, "tradition: evolution of the broker and broker-house ", the author collected and collated the documents about broker and broker-house, in order to give out a historical basis. In section 3, "practice: brokers in the livestock's exchange" includes the introduction about Pingluo country, the condition of the livestock's exchange and the business of brokers. In section 4, "belief and capital: the Hui broker's life" analyze the cultural and social capital of Hui broker and the affection of the Islam to the business. According the above -mentioned, in section 5, the author reviewed the whole thesis and generalize the main viewpoint.