Research On Minority Merchants In Yunnan In The Late Qing Dynasty

During the late Qing Dynasty,due to the social and economic development of Yunnan and the influence of the western colonial powers,business of Yunnan was rapidly developed,especially in the border minority areas where a group of minority businessmen emerged.Those businessmen made frequent business exchanges with the local Han businessmen in Yunnan,businessmen in the Central Plains region and businessmen from Vietnam,Myanmar,Laos,Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries,and became a force not to be ignored in the late Qing Dynasty.Those businessmen promote the development and prosperity of Yunnan's business.Under the influence of many minority businessmen,the social atmosphere,education and social public affairs in the border minority areas in the late Qing dynasty were also developed rapidly,which promoted the social progress of the border minority areas in Yunnan.The introductory mainly explains the cause of selecting this topic,academic history review,research methods and definition of related concepts.In the ancient China,the ethnic minorities were known as the “barbarians”,and the businessmen were seen as “the bottom of the four social strata”.There was little record about the minority businessmen in standard history,and it was until 1950s-1960 s that a series of ethnographic information regarding the ethnic minority businessmen in Yunnan in the late Qing appeared,providing a valuable information for our study on Yunnan's ethnic minority businessmen in the late Qing Dynasty.The first chapter discusses the gradual trend of and analyzes the specific causes of Yunnan's social economic recession in the late Qing Dynasty.The second chapter summarizes Yunnan's minority businessmen in the late Qing Dynasty,including Bai businessmen,Yi businessmen,Naxi businessmen,Hui businessmen,Tibetan businessmen and Manchu businessmen.In this chapter,a general introduction to the general situation of Yunnan's minority businessmen is given.The third chapter describes the groups of Yunnan's minority businessmen in the late Qing Dynasty,including: Heqing group,Xizhou group,etc.In addition,this chapter also specifically presents representative firms in the various ethnic minority businessmen groups,and analyzes different operating modes and operating characteristics of various minority businessmen groups.The fourth chapter analyzes the general capital situation of Yunnan minority businessmen.Through the analysis of starting capital sources,capital composition,capital accumulation and profit flow,we can get a better understanding of the overall capital operation of Yunnan minority businessmen in the late Qing Dynasty.The fifth chapter combs the main commodities of Yunnan's minority businessmen in the late Qing Dynasty,including: opium,tea,mountain medicine,raw silk,local products and cotton cloth,shellac,orpiment,etc.The sixth chapter analyzes the interaction between Yunnan's minority businessmen and Yunnan's local society in the late Qing Dynasty.It mainly discusses the influence of the minority merchants who became rich by doing business on the local society in the late Qing Dynasty.Such influence is mainly manifested in the changes of the social atmosphere in Yunnan ' s minority areas,the prosperity of the commercial market,the progress of social and public utilities,the development of education,the integration of ethnic groups and the strengthening of national exchanges.The conclusion part summarizes the full text.