Study On Trade Development Of Ningbo Port In The Modern Times(1844-1911)

The trade at a port has a significant impact on the economic and social development of the hinterland.This paper mainly studies trade of Ningbo port in modern times,and explores the influence of a port's trade on the economic and social development in the hinterland through a study on its development process,trade structure,trade management and import and export commodity structure,hoping to further explore the significant role played by port trade in the economic and social modernization process of certain regions in modern China.The trade development of Ningbo port in modern times can be divided into three stages:the first stage is the five-port trading period,when the trade development was very sluggish and Ningbo Port became a port of transshipment and a feeder port of Shanghai port in the early 1960s.The second stage is during the mid-1860s to the mid-1990s,when Ningbo port's trade achieved certain development in the twists and turns and the status of Ningbo port kept declining,with its trade changing from the trade surplus to import surplus as well as the direct foreign trade increasingly declining.The third stage is the rapid development period from the late 1990s to the early 20th century,when the direct foreign trade in Ningbo port was restored,the trade returned to the super surplus,the Ningbo port gradually developed into an independent industrial and trade port,but its port status further declined.In such a tortuous development process of port trade,the proportion taken up by opium in the import commodity structure gradually decreased,while the proportion of proper foreign goods was increasing,especially the cotton fabric which took the place of opium as the largest import foreign goods.A large number of foreign goods were dumped to the hinterland,with a serious impact on the original economic and social order in hinterland;the proportion of transit products in the export commodity structure,especially tea gradually decreased,while local goods took up an increasingly large proportion,making the Ningbo port's trade development more and more dependent on the Ningbo area.In trade structure and trade management,Hong Kong occupied the vast majority in foreign trade,while its inter-port trade was mainly around Shanghai and Hankou,with their hinterlands as the objects of mainland trade.With the narrowing of its hinterland,mainland trade was also confined to the Ningbo area.Zhejiang Customs' management on tax and sea services for the Ningbo Port has greatly promoted the trade development of Ningbo port.These changes in trade of Ningbo port have a profound impact on the economic and social development of its hinterland and such an impact is also mainly reflected in the Ningbo area due to the narrowing of hinterland.On the one hand,the traditional industries in Ningbo area were destroyed and declining,the rural areas became the raw material origin and dumping ground of Western countries.On the other hand,with the emergence and development of modern industry and commerce,finance and transportation in Ningbo city and emergence of new social strata,there have been great changes in people's ideas and living customs;Agricultural production has become increasingly commercialized,with more close connection with the world market and Significant changes in the economic structure of rural areas,so the economic and social development of Ningbo has gradually transited from traditional ear to modern times.