A Comparative Study Between Yunnan And Zhejiang Merchants In The Late Qing Dynasty And The Early Republic Of China

This paper is based on many historical materials and previous literatures to make a comparative analysis on the transformation of businessmen,business organizations and modernization between Yunnan merchants and Zhejiang merchants in the late Qing dynasty and the early republic of China.It is found that there are many differences in the development process of the two provinces.Throughout the history of our country,the private economy of the feudal dynasty has existed for a long time.Commercial gang is a distinctive economic form in China,which is closely related to economic development.Historically,due to the limitations of natural geographical conditions in Yunnan,the development of commerce was slow.In the Qing dynasty,with the implementation of the economic policy of frontier development and the gradual development of Yunnan’s social economy,many businessmen from other provinces entered Yunnan to engage in business and trade.Although Yunnan businessmen also developed,their number and economic strength were small.Therefore,the businessmen from other provinces were the main body engaged in business activities in Yunnan during this period.After the opium war in 1840,Mengzi,Simao and Tengyue opened their ports for trade,and the YunnanVietnam railway was built,the external conditions for the development of the commercial gang have been significantly improved.Yunnan businessmen seized the opportunity and quickly developed into the backbone of Yunnan private economy.At the same time,Yunnan province,especially in the prefectures and counties,traffic arteries,products center has established many merchant halls,which is an important reflection of the vitality of Yunnan private economy.However,for a long time,the business activities of the Dian merchants were concentrated in the field of commerce and trade,and most of the commercial capital was free from industry,transportation and financial industry and other modern economic sectors.There is a natural link between these new industries and business development that cannot be ignored.This is an important factor that leads to the failure of Yunnan commercial gang to realize modernization.Zhejiang businessmen have had the sense of doing business since ancient times,engaged in domestic and foreign trade earlier.After the opium war,Hangzhou,Ningbo and Wenzhou successively opened ports.With the advantages of transportation and natural resources,Zhejiang merchants are engaged in business and trade at home and abroad.They set up many merchant halls in various commercial towns at home and abroad,which made the merchants move from decentralization to union.There are also many businessmen from other provinces in Zhejiang,such as Hunan,Hubei,Sichuan,Guangdong and Jiangxi.They have injected vitality into the economic development of Zhejiang.What is more striking is that the businessmen of Zhejiang province have quickly entered the field of emerging industries,boldly introduced new products and equipment,formed new organizations such as Chambers of commerce and opened new markets,and become pioneers of many new industries.At the same time,a group of modern Zhejiang businessmen with modern consciousness understood the importance of financial industry to the development of industry and commerce.Through the combination of commercial capital,industrial capital and financial capital,promoting the two-way development of industry,commerce and financial industry.It is not only enhanced the economic strength of Zhejiang merchants,but also accelerated the development of private economy in Zhejiang.The new economic activities of many businessmen in Zhejiang reflect that they have gradually turned to modern businessmen from the ranks of traditional businessmen and from the old merchant organizations to the new merchant organizations.These changes finally promoted the development of Zhejiang commercial gang from a traditional commercial gang to a large group of modern entrepreneurs with abundant financial resources.But,the private economy in the feudal society lacks the protection of property rights and other systems,which is doomed to the decline of the old commercial gang.With the deepening of the reform and opening-up,the private economy has experienced twists and turns and developed vigorously.It has become the source of the power of national economic growth.The commercial gang is a collection of private enterprises,playing the most important role in the private economy.The developed private economy of Zhejiang has become the wind Vance of Zhejiang economy,and the revival of new Zhejiang businessmen is the main force full of vitality of Zhejiang private economy.In the past 40 years,Yunnan private economy has been playing a more and more powerful role in promoting the rapid development of Yunnan economy.However,compared with Zhejiang,the private economy in Yunnan has a low level of development and a small total amount.The current situation that the number and quality of private enterprises in Yunnan are still weak is still prominent and the gap is obvious.In the new era,China’s economy is affected by the fluctuations of the world economy,and the full recovery of the national economy needs the strong support of the private economy.And the core competitiveness of the private economy is to grow in the land of the commercial gang.Therefore,it is urgent to support and develop the new Yunnan merchants.In the end,based on the perspective of economic history and the investigation of the research content,this paper reflects on and summarizes the historical experience and lessons,and puts forward suggestions on strengthening the new Yunnan businessmen and promoting Yunnan private economy to a faster and better development path This is the fundamental starting point and foothold of this paper.