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Soldiers and the City: Urban Experience of Guard
Households in Late Ming Nanjing
Xiaoxiang Luo ,
Front. Hist. China. 2010, 5 (1): 30-51.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11462-010-0002-2
In late Ming China, a large concentration of Guards and Battalions were stationed in the city of Nanjing. The registered guard population constituted a significant percent of the urban population. This paper discusses the living status of Nanjing guards within the framework of urban studies, and reveals the special model of urbanization of this political center. The guard population was driven by “policy migration,” and showed a high tendency of localization. Soldiers worked in various lines of business, and their living places were no longer confined to military camps. The Nanjing Constabulary broke the administrative boundaries of military and civilian households, and further pushed the localization and urbanization of the guard population. Soldiers were frequently involved in acts of violence and put pressure on local security. However, guard storehouses also provided extra supplies for the local grain market, and stabilized local society at times of crises. This study of the Nanjing guard population not only illustrates the unique urban environment of this political center, but also reminds us about the complexity of urbanization in the Ming-Qing period.
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Prosperity and Decline: A Comparison of the Fate
of Jingdezhen, Zhuxianzhen, Foshan and Hankou in Modern Times
Yimin He ,
Front. Hist. China. 2010, 5 (1): 52-85.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11462-010-0003-1
With the development of the commodity economy, towns became a new form in China’s urban landscape during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Of those towns, Jingdezhen, Zhuxianzhen, Foshan and Hankou, which were titled “The Four Famous Towns” in China, entered into a phase of thriving economic development. Their economies mostly could be considered as the resource- exploitation type, the comprehensive development type, and the commodity- distribution type. There were in fact several common factors found in these four towns. However, as Chinese history moved into its modern phase, foreign inputs, new social forces, and changing political systems all posed serious challenges to traditional towns. Modern development in the four towns took divergent paths. The town of Hankou developed rapidly, but the other three towns declined. From the different fates of these towns, important factors of urban modernization can be pried out.
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The Roles of Tea and Opium in Early Economic
Globalization: A Perspective on China’s Crisis in the 19th
Century
Weimin Zhong ,
Front. Hist. China. 2010, 5 (1): 86-105.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11462-010-0004-0
Alongside military conquest which characterized great part of globalization during the 19th century, the globalization of markets no doubt was its main manifestation. Addictive consumption goods played a leading role during this process, as observed in the case of China, tea and the opium trade had the largest impact. Owing to the importance of Britain’s growing demand for tea and its concomitant tax revenue, Anglo-Chinese trade became the dominant trade that Britain had in the East. To make up the trade deficit with China, Britain took advantage of its Indian colony and did its best in expanding its opium trade. Within this triangular trade scheme, Britain was the master, India was the instrument, and China was the ultimate victim. Confronted by the irresistible trend of globalization, China was ill prepared when facing this challenge leading to a complete failure in both military and commercial warfare and later on to an overall crisis in the 19th century.
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7 articles
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