From Cotton Mill to Business Empire

From Cotton Mill to Business Empire PDF Author: Elisabeth Köll
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684173914
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
"The demise of state-owned enterprises, the transformation of collectives into shareholding cooperatives, and the creation of investment opportunities through stock markets indicate China’s movement from a socialist, state-controlled economy toward a socialist market economy. Yet, contrary to high expectations that China’s new enterprises will become like corporations in capitalist countries, management often remains under the control of the onetime bureaucrats who ran the socialist enterprises. The concepts, definitions, and interpretations of property rights, corporate structures, and business practices in contemporary China have historical, institutional, and cultural roots. In tracing the development under founder Zhang Jian (1853–1926) and his successors of the Dasheng Cotton Mill in Nantong into a business group encompassing, among other concerns, cotton, flour, and oil mills, land development companies, and shipping firms, the author documents the growth of regional enterprises as local business empires from the 1890s until the foundation of the People’s Republic in 1949. She focuses on the legal and managerial evolution of limited-liability firms in China, particularly issues of control and accountability; the introduction and management of industrial work in the countryside; and the integration and interdependency of local, national, and international markets in Republican China."

From Cotton Mill to Business Empire

From Cotton Mill to Business Empire PDF Author: Elisabeth Köll
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684173914
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
"The demise of state-owned enterprises, the transformation of collectives into shareholding cooperatives, and the creation of investment opportunities through stock markets indicate China’s movement from a socialist, state-controlled economy toward a socialist market economy. Yet, contrary to high expectations that China’s new enterprises will become like corporations in capitalist countries, management often remains under the control of the onetime bureaucrats who ran the socialist enterprises. The concepts, definitions, and interpretations of property rights, corporate structures, and business practices in contemporary China have historical, institutional, and cultural roots. In tracing the development under founder Zhang Jian (1853–1926) and his successors of the Dasheng Cotton Mill in Nantong into a business group encompassing, among other concerns, cotton, flour, and oil mills, land development companies, and shipping firms, the author documents the growth of regional enterprises as local business empires from the 1890s until the foundation of the People’s Republic in 1949. She focuses on the legal and managerial evolution of limited-liability firms in China, particularly issues of control and accountability; the introduction and management of industrial work in the countryside; and the integration and interdependency of local, national, and international markets in Republican China."

Chinese and Indian Business

Chinese and Indian Business PDF Author: Medha M. Kudaisya
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004172793
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
In recent years the phenomenal rise of the economies of China and India has led to a proliferation of academic studies. Much of the focus has been on economic performance, development strategies and the comparative advantage of the two economies. A comparative study of business as an agent of change has been lacking This volume brings together articles by leading scholars in the field of Chinese and Indian business who offer fresh perspectives on the historical antecedents of business in the two economies.

Business Expansion and Structural Change in Pre-War China

Business Expansion and Structural Change in Pre-War China PDF Author: Kai Yiu Chan
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
ISBN: 9789622097643
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
This book examines the relationship between business expansion and the structure of business in pre-war China through a careful and pioneering study of the enterprises of Liu Hongsheng during the 1920s and 1930s. Unlike previous studies that have concentrated on such conceptual discussions as ‘networks’ and the role of the state in Chinese economic and business history, this present work focuses on the institutional changes within Chinese business to critically delineate the major institutions in the working of Chinese-owned enterprises. Not only does it explore those institutions of Western origin, such as the company and modern banking, but also those of native tradition. Liu Hongsheng was one of the leaders of the Chinese business community in Shanghai from the 1910s to the early 1950s. Through the examination, utilizing a large number of previous unused archival materials, of the major lines of his businesses including coal-distribution, wharf operations, cement making, match-manufacturing, banking, and real estate, this study identifies the major institutional changes involved in the course of the expansion of the whole business before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. In particular, the author argues that the ‘accounts office’ or ‘zhangfang’ was the core of the organization. This book will be of great interest to specialists and students of Chinese business and economic history. It also provides a base for comparative business and economic history, especially for those who are interested in comparing European and American businesses with the Chinese ones. Lastly, this book serves the interest of scholars and students of East Asian history, who will find in Liu’s story a substantial example of the creative institutional dimension of business in the Chinese diaspora. “Professor Chan has richly documented the fascinating business practices used by the Chinese capitalist Liu Hongsheng: his devious maneuvers as a comprador taking actions contrary to the wishes of his foreign employer; his jousting as chairman of the board with unruly Chinese shareholders in a limited liability company; his inventive accounting as a venture capitalist financing industrial enterprises. With a firm command of archival materials, Chan is able to reveal seldom seen inner workings of Chinese business.” —Sherman Cochran, Hu Shih Professor of Chinese History, Cornell University

Empire of Cotton

Empire of Cotton PDF Author: Sven Beckert
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0375713964
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 642

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Book Description
WINNER OF THE BANCROFT PRIZE • A Pulitzer Prize finalist that's as unsettling as it is enlightening: a book that brilliantly weaves together the story of cotton with how the present global world came to exist. “Masterly … An astonishing achievement.” —The New York Times The empire of cotton was, from the beginning, a fulcrum of constant global struggle between slaves and planters, merchants and statesmen, workers and factory owners. Sven Beckert makes clear how these forces ushered in the world of modern capitalism, including the vast wealth and disturbing inequalities that are with us today. In a remarkably brief period, European entrepreneurs and powerful politicians recast the world’s most significant manufacturing industry, combining imperial expansion and slave labor with new machines and wage workers to make and remake global capitalism.

The Yudahua Business Group in China's Early Industrialization

The Yudahua Business Group in China's Early Industrialization PDF Author: Juanjuan Peng
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498507026
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
By tracing the history of Yudahua from the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, this study analyzes a successful inland business model among textile companies in modern China. The steady growth of this enterprise relied primarily on its strategy to focus on low-end markets and to locate new mills in underdeveloped interior regions. This strategy further allowed the enterprise to pioneer industrialization in its host localities, demonstrating a major social and economic impact on the local societies. At the same time, Yudahua’s unique team leadership pattern—five leading families shared its ownership and management—made the business an atypical family firm and allowed relatively easy institutional departure from Chinese social networks and adoption of Western corporate hierarchy. Therefore, by the late 1940s, Yudahua had gradually developed into a fairly integrated business group with a unified management structure and routinized connections between its member mills, which differed noticeably from the loose alliances normally found in other early twentieth-century Chinese business conglomerates.

The Ashgate Companion to the History of Textile Workers, 1650–2000

The Ashgate Companion to the History of Textile Workers, 1650–2000 PDF Author: Els Hiemstra-Kuperus
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317044282
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1067

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Book Description
This impressive collection offers the first systematic global and comparative history of textile workers over the course of 350 years. This period covers the major changes in wool and cotton production, and the global picture from pre-industrial times through to the twentieth century. After an introduction, the first part of the book is divided into twenty national studies on textile production over the period 1650-2000. To make them useful tools for international comparisons, each national overview is based on a consistent framework that defines the topics and issues to be treated in each chapter. The countries described have been selected to included the major historic producers of woollen and cotton fabrics, and the diversity of global experience, and include not only European nations, but also Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Uruguay and the USA. The second part of the book consists of ten comparative papers on topics including globalization and trade, organization of production, space, identity, workplace, institutions, production relations, gender, ethnicity and the textile firm. These are based on the national overviews and additional literature, and will help apply current interdisciplinary and cultural concerns to a subject traditionally viewed largely through a social and economic history lens. Whilst offering a unique reference source for anyone interested in the history of a particular country's textile industry, the true strength of this project lies in its capacity of international comparison. By providing global comparative studies of key textile industries and workers, both geographically and thematically, this book provides a comprehensive and contemporary analysis of a major element of the world's economy. This allows historians to challenge many of the received ideas about globalization, for instance, highlighting how global competition for lower production costs is by no means a uniquely modern issue, and has b

The People's Republic of China at 60

The People's Republic of China at 60 PDF Author: William C. Kirby
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684171210
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
In 2009 the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies convened a major conference to discuss the health and longevity of China’s ruling system and to consider a fundamental question: After three decades of internal strife and turmoil, followed by an era of reform, entrepreneurialism, and internationalization, is the PRC here for the dynastic long haul? Bringing together scholars and students of China from around the world, the gathering witnessed an energetic exchange of views on four interrelated themes: polities, social transformations, wealth and well-being, and culture, belief, and practice. Edited and expanded from the original conference papers, the wide-ranging essays in this bilingual volume remain true to the conference’s aim: to promote open discussion of the past, present, and future of the People’s Republic of China.

Modern China’s Network Revolution

Modern China’s Network Revolution PDF Author: Zhongping Chen
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080477787X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Chambers of commerce developed in China as a key part of its sociopolitical changes. In 1902, the first Chinese chamber of commerce appeared in Shanghai. By the time the Qing dynasty ended, over 1,000 general chambers, affiliated chambers, and branch chambers had been established throughout China. In this new work, author Zhongping Chen examines Chinese chambers of commerce and their network development across Lower Yangzi cities and towns, as well as the nationwide arena. He details how they achieved increasing integration, and how their collective actions deeply influenced nationalistic, reformist, and revolutionary movements. His use of network analysis reveals how these chambers promoted social integration beyond the bourgeoisie and other elites, and helped bring society and the state into broader and more complicated interactions than existing theories of civil society and public sphere suggest. With both historical narrative and theoretical analysis of the long neglected local chamber networks, this study offers a keen historical understanding of the interaction of Chinese society, business, and politics in the early twentieth century. It also provides new knowledge produced from network theory within the humanities and social sciences.

Railroads and the Transformation of China

Railroads and the Transformation of China PDF Author: Elisabeth Köll
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674916425
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
As a vehicle to convey both the history of modern China and the complex forces still driving the nation’s economic success, rail has no equal. Railroads and the Transformation of China is the first comprehensive history, in any language, of railroad operation from the last decades of the Qing Empire to the present. China’s first fractured lines were built under semicolonial conditions by competing foreign investors. The national system that began taking shape in the 1910s suffered all the ills of the country at large: warlordism and Japanese invasion, Chinese partisan sabotage, the Great Leap Forward when lines suffered in the “battle for steel,” and the Cultural Revolution, during which Red Guards were granted free passage to “make revolution” across the country, nearly collapsing the system. Elisabeth Köll’s expansive study shows how railroads survived the rupture of the 1949 Communist revolution and became an enduring model of Chinese infrastructure expansion. The railroads persisted because they were exemplary bureaucratic institutions. Through detailed archival research and interviews, Köll builds case studies illuminating the strength of rail administration. Pragmatic management, combining central authority and local autonomy, sustained rail organizations amid shifting political and economic priorities. As Köll shows, rail provided a blueprint for the past forty years of ambitious, semipublic business development and remains an essential component of the PRC’s politically charged, technocratic economic model for China’s future.

Manchurian Railways and the Opening of China: An International History

Manchurian Railways and the Opening of China: An International History PDF Author: Bruce Elleman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317465466
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
The railways of Manchuria offer an intriguing vantage point for an international history of northeast Asia. Before the completion of the Trans-Siberian railway in 1916, the only rail route from the Imperial Russian capital of St. Petersburg to the Pacific port of Vladivostok transited Manchuria. A spur line from the Manchurian city of Harbin led south to ice-free Port Arthur. Control of these two rail lines gave Imperial Russia military, economic, and political advantages that excited rivalry on the part of Japan and unease on the part of weak and divided China. Meanwhile, the effort to defend and retain that strategic hold against rising Japanese power strained distant Moscow. Control of the Manchurian railways was contested in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5; Japan's 1931 invasion and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo; the second Sino-Japanese War and World War II in Asia; and, the Chinese civil war that culminated in the Communist victory over the Nationalists. Today, the railways are critical to plans for development of China's sparsely populated interior. This volume brings together an international group of scholars to explore this fascinating history.