ABSTRACT
In the course of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, numerous huiguan 會館 (usually translated – not quite correctly – as “guilds” in English) emerged in the economically more developed regions of China, such as the Jiangnan area (Jiangsusheng bowuguan 1959). In particular, during the Qing dynasty, going hand in hand with the development of commerce, huiguan became important institutions of and for merchants who wanted to improve their competitive position as outsiders in regions where they were not very familiar with the local environment.1 The huiguan also served as locations for meeting like-minded people from the same home regions and cherishing local customs. Common geographic origins thus played a vital economic and social role when merchants founded such huiguan, with their characteristics of native-place associations (Landsmannschaften) established in connection with long-distance trade. With economic development these institutions also became gradually more and more specified according to different commercial areas. The huiguan served as meeting places for members to inform one another about market and price developments, about changes in the demand for certain products, about effective sale strategies, about the undermining of one’s own trade and business area by competing merchant groups, and, last but not least, by the government. Whereas most huiguan were thus directly linked with supraregional and long-distance trade, at the same time they seemingly for the most part remained domestic trade institutions.
