ABSTRACT
Albert Feuerwerker’s (1958) and Marion J. Levy’s and Shih Kuo-heng’s (1949) ideas about the absence of Chinese entrepreneurship no longer hold sway among economic historians working on modern China. Hao Yen-ping (1970) was the first to identify compradors on the China coast as Schumpeterian entrepreneurs par excellence. Thomas Rawski (1975:208) and Sherman Cochran (1980:214) in their works have identified indigenous entrepreneurs, while Wellington K. K. Chan (1982:218–35) has identified Ma Yingbiao, founder of Sincere Department Store in Hong Kong, as a reformer of the traditional business structure and an overseas entrepreneur.
