Essays on the Cantonese Guild Hall

Author: Liu Zhenggang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Guangdong was one of the most developed regions in China in terms of commodity economy, and the socio-economic development of Guangdong had taken the lead across the country. Due to the activities of the Cantonese both domestically and abroad, Guangdong Guild Halls were widespread in various regions. Building upon previous academic research, this book takes Guangdong Guild Halls in various parts of China as its research subjects, striving to uncover new historical materials such as archives, inscriptions, local gazettes, and collected works related to Guangdong Guild Halls. By drawing on methods from social history research, it attempts to provide a comprehensive and systematic examination of Guangdong Guild Halls. The book is rich in content, well-documented, rigorously argued, and clearly structured, making it of certain academic value. The content of this book primarily focuses on Guangdong Guild Halls in various parts of China. However, due to the unique geographical environment, Guangdong Guild Halls also spread overseas as Cantonese merchants expanded their activities abroad. For the Guangdong Guild Halls distributed across various countries overseas, although no dedicated monographs have been published yet, many published works on Chinese and foreign relations history have touched upon them. Limited by funding and difficulties in accessing materials, the author was unable to collect firsthand data on overseas Guangdong Guild Halls. Therefore, this chapter synthesizes existing materials or research findings, broadly drafting the ninth chapter to illustrate the historical characteristics of the development of Guangdong Guild Halls.