Guangdong Guild Hall Essay: A Series of Jinan Historical Studies

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 overseas, Guangdong Guild Halls were widespread in various places. Building upon previous academic research, this book takes Guangdong Guild Halls in various parts of China as the research subjects, striving to uncover new historical materials such as archives, inscriptions, local chronicles, and collected essays related to Guangdong Guild Halls. By drawing on methods from social history research, it attempts to conduct a comprehensive and systematic examination of Guangdong Guild Halls. The book is rich in content, well-documented, rigorous in argumentation, 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 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 Chapter 9 to demonstrate the historical characteristics of the development of Guangdong Guild Halls.