Monetary Hierarchy and Regional Segmentation in Commercial Spaces of Qing North China: Focusing on Epigraphic Materials of Merchant Guilds  

Author: Park, Chan-guen

Page: 313-350

This study examines how commercial spaces in North China during the 18th and 19th centuries were structured by the autonomous regulations of merchants, and specifically how currency usage, as reflected in epigraphic records, formed a multilayered hierarchy. Under the rigid administrative system of the Qing Dynasty, the market vacuum left by the lack of state control was filled by the rules of migrant merchants (keshang) and local merchants. Shaanxi-Shanxi merchants, who dominated the commercial networks in North China, established Huiguan (guild halls) through ties of native place and shared faith. By unifying weights and measures and codifying commercial regulations, they led the silver-based economy and exerted significant influence over the market. However, an analysis of the epigraphic materials from these guild halls and temples reveals that the market was not a uniform space governed by a single set of rules; rather, it exhibited a multilayered structure fragmented by geographic origin and capital size. The commercial hubs led by the Shanshan merchants, who possessed massive capital and extensive networks, almost exclusively adhered to the use of silver. For them, silver functioned as a barrier to entry to protect their exclusive commercial interests. In contrast, in areas where maritime and overland trade intersected, or in markets highly dependent on water transport, copper coins were widely used due to the active participation of small-scale merchants, grassroots laborers, and southern maritime merchants. This indicates that a flexible currency system tailored to local business practices and specific trade characteristics was operating in areas beyond the reach of the dominant merchant groups. Furthermore, hierarchical disparities based on capital size and business lines within the dominant merchant groups themselves were also reflected in this segmentation of currency usage. Ultimately, the commercial spheres of North China in the 18th and 19th centuries were structured as a multidimensional commercial order, where massive silver-based networks and copper-based grassroots networks flexibly intersected and intertwined according to regional conditions and the internal hierarchies of merchant groups.