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The movement of goods and passengers between port cities not only stimulates growth in coastal trading networks and centers but also changes the social and economic lives of people in these port cities and of their fellow compatriots farther inland. During China’s shift from its traditional engagements with Asia and the world to its involvement in modern globalization in the mid-nineteenth century, the Chinese came to face the challenges originating beyond their localities. On the one hand, Chinese citizens were exposed to the external shockwave of the global economy and that included the Great Depression in the late 1920s to the early 1930s. On the other hand, traders and workers outside China faced the socioeconomic turbulences at their host destinations some without the protection of the state and other under the pressure of the colonial governments. How did they cope with these challenges that were of global origin? Answering the question that this volume poses has the two related purposes. First, this volume provides a nuanced view of Asia’s transformation from the mid-nineteenth century. The treaties determined the opening of Chinese ports to the west, but we need to explore how China was incorporated into the modern world, and its impacts on Asia. In so doing, our focus on experiences by ordinary citizens of Chinese ethnicity is crucial, as they were the key actors linking China and abroad. Second, this volume tests the strategies taken by Chinese against the background of the deepening integration of societies and economies in the world. Coping with the global challenges, people inside and outside of China employed their shared repertoires such as native ties, secret societies, popular religions, and local credits. How were they effective, and why? Exploring how they were effective under the circumstances specific to each of the localities, this volume not only sheds light on the features of the Chinese societies in the region but also examines modern globalization from Chinese perspective.
 
Although all the chapters address both aspects, in order to highlight the findings and implications central to each chapter, the volume is divided into two parts: Part one, “Traders and Workers Abroad: Coping with Colonial Powers and Socioeconomic Adversaries” and part two, “Banks and Businesses in China during the Great Depression.” The former deals with the ethnic Chinese living and working in South East Asia. The authors discuss the social and economic lives in various South East Asian port cities where many residents had to cope with these transnational crises. They do so through examining institutional measurements, rituals and festivals, communication, knowledge and information exchange as well as identity (re)construction. In addition, they explore how local communities responded to knowledge and information between the port cities and cities as well as inland locations. Part two focuses on financiers, producers, and consumers facing unpreceded global economic crisis which hit China in the early 1930s.
 
Overall this book offers solid grounds for future comparisons, not only based on a specific time or event but also on how society reacted over time, space, and various types of crises.
 

(Written by SHIROYAMA Tomoko, Professor, Graduate School of Economics / 2022)