Hierarchies of trade in Yiwu and Dushanbe: The case of an Uzbek merchant family from Tajikistan

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the trading trajectory of an Uzbek family of merchants from Tajikistan. This family runs businesses in both Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, and China’s famous international trading city: Yiwu. The analysis is centred on the accounts placed by Tajikistan’s Uzbek merchants about their historically sustained experience, often across several generations, in trading activities. These merchants’ claims of belonging to a ‘historical’ trading community rather than being ‘newcomers’ to long-distance commerce are articulated in relation to notions of ‘hierarchies of trade’ as they evolve in a twofold relational model linking Yiwu’s Changchun neighbourhood and Dushanbe. I suggest that the forms of conviviality enacted in Yiwu’s Changchun neighbourhood need to be understood in terms of the historical, multinational and transregional contacts that have occurred within the spaces of the former Soviet Union, as well as along the China-Russia and China-Central Asian borders. Equally, the hierarchies of trade of Uzbek merchants from Tajikistan in Yiwu’s Changchun neighbourhood cut-across markers of identity that juxtapose the roles of Tajik and Uzbek communities in Tajikistan’s contemporary politics and economics.     

Social distance,ethnicity, and religion in Northwest China: a survey of inter- and intra-group attitudes among Han,Hui, and Tibetan students

Building on existing research concerned with social distance in multi-ethnic states, this study of college students in Gansu Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region provides a picture of social attitudes, intra-group attachment, and inter-group social distance along ethnic and religious lines in Northwest China. The study measures inter-ethnic group fissures in Chinese society as measured in social distance between three ethnic groups: Han, Hui, and Tibetan. Comparative survey methods are used to examine inter- and intra-group relations by mapping dimensions of social distance among 382 university students. Our results indicate only very subtle differences that suggest a closer majority–minority relationship than the previous literature indicates, especially between the Hui and Han. The findings show some clustering and segregating patterns along ethnic lines, specifically when accounting for degrees of trust and tolerance and levels of ethnic and religious attachment. The Hui and Han in Ningxia exhibit closer inter-group relations in comparison to wider measurements of social distance between the Tibetan and Han in Gansu. Where the survey data revealed clustering among ethnic groups, the analysis shows that religious, geographical, and economic differences fail to account for the attitudinal differences between ethnic groups.     

禹之鼎《王翚骑牛南还图》考略

世传清初著名画家王翚的肖像不止一幅,但真正能够反映其形神的作品,是与他相识多年、以肖像画称著的禹之鼎所绘《骑牛南还图》。本文通过叙述王翚请禹之鼎创作《骑牛南还图》与遍邀名流、友朋题诗的情况,阐释了像主和创作者各自的企望,同时,画家对像主还乡心情的体会深刻,也终令画作得以完美呈现。     

驰骋西北的平阳商帮

平阳商帮作为晋商的一支,明清两代是其发展的重要阶段,清末民初逐渐由繁盛走向衰落。平阳商帮经贸西路,其经营地点基本为丝绸之路沿线城市如西安、兰州、银川、武威、酒泉、西宁等,其经营行业涉及盐业、冶铁业、布业、烟业及茶叶等。明朝"开中法"的实施为平阳商人经贸西路拉开了序幕,丝路贸易的繁荣吸引平阳商人前去经商,"互通有无"的商业模式给平阳商人提供了商机,便利的交通亦是平阳商人经贸西路的重要条件。     

Liverpool’s Cotton Importers c. 1700 to 1914

Liverpool’s first cotton importers dealt in a range of commodities and this pattern continued until the late eighteenth century. As the British cotton industry grew and new sources of raw cotton – particularly the United States – emerged, some merchants specialized increasingly in cotton in the early decades of the nineteenth century. By the end of the century, the largest importers of cotton dealt in little besides cotton. The growing prosperity of Liverpool’s cotton trade drew companies from elsewhere in the United Kingdom to Liverpool to participate in this trade. By the mid nineteenth century, several key cotton importing houses had originated in the United States; by the end of the nineteenth century the largest importers there. The manner of importing cotton changed. At first, importers had to send a ship out with a captain or supercargo with broad instructions about what to freight the ship with. As communications improved, importers were able to control their purchases of cotton more closely. In the nineteenth century, a significant amount of cotton was imported through Liverpool by merchants acting on a commission basis but this form of importing declined in the later decades of the century.     

江户时代的出版巨子茑屋重三郎

茑屋重三郎是日本江户时代中后期的著名出版商。他从书店经营开始逐渐涉足书籍出版,在激变的时代浪潮中虽几经大起大落,但凭借着高瞻远瞩的策划能力和敏捷的才思,终于成长为屈指可数的出版界巨子。既是商人,同时又有很好的文学修养,两相结合使之具备了卓越的识人辨才的能力。他一生中发掘并培养了诸多浮世绘画师和通俗文学作家,出版发行了数目众多的浮世绘作品和文学作品,在江户中后期的文学史、艺术史上留下了浓墨重彩的印迹。     

对青海省回族聚居区新农村建设问题的探讨

青海省是多民族聚居的省份。重视各个民族的新农村建设,因地制宜,因势利导,是加快全省新农村建设步伐的题中应有之义。该文从六个方面就青海省回族聚居区如何建设社会主义新农村进行了探索。     

同盟会，国民革命的联盟——关于同盟会的性质问题

本文认为同盟会的性质不是如过去学术界所说的为资产阶级政党,而是全国各阶级革命群众的联合政党、国民革命的联盟.本文主要从三个方面展开论述:1、从同盟会的三民主义纲领来看,它不仅反映了资产阶级的利益和要求,也代表了包括地主、工人、农民在内的当时一切反对西方列强侵略,要求推翻清朝,振兴中华,改变现状的人们和阶级的利益.2、从同盟会的成员来看,既有资产阶级,也有地主、工人、农民和其他各阶级及其知识分子.3、从同盟会领袖孙中山的思想来看,也不是仅站在资产阶级立场上讲话,而是代表了全国各族各阶级,尤其是工人农民的共同利益.     

从清代扬州务本堂看徽州盐商商儒价值观的内涵

对清代扬州两淮盐务组织务本堂的商业文化背景、乡土文化背景及其在两淮盐业经营中的作用进行探考,发现务本堂的设立不仅是徽州盐商顺应商品经济发展的一大举措,也标志着在特定时代背景下徽、州盐商价值观念的转变和突破,主要体现在对传统农商观的思辨,"利"、"义"契合的经营价值观的确立和业儒弘儒的人文精神的践行.     

明驸马赵辉墓志铭及明代驸马都尉制度考释

明代驸马赵辉墓志铭的发现对于研究赵辉的生平事迹以及明代的驸马都尉制度具有重要意义.墓志铭文不仅提供了赵辉的卒年、当选驸马的过程以及任职期间的公务等信息,也包含了史书阙如的记载,可修正史书中有关赵辉的讹误,同时,对研究明代驸马的择选标准、职掌以及子孙恩荫特权等也有重要的参考价值.