MERCHANT ORGANISATIONS IN IMPERIAL CHINA
31
trades and geographical origins became acquaintances and friends as they shared power and worked with the political process in Soochow. When these two merchants returned to Canton to open up their separate lines of business there, their joint social ventures while as sojourners in Soochow would help them toward similar across-guild collaboration in Canton.
It is generally assumed that the presence of Landsmannschaften suggested strong localism among merchant groups which, in turn, inhibited China's social and economic integration. In fact, one can just as well argue that the reverse is true. Landsmannschaften facilitated the communication among merchants in the various trade guilds on one level, and between merchants and officials on another. They provided outsiders an organisation with which they could participate in the political processes of the local power structure. More broadly, by promoting regional emigration, they upgraded the cosmopolitan tradition of their host provinces.
Landsmann Guilds (Kung-so or Pang)
By early Ch'ing times, many of these merchant-run Landsmannschaften had given birth to a more specialised organisation, as merchants with the same geographical origins organised independent Landsmann guilds in the large commercial centers. This was conveniently carried out since in many towns, the trade of any one commodity was often controlled by merchant sojourners from one area. In cases where the given trade was not so monopolised, it was likely to find several guilds of the same trade in the same city, each guild attracting its members on the basis of common geographical origin. Meanwhile, the individual Landsmannschaft had many subdivisions formed by its members in the different trades. In Hankow, the Landsmannschaft of Szechwan organised separate pang or kung-so for the dealers in herb medicine and boatmen. From the outside looking in, however, these two subdivisions which gradually assumed independent status were collectively known as the Szechwan pang.8
By the late nineteenth century, a number of Landsmann guilds assumed very dominant positions. In Shanghai, the most important of these were the Ssu-ming kung-so, a conglomerate of Ningpo merchants in the various trades in Shanghai, and the Kuang-ch'ao kung-so, a similar organisation for the two neighbouring prefectures in the Canton area. The importance of these Landsmann guilds in