the reliance on native place ties by Shaoxing natives away from home. Susan Naquin and Evelyn Rawski, in their history of eighteenth-century China, observe that "native place was the principle most often invoked as grounds for affiliation and assistance by men who left their homes to work in an alien environment.”
The most extensive analysis of native place ties in an urban environment is William Rowe's detailed study of the central China treaty port city Hankow (Hankou). Although concluding that "the prevailing mood of the city was cosmopolitan," he nevertheless emphasizes the persistence of localism in urban development. Rowe describes the importance of hometown bonds in securing jobs, financial help in time of need, and defence in daily street brawls. Commercial cliques, worker recruitment, and leisure activities were often organized around native place ties. More interestingly, Rowe's study has demonstrated a process of different ethnic groups establishing themselves in the newly developed city. The most distinctive one was a rivalry between Cantonese and Ningbo with Shaoxing people, the two prominent ethnic groups in Hankou. Cantonese used the advent of Western trade to advance their position in native commercial circles while the Ning-Shao natives had become the most powerful force in the native banking and lower Yangzi River trade, but they were second to their Cantonese counterparts in foreign trade. More recently, in addition to the above studies, as shown in Emily Honig's study of Subei people in Shanghai, there are many more factors determining ethnic identities than race, religion and nationality.
Origins of Cantonese Emigration in the Nineteenth Century
Historically, South China was the recipient of successive waves of migration from the north, which is more hilly and hence conducive to the isolation of one social group from another. In Guangdong province, the Chinese inhabitants categorized themselves as Punti (Bendi, locals) which included the Cantonese and the people of Teochiu; Hakka (Hejia, guests); Hoklo or Tanka (Danjia, boat people). By the end of the eighteenth century, the rate of delta land reclamation could not match the rate of increase in population in South China. Growth of population caused massive emigration both domestically and overseas. The rapid growth of population, unaccompanied by improvements in agricultural technology, meant that it was increasingly difficult for peasants in this area to depend on the soil alone for a decent livelihood. To support