Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:31:04.488Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Huizhou House Firms

The Binds of Kinship and Commerce

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2020

Joseph P. McDermott
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

Chapter 6 provides three case studies of how Huizhou merchant organizations used their lineage and commercial resources to explain how Huizhou merchant lineages might succeed and fall in the world of Ming business. It explores the development of different types and sizes of commercial organization in response to the organizational needs and business opportunities these “house firms,” while also examining the impact of kinship organizations and relationships on their operation as “house firms.” With a greater emphasis on lineage branches and even segments rather than just lineages per se, it shows how a small lineage could launch itself successfully into the commercial world with the aid of kinship organizations larger than the simple nuclear household. Descent-line ties mattered greatly but manipulation of these ties for commercial goals was not at all unusual, even leading to attempts to create extensive non-lineage alliances with purported kinsmen bearing just same surname and fictive descent lies.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Huizhou House Firms
  • Joseph P. McDermott, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Making of a New Rural Order in South China
  • Online publication: 22 June 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107261471.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Huizhou House Firms
  • Joseph P. McDermott, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Making of a New Rural Order in South China
  • Online publication: 22 June 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107261471.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Huizhou House Firms
  • Joseph P. McDermott, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Making of a New Rural Order in South China
  • Online publication: 22 June 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107261471.007
Available formats
×