Studies of Chinese business have often sought explanations in Chinese business culture and organization, giving particular attention to, among other things, the growth or stagnation of the Chinese economy, state–business relations, and the business practices of guanxi (relationship or connections). Several conferences have been organized, and proceedings, journal articles, and books have been published, not to mention a number of M.A. and Ph.D. theses in Chinese, Japanese, German, and English.
The goal of this essay is to review the field and recent trends in Chinese business history. The aims and influence of the sources and Chinese business history publications will be addressed. I will then proceed with an investigation of academic works in Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, and Western publications, highlighting the differences in the explanation and conceptualization of Chinese business and economic behavior and demonstrating how these are influenced by the regions, disciplines, interests, and personal backgrounds of the scholars. I will also provide some possible research directions in Chinese business history.
A RECENT UPSURGE OF RESEARCH
During the past two decades, there has been growing international interest in Chinese business history research. Institutionally speaking, there is still no centralized international organization focused on Chinese business history. However, an international Chinese business history newsletter, Chinese Business History, is published by the East Asia Program of Cornell University to encourage scholarly research on Chinese business history.