This paper studies the economic consequences of the West's foray into China after the Opium War (1839-42), when Western … nature of China's capital markets. Whereas before the Opium War, coastal cities were of relatively minor importance, the … treaty port system of the West transformed China into an economy focused on coastal areas and on international trade that …

The First Opium War (1840-42) was a watershed in the history of China. In its aftermath Britain and other countries …-organized under Western management, Western legal institutions were introduced in China in form of courts and legal practices, and … foreigners in China were tried according to the laws of their country of origin (extraterritoriality). To better understand the …

This paper studies the trade of China in the past 150 years, starting from the first opening of China after the Opium … War. The main purpose of the paper is to identify what is (and was) China's 'normal' level of foreign trade, and how these … levels changed under different trade regimes, from 1840 to the present. We present new evidence on China's foreign trade …

In this paper, we provide aggregate trends in China's trade performance from the 1840s to the present. Based on … historical benchmarks, we argue that China's recent gains are not exclusively due to the reforms since 1978. Rather, foreign …, Shanghai already accounted for more than half of China's foreign trade. In tracking the levels and growth rates of the city …

status information based on the timing of marriage from family histories in Central China, already in the early 1500s it is … fall in the returns to son education due to the decline of China's civil service examination …

compares the actual performance of markets in Europe and China, two regions of the world that were relatively advanced in the … findings suggest that relative levels of market function in China and Europe were similar prior to the Industrial Revolution …

How much of China's recent economic performance can be attributed to market-oriented reforms introduced in the last two … paper compares the integration of rice markets in China today and 270 years ago. In the 18th century, transport technology … pattern of interregional income in China is strongly linked to persistent geographic factors that were already apparent …

and compare capital market development in Britain and China. Interest rates for Britain were lower than China's on average … are twice those of the Delta, and three or more times as high as elsewhere in China. Overall, our results suggest capital …