Thesis (Ph. D.)--New York University, 1936. / Published also without thesis note. Bibliography: p. [109]-117; "References": p. 118-127.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New York University, 1936. / Published also without thesis note. Bibliography: p. [109]-117; "References": p. 118-127.

Thesis--University of Wisconsin. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

Following the footsteps of British merchants, Jewish merchants began migrating to China's coastal ports starting from the 1840s. Small in their number, they exerted great influence on Shanghai's economic development. The community of Jews from Baghdad, for instance, wielded enormous clout in coastal China's economic and financial markets. To fill the gap of the economic and financial activities of the Jewish merchants' community in the existing literature, this dissertation considers Jewish economic activities in Shanghai using the Kadoorie enterprise as a case study. It examines the emergence, development and retreat of the Jewish merchants' community and argues that the Jewish merchants' community seized the opportunity of the changing political and economic environment in China to engage in the capital market in Shanghai and to enlarge their influence in the Chinese economy. Through the case study of the Kadoories, this dissertation focuses on the financial side of their operations and suggests that the Jewish merchants' community in Shanghai had established their identity and status in the Far East through expanding their economic influences. This dissertation starts by analyzing how the Kadoories knocked over the obstacles on the problem of nationality and started their business in Shanghai with the British legal tools. It further investigates their methods of raising capital and highlights their economic contributions. This dissertation examines the business strategies of the Jewish merchants, as a migration diaspora given the vagaries of the global economy and the changing political situation in coastal China. It then explores the interactions and power struggles between the Kadoories and their business partners to explain the business network of the Jewish merchants and account for the building up of the economic influence of the Jewish merchants' community in China. Furthermore, the case study examines how the Jewish merchants adapted their business strategies in response to political and economic changes. Examining the economic activities of these Jewish merchants provides insight into China's economic history. The case study of the Kadoories also reveals the fluctuations in Shanghai's economy and the characteristics of economic changes in contemporary China. Finally, this dissertation highlights the retreat of the Kadoories from Shanghai after 1945. At present, the Kadoories are still conducting business in China.

La petite métallurgie du cuivre – laiton, bronze, plaqué, dorure, argenture – et la quincaillerie fine associée sont, en France, après la Guerre de Sept Ans jusqu’à la veille de la Révolution, de 1765 à 1790 environ, un secteur de l’économie du luxe à la pointe de l’innovation et très concurrentiel, capable de rivaliser avec l’Angleterre, une nation jusque là tenue comme « invincible ». Une première série de travaux en micro-histoire a aidé à redresser l’image de la « révolution » industrielle, mais la vision hiérarchisée des relations entre les différents acteurs subsistant, profitait à certains (gros merciers et entrepreneurs ; techniciens) au détriment d’autres. Au fil des recherches, s’est dégagée une vision plus complexe du milieu parisien de la curiosité, démontrant que les acteurs principaux, les merciers, étaient en général entourés de nombreux correspondants associés à leurs affaires et qui n’étaient pas de simples exécutants. Il fallait en retrouver trace par un dépouillement systématique des archives de Paris et de Londres.A la lumière des sources nous avons poussé les portes d’ateliers d’artisans-fabricants parisiens, découvrant leurs mises en scène de la technique et l’expression d’une pensée technologique : les équipements et les outils matérialisant leurs capacités à s’organiser ; les matières et matériaux, affichant leurs capacités à diversifier les nouveaux alliages et à en affiner les qualités ; les nombreux modèles affichant des intentions de décliner des gammes d’objets et de jouer sur les complémentarités entre métiers; les techniques de finition par jeux d’éclats, imitations, raffinement prouvant leurs implications dans une quête de la perfection.Mais la technicité et la spécialisation exigent de la sous-traitance, donc le recours à d’autres métiers et réseaux. Or, les contraintes corporatives à Paris à l’époque interdisent à l’artisan de vendre ce qu’il ne fabrique pas. Son corollaire est le privilège marchand de vendre tout ce qu’on n’a pas fabriqué, une prérogative qui donne à ce Corps l’ascendance sur les autres. Notre dépouillement de grosses affaires commerciales à Paris mais aussi à Londres démontre que le secteur du luxe prospère grâce à l’économie marchande et à la dynamique basée sur la multiplicité des métiers et des cultures. Cette dynamique est d’autant activée par la polyvalence de certains intermédiaires, dont la minorité de marchands juifs de Londres. Les archives de faillite confirment que les communications entre les marchands parisiens et les membres de ce réseau ont été porteuses de savoirs technologiques pratiques et que l’histoire de la technologie est inscrite dans ces alliances. / In between the end of the Seven Year War and the beginning of the Revolution, from 1765 to 1790, the French hardware trade and the “toy” industry - brass, bronze, plating, gilding, silvering - emerged as one of the most innovative and competitive luxury sector, able to compete with its English counterpart still held as the “hero” in the history of the industrial “revolution”. As a result of many new inquiries and reassessment of the subject through micro-history approaches, inherited historiography has been revised. Yet, a hierarchical vision of relationships among its actors (mercers, producers, and technicians alike) still prevails, leaving apart and undetected some more modest and seemingly ordinary people. As a result of additional recent studies, a new and more complex perception of the Parisian context has demonstrated that the main actors of this achievement usually worked in close association with a number of people that were far from being mere “hands”. Archival resources in Paris and London had to be explored much thoroughly.Perusing through the sources has led us first to visit craftsmen’s workshops and discover “the technique” which reflects the emergence of technological thought : the equipment and tools materialising their capacity to devise and organise the job ; products and materials including new alloys showing their ability to diversify and to refine ; numerous models testifying to their plan to increase the ranges of product relying on analogies and complementarities between trades; finishing and decorating through brilliance, imitations, refinements, proved that their quest for perfection was one of their ultimate challenge.But technique and specialisation mean expansion therefore sub-contracting, that is recruiting other trades and networks. Yet, under the Parisian corporative regulations, a craftsman is denied the right to sell what he does not produce himself, the corollary being that a merchant is allowed under that rule to sell whatever he does not make. This gives him predominance over artisans. Our study of significant mercers’ businesses in Paris and in London demonstrates that the luxury sector has been stimulated by trade and that it involved many arts and crafts; that under this impulse, though originating in France mainly Paris, it went beyond frontiers through different countries one of which being Great Britain, the economy of which was prospering; that the boost was reinforced by the involvement of networks of multi-skilled actors, among them the minority of Jewish traders from London.Thus, progress in historical research has led to the conclusion that between Parisian merchants and the members of this particular network, exchanges involved technology concerns and that, as a result of these alliances, technology had been greatly promoted.