From the Marketplace to the Halls of Power

Following the Opium War, China's integration into the capitalist world market triggered profound social changes, with Shanghai emerging as a hub of modernisation. This study investigates how merchants in treaty-port Shanghai (1843–1949) harnessed linguistic capital to achieve social mobility and transform commercial networks. The book examines how merchants dismantled entrenched class hierarchies and capitalised on historic opportunities through strategic language use. It explores key questions: Why did groups like the Chaozhou and Quan-Zhang bangs forge cross-regional identities, while the Chaozhou and Guangfu bangs struggled with mutual identification? How did compradors amass wealth through foreign language proficiency? Why did Wu dialect speakers dominate Shanghai's commerce? By analysing merchants' investments in linguistic and cultural capital, the study offers new perspectives on China's economic modernisation and Shanghai's unique urban identity. This work is valuable for scholars and students of Chinese history, sociolinguistics, economic history, and urban studies. It will also interest researchers exploring language and social stratification, treaty-port economies, merchant networks, and China's transition to modernity.