Kai Yiu Chan is currently an Associate Professor of History Department at Tunghai University, Taiwan.

This book examines the relationship between business expansion and the structure of business in pre-war China through a careful and pioneering study of the enterprises of Liu Hongsheng during the 1920s and 1930s.

Unlike previous studies that have concentrated on such conceptual discussions as 'networks' and the role of the state in Chinese economic and business history, this present work focuses on the institutional changes within Chinese business to critically delineate the major institutions in the working of Chinese-owned enterprises. Not only does it explore those institutions of Western origin, such as the company and modern banking, but also those of native tradition.

This book will be of great interest to specialists and students of Chinese business and economic history. Scholars and students of East Asian history will find in Liu's story a substantial and articulate case of the creative institutional dimension of the economic dynamism of not just Mainland China, but also East Asia and the Chinese Diaspora.