French Trade and Banking Footholds in Hankow/Wuhan Challenging British Hegemony up the Yangtze (1903–1920)

Abstract

French companies and banks (mainly Banque de l’Indochine) undertook to sustain the momentum launched by the French State, its diplomacy and various business lobbies in favour of the promotion of economic patriotism in China. The coalition of the Consulate, the branch Banque de l’Indochine and trade houses transformed Wuhan/Hankeou into a hub to draw regional commodities and to introduce French goods. Bankers there had to cross military and political events, to resist competition (HSBC, from Shanghai), and to take part to the development of the concession, in the midst of the Yang Ze Kiang valley. They had to get embedded into the connections of Chinese business (through the comprador and trade houses) to avoid the risk of asymmetry of information, to broaden their capital of knowledge about the business opportunities in the area, and to get used to the local uses of payment. Their intimacy with the few French trade houses having offshoots there favoured the development of substantial banking stuff, despite the dependence from the Shanghai marketplace and from the treasury funds of the Banque de l’Indochine branch downstream.