The hierarchical marketing system in Eastern Sichuan prior to the opening of Chongqing

Abstract

The author chiefly makes reference to G. William Skinner’s theory of “central-place hierarchy,” as well as the special circumstances of markets in the region of eastern Sichuan prior to the opening of Chongqing as a treaty port, to divide marketing in this region and time period into four levels, ranked from bottom to top as fairs, commercial market towns, small- to mid-sized commercial cities, and large commercial metropolises, and summarizes the extrinsic properties and standards of stratification for each level. The author shows that, prior to the opening of Chongqing, a marketing system with distinct levels, well-spaced distribution, and broad coverage had already taken shape in the region of eastern Sichuan. However, within this system, the majority of the marketing levels unilaterally undertook the function of “collection and distribution of commodities,” and close links with specialized, large-scale commodity production were not formed. This caused the ties between each marketing level to be relatively loose, with uneven development, which impacted the vertical integration of the regional economy.