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This chapter examines the main types of informal finance in terms of legality and local variation, finding that the more institutionalized forms of informal finance depend on political bargains struck between financial entrepreneurs and regulators at the local level, and are to some degree, path-dependent in their evolution. The most vibrant sector of the Chinese economy lacks access to formal sources of credit. How, then, has the “miracle” of China's private sector development been financed? Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Henan, this chapter offers three explanations. First, the vast majority of private businesses in China rely on informal finance, or what economists call the “curb market,” for their start-up and working capital needs. Second, a certain degree of leakage from state banks into the private sector has occurred. Third, local political and economic conditions fundamentally mediate the emergence of informal financing mechanisms.

This book examines the relationship between two groups of Chinese, the Singapore Chinese and their village relatives in Anxi County, Fujian. It covers the Singaporeans' search for their cultural roots in their ancestral home villages in Anxi, which has resulted in the revival of their Chinese lineage. It addresses the question why the Singapore Chinese continue to be interested in their ancestral home villages and, more specifically, why they, especially those born in Singapore, have become involved in the life and socio-economic reconstruction of their ancestral villages, as well as in the revival of their traditional culture.

Necky Cheung's ethnographic fieldwork-based chapter on the ritual of “receiving prayer beads” in rural western Fujian demonstrates how a form of grassroots Buddhism in local society not only successfully survived the Maoist era, but has flourished to the present because it provides menopausal women cultural resources that enhance their social standing within a male dominated society in part through honoring themselves, fortifying matrilineal family ties, and establishing strong relationships with other women.

Myra Sidharta was born in Belitung, Indonesia. Her grandfather was a prominent figure in Belitung. Myra explains that the majority of the Chinese in Indonesia trace their roots to Fujian province in southeast China. She narrates that in 1872 her grandfather's family was not rich and had to sell his youngest brother to obtain passage money overseas and leave some money for his mother, who was going to stay behind. When China became a Communist country, and Indonesia was declared independent, Myra's grandfather's family had to choose between Dutch or Indonesian citizenship. Myra discusses the many discriminatory rules experienced by ethnic Chinese of Indonesia in the 1950s, which caused many Chinese to decide to leave for China. She details her journey to Meixian and how being with her relatives in China brought her happiness.

This chapter is concerned with the impact of the anti-opium campaign in Fujian. It discusses how provincial officials worked to win the cooperation of elites and co-opt them into their power structure, employing opium policy to create new relations between the state and local elites. In order to understand the dynamics of state involvement, the chapter explores the anti-opium campaign in Fuzhou from its inception in 1906 until the onset of warlordism sometime after 1915, and examines each of its bureaucratic components. It evaluates the role of the national opium administration in Beijing, and the corresponding civil and military bureaucracies in the province of Fujian. The chapter analyzes the influence of international agreements on the pace and direction of Qing anti-opium policy, and, lastly, discusses the impact of the 1911 Revolution and the policies of the new Republican state.

This chapter explores women missionaries from the Church of England Zenana Mission Society and their Bible women in Fujian. It focuses on the intercultural exchange between these two groups of women from entirely different backgrounds from the 1880s to the 1950s, with an aim to address Chinese experience from a transnational perspective. It shows that Bible women were central figures in a process of proselytizing local women and were formed mainly through a series of intercultural communications with their Western mission workers. The author argues that Bible women were the combined historic product of a particular Chinese historical and cultural context and a worldwide evangelical workforce by Western women, developed through transnational interactions and nurtured in a relationship of sisterhood and friendship.

This chapter examines the origins of Zheng Zhilong by consulting a variety of Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin sources. It considers Jiang Risheng's Taiwan waiji, one of the most important Chinese sources to suggest a corrected birthdate for Zheng Zhilong and raise confusion about his names. It also lists and translates various sources in Western languages, which is especially important for the study of the Zheng family power. Using these texts and some basic ones in Chinese and Japanese, the chapter discusses in roughly chronological order three interpretive themes: long trends in the political economy of coastal Fujian that triggered the Quanzhou–Zhangzhou conflicts exploited by Zheng; the increase in Zheng's commercial opportunities owing to the presence of Europeans in various ports; and the stories told until today that show interesting cultural biases and reflect the nature of leadership in the Zheng regime from beginning to end.

This chapter examines the coastal depopulation of Fujian during the period 1661–1683. A rain of fire and destruction consumed Fujian Province from 1661 to 1683. The state under the Qing dynasty, caught in an unending war with Koxinga, ordered all coastal residents to abandon the sea and burned a thousand miles of coast into a wasteland. Smoke from burning towns darkened the sky for days. The conflagration claimed more than 100,000 lives, and millions more were devastated by the trauma. This chapter first provides a background on Fujian's history before analyzing China's policy toward the sea and its context as it was applied to Fujian and other coastal regions in an age of trade and violence. It also discusses the rise and fall of the Zheng family, led by Zheng Zhilong, as well as the Ming–Qing war of 1646–1661 that brought terror and social anarchy to Fujian. Finally, it describes the wreckage, the anguish, and the human tragedy that accompanied the depopulation of Fujian.

This chapter examines Admiral Shi Lang's “secret proposal” to return Taiwan to the Dutch East India Company (VOC) after defeating the Zheng regime, led by Zheng Keshuang, in 1683. In June 1683, Shi Lang, the Fujian provincial commander of the naval force, acting on orders of the Kangxi emperor of the Qing dynasty, mounted an expedition to the Pescadores and Taiwan to annihilate the Zheng regime once and for all. Zheng Keshuang eventually sent a message of surrender to Shi Lang, who passed the letter to Yao Qisheng, the governor-general of Fujian, in Fuzhou. This chapter discusses Shi Lang's proposal and reveals that his goal was to create a privileged status for Fujianese merchants against other Chinese merchants. It also considers Yao Qisheng's attempt to use the Dutch as a temporary solution to repair the damage caused by the Zheng invasion. It argues that Shi Lang's plan would exclusively benefit Fujianese people while Yao Qisheng seemed to be on the side of the Beijing Court.

This chapter introduces the case study, based on southern Fujian province from the Neolithic through the early stages of sinitic immigration. The discussion covers evidence pertaining to early religious beliefs, including shamanism and totemism, and addresses cults devoted to demonic icons such as snakes and dragons, both long and jiao. Finally the chapter establishes the parallel between the demonic jiao and the crocodile, particularly as explored in the essays and poems of Liu Zongyuan and Han Yu.

This chapter discusses tea culture during the Song dynasty with reference to developments in horticulture, state policy, urbanism, and changing tastes in elite and popular culture. It describes new tea growing areas in Fujian and the opening of new tea plantations. Changes in how tea was processed and consumed were also significant. The competition of tea with other popular medicinal decoctions is explored.