First, I want to examine the debate on regulating local currencies in late imperial China. Studying this intellectual debate can explain why the Qing government did not regulate local currencies. Second, I will review the decision making process of currency reform. The way the KMT thought about the local interests was critical to the central-provincial relations. Third, I want to know how the currency reform impacted the provinces’ understanding of the nation and nationalism. The local currencies were not backed by any central institutions, but by local governments or local banks. When the new national currency was introduced to the market, the reform not only affected the economy, but the way the nation or nationalism was understood at the provincial level. Examining these changes can demonstrate how Chinese nationalism was understood in the 1930s. Finally, I am interested in the effects of currency reform on local fiscal policies. During the warlord period, local governments already knew how to use monetary policy such as increasing money supply to lower budget deficits. Once central government controlled monetary policy, local governments could theoretically not use this tool anymore. In the 1940s, the central government increased the money supply to fund the Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. I am interested in how fiscal policy of local governments responded to hyperinflation caused by the KMT’s monetary policy Based on the nature of my project, I will gather three types of primary sources. First, I will check the documents of the Ministry of Finance in the Chinese Second Historical Archives. These documents demonstrate what the central government thought about central-province relations and the reaction from the local governments. Second, I will utilize local archives in cities such as Hangzhou, Shanghai, Canton, and Hong Kong to collect the quarterly journals of local banks and business organizations. These quarterly journals document the attitude of local business forces towards currency reform. As banks and business organizations form the core components of a modern economy, their opinions are important for the study of different voices of currency reform. Third, I will pay very close attention to local newspapers; local newspapers are often the best way to demonstrate events that occurr in a community. In summary, Government documents, local banking journals, and local newspapers will be the major types of primary sources for my research. My proposed research project is related to the current Chinese political debate of regionalism. Since the 1980s economic reform, the Chinese central government began decentralization which allowed
First, I want to examine the debate on regulating local currencies in late imperial China. Studying this intellectual debate can explain why the Qing government did not regulate local currencies. Second, I will review the decision making process of currency reform. The way the KMT thought about the local interests was critical to the central-provincial relations. Third, I want to know how the currency reform impacted the provinces’ understanding of the nation and nationalism. The local currencies were not backed by any central institutions, but by local governments or local banks. When the new national currency was introduced to the market, the reform not only affected the economy, but the way the nation or nationalism was understood at the provincial level. Examining these changes can demonstrate how Chinese nationalism was understood in the 1930s. Finally, I am interested in the effects of currency reform on local fiscal policies. During the warlord period, local governments already knew how to use monetary policy such as increasing money supply to lower budget deficits. Once central government controlled monetary policy, local governments could theoretically not use this tool anymore. In the 1940s, the central government increased the money supply to fund the Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. I am interested in how fiscal policy of local governments responded to hyperinflation caused by the KMT’s monetary policy Based on the nature of my project, I will gather three types of primary sources. First, I will check the documents of the Ministry of Finance in the Chinese Second Historical Archives. These documents demonstrate what the central government thought about central-province relations and the reaction from the local governments. Second, I will utilize local archives in cities such as Hangzhou, Shanghai, Canton, and Hong Kong to collect the quarterly journals of local banks and business organizations. These quarterly journals document the attitude of local business forces towards currency reform. As banks and business organizations form the core components of a modern economy, their opinions are important for the study of different voices of currency reform. Third, I will pay very close attention to local newspapers; local newspapers are often the best way to demonstrate events that occurr in a community. In summary, Government documents, local banking journals, and local newspapers will be the major types of primary sources for my research. My proposed research project is related to the current Chinese political debate of regionalism. Since the 1980s economic reform, the Chinese central government began decentralization which allowed