Conclusion

Abstract

Our studies of the various forms of business and their special peculiarities and advantages show us the interaction of all five forms of business, which have been observed in Europe, for the satisfaction of the necessities of life in the city of Ningpo. Special conditions accord each a certain sphere of operations. The prosperity of domestic work rests on the peculiar Chinese family relations, the extended family, the lineage hall; but in addition also on the extraordinary fragmentation of the land, so that almost every head of household can be a landowner. Thus we have seen that the Chinese families produce their requirements of food and clothing by themselves. In this form of economy, capital does not matter at all; for everything that is being created is consumed by the family itself. Yet the situation has changed during the last twenty years. Whereas the production of one's own requirements was the rule in former times and foods or garments were bought only very exceptionally, this latter event happens already to a greater degree today; yet the rule in this sphere still remains production through domestic work.