Cross-border and long-distance trade in modern Eurasia was a cornerstone of the 19^th-century global capitalism. For China, the long 19^th century marked a period of sweeping transformation as economic structures, political agendas, and social norms adapted to domestic upheavals and international pressures. The first half of the century differed significantly from the second, as fiscal and political decentralization—spurred by the Taiping Rebellion—and the opening of treaty ports unleashed dynamic flows of commodities both within China and across its frontiers.

During this period, China’s integration into global trade networks deepened. Maritime routes linked China to Europe and the Americas, while the Sino-Russian caravan trade created overland connections through Central and Inner Asia. Existing scholarship on commodity frontiers underscores the impact of commercialization on local societies, yet critical questions remain about how the evolution of innovative business ventures reshaped China’s social structures and created massive inequalities and how individuals and communities navigated these changes.

This panel addresses these questions by examining three pivotal commodities: the Sino-Russian trade of tea and cloth, Xinjiang's Muslim cloth institution, and the circulation of copper currency. Through these lenses, the panel explores how commodity flows transformed geopolitical relations, fostered new economic institutions, and redefined both frontier regions and China proper. By emphasizing the interconnectedness of regional economies, the panel highlights the far-reaching impacts of global trade on local practices and institutions.

The four presentations proceed chronologically to provide a cohesive narrative. Xiaoyu Gao examines the crisis of copper currency in Qing China and its destabilizing effects on the economy and social order. Between 1780 and 1850, as provincial mints produced inferior cash (which were called “mint forgeries”) and Vietnamese coins entered Chinese markets via maritime trade, Gao’s study highlights how changes in copper currency governance, rather than silver, shaped Qing monetary governance before the Opium War.

Chao Lang investigates the progressive decline of the Muslim cloth institution during the early nineteenth century, focusing on three major crises that confronted the institution. Drawing upon archival sources and travelogues, it demonstrates the profound integration of Xinjiang into the broader market, and showcases how global capitalist expansion reshaped the socio-economic landscape of the Qing Empire's Eurasian frontier.

Hekang Yang explores the rise of Tarbagatay as an overland trading port between the Qing and Russian empires, focusing on the taxation of commodities such as tea and cotton. Drawing on archival and rare book sources, it examines how trade interests shaped foreign policies and transformed frontier governance. By transplanting the Kyakhta trade model, the paper reveals how new economic institutions developed in Qing Central Asia during the age of globalization.

Lejiu Sun analyzes how the Sino-Russian tea trade enabled Russian merchants to build a trade network connecting the Chinese treaty ports of Hankou and Tianjin. It analyzes the evolution of transnational trade networks, shifting power dynamics between China, Russia, and tea industry players, and the trade’s influence on urban development. Drawing on archival and family history sources, the study employs a microhistory approach within the contexts of globalization and semi-colonial transformation.