Merchants, Brigands and Escorts: an Anthropological Approach of the Biaoju 镖局 Phenomenon in Northern China

Laurent Chircop-Reyes (1)

1 IrAsia - Institut de recherches Asiatiques

The biaoju are defined as structured companies providing escort, protective and insurance services that operated from the 17th century until their decline in the early 20th century. They were responsible for the transport of goods, for example money (tael), salt, silk and tea, but were also in charge of protecting the traders, who were victims of plunder organized by brigands during their journeys.

Keywords: Transport of goods; Protection Business; Brigands; China Merchants

Keywords: 鏢局

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; History; Social Anthropology and ethnology

Laurent Chircop-Reyes. Merchants, Brigands and Escorts: an Anthropological Approach of the Biaoju 镖局 Phenomenon in Northern China. Ming-Qing Studies, 2018, Ming Qing Studies, 2018. ⟨hal-01987402⟩