[.ca] Banking in Modern China: Entrepreneurs, Professional ... (ISBN 0521032768)

A good start:
For those of us (very few, I guess), who want to understand the development of the Chinese banking system prior to 1949, this book is one of the few places to start. The author has collected a great deal of information on Chinese commercial banks beginning with the establishment of the Imperial Bank in 1897. He is particularly strong on evaluating some of the claims made about the inefficiency of the Chinese banks and their supposedly negative impact on Chinese development. For example he strongly rejects -- convincingly, I think -- the claims made by Chinese and some foreign historians, mostly after 1949, that the banks eagerly suppoted the warlords and profited mainly by speculating in government bonds. Students of recent Chinese economic history already know that much of what passes for historical scholarship is often of questionable credibility, and it is good that this book attempts to address these issues. I would have liked to see more information on the roots of Chinese banking, and he does provide some good information in Chapter 1, but not enough. The information in this book is not always well-organized but that probably has more to do with the difficulty of putting it together than anything else. If you are interested in the topic, this is a pretty necessary book, but if not, it will probably not be an interesting read.