Guozhuang Trading Houses and Tibetan Middlemen in Dartsedo, the "Shanghai of Tibet"

摘要: Within the field of Sino-Tibetan frontier studies, there is very little indepth scholarly discussion about commerce, trade, and people who facilitated these activities across border; studies in English are particularly sparse. This article aims to contribute a wider deeper understanding nature trade on role women as facilitators by looking at some actual “dealmakers.” In border town Dartsedo—the “Shanghai Tibet”— guozhuang (trading houses, Tib. achak khapa ) not only evolved into convenient spaces for travelers come rest, but also were flux. It was trading houses that traditional notions gender, class, hierarchy called question played out unexpected ways. Women came dominate because work likened managing household therefore viewed lower-status occupation. notion reinforced late nineteenth early twentieth centuries when Chinese values customs introduced local society through frequent intermarriages between Han Tibetan inhabitants Dartsedo.