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In the mid-nineteenth century, a group of overseas Chinese businessmen created a private international remittance network linking the southeastern littoral zone of the Qing empire with the colonies of mainland and archipelagic Southeast Asia. Holding together this transnational network were Qiaopiju remittance firms that succeeded in controlling the remittance trade not by relying on traditional forms of economic organization or behavior, but by pioneering a unique combination of capitalist profit-making strategies, culturalist customer services, and flexible interfirm relations. The organizational structure and business practices of Qiaopiju allowed them to successfully adapt to and negotiate with the emerging regulatory regimes of the nation-state, colonial, and capitalist world systems in order to dominate the international remittance industry for more than a century. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Shen Jiaben, the late Qing scholar-bureaucrat, was made into a hero by the times during the Xin Zheng period which was a reaction to the failed 103-Days Reform in 1898 characterized by utopianism. Shen's experience within the bureaucracy and his pragmatic approach in reforms were needed by the Qing rulers at that time. Shen was gradually forgotten after the collapse of the Qing dynasty and the repeated failures of the Chinese attempts to achieve constitutionalism. He was rediscovered in the last two decades among mainland China scholars, because his piece by piece approach in reforming the legal system without grand theories happened to be in agreement with the atmosphere among Chinese scholars, who after the failure of the 1989 Tiananmen Event, had gradually developed a consensus to reform China's political system piece by piece, not through grand theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the historical path created by the occurrence of rivers, which served as indispensable transportation aides for British and French imperialist interests in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Yunnan province of Qing era China. Until the mid-19th century British trade concentrated on textiles and spices, when raw materials, especially tea, became highly desired commodities. This eventually led to the opium trade and the consequent Opium Wars. Other topics discussed include the English East India company, English river exploration, and the French claiming of the Mekong River.

An essay is presented exploring the intellectual movement of China in the early 20th-century which sought to challenge the existing geopolitical understandings of "Asia" as a regional entity. Details are given highlighting the Chinese conception of an alternative anti-imperialist and non state-centered political system for the region. Comments are also given discussing its impact on the contemporary politics and historiography of the time.