STORES AND NEIGHBORHOODS IN MODERN SHANGHAI 99 concession inside the na most westernized city. Even the name of the street- it was named after Robert Hart, the Inspector-General of Maritime Customs seemed to confirm that this thoroughfare itself was a component part of what people often referred to as the "foreign adventurers' land"(yangchang). Waigang, on the other hand, was just one of countless traditional towns in rural China. Yet, judging by people's shopping behavior, we might say that the residents of Hart Road still lived a"Waigang"type of life. This reminds us of Martin Yang,'s description of he market towns in rural North China, with which G. William Skinner(1964: 17) concurred"wholeheartedly"through his research in Sichuan: "On the whole, although there is no clear-cut line of demarcation. each market town has a definite and recognizable area, and looks upon the people of certain villages as its primary customers in turn, it is regarded by the villagers as their town"(Yang 1945: 190). If this sort of"small town mentality"has been found in traditional rural towns in North China Sichuan, and Jiangnan, as well as in metropolitan Shanghai, then one must conclude that the persistence of this tradition is formidable Major Neighborhood Stores Our argument may be better understood by examining a few of the most common types of small neighborhood stores. The vital importance of the stores examined here can be summarized in a single Chinese proverb, which a journalist cited some sixty years ago to describe a neighborhood store, one cannot live without th Gentleman for a single day"(buke yiri wu cijun)(Sbebui ribao 1936: June 27 Rice is, of course, the staple food in south China. Although modern Shanghainese investigation shows that in 1933, when Shanghai ha pal food in their diet.One came from everywhere, rice was certainly the pri only 92, 126 people who were originally from North China and Manchuria had wheat as their staple food. In other words, rice was the staple food for of Shanghais people. It is estimated that an adult male in Shanghai annually consumed 2.74 dan(453 pounds)of rice, and an adult female 2.01 dan(332 pounds).Shanghai in the 1930s thus needed about one billion pounds(six million dan)of rice annually to feed its people(Shanghaishi shehuiju 1935: 183) Although the overall volume of the rice business was very large, individual rice stores were usually small. There were two types of rice businesses in Shanghai milang(rice companies)and midian or mibao(rice stores). The mihang were wholesale stores that had an attached retail store as part of their business. These rice companies often specialized in a particular product. For example, some stores specialized in rIc (e. g, Jiangxi) or foreig specialized in trading wheat, beans, zaliang(miscellaneous food grains), or other products. Because of their size and amount of capital these businesses were generally regarded as the leading participants in the rice business in Shanghai However, for ordinary Shanghai residents, the midian, which were exclusively etail stores, were the places to go for rice. The Shanghai Rice Guild had 1, 544 members in 1930; the population of Shanghai at that time was about 3, 100,000 (Zou Yiren 1980: 90); thus on the average a rice store served about 2, 000 residentsSTORES AND NEIGHBORHOODS IN MODERN SHANGHAI 99 concession inside the nation's most westernized city. Even the name of the street￾it was named after Robert Hart, the Inspector-General of Maritime Customs￾seemed to confirm that this thoroughfare itself was a component part of what people often referred to as the "foreign adventurers' land" (yangchang). Waigang, on the other hand, was just one of countless traditional towns in rural China. Yet, judging by people's shopping behavior, we might say that the residents of Hart Road still lived a "Waigang" type of life. This reminds us of Martin Yang's description of the market towns in rural North China, with which G. William Skinner (1964: 17) concurred "wholeheartedly" through his research in Sichuan: "On the whole, although there is no clear-cut line of demarcation, each market town has a definite and recognizable area, and looks upon the people of certain villages as its primary customers; in turn, it is regarded by the villagers as their town" (Yang 1945:190). If this sort of "small town mentality" has been found in traditional rural towns in North China, Sichuan, and Jiangnan, as well as in metropolitan Shanghai, then one must conclude that the persistence of this tradition is formidable. Major Neighborhood Stores Our argument may be better understood by examining a few of the most common types of small neighborhood stores. The vital importance of the stores examined here can be summarized in a single Chinese proverb, which a journalist cited some sixty years ago to describe a neighborhood store, "one cannot live without this Gentleman for a single day" (buke yiri wzl cijz~n) (Shehui ribao 1936: June 27). Rice Stores Rice is, of course, the staple food in south China. Although modern Shanghainese came from everywhere, rice was certainly the principal food in their diet. One investigation shows that in 1933, when Shanghai had a population of 3,133,782, only 92,126 people who were originally from North China and Manchuria had wheat as their staple food. In other words, rice was the staple food for 97 percent of Shanghai's people. It is estimated that an adult male in Shanghai annually consumed 2.74 dan (45 3 pounds) of rice, and an adult female 2.0 1 dan (332 pounds). Shanghai in the 1930s thus needed about one billion pounds (six million dan) of rice annually to feed its people (Shanghaishi shehuiju 193 5: 183). Although the overall volume of the rice business was very large, individual rice stores were usually small. There were two types of rice businesses in Shanghai: mihang (rice companies) and midian or mihao (rice stores). The mihang were wholesale stores that had an attached retail store as part of their business. These rice companies often specialized in a particular product. For example, some stores specialized in rice from certain provinces (e.g., Jiangxi) or foreign countries (e.g., Thailand), others specialized in trading wheat, beans, zaliang (miscellaneous food grains), or other products. Because of their size and amount of capital these businesses were generally regarded as the leading participants in the rice business in Shanghai. However, for ordinary Shanghai residents, the midian, which were exclusively retail stores, were the places to go for rice. The Shanghai Rice Guild had 1,544 members in 1930; the population of Shanghai at that time was about 3,100,000 (Zou Yiren 1980:90); thus on the average a rice store served about 2,000 residents