98 HANCHAO LU Table 2. Stores in Waigang Town, Jiangsu Province, 1950 Number tea house wIneshop barbershop ck ba sesame-cake store soy-sauce store bean curd store pork store lamb store fruit store 89366374344665 grocery store cake store pharmacy( Chinese) SOURCE: Ling Wang, Yang, and Zhong 1984: 14 province. Waigang, a town of only 0. 4 square kilometers and a population of 4,000 in the early 1980s, was a traditional rural town that can trace its history back to he sixth century. In the Ming period, it started to enjoy commercial prosperity based on trade in cotton. At its peak, during the Qing period, the town had sixteen streets and alleyways (Yin 1961; Qian 1961). Waigang nevertheless remained a relatively obscure place: it is one of the numerous small and undistinguished rural owns of Jiangnan. At the center of Waigang, the single major street, about 100 meters long, was simply called"Waigang Street"(Waigang yi tiao jie). The twenty three types of stores that are listed in table 2 were all located on this street(Ling et al. 1984: 139-42). As was typical of rural towns in China, the customers of these stores were almost exclusively people of Waigang Needless to say, Hart Road, with its paving and street lamps, was more urbanized in appearance than Waigang Street. The stores on hart Road also offered more variety and better quality merchandise than was provided by stores in rural towns like Waigang, but the overall nature of the stores on Hart Road and on Waigang Street was similar. These stores were the basic level of commercial enterprise in urban China, the places ordinary people purchased their daily necessities The streets were similar in other ways also. First, from the shopkeepers'standpoint on both Hart Road and Waigang Street the"targeted"customers were the immediate local residents. By the same token, from the customers'standpoint, these stores were what commerce meant to them in their daily lives; for many, it was the only real commercial world they ever entered The sect Settlement and adjacent to district. This street was located in China's largest and most prominent foreign There is reement on the definition of"urban China. "Therefore, Waiga can also be referred to (perhaps more accurately) as part of rural China. The term town''might well convey the dual nature of these small towns in Chin-- Table 2. Stores in Waigang Town, Jiangsu Province, 1950 Store Number Seats tea house 294 wineshop 304 restaurant 21 tables barbershop 20 snack bar sesame-cake store soy-sauce store bean curd store pork store lamb store fruit store grocery store cake store pharmacy (Chinese) SOURCE: Ling Wang, Yang, and Zhong 1984: 142 province. Waigang, a town of only 0.4 square kilometers and a population of 4,000 in the early 1980s, was a traditional rural town that can trace its history back to the sixth century. In the Ming period, it started to enjoy commercial prosperity based on trade in cotton. At its peak, during the Qing period, the town had sixteen streets and alleyways (Yin 1961; Qian 1961). Waigang nevertheless remained a relatively obscure place: it is one of the numerous small and undistinguished rural towns of Jiangnan. At the center of Waigang, the single major street, about 100 meters long, was simply called "Waigang Street" (Waigang yi tiao jie). The twenty￾three types of stores that are listed in table 2 were all located on this street (Ling et al. 1984: 139-42). As was typical of rural towns in China, the customers of these stores were almost exclusively people of Waigang. Needless to say, Hart Road, with its paving and street lamps, was more urbanized in appearance than Waigang Street. The stores on Hart Road also offered more variety and better quality merchandise than was provided by stores in rural towns like Waigang, but the overall nature of the stores on Hart Road and on Waigang Street was similar. These stores were the basic level of commercial enterprise in urban ~hina,~ the places ordinary people purchased their daily necessities. The streets were similar in other ways also. First, from the shopkeepers' standpoint, on both Hart Road and Waigang Street the "targeted" customers were the immediate local residents. By the same token, from the customers' standpoint, these stores were what commerce meant to them in their daily lives; for many, it was the only real commercial world they ever entered. The section of Hart Road that we are considering was located in the International Settlement and adjacent to the French Concession, the city's most luxurious residential district. This street was located in China's largest and most prominent foreign h here is no complete agreement on the definition of "urban China." Therefore, Waigang can also be referred to (perhaps more accurately) as part of rural China. The term "rural town" might well convey the dual nature of these small towns in China