books.google.com.au - This volume of The Cambridge History of China considers the political, military, social, and economic developments of the Ch'ing empire to 1800. The period begins with the end of the resurgent Ming dynasty, covered in Volumes 7 and 8, and ends with the beginning of the collapse of the imperial system...http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Cambridge_history_of_China.html?id=hi2THl2FUZ4C&q=merchants&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareThe Cambridge history of China
