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In China, this refers to traders. Along with the local shopkeepers called zajia and the middlemen called gahang, they are one of the three major components of a distribution system. They were called keisho because they would travel around to various wholesale markets with local specialties from their hometowns and sell the goods they collected there in consumer areas. The great merchants described in the Records of the Grand Historian and the Shanxi and Xin'an merchants of the Ming and Qing dynasties are typical examples. During the Ming dynasty, guidebooks for keisho and government officials active outside their hometowns also appeared, and guilds of people from the same hometown or trade, called huiga, were created in important tourist locations within the trading area to strengthen the organizations.

[Yoshinobu Shiba]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国で貿易業者のことをいう。土着の商店である坐賈(ざこ)、仲買業者の牙行(がこう)と並び、流通組織の三大構成要素の一つである。郷里の特産をもって各地の卸売市場を巡り、そこで集荷した商品を消費地に売るという訪市活動にちなんで客商とよんだ。『史記』が描く大商人や、明(みん)・清(しん)の山西(さんせい)商人、新安商人はその典型である。明代には郷里の外で活躍する客商や官員のためのガイドブックも現れ、また商圏内の重要訪市地に会館という同郷や同業のギルドをつくり、それぞれの組織を固めた。

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