The Quality Problem and Quality Checking System in Export Transactions in Modern China

This paper explores the process of the institutionalisation of the quality checking system in China from the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. At the end of the nineteenth century, a quality problem was occurring in export transactions in open ports. Formal and informal institutions were created to resolve the problem, but they were not always effective until the end of the 1920s. In the 1930s, however, a new quality checking system was introduced that led to the resolution of the problem. This paper reviews the reasons behind the emergence and the resolution of the quality problem.