Kirjahaku

Many forces threaten the viability of town centers. One of them is trade concentration in which family businesses are replaced by large, vertically integrated retail enterprises. Town centers, once locations of a rich variety of street stores in the hands of a local and independent merchant community, are being supplanted by monolithic and decentralized commercial zones. This process is documented in contemporary Germany for two towns, one grounded in a market economy and the other, until recently, socialistically based. In both cases, trade concentration is a prevailing force— a pattern that is not only found in post-industrialized nations, but also in developing countries in Latin America and Asia and is indicative of an emerging global culture.

Based on three decades of anthropological field research, ""Chinese Traders in a Philippine Town"" addresses two aspects of a provincial town in the Philippines. First, it examines the town's Chinese trade community as composed of individuals and families who follow commercial ends with varying degrees of success by means of a wide range of competitive tactics. Second, it describes changes the town has experienced during recent decades and how these have been to a large degree the result of long term, commercial strategies followed by substantial Chinese entrepreneurs.