Yu-dong (漁東) were the entrepreneurs who operated the fishing boats, hiring and overseeing the crew (漁夥) and making the gear (or buying them on credit) from the wholesaler with whom he dealt or sometimes from independent shipowners. The 漁東 sold his catch to middlemen (鮮客), stationed offshore near the fishing grounds, receiving a sealed receipt (賣鮮摺) rather than cash. The middlemen then shipped the catches of several boats to wholesalers (鮮魚行[fresh-fish guild] and 鹹魚行[salted-fish guild]) in Ningpo, from whom he received a commission. The wholesaler bulked, processed, and delivered the fish and either shipped them to importers in other cities, or delivered them to local or nearby retailers (鮮貨鋪[fresh-fish retailer] and 鹹貨鋪[salted-fish retailer]) on twenty days’ credit. Itinerant retailers (行販) normally got their supplies from retail shopkeepers but occasionally got them directly from a wholesale firm. The漁東entrepreneurs periodically took their sealed receipts to their wholesaler in Ningpo, either collecting cash or receiving a bill of exchange (鹹單), which they converted to cash a the ch’ien-chuang 錢莊bank that financed the wholesaler. Payments both ways were such that middlemen in effect received a commission from the 漁東 as well as the wholesaler. It goes without saying that the wholesaler exercised decisive control over 漁東 through setting prices, renting out the factors of production, and issuing bills. Wholesalers in turn were dependent for credit on the kuo-chang 過帳 system of the ch’en-chuang 錢莊 banks.
discussion of fish trade in Ningbo (寧波) in Qing(?) dynasty from "Ningpo and its hinterland" p413 by Yoshinobu Shiba in “The City in Late Imperial China” ed. Skinner
romanization replaced with characters
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