West German Banks’ Entry in the People’s Republic of China and the Role of Hong Kong, 1949-1989 – the Cases of Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and Dresdner Bank

这个项目的目的是映射出德国三大银行的路径(德意志银行、德国商业银行、德累斯顿银行(Dresdner Bank)香港和中华人民共和国(PRC)从1950年代到1980年代,以(1)识别的意义香港作为金融中心的崛起的主要银行(全球)贸易国-在这种情况下,德意志联邦共和国的“大银行”,(2)检查殖民地作为跳板的作用与中华人民共和国之间的业务,(3)确定银行在-à-vis香港和中国的战略和业务模式的变化。从方法论上讲，这首先是一项商业史研究：该项目以存放在法兰克福德意志银行和德国商业银行历史档案馆的三家德国大银行的内部文件为基础，旨在定义它们的商业模式，比较三家银行的发展，并与中国的主要来源交叉核对银行对中国政策的解释，以揭示社会政治环境与银行战略之间可能存在的联系。本报告所述期间的特点是，德国银行在中国的业务起步缓慢，但随后兴趣迅速增长，香港本身作为一个发展中的金融中心发挥着至关重要的作用，同时也是中华人民共和国与“西方”的“枢纽”，作为一个出口国，“西方”对德国的重要性迅速上升。在这种背景下，德国银行在香港面临着来自英国银行的看似压倒性的竞争，英国银行从未完全与中华人民共和国失去联系，并且比竞争对手更早进入这个市场。这种艰难的起点可能导致德国银行最初在20世纪50年代合作（通过德意志-亚洲银行，德意志银行在很大程度上由德意志银行主导），但随后从20世纪60年代开始分离，走自己的路，德意志银行甚至有时与欧洲合作伙伴（欧洲亚洲银行）。自上世纪80年代初以来，在中国设立代表处已成为可能，这三家银行几乎同时利用代表处作为有意在华开展业务的德国客户的“枢纽”。由于中国市场在很大程度上对大多数德国企业来说是一片未知的领域，不仅是对中小企业，它们基本上依赖于有关机会和风险的信息，而这些信息本应由它们的银行提供。

The purpose of this project is to map out the paths of the three German great banks (Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Dresdner Bank) to Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China (PRC) from the 1950s to the 1980s, so as to (1) identify the significance of Hong Kong’s rise as a financial center for the leading banks of a (global) trading nation – in this case the ‘great banks’ of the Federal Republic of Germany, (2) to examine the role of the Crown Colony as a springboard for business with the PRC, and (3) to identify the changing strategies and business models of the banks vis-à-vis Hong Kong and the PRC. Methodologically, this is first and foremost a study in business history: Based on the internal documentation of the three German great banks, deposited at the Historical Archives of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in Frankfurt, the project aims to define their business models, compare the developments of the three banks and cross-check the banks' interpretation of Chinese policies with Chinese primary sources to uncover the possible link between the socio-political environment and the banks' strategies. The period under review was characterised by a slow start, but then rapidly growing interest of German banks in business in China, with the Crown Colony of Hong Kong itself playing an essential role as a developing financial center, but also as the "hinge" of the People's Republic with the "West", which quickly grew in importance for Germany as an export nation. In this context, the German banks faced seemingly overpowering competition from British banks in Hong Kong, which had never completely lost contact with the People's Republic and gained access to this market earlier than their competitors. This difficult starting position may have led to the German banks initially acting together in the 1950s (through the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank, which was dominated to a large extent by Deutsche Bank), but then separating from the 1960s onwards and going their own ways, Deutsche Bank even at times with European partners (European Asian Bank). Since the beginning of the 1980s, it has been possible to set up representative offices in the People's Republic, which the three banks used almost simultaneously to act as a "hinge" for German clients interested in doing business in China. As the Chinese market was largely unknown territory for most German companies, not only but especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, they were essentially dependent on information about opportunities and risks, which their house bank was supposed to provide.