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

该项目的目的是绘制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）向香港和中华人民共和国（PRC）提供的贷款，以便（1）确定香港崛起为一个（全球）贸易国家的主要银行的金融中心的重要性-（2）探讨英国作为与中国开展业务的跳板所扮演的角色，以及（3）确定银行在香港和中国的策略和业务模式方面的转变。从方法论上讲，这首先是一项商业史研究：根据存放在法兰克福德意志银行和商业银行历史档案馆的三家德国大银行的内部文件，该项目旨在定义它们的商业模式，比较三家银行的发展情况，检查银行对中国政策的解释与中国的主要来源，以揭示社会政治环境和银行的战略之间的可能联系。回顾期内，德国银行对中国业务的兴趣开始缓慢，但随后迅速增长，香港作为一个发展中的金融中心，也是中华人民共和国与“西方”的“枢纽”，对德国作为出口国的重要性迅速增长。在这种情况下，德国银行面临着来自英国银行在香港的强大竞争，英国银行从未完全失去与中华人民共和国的联系，并且比竞争对手更早进入这个市场。这一艰难的初始地位可能导致德国银行在20世纪50年代最初共同行动（通过德意志银行在很大程度上占主导地位的德意志-亚洲银行），但随后从20世纪60年代开始分离并走自己的路，德意志银行甚至有时与欧洲合作伙伴（欧亚银行）合作。自20世纪80年代初以来，在中华人民共和国设立代表处已经成为可能，这三家银行几乎同时使用代表处作为有兴趣在中国做生意的德国客户的“枢纽”。由于中国市场对大多数德国公司来说基本上是未知的领域，不仅如此，尤其是对中小企业来说，他们基本上依赖于关于机会和风险的信息，而这些信息是他们的内部银行应该提供的。

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.