Editing Qing dynasty (section)

===Urbanisation and the proliferation of market-towns===
The second commercial revolution also had a profound effect on the dispersion of the Qing populace. Up until the late Ming there existed a stark contrast between the rural countryside and cities because extraction of surplus crops from the countryside was traditionally done by the state. However, as commercialisation expanded in the late-Ming and early-Qing, mid-sized cities began popping up to direct the flow of domestic, commercial trade. Some towns of this nature had such a large volume of trade and merchants flowing through them that they developed into full-fledged market-towns. Some of these more active market-towns even developed into small cities and became home to the new rising merchant class.{{sfnp|Rowe|2009|p={{page needed|date=May 2020}}}} The proliferation of these mid-sized cities was only made possible by advancements in long-distance transportation and communication. As more and more Chinese citizens were travelling the country conducting trade they increasingly found themselves in a far-away place needing a place to stay; in response the market saw the expansion of guild halls to house these merchants.{{sfnp|Porter|2016|p={{page needed|date=May 2020}}}}

Full-fledged trade guilds emerged, which, among other things, issued regulatory codes and price schedules, and provided a place for travelling merchants to stay and conduct their business. Along with the ''huiguan'' trade guilds, guild halls dedicated to more specific professions, ''gongsuo'', began to appear and to control commercial craft or artisanal industries such as carpentry, weaving, banking, and medicine.{{sfnp|Porter|2016|p={{page needed|date=May 2020}}}} By the nineteenth century guild halls worked to transform urban areas into cosmopolitan, multi-cultural hubs, staged theatre performances open to general public, developed real estate by pooling funds together in the style of a trust, and some even facilitated the development of social services such as maintaining streets, water supply, and sewage facilities.{{sfnp|Rowe|2009|p={{page needed|date=May 2020}}}}