From Isolation to Integration: The Legacy of Treaty Ports on Inter‐City Connectivity
利用1840-1910年代中国通商口岸的历史背景，发现双方均为通商口岸的城市对在1935年银行网络中的城际联系更强，且这一遗产通过历史连通性持续影响当代的银行、人口流动、航空、高铁等联系。
ABSTRACT Mounting evidence suggests the important role of opening‐up policies in stimulating intra‐city economic activities, while this study examines how openness shaped inter‐city connectivity. Drawing on the background of China's treaty ports opened between the 1840s and 1910s, we find that city pairs where both held treaty ports exhibited significantly stronger inter‐city linkages in 1935, as proxied by banking network data. This result holds across various robustness tests and the instrumental variable approach. Finally, we demonstrate that the legacy of treaty ports, transmitted in part through historical inter‐city connectivity, continues to reactivate contemporary urban linkages–as reflected not only in banking networks, but also in population flows, airline frequency, high‐tech investment, knowledge collaboration, and state‐led high‐speed rail linkages, indicating the enduring and far‐reaching effect of the regional opening‐up.