François Gipouloux is Director of Research (Emeritus) at the CNRS and holds a doctorate and a HDR (Habilitation to Supervise Research) from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. His research focuses on urbanisation in China, and a long-term comparison of the dynamics of capitalism in Europe and Asia. He coordinated the research project for the European Union: “Sustainable urbanisation in China-Historical and comparative perspectives, mega-trends towards 2050” (2011-2015). He was also the coordinator of the International Research Network (CNRS) “At the origins of globalisation and Europe-Asia ‘divergence’: trade networks and the trajectory of economic institutions, 1000-2000” and of the international research programme (CNRS-FMSH) “Maritime Empires, Continental Empires 1500-2000”.

Selected publications

Dictionnaire de la Chine impériale tardive, 1368-1911. (ed. ) Forthcoming, Paris: CNRS-Éditions, 2026.

“The network of temple fairs and their actors: religious communities, brokers, and merchants in late Imperial China” in Jean-Louis Gaulin and Susanne Rau (eds) Fairs, Cities and Merchants: Spatiotemporal Analyses (14th–17th century), Berlin & Boston : De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2025, 425–444. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111621296-016.

« Réseaux marchands, comptoirs côtiers et piraterie : l’Asie maritime du XVIe au XVIIe siècle ». Source(s), no. 22 (2024): 15–32. https://doi.org/10.57086/sources.967.

Elusive Capital, Merchant Networks, Economic Institutions and Business Practices in Late Imperial China, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2022.

The Asian Mediterranean: Port Cities and Trading Networks in China, Japan and South Asia, 13th-21st Century, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011, (also translated into Chinese and Korean).

China’s Urban Century: Governance, Environment and Socio-Economic Imperatives, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2015, (ed.).

Gateways to Globalisation: Asia’s International Trading and Finance Hubs, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011, (ed.).