The market system and cross-border market clusters in Shenzhen during the republican period from a regional perspective

The trend toward regional holistic protection of traditional markets heritage provides opportunities to explore the underlying structural logic of market system within individual cities. Drawing on relevant gazetteers and historical maps of Dongguan, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, this paper applies Skinner’s market system theory and employs GIS-based geocoding and spatial analysis to investigate the spatial structure and logic of Shenzhen’s market system during the Republican period from a regional perspective. It also examines the phenomenon and spatial patterns of cross-border market clusters. The study reveals that, on the regional scale, the Dongguan-Shenzhen-Hong Kong market system relied heavily on three closely connected market rings. Among these, traditional markets in Shenzhen were primarily located along the borders with Dongguan and Hong Kong, forming the middle market ring as the intermediary unit of trade links. At the border regions, three cross-border market clusters are found at the intersections of above rings, each exhibiting distinct structural characteristics driven by different trade contexts. The research findings provide a supplementary dimension of administrative boundaries to Skinner’s market system theory and offer insights for the holistic, connected, and diverse heritage conservation of market in the PRD.