The primary purpose of this essay is to review studies in Chinese and Japanese business history that have appeared during the last few decades, and above all to review those that are relevant to the articles in this special issue either directly or as an aid to understanding the general background. As far as the latter is concerned, works of economic rather than of business history need to be mentioned. Although these works exist in Chinese and Japanese as well as in western languages, in this article reference will be made only to works in western languages and, when unavoidable, to Japanese-language studies. There will also be comments on the articles forming this special issue.