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There was a time when braiding straw was a cottage industry throughout the world. Common features were distribution in villages, intense labor, the ancient putting-out system of processing, and the production methods. Initially developed by foreign merchants in Shandong, Chinese merchants in Shahe (沙河) and Denzhou (登州) also pursued it with success. The industry supported women and children in backward villages in Qing China, as it did in Victorian Britain and the United States. In Japan braid factories were constructed, new raw materials were used, and the government was heavily involved. The Chinese and Japanese learned the skill from Europeans, and took the lion's share in the world market. With a social focus, this paper also tries to determine how the industry nurtured the Chinese, including farmers, wheelbarrow carriers, inland peddlers, compradors, and exporters, and how the traditional Chinese adapted Western trading skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]