China transformed : historical change and the limits of the European experience

The assumption still made in much social science research that Europe provides a universal model of development is fundamentally mistaken, according to R. Bin Wong. The solution is not, however, simply to reject Eurocentric norms but to build complementary perspectives, such as a Sinocentric one, to evaluate current understandings of European developments. A genuinely comparative perspective, he argues, will free China from wrong expectations and will allow those working on European problems to recognize the distinct character of Western development.

An assumption still made in much social science research, that Europe provides a universal model of development, is fundamentally mistaken, according to R. Bin Wong. The solution is not, however, simply to reject Eurocentric norms but to evaluate current understandings of European developments from a complementary perspective. A Sinocentric perspective, he argues, will free China from wrong expectations and will allow those working on European problems to recognize the distinctive character of Western development. Wong compares the growth of capitalism and the formation of national states in modern Europe with economic and political changes in China, and explains that a crucial rupture occurred when European industrialization set new conditions for material and social life. He contrasts Chinese and European political changes, and explores the implications of social protest, economic change, and state-making by comparing grain seizures, tax resistance, and revolution as they occurred in both areas. Only by evaluating where China and Europe appear to converge or diverge and by analyzing whether convergence reflects similar underlying processes, he argues, can we successfully situate the trajectories of both realms in world-historical development.

"An assumption still made in much social science research, that Europe provides a universal model of development, is fundamentally mistaken, according to R. Bin Wong. The solution is not, however, simply to reject Eurocentric norms but to evaluate current understandings of European developments from a complementary perspective. A Sinocentric perspective, he argues, will free China from wrong expectations and will allow those working on European problems to recognize the distinctive character of Western development."--Jacket When scholars look for the origins of the contemporary world, many begin with the political expansion of Western states across the globe and the economic transformations brought on by a capitalist system of European origins.