Confucianism and modernization : industrialization and democratization of the Confucian regions

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This book provides the first comprehensive and quantitative assessment of the impact of reform policies on the Chinese domestic economy at the detailed sectoral level. Beginning with a survey of China's economic reform progress, the author quantitatively measures China's trade performance and the comparative advantage for tradable-good-producing industries over the reform period.

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Zhang (economics, U. of Melbourne) presents an empirical study of China's shifting trade patterns. He finds that the first two decades of reform (1978 to 1996) have shifted trade flows in the direction of national comparative advantage. He also argues that rapid growth has begun to erode comparative advantage in the labor-intensive manufactures that once powered China's export surge. Finally, future trends in the tradable goods producing sector are analyzed. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-10 Front Matter....Pages 11-11 The Master: the Historical Conditions and His Life....Pages 13-27 Free Will, Benevolence and the Vision....Pages 28-45 Knowledge and Action....Pages 46-58 Social Organizations and Government....Pages 59-79 Wealth and Profit....Pages 80-94 Front Matter....Pages 95-95 Mencius (371–289 bc): Human Nature is Good....Pages 97-121 Hsün Tzu (298–238 bc): Human Nature is Evil....Pages 122-139 Chu Hsi (1130–1200): Chinese Rationalism and the Great Synthesis....Pages 140-151 Wang Yang-ming (1472–1529): Chinese Idealism....Pages 152-162 Front Matter....Pages 163-163 Industrialization of the Confucian Regions....Pages 165-198 Democracy and Confucianism....Pages 199-215 Back Matter....Pages 216-229 The growth of China's foreign trade in recent years has been widely attributed to its economic reforms and open door policies. This book outlines the process of China's trade reforms over the past two decades and assesses the impact of these reforms on the economy. The author provides a quantitative analysis to trace China's evolving commodity pattern of trade and changing comparative advantage structure over the entire reform period. Comparison is made between the trade patterns and comparative advantage to reveal the dynamic effects of the recent economic reform on resource allocation efficiency Wei-Bin Zhang offers an authoritative guide to the philosophy of Confucianism and its impact in the Confucian regions, covering mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Vietnam and Singapore. All, except Singapore, employed Confucianism as the state ideology before the West came to East Asia. The differences and similarities between the variety of Confucian schools are examined. The author concludes that the philosophical and ethical principles of Confucianism will assist in the industrialization and democratization of the region. "Beginning with a survey of China's economic reform progress, the author quantitatively measures China's trade performance and the comparative advantage for tradable-good-producing industries over the reform period. To assess resource allocation efficiency, the commodity patterns of China's foreign trade are examined and compared with its underlying international comparative advantage."--BOOK JACKET. The spectacular growth of China's foreign trade in recent years has been attributed to its recent economic reforms and open door policies. This book outlines the process of China's trade reforms over the past two decades, and assesses their impact