Imitation, Counterfeiting and the Quality of Goods in Modern Asian History (Studies in Economic History)

This book focuses on the production of low-quality goods, the rise of markets for imitations and shoddy goods, and dishonest trading practices which developed along with the expansion of global trade in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in East Asia. Fake, imitation, counterfeit, and adulterated goods have long plagued domestic and international trade. While we are all familiar with contemporary attempts to control the manufacture and sales of such goods, economic historians have given the subject little attention, despite the fact that the growth of international trade and the lengthening of commodity chains played a major role in the spread of such practices. The problem is approached in several ways. Part I of the book examines the ways in which the asymmetry of product-quality information was reduced and mechanisms were developed to bring greater order in the markets, using case studies on cotton fiber, silk pongee, cotton cloth, fertilizer, and tea. Part II of the book focuses on problems associated with imported everyday-use items--which are referred to here as "small things"--And the role played by imitations of such everyday goods as soap, matches, glass bottles, and toys in the development of the modern economies of Japan, China and Taiwan. The project brings together the work of an international team of scholars who offer important historical perspectives on these issues, exploring the ways in which new institutions were created that continue to play a role in contemporary global economic activities.-- Provided by publisher Preface 6 Reference 10 Acknowledgements 11 Contents 12 Contributors 14 List of Figures 15 List of Tables 18 Governing the Quality of Goods: Information, Trust-building and the Self-enforcement Mechanisms of the Market 21 1 Asymmetry of Information, Trust-Building and Market Quality: Governing the Quality of Goods in Modern Asia 22 Abstract 22 1 Introduction: Issues and Analytical Perspectives 23 2 Market Quality 24 3 The “Quality of Goods” Question 24 4 Trust and Asymmetry of Information 28 5 Alleviating Asymmetries of Information on Quality of Goods 30 5.1 Emergence of the Problems 30 5.2 Institutional Solutions Outside the Market 31 5.3 Market-Based Solutions 34 6 Conclusion 35 References 36 2 Market Approaches to Dealing with Cotton Adulteration in Early Twentieth-Century China 40 Abstract 40 1 Introduction 41 2 Emergence of the Moisture Content Problem 43 2.1 Rising Competition and the Beginnings of Adulteration 43 2.2 Emergence of the Moisture Content Problem 45 2.3 Causes of Adulteration 47 3 Mechanism for the Resolution of Adulteration 52 3.1 Limits of an Institutional Response 52 4 Market-Oriented Resolution Efforts 55 4.1 Establishment of Cotton-Ginning Mills 55 4.2 Direct Purchasing and Resolution of the Moisture Content Problem 56 4.3 Purchasing in the Producing Areas and American Cotton 57 5 Conclusion 60 References 61 3 The Fraudulent Fertilizer Problem in the Late Meiji Era: Credibility Acquisition by New Market Entrants and the Agricultural Experiment Stations 65 Abstract 65 1 Introduction 66 2 New Entrants and Confusion in the Market 67 3 Fertilizer Request Analysis Service 70 3.1 Outline of the Request Analysis Service 70 3.2 Purpose of the Request Analysis Service 73 4 Content of Analysis Requests 78 4.1 Types of Fertilizer 78 4.2 Clients of the Request Analysis Service 79 4.3 Trends of the Requests 81 5 Utilization of the Request Analysis Service 81 5.1 Information of New Fertilizers and Entrants 81 5.2 Use of the Information by Clients 82 5.3 Existence of the Request Analysis Service 84 5.4 Contribution of the Request Analysis Service 84 6 Conclusion 86 References 88 4 Two Paths Toward Raising Quality: Fertilizer Use in Rice and Sugarcane Cultivation in Colonial Taiwan (1895–1945) 90 Abstract 90 1 Introduction 91 2 The Empire of Fertilizer 92 2.1 Use of Fertilizers in the Colonies 92 2.2 The Variety and Quality of Fertilizers 94 3 Fertilizer Trade and Rice Cultivation 98 3.1 Agricultural Associations and Joint Purchasing Schemes 98 3.2 Diversification of Fertilizer Supply 99 4 Fertilizer Trade in Sugarcane Cultivation 101 4.1 “Exclusive Territory” System and Fertilizer 101 4.2 Effect of “Company-Approved” Fertilizer 104 5 Conclusion 105 References 107 5 Quality as a Moving Target: Japanese Tea, Consumer Preference, and Federal Regulation on the US Market 109 Abstract 109 1 Introduction 109 2 Tea in the United States, 1800–1880 111 3 An American Affinity for Colored Teas 113 4 The Path to the 1883 Tea Act 114 5 Japanese Responses to a Fluid US Market 116 6 New Doubts About Japanese Tea and Additional Regulation in the 1890s 117 7 Conclusion 120 References 121 6 Merchant Association Networks and Product Quality Control: A Case Study of the Silk Pongee Industry in Shandong 123 Abstract 123 1 Introduction 123 2 Background 125 3 The Supply Chain and Spatial Distribution of Merchants 127 3.1 The Spatial Distribution of Pongee’s Chain 127 3.2 Distribution Channels and Participants in the Silk Pongee Industry 129 4 Merchant Association Networks in the Silk Pongee Industry in Shandong 130 4.1 Merchant Associations in Shanghai, Shandong, and Liaoning 130 4.2 Cross-Regional Networks in the Shandong Pongee Industry 131 5 Merchant Association Networks and Quality Control 133 6 Conclusion 136 References 136 7 Imitation and Innovation in the Early Twentieth-Century North China Weaving Industry 139 Abstract 139 1 Introduction 139 2 Import Substitution: The Institutional Frame 143 3 Technology Transfer, Imitation, Innovation 144 4 Imitation/Innovation: Manufacturing Looms in Tianjin 146 5 Economic Nationalism and the National Products Movement 149 6 Conclusion 151 References 152 Small Things and Copy Culture in Global Economic History: From the Perspectives of East Asia 153 8 Imitation, Counterfeiting, and the Market in Early Twentieth Century Japan and China: Intra-Asian Trade in Modern Small Sundry Goods 154 Abstract 154 1 Introduction: Theoretical Framework 155 2 Sundry Merchandise as a Category of Modern Consumer Product in Asia 156 3 Market Surveys on Sundry Consumer Merchandise in Shanghai 160 4 The Problem of Trademark Infringement by Japan’s Small Business Manufacturers and Modernity in Shanghai and Hong Kong 163 5 Conclusion 170 References 172 9 Technology Transfer, Imitation and Local Production: The Soap Industry in Early Twentieth-Century Tianjin 176 Abstract 176 1 Introduction 177 2 Technology Transfer and the Origins of the Tianjin Soap Industry 178 3 Development of the Tianjin Soap Industry 181 3.1 Technology, Production Processes and Managerial Scale 181 3.2 Scale and Managerial Structure 182 3.3 Development of Micro-scale Firms 183 4 Markets, Marketing Strategies and Consumers 186 4.1 Washing Clothes 188 4.2 Washing Bodies 190 4.3 Soap Customers and Markets 193 5 Conclusion 195 References 196 10 Assimilation and Industrialization: The Demand for Soap in Colonial Taiwan 198 Abstract 198 1 Introduction 198 2 From Wiping to Bathing 200 2.1 Bathhouses and Public Baths 200 2.2 Bathing and Urbanization 202 2.3 Bathhouse Users 204 3 Assimilation Policy and the Demand for Soap 205 3.1 Were the Taiwanese Dirty? 205 3.2 Assimilation Policy 207 4 The Development of the Soap Industry 209 4.1 The Characteristics of the Demand for Soap 209 4.2 The Soap Market and Industrialization up to the 1910s 210 4.3 Industrialization from the 1920s Onward 213 5 Conclusion 214 References 215 11 Playing with “Alien Fire” (Yanghuo): Matches in Late Nineteenth-and Early Twentieth-Century China 217 Abstract 217 1 Introduction 217 2 Spread of the “Match Culture” 219 3 European Experiments 222 4 Japanese Initiatives 224 5 Chinese “Copying” and Competition 227 6 Monopoly Versus Proliferation 231 7 Conclusion 234 References 235 12 From Emulation to Innovation: Japanese Toy Exports to High-Income Countries Before World War II 238 Abstract 238 1 Introduction 238 2 The Transformation of the Export-Oriented Industries 239 3 The Development of Japan’s Toy Exports 241 4 The Origin of Competitive Edge 245 4.1 Acquiring Market Information 245 4.2 Design Creation Under Dispersed Production Organization 251 4.3 Coping with Counterfeit 252 5 Conclusion 254 References 256 13 Bottom-Up Industrialization in the People’s Republic of China: A Case Study of Industries Producing Small Things in Zhejiang 257 Abstract 257 1 Introduction 258 2 Small Goods Industry Products Under the Decentralized Planned Economy 260 2.1 Small Goods at the Periphery of the Chinese Planned Economy 260 2.2 Volatility, Instability, and “Disappearance” of Small Businesses 264 2.3 Shortages Over Quality Issues 267 2.4 Case of Zhejiang Province 272 3 Small Goods Industries Under Marketization 278 3.1 Marketization and Small Goods 278 3.2 Variety of Rural Light Industrialization 279 4 The Case of the Yiwu Small Goods Market 280 4.1 Formation of the Yiwu Market 280 4.2 “Rebirth” of Small Businesses in Yiwu 281 4.3 Historical Causality Behind the Yiwu Market 284 4.4 Product Quality and Product Differentiation 286 5 Conclusion 289 References 291 Index 294 Front Matter ....Pages i-xxiii Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Asymmetry of Information, Trust-Building and Market Quality: Governing the Quality of Goods in Modern Asia (Kazuko Furuta, Toshiaki Ushijima)....Pages 3-20 Market Approaches to Dealing with Cotton Adulteration in Early Twentieth-Century China (Masataka Setobayashi)....Pages 21-45 The Fraudulent Fertilizer Problem in the Late Meiji Era: Credibility Acquisition by New Market Entrants and the Agricultural Experiment Stations (Chikashi Takahashi)....Pages 47-71 Two Paths Toward Raising Quality: Fertilizer Use in Rice and Sugarcane Cultivation in Colonial Taiwan (1895–1945) (Kensuke Hirai)....Pages 73-91 Quality as a Moving Target: Japanese Tea, Consumer Preference, and Federal Regulation on the US Market (Robert Hellyer)....Pages 93-106 Merchant Association Networks and Product Quality Control: A Case Study of the Silk Pongee Industry in Shandong (Wei Zhang)....Pages 107-122 Imitation and Innovation in the Early Twentieth-Century North China Weaving Industry (Linda Grove)....Pages 123-136 Front Matter ....Pages 137-137 Imitation, Counterfeiting, and the Market in Early Twentieth Century Japan and China: Intra-Asian Trade in Modern Small Sundry Goods (Kazuko Furuta)....Pages 139-160 Technology Transfer, Imitation and Local Production: The Soap Industry in Early Twentieth-Century Tianjin (Linda Grove)....Pages 161-182 Assimilation and Industrialization: The Demand for Soap in Colonial Taiwan (Kensuke Hirai)....Pages 183-201 Playing with “Alien Fire” (Yanghuo): Matches in Late Nineteenth-and Early Twentieth-Century China (Kai Yiu Chan)....Pages 203-223 From Emulation to Innovation: Japanese Toy Exports to High-Income Countries Before World War II (Masayuki Tanimoto)....Pages 225-243 Bottom-Up Industrialization in the People’s Republic of China: A Case Study of Industries Producing Small Things in Zhejiang (Asei Ito)....Pages 245-281 Back Matter ....Pages 283-286