Quest for power : European imperialism and the making of Chinese statecraft

China’s late-imperial history has been framed as a long coda of decline, played out during the Qing dynasty. Reappraising this narrative, Stephen Halsey traces the origins of China’s current great-power status to this so-called decadent era, when threats of war with European and Japanese empires triggered innovative state-building and statecraft. Quest For Power Analyzes The Origins Of China's Rise To Great Power Status In The Twentieth Century. The Author Argues That The Threat Of European And Japanese Imperialism Triggered The Most Innovative State-building Efforts Since The Foundation Of The Country's Last Dynasty In The Mid 1600s. This Claim Casts Doubt On The Entire Interpretive Thrust Of Existing Historical Accounts Of China During The Late Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Questioning Their Story Of Decline, Weakness, And Failure. Halsey Instead Argues That A Military Fiscal-state Emerged In China Between 1850 And 1949 Because Of The Continuing Danger Of War With The Great Powers. This Form Of Political Organization Combined Money, Bureaucracy, And Guns In New Ways And Helped To Ensure The Country's Survival During The Apogee Of Western Colonialism. As The Great Powers Transplanted Their Competitive International Order To East Asia In The 1800s, China Replicated Many Features Of European States Through Conscious Imitation And Independent Trial And Error. Military-fiscal States In These Different Regions Represent Variations On A Common Global Theme, Their Political Structures Drawn Together To A Certain Extent Through A Contingent Process Of Historical Convergence. Leading Officials Soon Came To Describe Their Reformist Policies Through A New Vocabulary Of Sovereignty, A European Concept That Has Served As A Cornerstone Of Chinese Statecraft Since The Late 1860s. In Short, China Achieved Remarkable Success In The Search For Power In The Late Imperial (1850-1911) And The Republican Eras (1911-1949), Laying The Foundation For Its Growing International Influence Since 1949--provided By Publisher. Europe's Global Conquest -- Foreign Trade -- Money -- Bureaucracy -- Guns -- Transportation -- Communication -- Epilogue: State-making In China, 1850-1949. Stephen R. Halsey. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction: State-Making and Empire in a World-Historical Context -- Sovereignty and Successful State-Making in Modern China -- Rethinking the Modern Chinese State -- Chapter Summaries -- Chapter 1. Europe's Global Conquest -- Colonialism in India and Southwest Asia -- Colonialism in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa -- Constrained Sovereignty: China's Escape from Formal Colonization -- Weak States and Porous Economies -- Chapter 2. Foreign Trade -- Cotton Textiles and Opium -- Culture and Consumption in Nineteenth-Century China -- The Mediated Economy -- The Qing State and Sino-Foreign Trade -- The Imperial Maritime Customs Service and China's Foreign Trade -- Chapter 3. Money -- Patterns of Taxation and Public Finance in the Qing Empire Before 1850 -- Internal Rebellion and the Crisis in Public Finance, 1850-1865 -- From Agriculture to Commerce: Growth of the State's Extractive Capacity -- Patterns of Resource Distribution: Abandoning the Empire's Western Peripheries -- Defending Imperial Sovereignty: The Pursuit of Wealth and Power in Eastern China -- Money and the Military-Fiscal State in China -- Chapter 4. Bureaucracy -- Patterns of Local Governance in China Before 1850 -- The Creation of New Fiscal Bureaucracies After 1850 -- Sovereignty and the Development of Modern Policing in China -- Bureaucracy and the Military-Fiscal State in China -- Chapter 5. Guns -- Military Affairs in China Before 1850 -- Creating New Armies -- Military Industries in China After 1850 -- Infrastructure -- Weapons Production -- Building Coastal Defenses in China -- Guns and the Military-Fiscal State in China -- Chapter 6. Transportation -- Steam Transport Before 1872 -- The Creation of the CMSNC, 1872-1873 -- Unexpected Success, 1873-1878 -- The Company's Achievements, 1878-1895 China's history in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has often been framed as a long coda of imperial decline, played out during its last dynasty, the Qing. Quest for Power presents a sweeping reappraisal of this narrative. Stephen Halsey traces the origins of China's great-power status in the twentieth century to this era of supposed decadence and decay. Threats from European and Japanese imperialism and the growing prospect of war triggered China's most innovative state-building efforts since the Qing dynasty's founding in the mid-1600s.Through a combination of imitation and experimentation, a new form of political organization took root in China between 1850 and 1949 that shared features with modern European governments. Like them, China created a military-fiscal state to ensure security in a hostile international arena. The Qing Empire extended its administrative reach by expanding the bureaucracy and creating a modern police force. It poured funds into the military, commissioning ironclad warships, reorganizing the army, and promoting the development of an armaments industry. State-built telegraph and steamship networks transformed China's communication and transportation infrastructure. Increasingly, Qing officials described their reformist policies through a new vocabulary of sovereignty—a Western concept that has been a cornerstone of Chinese statecraft ever since. As Halsey shows, the success of the Chinese military-fiscal state after 1850 enabled China to avoid wholesale colonization at the hands of Europe and Japan and laid the foundation for its emergence as a global power in the twentieth century. Contents Preface Introduction: State-Making and Empire in a World-Historical Context 1. Europe’s Global Conquest 2. Foreign Trade 3. Money 4. Bureaucracy 5. Guns 6. Transportation 7. Communication Epilogue: State-Making in China, 1850–1949 Notes Bibliography Index