The Chinese Economy in the Early Twentieth Century: Recent Chinese Studies (Studies on the Chinese Economy)

As China's politics and economies have been transformed since 1978, so have Chinese scholars revised their interpretations of their recent economic history. Interest in the market mechanism today entails a more favourable evaluation of economic growth and the experience of capitalist managers in the pre-war market economy, while the 'Open Door' suggests a reinterpretation of the role of foreign trade and investment in the early twentieth century. The commercialization of agriculture under the production responsibility system is also accompanied by a shift in the focus of historical writing on the rural economy from feudal exploitation to the degree of market penetration into peasant life. Moreover, for most of the period, scholars have been more free to express their own ideas and experiment with new methodologies. After an analytical introduction by Tim Wright, this book translates twelve of the most interesting and important articles which embody the new views leading Chinese historians, young and old, are putting forward. Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction: Modern Chinese Economic History in a Period of Change....Pages 1-28 A Brief Account of the Development of Capitalism in China....Pages 29-43 The Development of Chinese National Capital in the 1920s....Pages 44-57 Economic Development in China Between the Two World Wars (1920–1936)....Pages 58-77 Symposium on the Central Theme of Modern Chinese Economic History....Pages 78-84 Liu Hongsheng’s Enterprise Investment and Management....Pages 85-97 The ‘Footprints’ of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Old Shanghai....Pages 98-112 The Process of the Disintegration of Modern China’s Natural Economy....Pages 113-133 The Development of Capitalism in Modern Chinese Agriculture....Pages 134-151 Foreign Capitalism and China’s Traditional Economy....Pages 152-164 Foreign Trade and China’s Economic Modernisation....Pages 165-176 British Capital and the Management of the Kailuan Coal Mines....Pages 177-192 On the Consequences of the 1935 Currency Reform....Pages 193-207 Back Matter....Pages 208-220 A translation of 12 of the most interesting and important articles which embody the new views leading Chinese historians are putting forward. This series aims to analyze issues in China's current economic development, and shed light upon that process by examining China's economic history.