The making of the modern Chinese State : cement, legal personality, and industry

"This text addresses the corporate causes of the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the emergence of modern Republican China. Weaving together political, legal and business histories, it focuses on the key relationship between China, cement and corporations, and demonstrates how the particular circumstances of cement manufacturing in nineteenth and early twentieth century China serve to illuminate key aspects of Chinese political economy and illustrate the importance of legal frameworks in the emergence of industrial enterprises. Examining the centrality of legal personality in China's historical story, seen from the angle of cement manufacturing corporations, it offers an alternative historical perspective on the making of the modern Chinese States and delves into the involvement of larger-than-life historical figures of modern China such as Yuan Shikai, Chiang Kai-shek and the revolutionary and the father of modern China, Sun Yat-sen, in the unfolding of these events"--Back cover Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction: China, Cement and Corporations....Pages 1-20 Front Matter....Pages 21-22 The Imperial System: Durable and Resilient....Pages 23-40 Front Matter....Pages 41-43 New Corporate Powers: The Accelerator of Imperial Malfunction....Pages 45-65 Yuan Shikai and His Cement Corporation: The Flight of State Power....Pages 67-93 Front Matter....Pages 95-97 Sun Yat-sen and His Unincorporated Cement Works: Revolutionaries in Business....Pages 99-137 The Pearl River Bridge: Recovering State Power....Pages 139-169 Front Matter....Pages 171-172 Chiang Kai-shek and Corporations: A Holistic Strategy....Pages 173-200 Conclusion: State Power, Corporations and the Cement Industry....Pages 201-208 Back Matter....Pages 209-258