The Imperial Mode of China: An Analytical Reconstruction of Chinese Economic History

Description

Utilising Marxian, Weberian, and institutionalist approaches, this book proposes a new theoretical framework for understanding the nature of Chinese economic history: the ‘imperial mode’ of China. The book aims to innovatively apply a cohesive historical materialist framework to the economic evolution of China, while at the same time offering micro-analysis of China’s institutions throughout its history. Taking a long-run perspective, from ancient China up until the present, the book aims to show how Chinese economic history can be viewed as a dynamic evolutionary process consisting of various stages. The first part of the book lays out the imperial mode as a mode of production based on China’s agricultural economy, with a structure consisting of a central authority, the bureaucratic system, and the peasantry. The second part then chronologically examines the different dynasties through this analytical lens and suggests ways in which China’s resistance to institutional changes in the early modern period has had long-lasting consequences for its economic development. The book goes on to show how the imperial mode is able to facilitate the agricultural economy, but did not foster the modern commercial and industrial economy. It integrates modern China into the long wave of economic history, showing how this imperial mode still exerts influence on China’s current path of development, as well as introducing a new way of understanding communist China from a historical perspective. This book will have interdisciplinary appeal for researchers and students of economic history, economic development, the history of China, economic sociology, and social history more broadly. Foreword by Bertram Schefold Foreword by Werner Plumpe Acknowledgements Contents About the Author Major Periods in China Chronology of Key People in Chinese History List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction 1 A Marxian Approach: Historical Materialism 2 A Weberian Approach: Historical-Comparative Sociology 3 Institutionalist Approaches 4 A Framework: The Imperial Mode of China References 2 The Empire-Building in the Pre-Qin Era 1 The Natural Conditions in the Central Plain 2 The Primordial Economy and Social Structure 3 The First Economic Revolution 4 The Empire-Building and Legalist Thinkers’ Reforms 5 Summary References 3 Thought Matters 1 The Background of the Intellectual Boom 2 Confucianism 3 Daoism 4 Legalism 5 Summary References 4 The First Phase: The Han Variant 1 The Short-Lived Dominance of Qin 2 The Political Structure in the Han Dynasty 3 From the Peasant Economy to the Manorial Economy 4 Imperial Confucianism: Official Ideology 5 The Rise and Decline of Aristocracy 6 The Revival of the Peasant Economy 7 Cultural Trends During Political Chaos 8 Summary References 5 The Second Phase: The Song Variant 1 Strengthening Control Over Bureaucracy 2 The Second Economic Revolution 3 Neo-Confucianism: Ideological Maturity 4 The Role of Mongolians’ Reign 5 The Zenith of Authoritarian Monarchy 6 Static Economic Development 7 Ideological Ossification 8 Summary References 6 A Historical Pattern: The Imperial Mode 1 The Peasant Economy 2 The Bureaucratic System 3 The Central Authority 4 The Equilibrium 5 Summary References 7 The Great Divergence I: The West 1 “The First Modern Economy”: The Netherlands 2 The Constitutional Path of Great Britain 3 Inclusive Institutions 4 The Behavioural Revolution 5 The Enlightenment Movement and Scientific Revolution 6 Summary References 8 The Great Divergence II: China 1 Traditional Interpretations 2 Revisionist Explanations 3 State Capacity 4 Inadaptability of the Imperial Mode 5 Summary References 9 Pursuing Modernisation in China 1 The Collapse of the Imperial Mode in Late Qing 2 Nation-Building Efforts in the Republic of China 3 Disintegration of the Imperial Mode 4 Maoist Socialism: A Mixture of the Planned Economy and the Imperial Mode 5 A Consideration on the Socialist Planned Economy Economic Reforms Out of a Planned Economy 6 “Oriental Capitalism” in Contemporary China References 10 To Understand China: Past and Future 1 The Historical Trajectory of China 2 Path Dependence and Present China 3 Ordoliberalism and Future China References Index