China Upside Down: Currency, Society, and Ideologies, 1808-1856

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Many scholars have noted the role of China's demand for silver in the emergence of the modern world. This book discusses the interaction of this demand and the early-nineteenth-century Latin American independence movements, changes in the world economy, the resulting disruptions in the Qing dynasty, and the transformation from the High Qing to modern China. Man-houng Lin shows how the disruption in the world's silver supply caused by the turmoil in Latin America and subsequent changes in global markets led to the massive outflow of silver from China and the crisis of the Qing empire. During the first stage of this dynastic crisis, traditional ideas favoring plural centers of power became more popular than they ever had been. As the crisis developed, however, statist ideas came to the fore. Even though the Qing survived with the resumption of the influx of Latin American silver, its status relative to Japan in the East Asian order slipped. The statist inclination, although moderated to a degree in the modern period, is still ascendant in China today. These changes--Qing China's near-collapse, the beginning of its eclipse by Japan in the East Asian order, and shifting notions of the proper relationship between state and market and between state and society--led to "China upside down." China Upside Down: Currency, Society, and Ideologies, 1808–1856 Acknowledgments Contents Tables, Maps, and Figures Abbreviations and Dynasties Explanatory Notes China Upside Down: Currency, Society, and Ideologies, 1808–1856 Introduction Currency and China The Rise and Differentiation of Statecraft Thought From High Qing to Late Qing: Global Erosion Part I: Global Links: Silver and the World 1. A Vulnerable Empire The Copper Coin System Silver Use from the Sixteenth to the Early Nineteenth Centuries Silver Supply from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries Conclusion 2. Opium: The Culprit? Time, Space, and the Quantity of Silver Outflow Silver and Opium in China’s Balance of Payments Chinese Tea and Silk Exports, 1850–86 The Global Decrease in Silver and China Conclusion 3. Disturbance of the Social Order Interregional Dimensions The Intraregional Rural-Urban Dimensions The Crisis of the Qing State Conclusion Part II: Cultural Resources for Economic Debates 4. Monetary Debates and Policies Wang Liu’s Proposals General Responses to Wang Liu’s Book Wang Liu’s Dialogue with Bao Shichen and Chen Shan Criticism from Wei Yuan and Xu Mei Further Monetary Discourse Monetary Policies Taken Conclusion 5. Chinese Inspiration and Western Comparison Negligible Foreign Intellectual Influence A Flexible Tradition of Economic Ideology Western Comparisons Conclusion Part III: The Competition Among Intellectual Models 6 The Social Theories of the Two Statecraft Groups Perceptions of Human Nature Concepts of the State State Versus Heaven or the Sages State Power Versus Market Force Commerce, Trade, and Consumption Private Property Historical Change Conclusion 7. Classical Studies, Writing Styles, and Statecraft Thought Statecraft Scholars’ Practical Interests Intellectual Inclination Conclusion 8. The Temporary Victory of the Accommodationist Stance Acceptance of Accommodationist Economic Proposals Interventionist Policies in the Self-Strengthening Period Changes in Intellectual Currents The Currency Crisis and the Accommodationist Inclination The Late Nineteenth- Century Crisis and the Interventionist Bent Conclusion Conclusion The Seriousness of the Silver Outflow The World Economy and China’s Dynastic Decline Statecraft Thought and Social Realities “Aborted Capitalism?” Reference Matter Bibliography Index