The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century

The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century





The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century
byRichard von Glahn
Format: HardcoverChange
Price:$74.81+ Free shipping with Amazon Prime

China's extraordinary rise as an economic powerhouse in the past two decades poses a challenge to many long-held assumptions about the relationship between political institutions and economic development. Economic prosperity also was vitally important to the longevity of the Chinese Empire throughout the preindustrial era. Before the eighteenth century, China's economy shared some of the features, such as highly productive agriculture and sophisticated markets, found in the most advanced regions of Europe. But in many respects, from the central importance of irrigated rice farming to family structure, property rights, the status of merchants, the monetary system, and the imperial state's fiscal and economic policies, China's preindustrial economy diverged from the Western path of development. In this comprehensive but accessible study, Richard von Glahn examines the institutional foundations, continuities and discontinuities in China's economic development over three millennia, from the Bronze Age to the early twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Richard von Glahn, one of the leading historians of China's middle period, has written the first truly comprehensive economic history of China in English. Giving due consideration to the role of geography, natural endowment, and a changing ideological, social and political landscape, Von Glahn's masterful synthesis is destined to become the go-to reference on the forces that shaped China's political economy from the Bronze Age to the end of the last dynasty." 
Madeleine Zelin, Columbia University

"This book promises to be the most timely and ambitious scholarly attempt to construct a new historical narrative of the Chinese past that provides a reliable foundation to comprehend China today. What makes Professor von Glahn's new story cogent and path-breaking is the solid scholarship in theory and historiography that is always a hallmark of his works." 
Billy Kee-long So, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology





"In one volume, Richard von Glahn offers a coherent and erudite account of three millennia of Chinese economic history. Synthesizing a huge variety of source materials, the book contains both an impressive update and thought-provoking insights on the major debates and paradigms in Chinese economic history. A remarkable achievement and a must-read for scholars and students of the Chinese economy and economic history in general."
Debin Ma, London School of Economics and Political Science

'This is the kind of book that will almost certainly enjoy a long shelf life, like some of the most recognizable titles on China's long-term history ... I strongly recommend this book to students of Chinese history, East Asian history and world/global history.' Kent G. Deng, EH.Net

'This is the first book in English to offer a comprehensive account of economic history in China. It takes a step further towards freeing the field from the shackles of Western economic perspective by producing a refreshingly unapologetic narrative ... This book avoids economic jargon and keeps the use of Chinese terms to a necessary minimum, thus also making it a suitable resource for historians of other disciplines and world regions ... readers are left to make their own conclusions and will undoubtedly find this book a rich platform for future discussion and debate.' Christopher Rea, Ming Studies
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Book Description

Economic prosperity was vitally important to the longevity of the Chinese Empire throughout the preindustrial era. In this comprehensive but accessible study, Richard von Glahn examines the institutional foundations, continuities and discontinuities in China's economic development over three millennia, from the Bronze Age to the early twentieth century.

About the Author

Richard von Glahn is Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he has taught Chinese and world history since 1987. His primary field of research is the economic history of premodern China, with a particular focus on the period 1000-1700. He has previously published three monographs in Chinese history, including Fountain of Fortune: Money and Monetary Policy in China, 1000-1700 (1996) and The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture (2004), several edited books, and a co-authored textbook in world history, Crossroads and Cultures: A History of the World (2012). The present book has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Guggenheim Foundation. Von Glahn's current research focuses on monetary and commercial circulation in maritime East Asia from the eighth to the seventeenth centuries.

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E. N. Anderson
5.0 out of 5 starsWonderful economic historyFebruary 15, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This book is a densely packed, extremely fair, and very thorough economic history of China. It deals heavily with money, coinage, finance, fiscal policies, and government management of the economy. It is somewhat less thorough on production and trade; other books cover those subjects. (On production, we have the Needham "Science and Civilisation in China" series.) It does, however, do a quite thorough job on those matters too. In general it is an ideal introduction to the subject. My favorite chapter is the last, where various theories of China's growth and development in the Qing Dynasty are covered. Richard von Glahn has been, from the start, in on the debates within the "California school" of China's economic history--Ken Pomeranz pointing out that China was comparably well-off with western Europe as late as the 18th century, Philip Huang describing involution (working harder for the same output--basically), James Lee revealing hidden demographies, Bin Wong bringing his formidable knowledge of detail to bear on all of them. (I hung around the sidelines, occasionally making myself useful by knowing some biological trivia when they were needed.) Richard von Glahn joined on as a young faculty member at UCLA in the golden days of the California school, and has grown up with it; he has established himself as a real leader with this book. Of trivial errors, one needs correcting here: p. 299, there is no such thing as "high-gluten" rice. Rice has no gluten. The stickiness meant here comes from a form of amylose (a starch).

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Edith B. Terry
5.0 out of 5 starsThe power behind the throne -- how monetary unification, tax policy, and fiscal spending created an empireFebruary 28, 2018
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Accessible and masterful review of the economic, financial, and monetary sinews behind the everchanging political drama of Chinese history. One of the fascinating things to me is how deeply embedded some institutions and themes are embedded in Chinese history, such as the dialectic between quasi-independent aristocratic fiefdoms and the center with its imposition of fiscal policy and direct taxation. Such issues move in counterpoint to the politics and do much to explain them. Von Glahn has access to the latest archeological research and makes good use of it.

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Karen
5.0 out of 5 starsGoodMarch 11, 2019
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Good


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I-to Chang
5.0 out of 5 starsFive StarsOctober 12, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
A much needed rigorous, objective narrative of Chinese history


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WhoAmI
5.0 out of 5 starsTitles of 9 ChaptersJune 16, 2018
Format: Paperback
1 - The Bronze Age economy (1045 to 707 BCE)
2 - From city-state to autocratic monarchy (707 to 250 BCE)
3 - Economic foundations of the universal empire (250 to 81 BCE)
4 - Magnate society and the estate economy (81 BCE to 485 CE)
5 - The Chinese-nomad synthesis and the reunification of the empire (485 to 755)
6 - Economic transformation in the Tang-Song transition (755 to 1127)
7 - The heyday of the Jiangnan economy (1127 to 1550)
8 - The maturation of the market economy (1550 to 1800)
9 - Domestic crises and global challenges: restructuring the imperial economy (1800 to 1900)

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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsNo nonsenseSeptember 24, 2016
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Does what it says on the cover

2 people found this helpful

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Kit
5.0 out of 5 starsFive StarsAugust 16, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Good!


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