ABOUT THIS BOOKMany 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."
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Tables, Charts, Maps, and Figures 000
Abbreviations 000
Equivalents 000
Explanatory Notes 000
Introduction 1
Currency and China 2/ The Rise and Differentiation of
Statecraft Thought 14/ From High Qing to Late Qing: Global
Erosion 23
Part I Global Links: Silver and the World
1 A Vulnerable Empire 29
The Copper Coin System 30/ Silver Use from the Sixteenth to
the Early Nineteenth Centuries 39/ Silver Supply from the
Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries 57/ Conclusion 68
2 Opium: The Culprit? 72
Time, Space, and the Quantity of Silver Outflow 74/ Silver
and Opium in China's Balance of Payments 87/ Chinese Tea and
Silk Exports, 1850-86 96/ The Global Decrease in Silver and
China 107/ Conclusion 113
3 Disturbance of the Social Order 115
Interregional Dimension 117/ The Intraregional Rural-Urban
Dimension 124/ The Crisis of the Qing
state 133/ Conclusion 141
Part II Cultural Resources for Economic Debates
4 Monetary Debates and Policies 147
Wang Liu's Proposals 149/ General Responses to Wang Liu's
Book 152/ Wang Liu's Dialogue with Bao Shichen and Chen
Shou 154/ Criticism from Wei Yuan and Xu Mei 159/ Further
Monetary Discourse 164/ New Approaches Close to Those of Wei
Yuan 171/ Monetary Policies Taken 172/ Conclusion 178
5 Chinese Inspiration and Western Comparison 000
Negligible Foreign Intellectual Influence 181/ A Flexible
Tradition of Economic Ideology 183/ Western
Comparisons 189/ Conclusion 197
Part III The Competition Among Intellectual Models
6 The Social Theories of the Two Statecraft Groups 203
Perceptions of Human Nature 206/ Concepts of the
State 209/ State Versus Heaven or the Sage 211/ State Power
Versus Market Force 213/ Commerce, Trade, and
Consumption 215/ Private Property 218/ Historical
Change 221/ Conclusion 226
7 Writing Styles, Classical Studies, and Statecraft Thought
228
Statecraft Scholars' Practical Interests 229/ Intellectual
Inclination 239/ Conclusion 257
8 The Temporary Victory of the Accommodationist Stance 000
Acceptance of Accommodationist Economic
Proposals 262/ Interventionist Policies in the Self-
Strengthening Period 265/ Changes in Intellectual
Currents 270/ The Currency Crisis and the Accommodationist
Inclination 272/ The Late Nineteenth-Century Crisis and the
Interventionist Bent 278/ Conclusion 281
Conclusion 285
The Seriousness of the Silver Outflow 285/ The World Economy
and China's Dynastic Decline 287/ Statecraft Thought and
Social Realities 297/ "Aborted Capitalism?" 308
Reference Matter
Bibliography 315
Index 347