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5 - Economic Changes in China

The Role of Institutions and Ideology

from Part I - Regional Developments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2021

By
Debin Ma
Edited by
Stephen Broadberry  and
Kyoji Fukao
Stephen Broadberry
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Kyoji Fukao
Affiliation:
Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo
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Summary

This chapter provides an overview of the Chinese economy during 1850–2000 with both a quantitative profile and a period-by-period narrative on major eras of the late Qing, Republican and communist periods (including both the Mao era and the post-1978 reform period). More specifically, the chapter raises the question not only of why China fell behind, but more importantly why it took so long for China to industrialize after the Industrial Revolution had been well under way elsewhere. To this end, I highlight the importance of institutions and ideology, and their interaction in a feedback loop, as critical elements accounting for the remarkable transformations as well as much inertia during this 150 years of the Chinese response to Western or modernization challenges.

Keywords

Institutionsideologyeconomic changesWestern impactindustrialization.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World , pp. 129 - 150
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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