Conclusion

Summary

The decision to adopt a longue durée (1500s–1930s) approach to the history of thought on market and consumption in modern China inevitably implies a close focus on the historical development of just two notions: a narrow focus which did not sufficiently reflect the complexity of the Chinese discourse on the economy at large and the variety of problems it addressed (not least those of taxation, land tenure, and currency). This approach, however, served its intended purpose of tracing long-term transformations in the complex interrelations between historical circumstances, intellectual interpretations, and political objectives. In the case of Qing China, the political objective was embodied in the mandate of minsheng, as not just a rhetorical commitment to the welfare of the population of the empire but also a prerequisite for economic and political stability. From its establishment, the Qing state embraced this classical Confucian mandate with particular enthusiasm and pragmatism, as illustrated by its reformulation of minsheng into the guoji minsheng (state finances and people’s livelihood) formula, which firmly linked the strategic importance of the prosperity of the societal economy to the financial stability of the state.