The Historical Conditions For Economic Development

During the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the political and military European power began to completely take over China. There was an Open Door Notes agreement issued in

During 2002, an essay was published titled “Political Economy and Ecology on the Eve of Industrialization: Europe, China, and the Global Conjuncture”. This was the works of Kenneth Pomeranz who provoked a distinctive question about China in relation to Great Britain around the 1800s. In his published book The Great Divergence, Pomeranz states that China and Great Britain were on similar trails leading towards the Industrial Revolution until a “Great Divergence” arose during the 1800s that sent these two emerging nations towards diverse routes. In his essay Pomeranz efficiently states how China and Great Britain developed differently due to the coal and colonies. Pomeranz argues how these two aspects assisted Great Britain in dodging

Before the 19th Century it would have been difficult to imagine that one day, majority of Western Europe and North America would come to dominate the world in global economy. So why did income per capita decline in countries such as India and China relative to the advanced economies such as the US and Europe since 1800? Some argue that the overwhelmingly cause was the lack of relative efficiency of utilization of technology in these countries relative to the more successful economies such as Britain and the USA (Landes 19). The inventions of gunpowder and the compass contributed to the West initially being considered subpar compared to China. Up until the 19th century, China held a position as a great world power, but, for the last two hundred

The year 1500 is considered a major turning point in world history according to Paul Kennedy in his article “The Rise of the Western World”. This date has been chosen by countless scholars to mark the split between premodern and modern times. In the premodern world, the “gun powder empires” of the east, including the Ming of China and the Ottoman Turks had many achievements, making them two of the dominant world cultures prior to 1500. However, these great civilizations did not continue to gain greater power after 1500. Meanwhile, what Kennedy refers to as “the European Miracle” created a dynamic and competitive western world. As the eastern civilizations discontinued their overall progress, Europe began its rise to power.

The timespan between the 1500s and the 1800s is commonly regarded as the “Early Modern Era” of European history. This period directly follows the Middle Ages and ends around the time of the French Revolution, which thereafter the “modern” period seemingly begins. This specific era consists of profound and significant developments in Europe’s economic history and here we can see the beginnings of capitalism. This early modern period experienced important technological advances, the Protestant Reformation and the decline of the Church, the formation of banking systems and savings, nation-state building, mercantilism and the beginnings of industrialization. The economic ideas that emerged during this period are markedly different and some times at odds with those that prevailed just right before during the Middle Ages. The early 1500’s began with a burst of economic activity, which is largely credited to the important technological advances that occurred in Europe during this time, which then led to relatively rapid economic, social and political changes throughout Europe.

China viewed itself as an autarkic agricultural economic system and whilst Britain purchased large amounts of Chinese tea, silk and porcelain the Chinese held the European manufactured products at very little value. This monopolistic system of

McNeil is also critical of Landes’ preoccupation in the happenings of Europe alone, while remaining dismissive of all economic and technological accomplishments of China after 1 000 A.D. While Landes dismisses the economic demise of China as a “weird pattern of isolated initiatives and Sisyphean discontinuities,” McNeil instead portrays the rapid innovations of the Sung era, and how they were damaged and disrupted by Mongol conquests and contained within the Ming dynasty, thereby showing that Europe did not surpass Europe in achievement due to their own pre-eminence.

The Chinese and European cultures came together for the first time in the fifteenth century when great Chinese fleets traveled throughout the Indian Ocean and along the coast of Africa. These voyages created much concern for China. They lead to a period of isolation for security reasons. By the time the first Europeans arrived in China there was little to no evidence of these voyages. (Mungello 2005) Fallowing that time the Chinese government proceeded with a policy of containment to the trade merchants and missionaries that would visit them in the coming centuries. This paper will server an explanation to why China and Europe at first embraced each other then rejected each others

Odd Arne Westad’s Restless Empire traces China’s participation with other countries over the past 250 years. Westad disputes that China has an ongoing association with the rest of the world through trading of silks and porcelains, allowing China to dominate the international trade market during the Ming and Qing empires. This significant piece of evidence reflects China’s connection with the outside world contrary to the thought that China has been an isolated society detached from most of the world as evidenced by China’s involuntary participation with the foreign countries which stems from colonialism. The author examines China’s foreign affairs over the past three centuries to provide chronological events that underline the advancement in economic growth of China, leading to the establishment of modern China.

Although in current times commercial advancement often excels a country politically, in the Middle Ages commercial advancement prevented the political unification of Italy and Germany years after the Middle

Hung’s stated goals are as follows. First, he aims to outline the historical origins of the capitalist boom in China as well as the conditions which predicated said boom. He also names four conceptions against history to explore the global effects of China’s capitalist boom and the limit of that boom. Firstly, he seeks to challenge the notion that China is challenging the United States neoliberal order. Secondly, he examines the belief that the increasing incomes of poor Chinese citizens helps to reverse worldwide income polarization. Thirdly, he analyzes the claim that China’s rise is challenging Western dominion over the world, and is radically altering the world order. Lastly, he plans to evaluate the assertion that China has been emerging as the most powerful driver of growth since the global financial crisis. He plans to devote a single chapter to the refutation of each of these views and explanations of why they overstate the importance of China, in addition to several introductory chapters describing China’s rise. He aims to prove with this work that China is no different than the other major capitalist powers, that its boom is dependent on the global neoliberal order, that its boom contributes to rampant inequality, and, in sum, that China is just a foundation of the capitalist status quo.

Many people think that a world economic system didn’t develop until the 1500s CE. People are often focused on the areas and times of their ancestry, so they only acknowledge the developments during those times. Dr. Janet Abu-Lughod uses her book Before European Hegemony to refute those views. Contrary to popular belief, in years before 1500, there was a world economic system already emerging, due to interdependent balance between regions throughout the

Looking back at the world in the past few hundred years, it would have been difficult to imagine that one day, majority of Western Europe would come to dominate the world in global economy (Landes, European Exceptionalism: A Different Path, 1998). Frank (2001) described the process of which the western society

1900s China saw a century of fluctuating development and progress, which is recognised through various political, economic and social changes. The early division of the period encountered some change for the country yet this was not as significant as the latter change in which China’s political landscape metamorphosed into one of total contrast to the former. Foreign intervention was of course a reason and usually the root cause for the changes that occurred, particularly in the first half of the century until 1962 whereby there were still some minor influences by the foreigners but other factors seemed to have caused these later changes. It could be deduced that yes, foreign powers did have a significant influence over the transformation

Economic growth is a necessary but not sufficient condition of economic development. There is no single definition that encompasses all the aspects of economic development. The most comprehensive definition perhaps of economic development is the one given by Todaro: ‘Development is not purely an economic phenomenon but rather a multi – dimensional process involving reorganization and re orientation of the entire economic and social system. Development is a process of improving the quality of all human lives with three equally important aspects. These are: 1.