Japan versus China in the Industrial Race

by Wei-Bin Zhang

Overview

Why has Japanese industrialisation been so much faster than that of China? The relative economic development of Japan and China from similar nineteenth-century conditions are examined in broad philosophical, social, political and historical perspective. The book challenges a common assumption that Chinese Confucianism does not encourage modernisation, while Japanese Confucianism propelled industrialisation forward. It examines further reasons why Max Weber's judgement, 'the Chinese would be probably more capable than the Japanese, of assimilating capitalism', has not been borne out.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349268153
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	11/12/1998
Edition description:	1st ed. 1998
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

WEI-BIN ZHANG is Associate Professor of Economics at the Swedish Institute for futures Study. His main research fields are East Asian economic development, Chinese philosophy, and ethics. He has published many academic articles. His books include Economic Dynamics, Synergetic Economics and knowledge and Value-Economic Structures with Time and Space (1996). He was brought up and received his university education in mainland China. He studied at Kyoto University in Japan for four years. He has researched in Sweden since 1987.

Table of Contents

Foreword by e E. Anderson Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction Confucianism in Qing China and Tokugawa Japan: The Value System of the Two Rice Economies Tokugawa Japan: Isolation with Confucianism The Qing Dynasty Before the Opium War: Learning, Prosperity and Stability From Meiji Restoration to 1945: Bifurcating into an Industrial Mentality From the Opium War to 1949: Social Chaos and Poverty Japan after World War II: Rapid Economic Growth and Social Change New China and the Cultural Revolution: Destruction of Knowledge China's Economic Reform: Take-offs with Poverty as Solid Bases Japan and China: Divergence Versus Convergence Bibliography Index