Studies in the Economic History of Late Imperial China: Handicraft, Modern Industry, and the State

by Albert Feuerwerker

Overview

Albert Feuerwerker fashioned a distinguished legacy as a scholar of Chinese history. His publications on the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Chinese economy often became the starting point for any further work and staples for graduate training in modern Chinese history.
Studies in the Economic History of Late Imperial China gathers seven foundational writings in one place for the first time, and adds one new piece on handicrafts in the sixteenth century to the list. Included is Feuerwerker’s “Handicraft and Manufactured Cotton Textils in China, 1871–1910,” which immediately after its publication in 1970 became the standard for research and argument about economic change in the late Qing. In this classic essay, Feuerwerker addresses the scarcity of quantitative data on the textiles industry in this time period, which prevented historians from interpreting qualitative sources. Along with a descriptive analysis, he presents several quantitative alternatives and weighs them to find which best protrays the fortunes of cotton textile handicrafts during the last four centuries of the Qing.
Taken together, the chapters in Studies in the Economic History represent a cross-section of the enormous contributions Feuerwerker made to China scholarship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780892641178
Publisher:	University of Michigan Press
Publication date:	01/01/1996
Series:	Michigan Monographs In Chinese Studies , #70
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	(w) x (h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Albert Feuerwerker was a historian of modern China and a longtime faculty member of the University of Michigan, where he was instrumental in the establishment of the Center for Chinese Studies.

Editorial Reviews

Seven previously published but long out-of-print essays, and one new one, explore traditional and modern manufacturing in Ming and Qing China and its relationship to the government. Among the topics are a comparative perspective of Chinese economic history, cotton textiles 1871-1910, a 19th-century coal and iron company, proto-industrialization 1550-1850, and a 20th-century cement company. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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