A Critical Survey of Recent Research in Chinese Economic History

Chinese economic history during the premodern period is subject to a lasting debate. The debate has intensified since the Second World War, with increasingly divergent views which can be grouped in nine main schools of thought. The vital problem to be resolved is a paradox presented by China's early socio-economic supremacy and its late failure in modern growth in comparison with western Europe. The real challenge comes from how to embrace numerous variables, none constant, in a theoretical framework to explain how rational choices led a sophisticated economy to a developmental dead end.