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The real question about China: Why was the Song economic achievement not repeated?
Author(s) -
Jones E. L.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
australian economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.493
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1467-8446
pISSN - 0004-8992
DOI - 10.1111/aehr.302002
Subject(s) - china , industrial revolution , style (visual arts) , state (computer science) , economics , population , economy , law , political science , literature , sociology , demography , art , algorithm , computer science
The pertinent question about China’s economic performance from the thirteenth to nineteenth centuries is less why she did not have a European–style industrial revolution than why even her own Song dynasty achievement was not repeated. Supposed explanations which appear in the literature are discussed: no scientific revolution; technological regression; population pressure; Confucian values; and the institutions within the Ming–Qing state. It is suggested that while the substitutes for direct economic policy and independent law were sufficient to permit the economy to expand, they restricted the market enough to prevent a return to previous levels of activity.