A History of China's Financial Thought presents the history and evolution of China's financial thought across its dynasties to the 20th century. Being the first work to cover both the ancient and modern ages, even going as far back as the Pre-Qin period, this comprehensive book fills in research gaps and provides the most thorough research into the history of China's financial thought, advancing the study of financial and economic history. It delves into a myriad of topics, such as monetary theory and banking systems, and collects diverse perspectives from thinkers across the different eras.This translation presents the history of China's financial thought in a pioneering and unique way, offering an instructive reading experience. It is an essential reference for students and scholars interested in China's finance, history and culture.
"Presents the history and evolution of China's financial thought across its dynasties to the 20th century. Fills in research gaps and provides the most thorough research into the history of China's financial thought, advancing the study of financial and economic history. Covers topics from monetary theory to banking systems, and collects diverse perspectives from thinkers across the different eras"--
This book provides a chronological record of the development of Chinese thoughts on public finance over its 4,000 years of history, ranging from the Xia Dynasty to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. It addresses the onset and evolution of Chinese thoughts on public finance across the different periods, such as thoughts on public finance during the Xia, Shang and Western Zhou dynasties, and thoughts from the early feudalistic period; offers an account about the thriving and declining of China's ancient thoughts on public finance; and deals with the emergence of capitalistic theories from the late Qing Dynasty to the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Excerpt from Chinese Currency and Banking This volume is but a sequel to m Finance in China. In that book I trie to give a bird's-eye view of the whole situation of trade and economics in the country. Owing to the number of subjects that had to be dealt with, the treatment was necessarily brief. The situation in China at the moment is full of interesting possibilities. Reform is in the air, and the necessity for it is being felt more keenly than at any past time. No one interested in this country, in any manner, can escape at least the thought of some scheme, or schemes, tending towards the reformation of China's government and finances. Having given a summary of the financial and economic situation, past and present, it is but a step further to attempt to formulate plans for the future. I have, therefore, endeavoured to sketch some suggestions for reform in this, and the two succeeding volumes on Taxation in China and Industries and Agriculture in China. At the beginning, I believed that I laid my plans on too large a scale, by arranging to treat the whole subject in two volumes. The scope widened as the work progressed, and I found myself confronted with the necessity, of writing, not two volumes, but four. In the body of the book, I have given my reasons for beginning with Currency and Banking. Even on these subjects, the amount of information available to the average man has been very meagre; hence, I was obliged to go more into detail, than I should have wished, concerning the past, in order to enable my readers to grasp thoroughly my schemefor reform Especially on Banking, it has been a case of pioneer work, because no one, so far as I can trace, has ever attempted to write comprehensively on that subject. I do not give out my scheme as the ideal, or as satisfying every requirement of reform. But I believe that it is the most suitable in the present circumstances in this country. My best thanks are due to Sir Everard Fraser, for going through the mss., and for the several valuable suggestions that l have embodied in the book. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
China's extraordinary rise as an economic powerhouse in the past two decades poses a challenge to many long-held assumptions about the relationship between political institutions and economic development. Economic prosperity also was vitally important to the longevity of the Chinese Empire throughout the preindustrial era. Before the eighteenth century, China's economy shared some of the features, such as highly productive agriculture and sophisticated markets, found in the most advanced regions of Europe. But in many respects, from the central importance of irrigated rice farming to family structure, property rights, the status of merchants, the monetary system, and the imperial state's fiscal and economic policies, China's preindustrial economy diverged from the Western path of development. In this comprehensive but accessible study, Richard von Glahn examines the institutional foundations, continuities and discontinuities in China's economic development over three millennia, from the Bronze Age to the early twentieth century.
Two leading experts on China evaluate its rise throughout the past one hundred fifty years, sharing portraits of key intellectual and political leaders to explain how China transformed from a country under foreign assault to a world giant.
Prior to the initiation of economic reforms and trade liberalization 36 years ago, China maintained policies that kept the economy very poor, stagnant, centrally-controlled, vastly inefficient, and relatively isolated from the global economy. Since opening up to foreign trade and investment and implementing free market reforms in 1979, China has been among the world's fastest-growing economies, with real annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging nearly 10% through 2016. In recent years, China has emerged as a major global economic power. It is now the world's largest economy (on a purchasing power parity basis), manufacturer, merchandise trader, and holder of foreign exchange reserves.The global economic crisis that began in 2008 greatly affected China's economy. China's exports, imports, and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows declined, GDP growth slowed, and millions of Chinese workers reportedly lost their jobs. The Chinese government responded by implementing a $586 billion economic stimulus package and loosening monetary policies to increase bank lending. Such policies enabled China to effectively weather the effects of the sharp global fall in demand for Chinese products, but may have contributed to overcapacity in several industries and increased debt by Chinese firms and local government. China's economy has slowed in recent years. Real GDP growth has slowed in each of the past six years, dropping from 10.6% in 2010 to 6.7% in 2016, and is projected to slow to 5.7% by 2022.The Chinese government has attempted to steer the economy to a "new normal" of slower, but more stable and sustainable, economic growth. Yet, concerns have deepened in recent years over the health of the Chinese economy. On August 11, 2015, the Chinese government announced that the daily reference rate of the renminbi (RMB) would become more "market-oriented." Over the next three days, the RMB depreciated against the dollar and led to charges that China's goal was to boost exports to help stimulate the economy (which some suspect is in worse shape than indicated by official Chinese economic statistics). Concerns over the state of the Chinese economy appear to have often contributed to volatility in global stock indexes in recent years.The ability of China to maintain a rapidly growing economy in the long run will likely depend largely on the ability of the Chinese government to implement comprehensive economic reforms that more quickly hasten China's transition to a free market economy; rebalance the Chinese economy by making consumer demand, rather than exporting and fixed investment, the main engine of economic growth; boost productivity and innovation; address growing income disparities; and enhance environmental protection. The Chinese government has acknowledged that its current economic growth model needs to be altered and has announced several initiatives to address various economic challenges. In November 2013, the Communist Party of China held the Third Plenum of its 18th Party Congress, which outlined a number of broad policy reforms to boost competition and economic efficiency. For example, the communique stated that the market would now play a "decisive" role in allocating resources in the economy. At the same time, however, the communique emphasized the continued important role of the state sector in China's economy. In addition, many foreign firms have complained that the business climate in China has worsened in recent years. Thus, it remains unclear how committed the Chinese government is to implementing new comprehensive economic reforms.China's economic rise has significant implications for the United States and hence is of major interest to Congress. This report provides background on China's economic rise; describes its current economic structure; identifies the challenges China faces to maintain economic growth; and discusses the challenges, opportunities, and implications of China's economic rise.
This fifth volume abridgement of Joseph Needham's monumental work is concerned with the staggering civil engineering feats made in early and medieval China.
Why has China grown so fast for so long despite vast corruption? In China's Gilded Age, Yuen Yuen Ang maintains that all corruption is harmful, but not all types of corruption hurt growth. Ang unbundles corruption into four varieties: petty theft, grand theft, speed money, and access money. While the first three types impede growth, access money - elite exchanges of power and profit - cuts both ways: it stimulates investment and growth but produces serious risks for the economy and political system. Since market opening, corruption in China has evolved toward access money. Using a range of data sources, the author explains the evolution of Chinese corruption, how it differs from the West and other developing countries, and how Xi's anti-corruption campaign could affect growth and governance. In this formidable yet accessible book, Ang challenges one-dimensional measures of corruption. By unbundling the problem and adopting a comparative-historical lens, she reveals that the rise of capitalism was not accompanied by the eradication of corruption, but rather by its evolution from thuggery and theft to access money. In doing so, she changes the way we think about corruption and capitalism, not only in China but around the world.
