Adam Smith thought that the China of his time was economically the most highly developed country in the world, and that this was why its people were wretchedly poor by comparison with the people of Europe and America. All kinds of ideas since his time have tried to link the economic condition of China to the character of its society. Earlier this century, it was China’s supposed economic failure that was being explained: more recently it has been her supposed success. This course starts by looking in a non-technical way at conceptions of what is meant by the term “economy”. It studies how “economic” analysis has been incorporated into the models of society developed by some major social theorists. Then it moves on to examine ways in which these ideas have been taken up and used by historians examining the evidence about Chinese society. It looks closely at some debates about the nature of long-term developments in the economic dimensions of Chinese society down to the early modern period. It presents ways in which ideas derived from economic thinking have been used to analyse more general topics in the history of Chinese society, such as its regional and spatial organisation. Lastly, it looks at the arguments about the condition of the Chinese economy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. What were the effects of imperialist pressure and the imposition of an open trading regime?

Tutorial participation (20%), Short paper (20%), Essay (40%), Short exam (20%). Graduate students attend joint classes with undergraduates but may expect more rigorous assessment and additional assignment work, tailored to the graduate students’ interests. Graduate students may expect a final assignment rather than an exam.

Permission of coordinator