Lecture Notes: Cultural Comparativism and Chinese Science & Technology

Methodological Principles in Comparing Cultures

  • 1.1.5. Comparing institutions and instruments related to trade, money, credit, and power in China and Europe to explain the emergence (or lack thereof) of capitalism.

    • Reference: J.F. Gipouloux, Commerce, argent, pouvoir, l'impossible avènement d'un capitalisme en Chine XVI-XIX° siècles, CNRS Éditions, Paris, 202, Introduction, pp. 11-29

Cultural Comparativism Applied to Economics: The Bill of Exchange

  • To explain the emergence (or not) of capitalism in China vs. Europe, compare institutions and instruments accompanying trade, credit, and power.

  • Reference: Jean-François Gipouloux, Commerce, argent pouvoir, l'impossible avènement d'un capitalisme en Chine (XVI°-XIX° siècles), CNRS, Éditions, Paris, 2023, Introduction, pp.11-29.

Principle of Cultural Comparativism: Bill of Exchange Example

  • Exchange Bill: (Lettre de change)

    • Refer to Wikipedia for definition.

    • Japanese: Kawase tegata 川河瀬 てがた

    • Traditional Chinese: 川瀨手方

    • Simplified Chinese: 川濑手方

    • Pinyin: chuān lài shǒu fāng

Correct Cultural Comparativism Applied to Economics

  • The term "lettre de change" (bill of exchange) doesn't have the same meaning across different regions (Genoa, Canton, Nagasaki).

  • The Japanese term kawase tegata, when translated as "bill of exchange," shouldn't be assumed to have the same functions as in Europe.

Cultural Comparativism: Kawase Tegata

  • The payment method designated by kawase regata was used by the domain administration (Kakuhan) for transferring money between regions.

  • Merchants didn't widely adopt this tool because it didn't align with their needs or they lacked the right to use it.

The Chinese Eclipse: 1700-1949 (or 1978)

  • A. Chinese Paradox: Technological power until 1550, economic growth until 1780, but limited capitalist development.

  • B. Limited Capitalist Development

  • C. No Political Reform: The Middle Empire became the "sick man" of Asia in the 19th and early 20th centuries (similar to the Turkish Empire).

Chinese Technological Advancements

  • 1044: Wujing Zongyao described a continuous oil flame thrower with a double-acting piston.

  • 1126-1127: Song dynasty retreated to the Yangzi valley and used paddle steamers with pedal-driven wheels (up to 25 wheels on some).

  • 1132: Invention of the first rockets; different impact compared to Europe (1241 Battle of Sajo in Hungary led to feudal collapse, unlike in China).

  • 1161: Battle of Caishi at AnHui: Use of explosive grenades (pilipao) with gunpowder.

  • Reference: Jacques Gernet, Le monde chinois, vol 2 L’époque moderne (X°-XIX° siècle), Paris , Agora p. 32-33

Four Major Chinese Inventions (四大發明)

  • The Paper

    • Cai Lun

    • See Michael Dillon, op. cit Chap 6, pp. 127-129

  • The Compass

    • Song Dynasty (1044)

    • Shen Kuo in his book (1088)

  • Gunpowder

    • IX° siècle (9th Century)

  • Printing press

    • 1041

    • probably before

    • See Robert Temple and Joseph Needam’s masterpiece Science and Civilization in China (1954-2008) and J. Needham, La sciences chinoise et l’Occident, Paris, Le Seuil,1973 (ed. anglaise 1969)

  • For other inventions listed in order of appearance see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ListofChinese_inventions

Chinese technical advance

  • Dual-action piston bellow

  • For molten iron and its conversion to wrought iron

Chinese Technical Advance Near LinQing

  • On the terraces of the Great irrigation canal (Dujiangyan, XIIIth Cen)

  • LeadingWater in central and oriental China and Oriental; equivalent in Europe

The Grand Canal

  • The Grand Canal, (from Beijing to Hangzhou), is the longest canal ever built in the world;

  • Starting at Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou, linking the Yellow River and Yangtze River.

  • The oldest parts of the canal date back to the 5th century BC, although the various sections were finally combined during the Sui Dynasty (581–618 AD).

The Great Canal (simplified/traditional)

  • simplified: 大运河

  • Traditional: 大運河

The Great Canal (2)

  • The total length of the Grand Canal is 1,776 km (1,104 mi). Its greatest height is reached in the mountains of Shandong, at a summit of 42 m.

  • Ships in Chinese canals did not have trouble reaching higher elevations after the pound lock was invented in the 10th century, during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), by the government official and engineer Qiao Weiyo

The Chinese Eclipse (1700-1949 or 1978): Economic Development Failure

  • After promising economic development in the late Ming dynasty and beginning of the Mandchou Qing dynasty, China miss industrial revolution and knows a malthusian stationary equilibrium that does not resist internal turmoil and attack from the Western Powers.

  • Follows from the Opium war to 1949 a long Century of domination and humiliation

  • Humiliation repaired during the Mao era despite two terrible relapses (the Great Jump forward 1958-1961), and the « Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

  • It is only with Deng XiaoPing that China has reintegrated the world economic development

China’s Economic Stalling (References)

  • Kenneth Pomeranz, La force de l’Empire, Révolution industrielle et écologie ou pourquoi l’Angleterre a fait mieux que la Chine, Ere, Paris, 2009

  • Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence: China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World economy (2000)

China's Economic Heyday Under the Song’s Dynasty

  • During the Song Dynasty (960–1279), the country experienced a revolution in agriculture, water transport, finance, urbanization, science and technology, which made the Chinese economy the most advanced in the world from about 1100.

  • Mastery of wet-field rice cultivation opened up the hitherto underdeveloped south of the country, while later northern China was devastated by Jur'chen and Mongol invasions, floods and epidemics.

  • The result was a dramatic shift in the centre of population and industry from the home of Chinese civilization around the Yellow River to the south of the country, a trend only partially reversed by the re-population of the north from the 15th century.

China's Heyday During the Song Dynasty

  • The average income in China did not reach the level of that of the Song Dynasty until the 1980s

China's Heyday Under the Song

  • Average income in China and in Europe

The Economic Dropping of China

  • Références

  • La force de l’Empire, Révolution industrielle et écologie ou pourquoi l’Angleterre a fait mieux que la Chine, Ere, Paris, 2009

  • Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence: China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World economy (2000)

Maddison, Angus (2001)

  • The World Economy, Volume 1: A Millennial Perspective, OECD Publishing, IS

Under the Ming and the Qing Dynasties: A Malthusian Stationary Equilibrium

  • The late imperial period (1368–1911), comprising the Ming and Qing dynasties, taxation was low, and the economy and population grew significantly, though without substantial increases in productivity.

  • Chinese goods such as silk, tea and ceramics were in great demand in Europe, leading to an inflow of silver, expanding the money supply and facilitating the growth of competitive and stable markets.

  • By the end of the 18th century, population density levels exceeded those in Europe. China had more large cities but far fewer small ones than in contemporary Europe.

The Chinese Double Paradox

  • How and why China did not succeeded in the transition to Modern science (1500-1750) ?

  • Same question about the Industrial Revolution (1750- 1850)?

  • Until 1500 the advance of China upon Europe is of two centuries specially in technologies and weapon

  • And the economical stagnation becomes so worrying around the 1820’ that the Manchu Dynasty is overthrown after hundred year of lowering in 1911

The Chinese Double Paradox Repeated

  • The following 40 years show a chaotic civil war even if the decade of Nanjin (1927- 1937) experimented a very steep growth

  • The advent of the Communist Regime in 1949 produces undeniable progress but they are slow and threatened by two huge regression (The Great Jump 1958-1961 and is failure) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) . There is no real take-off of the economy.

The Chinese Double Paradox Repeated (2)

  • On the contrary, the 30 following years (1978-2008) economic growth experiment a perfect take-off, the Chinese miracle.

  • How this miracle was possible ?

The Chinese Double Paradox

  • We will try to answer this double question in the next lecture next Thursday the the 3 of April

  • Questions ?