The View from Early Modern China
The porcelain production centre of Jingdezhen (southern China) produced fine ceramics both for the emperor and his court and for the market by employing large numbers of skilled and unskilled, free and unfree labour. Conventionally, the imperial kilns of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties have been held up as examples of exploitative systems that prevented the development of capitalism. In this chapter, I explore evidence from the sixteenth-century Chinese centre of ceramics manufacture to suggest the presence of a form of capitalism in early modern China. The chapter covers a brief background of the production system in Jingdezhen and then turns to some specific issues in the central government’s management of labour force, to return to some question of capitalism towards the end of the chapter. Overall, the chapter reveals sophisticated labour-management policies, waged free labour, and production for global markets, pointing to a capitalist environment.