Early Chinese History: The State of the Field

1979 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cho-yun Hsu
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Shang Dynasty ◽  
Asian Studies ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
State Of The Field

In this essay, I will survey recent scholarship on several major issues in the political, social, and economic history of ancient China, from the beginning of the Shang Dynasty to the end of the Han Dynasty. Archaeological aspects will be discussed only when their historical significance requires it, since the archaeological discoveries of recent decades have already been the subject of Professor Kwang-chih Chang's state-of-the-field article in The Journal of Asian Studies.

scholarly journals Introduction: Some ponderings on the use of the law in the writing of histories

2001 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-175
Author(s):  
NIMROD HURVITZ ◽  
EDWARD FRAM
Keyword(s):  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Legal Cases ◽  
Legal Documents ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Partial Reconstruction ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Hours ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law

Professional jurists are often inquisitive about the subject matter of their calling and in the course of their careers may well develop fascinating insights into the law and those who interpret it. Their employers, however, be they governments, corporations, firms, or private clients, rarely show similar enthusiasm for such insights unless the hours spent pondering the social or historical significance of this or that legal view have a contemporary value that justifies the lawyer's fee.Thankfully, other members of society are rewarded for mining the legal records of the past. For legal historians, the search often focuses on the changing legal ideas and how legal doctrine develops over time to meet the changing needs of societies. Yet because the law generally deals with concrete matters – again, because jurists are paid by people who are unlikely to remunerate those who simply while away their hours making up legal cases – it offers a reservoir of information that can be used, albeit with caution, in fields other than just the history of the law.A partial reconstruction of the law of any given time and place is among the more obvious historical uses of legal documents but statutes, practical decisions, and even theoretical texts can be used to advance other forms of the historical endeavour. Legal works often reflect the values both of jurists and society-at-large, for while the law creates social values it is not immune to changes in these very values.

Exotica, Fashion and Immortality: The New Use of Gold in Han Dynasty China (206 bce–ce 220)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Shengyu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Composite System ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Use

This article explores the use of gold in the elite tombs of Han dynasty China, the popular use of which originated outside the Chinese cultural milieu, and its integration into the Han portfolio of materials representing people's expectations for the afterlife, such as immortality and well-being. In contrast to jade, which had a long history of use in China, gold was in itself a ‘new’ element of Chinese culture. This article outlines the introduction of gold objects from Europe and Central Asia via the Eurasian Steppe and borderland of China from around the eighth century bce. The unprecedented use of gold in the Han-specific jade suits, and the process by which foreign types of zoomorphic motifs were adopted and connected with local motifs, are explored. In light of the political change from multiple competing states before the first unification in Chinese history in the third century bce, and the development in ideology and concept of an ideal and eternal afterlife, this article explains the reasons and meanings of the new use of gold in Han dynasty China and the composite system of motifs, materials and objects.

Karl Polanyi’s Anthropological Theory of Economy

Naukratis ◽  
2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Moller
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Economic Organization ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

In accordance with the hermeneutical principles laid down in the introduction, this chapter will be devoted to an account of the theoretical models underlying the analysis and interpretation of the source material. Karl Polanyi’s empirical observations resulted in a series of ideal-types such as can be employed for the evaluation of the evidence from Naukratis in the following chapters. Polanyi’s works do not form one single, complete theory of economy; rather, they should be seen—as Sally Humphreys has put it so aptly—as sketches of areas within largely unexplored territory. It is of course true that George Dalton went to great lengths to develop Polanyi’s ideas further; the fact nevertheless remains that they continue to be far from accepted as paradigms for all further research in the field of economic anthropology or economic history. Indeed, such continuations of Polanyi’s approach have served only to limit unduly the openness that is the very advantage of his ideal-types. It is for this reason that one should return to Polanyi himself and employ his original ideas. His work has been taken up by only a few within the realm of the economic history of classical antiquity, something due partly to his own—problematic—statements on the subject of Greek history, and partly to lack of interest shown for anthropological approaches within ancient history. Polanyi disagreed with the view that markets were the ubiquitous form of economic organization—an attitude regarding the notion of the market as essential to the description of every economy—and also with the belief that it is the economic organization of any given society which determines its social, political, and cultural structures. For his part, Polanyi contended that an economy organized around the market first came into being with the Industrial Revolution, and that it was not until then that the two root meanings of the word ‘economic’—on the one hand, in the sense of provision with goods; on the other, in the sense of a thrifty use of resources, as in the words ‘economical’ and ‘economizing’—merged.

The Idea of Atlantic History

Itinerario ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Bailyn
Keyword(s):  
International Seminar ◽  
Atlantic History ◽  
Ancien Regime ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Overseas Expansion ◽  
Twentieth Anniversary ◽  
Ancien Régime

When I was invited to participate in the conference marking the twentieth anniversary of Leiden's Centre for Overseas Expansion and to contribute to the conference's retrospection of recent scholarship on the history of overseas expansion, I happily agreed. And I agreed specifically to contribute a paper on what was rather casually, I think, called ‘The Atlantic in the Ancien Régime’. Since I had been working, one way and another, in that area for a long time, I expected no difficulty in writing up a reasonable paper. But the more I thought about the subject, and the more I reviewed what had been done in recent studies of ‘the Atlantic in the Ancien Régime’ the more mysterious and interesting the question became and the more strongly I was led back to earlier antecedents in the literature. I had a growing feeling that something strange had happened, something that, oddly enough, I had myself been involved in without knowing it, something that I was in fact attempting to formulate in connection with an international seminar on Atlantic history that I will be directing over the next few years.

Social and Economic History of Guangdong Province: State of the Field

1990 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xian'en Ye ◽  
Chunsheng Chen ◽  
Robert Y. Eng
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Guangdong Province ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Of The Field

VII. Foreign Investment in India and Indonesia, 1920–1960

Itinerario ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-162
Author(s):  
B.R. Tomlinson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
And Performance

Discussing the issue of foreign investment in colonial economies, such as those of India and Indonesia, in the first half of the twentieth century gives rise to a number of problems. In addition to the obvious difficulties of data collection there are also complex conceptual and definitional issues. The aim of this paper is to set out what we know about the quantities and performance of foreign investment in the two economies, and to use this information to draw more general conclusions about the economic history of the two areas. In analysing the material only those lines which seem to offer a genuinem comparative perspective will be followed. We are interested in those aspects of the history of foreign investment in India which can tell us something about the history of foreign investment in Indonesia, and vice versa. It is convenient to split the subject into two time periods, 1920-38 and 1945-60.

The maintenance, repair and construction of ships in the French Empire during the eighteenth century

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-611
Author(s):  
David Plouviez
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Economic History ◽  
French Empire ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Construction Tasks ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Port Infrastructure

The history of maritime trade has been the subject of considerable research since the 1950s, but the technical artefacts of this trade have not received the attention they deserve. While historians have paid plenty attention to ships – their features, tonnage, etc. – and port infrastructure overseas, the issues relating to naval repair and construction in the Empires have rarely attracted interest. However, this is a key factor in understanding the dynamics of trade, which encompasses the interplay between economic history, social history and the history of technology. Drawing on the example of the French Empire, this article aims to provide a first approach to this economy of maintenance, repair and shipbuilding overseas. The first step is to identify the places where these complex tasks were carried out and to establish the temporality of equipment in overseas ports. Did the French Empire offer a network of ports equipped to maintain, repair and build ships? What equipment does this include? But while the question of infrastructure is crucial, insofar as it raises other issues related to the role of the State and its relationship with economic stakeholders, it is also essential to consider that a significant share of maintenance, repair and construction tasks were not associated with any specific infrastructure. The question of knowledge, know-how and their exchange within the Empires is also important and is the subject of the second part of this article. The aim is to demonstrate that the identification and breakdown of shipbuilding workers, the establishment of their occupational mobility and the technical discussions they engaged in with other Europeans, settlers or natives, provide challenging research opportunities that may help us to understand the maintenance, repair and construction of ships in the Empires.

An Ancient Chinese Stock of Gold

1942 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Homer H. Dubs
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Standard

The elaborate Chinese standard histories, which, if all translated, would fill several hundred thick volumes, provide illuminating information about many aspects of economic history. In this paper, I shall present a passage that enables us to estimate the gold stock of the Chinese at the beginning of the Christian era, a type of information rarely available.In his History of the Former Han Dynasty, Ban Gu (writing about A.D. 80) has occasion to illustrate the stinginess of a usurping emperor, Wang Mang, and enumerates his wealth as follows:At this time [A.D. 23], in the inner apartments of the Wei-yang Palace, ten thousand catties of actual gold were put into one chest and there still remained sixty chests. In each office for storage of the Yellow Gate and of the Intendant of Palace Parks and in the workshops of the Master of Recipes, there were also several chests. The Imperial Treasury at the Ch'ang-lo Palace and the Bureau of Equalization and Standards in the capital in addition stored very much cash, silk, pearls, jade, and valuables.

The Great Depression and Indian Industry: Changing Interpretations and Changing Perceptions

1987 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 585-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Third World ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Satisfactory Explanation ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Impact

To what extent was the underdeveloped world caught up in the vortex of the Great Depression? Did the crisis of 1929–33 leave a particular imprint upon the course of the economic history of the Third World during the inter-war period? Can the years spanning this quinquennium be fairly regarded as constituting a distinctive phase within the broader perspective of much longer-run trends? These questions, together with a whole host of related issues concerning the experience of particular areas, communities and industries, have recently been brought into much sharper focus than has hitherto been so. Although this reawakening of concern can be partly put down to the usual workings of the ‘scholarly cycle’, a far more satisfactory explanation may be found in relating it to the current round of public and academic discussion on the impact of the present-day depression. It is surely no coincidence that since the late 1970s there has been a considerable upsurge of interest in the events of that time; indeed it would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that the subject is forcing its way up the agenda of research priorities at a rate that would have been unthinkable even a decade ago. Over the last few years an increasing number of scholars have been busily engaged in the twin task of purposively re-examiningand reassessing a segment of intellectual territory that was once taken very much for granted and virtually shunted off to the sidelines. Thus by the end of 1986 at least three major international conferences will have been convened on the subject, and no less than fifty separate papers will have been presented.

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