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China's loss of economic, technical, and cultural supremacy after the Song Dynasty (A.D. 960-1279) has produced one of the greatest enigmas of world history. Why did China fail to undergo an industrial revolution? Explanations relate to deficiencies of Chinese cultural values, social structure, class system, bureaucracy, and technology.
This volume examines the subject of technological development, particularly agricultural development, in order to evaluate whether China suffered all-round technological stagnation. Using the example of the nongshu, or agricultural book, the author also examines the role of Chinese values, social structure, class structure, and bureaucracy in the accumulation, preservation, diffusion, promotion, and recovery of knowledge. Nongshu formed an organic part of Chinese agriculture and thus of Chinese economic history. Thus examination of the nongshu phenomenon leads to new insights into the sociopolitical structure and long-term economic development of pre-modern China. The examination also shows that Chinese technology in agriculture, the leading sector of the economy, did not completely stagnate.
List of contents
Introduction
Nongshu: A Phenomenon in History
The Background: Natural and Social Environment in China, and Authors' Motives
The "Mainstream" Agronomic Treatises
The Chinese Agronomic System and Its Development
Nongshu Dissemination
Nongshu and Economic Development
Conclusion: Chinese Agriculture without Shi and Nongshu
Appendix I: Estimated Shi Population in Premodern China
Appendix II: Identification of Authors Studied by Wang Yuhu (1964)
Appendix III: Nongshu Publishers and Sponsors
Appendix IV: Illustration of the Role of the Nongshu
Appendix V: The Reason for the Decrease of the Cultivated Land Area
References
Abbreviations
Literature
About the author
GANG DENG is Lecturer in Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His earlier books include
Development Versus Stagnation: Technological Continuity and Agricultural Progress in Pre-modern China (Greenwood, 1993) and
Chinese Maritime Activities and Socioeconomic Development, C. 2100-1900 A.D. (Greenwood, 1997).
