The Religious Ethic and Mercantile Spirit in Early Modern China

Yü’s book is a tour de force of interpretive and analytical scholarship using Western theory to illuminate the Chinese past. -- Gilbert Z. Chen * China Review International *
[I] recommend the book for an upper-division undergraduate course in disciplines such as sociology and the history of religion, Chinese history, Asian studies, and comparative religion . . . There are clearly directions of research that scholars may pursue along the path paved by Yü. -- Bin Song * H-Buddhism *
An undertaking only a scholar of the tallest order could have accomplished because the work is not one of “deliberate research,” but one that is built on the knowledge of a lifetime of reading, browsing, and thinking. The weight of this book and the sway of its argument lie heavily on the formidable scholarship of Ying-shih Yü. -- Jonathan Spence, author of The Search for Modern China
This English translation makes available a seminal text about the norms that sustained the rise of indigenous capitalism in late imperial China. Deeply grounded, compellingly argued, deftly framed in Weberian terms, and expertly edited, this work is a must-read for all who seek orientation in a big-picture understanding of Chinese capitalism over the past five centuries. -- Wen-hsin Yeh, author of Shanghai Splendor: Economic Ethics in the Making of Modern China
A welcome translation of Yü’s masterly analysis of early modern economic/commercial principles and practice in light of the reorientation of Chinese thought inward. This is intellectual history deeply grounded in real life through primary sources that at once engages Weberian concepts while elucidating the very different context of early modern Chinese society. -- Joanna Waley-Cohen, author of The Culture of War in China: Empire and the Military Under the Qing Dynasty
Yü’s book is the most original Chinese challenge to Max Weber’s theory of the roots of modern capitalism in the Protestant ethic. This English translation will stimulate discussion that is often hampered by either a lack of understanding of what Weber actually said or insufficient knowledge of Chinese inner-worldly asceticism. -- Hans van Ess, president, Max Weber Foundation
Even though this book was written over thirty years ago, the questions it raises and the sources and arguments it provides are still quite relevant today, in fact even more so. Yü’s book was a classic when it appeared, and in translation, it will become a very timely intervention. -- Peter Perdue, author of China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia
The English translation of Yü Ying-shih’s book, which is a welcome contribution to Western Chinese studies, should be a stimulation for intensifying investigation into the relationship between Chinese religiosity with its inner-worldly asceticism and mercantile spirit (or generally speaking economy) in China not only for Sinologists but also for researchers in religious studies, economic history and social sciences. -- Zbigniew Wesołowski * Monumenta Serica *
This volume will prove invaluable to all those interested in Chinese religion as well as the theory of religion. Indeed, with the death of Yü just last year on the 1st of August, this volume is a fitting homage to his legacy. * Religious Studies Review *