China and Historical Capitalism
Genealogies of Sinological Knowledge
Gregory Blue editor Timothy Brook editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:5th Sep '02
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£98.99(9780521640299)
A collaborative volume aimed at correcting the view of China as a failed version of the West.
Viewed through the lens of capitalist development, China appears as a failed version of the West. This volume seeks to identify this distortion and correct it through a series of essays from leading scholars in the field, and is an important contribution to the development of theories of world history.This book addresses the historical relationship that has arisen between the concept of capitalism and the idea of China. Formulated by European intellectuals in order to identify the social formation in which they found themselves, capitalism was portrayed as unique to Europe and as an organic outgrowth of Western civilization. In this way, China was rejected as a model of civilization, and seen merely as despotic, feudal or stagnant. This Eurocentric judgement has hung over all subsequent thinking about China, even influencing Chinese perceptions of their own history. The aim of this collaborative project is to examine how the experience of capitalism as a European social formation and as a world-system has shaped knowledge of China. In addition the volume aims to establish new foundations on which a theory of Chinese society might be built, in order to perceive and understand Chinese development in less Eurocentric terms.
"This is an interesting, clearly written, thoroughly researched and well-documented study." International Journal
ISBN: 9780521525916
Dimensions: 229mm x 151mm x 23mm
Weight: 616g
304 pages