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China and Capitalism: A History of Business Enterprise in Modern China (Understanding China: New Viewpoints on History and Culture)

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What distinguishes this book from others about China economy is that Professor Faure has maintained that China economy since the eighteenth century has lagged behind their western counterparts because the overall institutional environment instead of the influence of "Confucianism" does not fit into the modern form of capitalist economy.

Following North's proposition that economic development is highly constrained by the institutional environment in which entrepreneurs are embedded into formal and informal institutions, norms, and rules, Professor Faure has attempted to dispel the widely-held belief that Confucianism is either the 'fetter' or the 'engine' of of modern form of capitalist economy in modern China.

According to Professor Faure, the banking system was not very well established and there was a lack of industrial and commercial regulations to facilitate the emergence of sizeable firms in the Qing dynasty. He has further maintained that economic reform in China since 1978 is a result of institutional changes initiated by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) which have crafted an infrastructure of property rights conducive to economic development. The prominence of Marxist concept of residual value is also displaced by the concept of "new wealth generation" via entrepreneurship.

This book is relevant to readers who are interested in understanding institutional history of China economy and business firms in the modern and contemporary era