Pattern of the Chinese Past [Hardcover]

Mark Elvin (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Methuen Publishing Ltd (May 3, 1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0413286304
• ISBN-13: 978-0413286307
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,881,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "High-level Equilibrium Trap", February 10, 2004

By 

Daniel Stroup (Chengdu, China) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pattern of the Chinese Past (Paperback)

Professor Elvin renders Chinese history through an economic perspective instead of using the common dynastic classification by attempting to answer three questions:

-What contributed to the continuity of the Chinese empire?

-Why was the Chinese economy the most advanced in the world from the Song dynasty (960-1279) up until the latter half of the Qing dynasty (mid-1800's)?

-Why did China fail to maintain her technological advantage after the mid-fourteenth century while advancing economically?

In the first section of the book, the author elucidates the staying power of the Chinese empire was due to the following factors. The economics of defense in relation to the size of empire and the power of its neighbors never became an extreme burden that it rendered the state impotent for any consecutively long period of time. It was always able to reformulate itself after a short disunity or rule by a foreign power of the whole, which only happened twice within a two thousand year period (Mongol and Manchu rule). Two other factors that contributed to the continuity of the Chinese state include a relatively isolated existence from the rest of the Eurasian landmass and the important placed on cultural unity, beginning with the first emperor's destruction of local records in order to quell local loyalties (pp.21-22). Both of these factors had been built up over time through a revolution in communication and transportation.

The second section of the book analyses the causes of the economic revolution that occurred between the 8th and 12th centuries and the technological growth that accompanied it. The transformation of agriculture, especially in the south, was the major impetus that fuelled the economic growth of this period. This revolution in agriculture had four aspects. 1.) The preparation of soil became more effective as a result of improved or new tools and the extensive use of manure and lime as fertilizer. 2.) Seed improvements allowed for double cropping. 3.) Improvements in hydraulic techniques and irrigation networks and 4.) specialization in crops other than basic foodgrains (p.118). Improvements in transportation and communications were almost as important as agriculture in growing the economy. Water transport saw big gains and led to the golden age of geographic studies and cartography, with envoys travelling as far away as Africa. Money and credit matured during this time helping to expand the economy. Paper money made its first appearence in 1024. Improvements in science, medicine, and technology also occurred during this period. However, dispite all these advancements, "this period was the climax and also the end of many preceding centuries of scientific and technical progress"(p.179). Although the Chinese economy continued to advance from the 14th century on, albeit on a smaller scale, it was not accompanied by improvements in technology.

The last section deals with this phenomenon, describing the distinctive characteristics of this late traditional period (1300-1800), and then proceeding to point out why technological advancements did not keep pace with the growth in the economy. This period sees a rise of small market towns in the sixteenth century and a decline in contact with the non-Chinese world around the middle of the fifteenth century. Also, by the eighteenth century serfdom disappeared which aided in the growth in the population, which had reached 400 million by the mid-1800's. Elvin interestingly points out that the highly sophisticated metaphysics that evaded Chinese intellectual thought during the Ming and Qing dyansties negated any deep scientific inquiry (p.233). In the attempt to explain the lack of technological advancement, Elvin disputes a number of conventional explinations. Contrary to popular belief, there was enough capital during this period to finance simple technological advances, also there was minimal political obstacles to economic growth.

In short, Elvin believes "that in late traditional China economic forces developed in such a way as to make profitable invention more and more difficult. With falling surplus in agriculture, and so falling per capita income and per capita demand, with cheapening labour but increasingly expensive resources and capital, with farming and transport technologies so good that no simple improvements could be made, rational strategy for peasants and merchants alike tended in the direction not so much of labour-saving machinery as of economizing on resources and fixed capital. Huge but nearly static markets created no bottlenecks in the production system that might have prompted creativity" (p.314). This condition is what he terms as a "high-level equilibrium trap". The term "trap" to describe the condition of late imperial China's technological advancement in relation to the economy is similar to "Escape from Predicament", Thomas A. Metzger's analysis of the "predicament" Chinese intellectual thought found itself confronted with from the Song through to the end of the Qing dynasty. Both explanations have at its core the idea of late imperial China not being able to generate real substainable progress internally, stating that it was the Chinese response to the Western threat in the mid to late 1800's that finally brought the needed change.