Japan, China, and the Growth of the Asian International Economy, 1850-1949

Book excerpt: Economic history in modern Asia is commonly written in terms of its impact on the West. This book, the result of a 1993 workshop held in Osaka on the role of China in the Asian economy, argues that the growth of trade and the migration of capital itself has been a strong factor in determining East Asian development. The twelve papers in this volume concern themselves with three major themes. The first is the importance of economic interactions between Japan and China--for example, how Japan's industrialization took advantage of the Chinese merchant networks in Asia and how Chinese competition was a critical factor in Japanese organizational and technological upgrading in the periods in between. The second theme shows how China's entry into the international economy was shaped by the growth of intra-Asian trade, by migration, and by capital flows and remittances. The third is how intra-Asian trade enables us to understand the nature of colonialism and the climate of imperialism.