This article analyzes Nanxun, a lower Yangzi delta town known for its silk products, as a case study of China＇s development and underdevelopment. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a booming silk t...This article analyzes Nanxun, a lower Yangzi delta town known for its silk products, as a case study of China＇s development and underdevelopment. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a booming silk trade linked Nanxun to the global market and made it an extraordinarily wealthy town, yet little was achieved in terms of urban development. Scholars have attributed the underdevelopment of Nanxun to economic factors, and perceived it as entirely undesirable. This article argues that a largely overlooked cause of Nanxun＇s underdevelopment was the conformist culture of Nanxun＇s ruling elite. The merchants who created the wealth of the town by their very natures preferred to create a safe and secluded zone in which the familiarity of their living environment could be preserved and the comfort of a traditional lifestyle assured. The underdevelopment of Nanxun turned out, however, not to be completely negative. The town did not sustain its status as a trading center, nor develop into a major city, but its arrested development preserved much of its original layout and, moreover, its culture. From a cultural and environmental point of view, Nanxun＇s underdevelopment may have proved to be more valuable than if the town had become an indistinguishable industrial site.展开更多
Scholars have long been interested in rebellions and revolution in Chinese history The interest has a real-world basis： China＇s long and turbulent past is a rich minefor academic study, and the country＇s seemingly ...Scholars have long been interested in rebellions and revolution in Chinese history The interest has a real-world basis： China＇s long and turbulent past is a rich minefor academic study, and the country＇s seemingly endless conflicts and struggles in recent centuries give such study relevance to reality. For obvious reasons, most studies of Chinese rebellions and revolutions focus on rural society. Wu Jen-shu＇s Jibian liangmin is among relatively few works that devote attention to public, and often violent, expressions of displeasure in Chinese cities and towns before modern times.展开更多
文摘This article analyzes Nanxun, a lower Yangzi delta town known for its silk products, as a case study of China＇s development and underdevelopment. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a booming silk trade linked Nanxun to the global market and made it an extraordinarily wealthy town, yet little was achieved in terms of urban development. Scholars have attributed the underdevelopment of Nanxun to economic factors, and perceived it as entirely undesirable. This article argues that a largely overlooked cause of Nanxun＇s underdevelopment was the conformist culture of Nanxun＇s ruling elite. The merchants who created the wealth of the town by their very natures preferred to create a safe and secluded zone in which the familiarity of their living environment could be preserved and the comfort of a traditional lifestyle assured. The underdevelopment of Nanxun turned out, however, not to be completely negative. The town did not sustain its status as a trading center, nor develop into a major city, but its arrested development preserved much of its original layout and, moreover, its culture. From a cultural and environmental point of view, Nanxun＇s underdevelopment may have proved to be more valuable than if the town had become an indistinguishable industrial site.
文摘Scholars have long been interested in rebellions and revolution in Chinese history The interest has a real-world basis： China＇s long and turbulent past is a rich minefor academic study, and the country＇s seemingly endless conflicts and struggles in recent centuries give such study relevance to reality. For obvious reasons, most studies of Chinese rebellions and revolutions focus on rural society. Wu Jen-shu＇s Jibian liangmin is among relatively few works that devote attention to public, and often violent, expressions of displeasure in Chinese cities and towns before modern times.
