The Qing state
From
"brian turner" <bkt90@hotmail.com>
Date
Fri, 24 Sep 2004 11:25:13 +0000
Hello to all from Hanoi. I've just got back on the CSG after being
accidentally off for unknown reasons for 9 months (the same time I've been
in Hanoi).
I was just debating the following issue on a google group and wanted to
solicit opinions here.
What is the scholarly consensus (or anyone's personal view) on the nature of
the Qing state's economic policy? Was it relatively laissez-faire, was it a
rapacious taxer and repressor of would be merchants and capitalists? Or was
it a Meiji Japan style "developmental state".
Most of what I've read (Kang Chao, Philip Huang, Peter Perdue, Ramon Meyers,
Thomas Metzger) suggest the former, but apparently the "Oriental Despotism"
thesis is still widely held, I guess to explain why laissez-faire didn't
develop China.
-Brian Turner
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