Abstract
When discussing Anglo- or foreign-Chinese relations in the modern era, it must be remembered that the period preceding the outbreak of the Opium War was characterized by ‘foreign’ apprehension vis-à-vis the unknown and unpredictable Chinese. At that stage, the West had only limited experience of Chinese military capability and readiness to use force in defence of any perceived encroachment upon their ancient country and civilization. On the whole, experience had taught foreigners that the Chinese were a proud and unbending people. Thus, for example, China permitted the development of some foreign trade, treating it as part of the system by which vassal states paid tribute to the Empire in return for imperial largess.
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Notes
T.G. Rawski, Economic Growth in Prewar China (California, 1989), p. 3.
C. Howe, Employment and Economic Growth in Urban China, 1949–1957 (Cambridge, 1971), p. 9.
See also Mi Ru-Cheng, ‘Evolution of the Economic System in China, 1796–1978, in A.J.H. Latham and H. Kawakatsu (eds), The Evolving Structure of the East Asia Economic System since 1970: A Comparative Analysis (Eleventh International Economic History Congress, Milano, 1994), pp. 44–5.
Mao Tse-tung, Selected Works, Vol. II (Peking, 1965), p. 342
and Cheng Chu-yuan, Communist China’s Economy — 1949–1962: Structural Changes and Crisis (Seton Hall University Press, 1963), p. 1.
C. Riskin, China’s Political Economy — The Quest for Development Since 1949 (Oxford, 1987), pp. 13–14.
Riskin, op. cit., p. 14; C.F. Remer, Foreign Investments in China (New York, 1933), p. 76; Cheng Chu-yuan, op. cit., p. 8.
A. Shai, Britain and China 1941–1947: Imperial Momentum (London, 1984), pp. 61–8, 158.
R. Loh, Businessmen in China (Hong Kong, 1960), p. 2.
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© 1996 Aron Shai
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Shai, A. (1996). Britain and China: From Imperial Relations to Formal Equalization. In: The Fate of British and French Firms in China, 1949–54. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230375628_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230375628_2
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