China's Economic Rise

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

2. Chapter 1. Introduction: The Rise of a Nation

   Sangaralingam Ramesh

   Abstract

   The transition from the Jomon culture to the Yoyoi culture was a technological transformation comparable to the Meiji period after 1868 when Japan began to emerge as an industrialised power. In this case, the Yoyoi culture represented the emergence of agriculture and animal husbandry as a source of food, rather than that represented by the hunter-gatherer existence on its own. The spindle whorl was used to weave cloth from a single thread; and the glass and the metal industries emerged. Nevertheless, while the specialisation of labour was able to develop, a class structure developing as a result, items such as bronze mirrors, iron weapons and tools as well as glass ornaments still had to be imported from China.

3. Chapter 2. The Kamakura Period (1185–1333): Emergence of Military Government: The Bakufu

   Sangaralingam Ramesh

   Abstract

   It was not until 1183 that Yoritomo received the official imperial seal of approval to defend it and Japan from the rule of Kiyomori and the Taira Clan. Then it was not until 1184 that the imperial court gave Yoritomo approval to set up a military government or Bakufu in Kyoto. And it was not until 1185, when the Taira had finally been defeated at the Battle of Dannoura, that Yoritomo was able to establish the Bakufu in Kamakura and in the process giving rise to the birth of the Kamakura period. At the heart of the Kamakura was the legacy it left for the future of Japan.

4. Chapter 3. The MuromachiMuromachi PeriodMuromachi Period (1333–1568) and the Azuchi–Momoyama PeriodAzuchi-Momoyama Period (1568–1600)

   Sangaralingam Ramesh

   Abstract

   The Muromachi Period can be regarded as one of the periods in Japanese history which has been repeatedly misinterpreted. In this case, the Muromachi Period had been the transition from the classical Heian Period to a pre-modern Japan during the Tokugawa period. However, the early interpretations of the Muromachi Period viewed Japanese development in the context of a cultural enlightenment accompanied by weak political structures and declining institutional capability. Nevertheless, the Muromachi Period represented a time in which there were developments in Japanese institutions taking place through political and social changes.

5. Chapter 4. The TokugawaTokugawa PeriodTokugawa Period (1600–18681868): Isolation and Change

   Sangaralingam Ramesh

   Abstract

   Shogunate isolationist policies also allowed the Japanese to develop their own scholarship, art, thought, customs and societal behaviours. Nevertheless, isolationist policies meant reduced trade as well as a lack of foreign stimulus to domestic industries and Japanese thought and culture. As a result, the Shogunate may have entered a period of stagnation, from which it did not wake up from until the mid-nineteenth century when the western powers arrived at its ports, with their military might, demanding that Japan end its isolationism and open itself up to trade. Thus, isolationism, the lack of stimulation for innovation and development as well as the increasing poverty of the samurai may have directly led to the end of the Shoguns in 1867.

6. Chapter 5. The Meiji PeriodMeiji Period (18681868–1912): Industrialisation and Democratisation

   Sangaralingam Ramesh

   Abstract

   Not only did the Japanese navy and army become the largest organisational forms in Japan in the transition from the Tokugawa period to the Meiji period, but they also acted as a stimulus for the development of new systems mostly associated with a centralised tax system and a system of universal primary education. Education in the Meiji period was centrally controlled by the Ministry of Education, especially in the 1880s. This central control of the educational system was necessary because in Meiji Japan it was seen that only a uniform educational system would allow for state formation. And in contrast to the nation building objectives of the Meiji government, the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled over a politically decentralised country which was held loosely together and would not be a ‘nation’ in the modern context.

7. Chapter 6. The Taisho PeriodTaisho Period (1912–1926): Transition from Democracy to a Military Economy

   Sangaralingam Ramesh

   Abstract

   The period 1900–1930, which encompasses the end of the Meiji Period, the Taisho Period as well as the start of the Showa Period, was a time in which Japan was transitioning to a world power in its own right. This is a very similar situation faced by a contemporary China in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Just as in the first decade of the twentieth century Japan was awed by the new inventions of the time at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition, which included electricity, the motor car and the aeroplane, China today is facing and embracing a period of rapid technological innovation in its own time. And just as Japan faced changing socio-economic, cultural and political change in the early part of the twentieth century, China is facing the same problems today.

8. Chapter 7. The Showa PeriodShowa Period (1926–19891989): War and the Emergence of a Modern Japan

   Sangaralingam Ramesh

   Abstract

   Increased Japanese manufacturing as a result of the Korean War may have led to the modernisation of Japanese industry through the 1950s as well as an expansion in global demand for Japanese manufactured goods. As a result, the Japanese economy began to grow by 10% per year from 1960. By the end of the 1980s the Japanese economy had become the second largest in the world behind the United States, but had a GNP per capita which was higher than the GNP per capita of the United States. Furthermore, at the same time while the United States had become the world’s largest debtor nation, Japan had become the world’s biggest holder of foreign assets.

9. Chapter 8. The Heisei PeriodHeisei Period (19891989–2019): Economic Stagnation and the Rise of China

   Sangaralingam Ramesh

   Abstract

   The economic crisis in Japan began in 1989 when the Bank of Japan started to increase interest rates in order to control rapidly rising inflation. As a result of the increase in interest rates, the bubble burst, and this would send the economy into a recession for over two decades. The economic contraction was severe with land prices falling and rapidly rising bankruptcies, bad debts, crime rates and suicides. The latter may have resulted because due to the lack of economic growth, falling profits and inability to repay corporate debts, Japanese firms were simply abandoning ‘jobs for life’ which the Japanese had taken for granted. Interestingly enough, the Chinese economy today faces similar challenges faced by the Japanese economy after the late 1980s.

10. Chapter 9. Conclusion: Lessons for Contemporary China

    Sangaralingam Ramesh

    Abstract

    This chapter brings together all of the findings of previous chapters in the context of institutional changes which have impacted on Japan’s economic development from pre-history to today. And also, what lessons China may learn from similar situations faced by the Japanese economy. Japan’s high level of economic growth in the 1950s and in the 1960s was based, as was the case of the rise of the contemporary Chinese economy post 1978, on a combination of the use of imported advanced technology and the abundant availability of low-cost labour. Moreover, the co-ordinated market economy featuring intervention in the economy by government departments such as MITI to support industry and the structuring of industries through Keiretsu allowed for an efficient allocation of resources.

11. Backmatter