Why did China not Experience an Industrial Revolution Between c. 1700 and 1949 - Essay Example

Introduction Industrial revolution was a mode of transition from the old way of manufacturing processes to the recent innovative way of mechanized processes. This transition took place within a period of around a century. That is from 16th century to 17th century (McCloskey 2010). It was a full-size change where the production of materials using the hand tools transformed to the use of machinery, iron construction practice, enhanced effectiveness of running water and power, and improved use of power from vaporised water (steam) and upgrading of machine tools. These changes substitute the use of first hand mode of heat production like wood and some other bio-fuels, for coal (Evans and Rydén 2005). Coal was at the time a better form of heat production. It gave constant, reliable amount of heat without giving out a lot of by products as a waste (McCloskey 2010). The changeover was due to great innovation from individuals and group of people who skilfully devised ways to make work easier and create a better life for everyone (Chai 2011). Most of the innovations were involuntary and automatic, but additionally, there were others that founded through a series of experiments and exploit of science (Duiker and  Spielvogel 2011). This revolution that is an industry based commenced in Britain and after a few years later it stretched to the United States of America, as well as Western Europe (Chai 2011). It grades one of the most significant turning points in the account of the history of the whole world. Nearly all aspect of the everyday life of the inhabitants of the planet was greatly influenced in one way or another (Nolan 2008). The thing that was mostly experienced was the sharp growth of the human population. The society at this period was exceedingly rural in nature. The revolution changed this to a much modern and urban society for most of the nations at that time (Beele 2002). Many countries experienced this mode of change that spread from the centre of origin in Britain. China has had a dynamic economy in terms of its economy in the recent years (Nolan 2008). But why did it delay in achieving better industrialization in the period that other states in Europe and other countries in the regions of the world were developing? This paper is going to assess the reasons why china did not experience ‘industrial revolution’ between c. 1700 and 1949. Industrial revolution in china Belief system According to Bayor (2011), there was a delay in the industrialisation in china until later in the century. This was due to some factors that the country was undergoing at that time. Some of the great histories, who have been studying the transition, ascribed it to the difference in belief structure that existed in Europe and china at that stage (Zanden 2009). The religion and beliefs of those that lived in Europe were for the most part founded by Aristotle, Socrates and Judaeo-Christianity, and on the other hand, the societies in china were founded by people like Confucious, Buddha and Lao Tzu. These belief systems had so many differences in the way they conducted their activities. The belief system that is based in Europe mostly concentrated one persons’ personality, whereas the Chinese system of belief focused on interaction involving many people (Zanden 2009). What people in china considered to be the most important mode of relationship was the basic family unit. This was much essential than the entity of individuality. This took part in the role of delaying the industrial revolution in china (Zanden 2009). Availability of natural resources In the beginning of 1700 china was not so much dissimilar from Europe, they were really much alike. The very difference that brought about the difference in time of developing in terms of the industries was brought about by the availability of coal, food and wood in Europe (Wong 1997). Coal in this place was very close to the centres of manufacture (Faure 2006). There was enough food to take care of the population and wood was available for supplementing other processes that were outstandingly vital for the upgrading (Wong 1997). These gave Europe an upper hand in intensifying its economy much quicker than china could afford. Coal was one of the most unique elements during that century (Li and Ling 2012). It was not only part of the key industry but also it got to offer employment to a hundred thousands of men and boys. It was the main supplier of energy and power (Hansen and  Curtis 2010). According to Hansen and  Curtis (2010), Europe had easy access to it than china. Because much of the coal was accessible to the manufacturing centres it offered a very wealthy and a market in need and a team of craftsmen who came up with decisive progress in the propelling pump steam engines etcetera., In contrast with china, its coal deposits were very far-off from the processing centres. This was Shaanxi which is located miles away from Yangzi Delta that is very much industrialised (Horn, Rosenband and Smith 2010). Because of this reason, it was still not economical to agree to switch from wood to coal. Demographical situation The demography of Europe and Asia had shown a wide gap in their difference. This seems to play a very major role in the system of industrialisation. China as a state was much densely populated during this period of time in the century (Horn, Rosenband and Smith 2010). For the reason of a lot of labour that was available, the Chinese had to have very low wages. This made the people not to see the need of having creative systems like the labour savings devises (Dernberger 1980). Furthermore, the stable food crop of china which is rise, had taken up all the land and much of the labour that was offered by the citizens went into producing the same rice. On the other hand, Europe possessed a very large space of arable terrain and the population was thin in terms of the number of people (Horn, Rosenband and Smith 2010). China had a higher rate in marriage than Europe. This ended up with the theory of which large families came into existence due to this (Horn, Rosenband and Smith 2010). Technological advancement This is another factor that reveals why Europe came to industrialise before the countries in Asia like china. During this period, the Europeans were able to make some major breakthroughs in technology they discovered how to confine heat and make use of it efficiently. On the other side, the very idea of advancement and development was deficient and very feeble in the culture of the Chinese people (Weissenbacher 2009). Each generation that came after the other did not try to build or improve on what the previous generation had made, but they rather start from scratch and create their own materials. This made it to be a slow progress in their technology and improvement (Weissenbacher 2009). Nothing new could be invented. They lacked a society that was scientific oriented that had the ideas to innovate and create new ways of solving the problems that the society was experiencing at that particular period. Moreover, this lack of some types of basic technology that could have fostered a fast and better industrialisation was not available (Weissenbacher 2009). In the case of England, without the vastly industrious mines in Wales that used to provide a lot of coal, England would not have gotten the opportunity to be industrialised (Weissenbacher 2009). This is the reason as to why Song china did not get the chance to be industrialised. Domestic situation China was not in much connection with other nations. This supposed that the nation was cut off from the rest. Most of the people from the west had restricted their privileges at Canton and the right of resident at a place called Macao. China had no effort in trying to reach and communicate with Europe. This made it not to get to know the developments that were taking place on the other side of Europe (Richardson 1999). China believed that it was self-sufficient, and it prohibited entrance of foreigners. The reason for this is that it perceived those traders from the overseas to be barbarians who had the objective of surpassing china’s reward (Richardson 1999). Due to the pre-industrial growth, there were a lot of constraints in the nation’s facilities (Dittmer 2006). There were some changes like the rising prices of fuel, foodstuffs and unprocessed materials. For the reason of increased population in the country, the demand for these commodities increased very highly (Richardson 1999). For example, the prise of raw cotton doubled in Yangtze delta in the years between 1750-1800. The high demand for energy brought about deforestation and dilapidation of the surroundings. The country could have saved itself by mechanisation and trying to widen its market and the foundation of supply of the materials (Duiker and Spielvogel 2009). There was a lot of competition from some of the inland centres where some of the goods like foodstuffs were much cheaper (Richardson 1999). Most of the emperors had the attitude of believing that they had in their possession the whole lot of materials that they required and new materials were not necessary. They went ahead to disregard better ways of doing things because they thought that they could end up causing much harm and distracting the natural order that was around at that time. With nothing to push the Chinese to strive to be on top, like in a competition from the rest of the nations, in the world, no one had any interest of changing from the current state to a much better one. Colonialism and entrance to Atlantic operations in buying and selling of commodities One of the results of the British economy policy was the new area exploration around the world. Many of the Europeans and the Americas sailed to the west with the hope of getting to reach the new grounds of India. The main reason of these voyages was to discover other trade routes other than the ones that were take possession of by Ottoman Empire and other majestic expansionism (Dutta 2006). Until the closing stages of the 13th century china was one of the nations that way key in afro-Asian trade around the globe, and on the other hand, Europe was only working in the periphery and may possibly be merely linked to the system by the Mediterranean trade course (Clesse 2004). At the very start of the 15th century many of the expeditions that belonged to the Europeans consisted of thousands of individuals, who tried to seek a way to arrive to the coastline of Africa and Asia. These were directly supported by the government of the people of china (Dutta 2006). But on the other hand, in disparity to the states of Europe, commercial policies, which were mostly backed by the royals in Europe and also the emperors, Chinese expedition, were not supported by the government (Ropp et al 1990). Most of the southern part of Asia, like the former new world that the Europeans were exploiting, was also lightly inhabited and had the capacity of delivering immense extent of land-intensive resources that were required back in china (Ropp et al 1990). The Chinese decided to go there in very large numbers, but bad luck for them, because south East Asia by no means never became for china what the new places turn out to be for the Europeans (Ropp et al 1990). According to Ropp et al (1990), Chinese later decided to withdraw from these voyages, and this was with the reason of its centrality and self-sufficiency. Nevertheless, this ended up collapsing to a great extent Chinese form of power and its own industrial revolution. It was noted that the inhabitants of china were in a great deal, certain about their goods and their civilization which made them not to be interested in foreign goods (Wan 2006). Europe was able to gain much dominance above the trade in Atlantic, which made them to posses massive colonies and instructing the world marketplace. China on the other hand, was not able to achieve this (Needham and Robinson 2004). They exported very little amount of foodstuff and land-intensive commodities. This global control and domination of the Atlantic trade had pushed china to the wall. Europe was the only continent that was able to get access to immeasurable natural possessions from foreign countries and bring in a huge amount of riches (Needham and Robinson 2004). Later the triangle trade facilitated England to connect the colonies in Africa and the new world that belonged to them. All the vast amount of the raw materials were transported to England for utilization and industrial fabrications while on the other hand, the finished goods went to the other side in Africa to be used as exchanging commodities for the slaves (Needham and  Robinson 2004). Changes in institutions From early periods of history, Europe had a well established mode of institutions. This was due to the cost of transactions that were very low and an elevated stage of marketplace specialisation (McNeill 1990). Their institutions were efficient and favoured the good care of their subjects. But on the other hand, china had no intentions of developing any further from the point in which they were so as to arrive at a good form of a functioning market financial system (McNeill 1990). The country had no efficiency of the liberated market and institutionalised fortification of personal, material goods. The government of china was at all times trying to take over for the most part profitable activities, influence the charges, imposing the enticement of bribery etcetera (McNeill 1990). This totalitarian mode of governance had no concealed initiative and every single thing that could take place in the country may possibly not escape the control of the officials (Harzing and Ruysseveldt 2004). The monarchs in Europe agreed to take up the policy of mercantilism that serves up to fortify the nationalized financial system of the European states. Harzing and Ruysseveldt (2004) agree that this significant development of the institutional changes resulted in European merchants’ extension to out of the country colonies where they were in a position to acquire vast amount of riches. The people’s republic of china was at the beginning an agrarian economy that was mostly filled by peasant farmers. Later it was able to switch into the recent society all the way through industrialization. In order for the country to be able to revive great efficiency in its industries, the communist party were to be used as leaders. Many universities began to open in china and also some of the foreign treaties were long-drawn-out. China’s economy has been in a very bad state where it was anguishing from disproportion in the faculty of different industrial segments and an imperative need for better delivery of the modernised input for farming. In order to curb these kind of problems the country decided to raise its investment significantly together with signing of a huge number of deal s that included overseas companies that were to offer their services in the construction of some of the chief amenities for compound fertiliser manufacture, steel production and oil mining and processing in the refinery plant. These factors like availability of raw materials in Europe, a lot of richness acquired from the colonies, the widespread trade around the world, the presence of a unwavering form of government that offered support to the effectiveness of real establishments and was optimistic in scientific progress made the European countries to gain an upper advantage in revolutionising earlier in the century. China was not able to compete with these countries owing to the conditions in which it was in at that period of the century. Bibliography: Bayor, R., 2011. Multicultural America: an encyclopedia of the newest Americans. 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