Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis dissertation contains two related chapters and an introduction. The common themes they explore are the unresolved questions surrounding the English Industrial Revolution (EIR). The questions include what happened, why did "it" happen first in England, why did it happen then in history, and what are the consequences? The story is a history of economic growth from a specific point of view -- energy consumption for an economy; the framework can be used to illuminate our economic present and possible economic futures. Economic and other historians have been grappling with these puzzles for a long time; their answers fall along a continuum from New Institutional Economics (some mix of institutions and perhaps culture) to almost pure chance. Institutional explanations are at least a plurality; this work makes the case that these explanations are not sufficient in the sense of not being primarily causal or sufficiently explanatory in the EIR's history. The work further explores that at least the major institutional changes are endogenous to the revolutionary economic changes. The major claim is that the EIR was primarily an energy consumption revolution, the English having had the correct economic incentives and historical path to learn how to use steam power to replace muscle power. The contribution is the attempt to apply economic principles to the data and history and measure their explanatory power. The work identifies two energy revolutions explaining the EIR. The first, converting from wood to coal for industrial and domestic heating purposes, probably happened several times in history at other places in addition to England. In addition to this first-phase energy revolution in England, Chapter 2 documents an added noteworthy instance, that of the iron and steel industry in Sung China (960-1126 CE). The second revolution, converting from muscle power to steam power, happened first in England before engulfing the world. To support the claims the work employs several methods including empirical analyses, microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, and descriptive narratives from many sources. The general method is to apply basic economic principles to the available data and narratives. Among the insights, the work proposes a hypothesis of industrial revolutions that can be tested beyond the cases included in this work. This work uses basic microeconomics, macroeconomics, and relevant empirical data (as the data permit) to test the cases of China and England. To support the revolutionary growth on the supply side, the work makes the case that there was sufficient consumer demand to drive the efforts of the entrepreneurs and inventors. Once the theoretical framework for industrial revolutions is explored, then the work turns to the question of how did these momentous economic events affect the growth of industrial capitalism since it is one of the more important institutions that is associated with the EIR

Relativism and universalism in interrogation fairness: a comparative analysis between Europe and China

This paper addresses Chinese interrogation rules from historical and comparative perspectives by relating them to the very different development of interrogation procedure in Europe. A fuller understanding of the evolution of the rules in both contexts is relevant to the present day controversy concerning the universal versus relative nature of interrogation fairness. The comparative analysis reveals that, in fact, the influence of ancient Greek and Chinese civilizations resulted in a great difference between Europe and China regarding legal cultures and institutional arrangements for criminal interrogation procedure. Considering future legal reforms in China, and given the very different historical and institutional context, the likelihood seems low that an ‘autonomous version’ of the right to remain silent and the privilege against self-incrimination will develop on China’s very different soil. However, traditional native resources are also available to legal reformers to ensure a cooperative interviewing style in criminal questioning, and eliminate police-coerced confessions

The Justice of Balance: Understanding Intellectual Property from Chinese Historical and Philosophical Perspectives

PhDIn today's world, intellectual property is widely viewed as a threat to the public interest in using knowledge. As many scholars have argued, a theoretical reason accounting for this phenomenon is that traditional understanding of intellectual property emphasizes strong property rights rather than the public interest. As historical studies have shown, this understanding is fundamentally influenced by the practice of printing monopoly of sixteenth-seventeenth century England, which gave overwhelming attention to appropriation. This thesis tries to join the above debates by examining the intellectual property history of pre-modern China. Based on the historical inquiry, it further makes several theoretical suggestions to the ongoing development of intellectual property theories. This thesis argues that intellectual property practice as a tool of stimulating creativity emerged in China when the commercialization of knowledge products made the intellectual property protection a must. A more important finding is that, in a relatively non-monopolistic atmosphere, tremendous efforts were made to effectively disseminate knowledge to enhance the public interest; there existed no obvious conflict between stimulating knowledge creativity and promoting knowledge use. This thesis then suggests that knowledge creativity and knowledge use are inherently inter-nutritional and inter-conflicting. To promote their reciprocity, it is crucial to keep balance between maximizing knowledge use and stimulating robust knowledge creativity. This thesis further proposes a system containing `the right of accessing knowledge' and `the right of deserving reward', in which intellectual property is only a mean to the end and coexists with various alternative models. This thesis provides a firm theoretical support to the public interest but does not necessarily devalue the importance of knowledge creativity and intellectual property. In many fields, well-designed intellectual property laws must continue to prevail

Wang Yuanqi and the Orthodoxy of Self-Reflection in Early Qing Landscape Painting

This dissertation explores the life and art of Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715), one of the most influential literati artists of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). As a representative of the so-called “Orthodox Painting School,” Wang considered himself the heir to the genuine thousand-year-old tradition of Chinese painting. Throughout his lifetime, he made every effort to establish and consolidate the authority of his school of painting. Since his early years, he had been trained as a traditional Chinese literatus. Under the direct supervision of his grandfather, he practiced landscape paintings in the style of ancient masters, especially that of the Yuan literati painter, Huang Gongwang (1269-1354). However, he was never satisfied with the facsimiles of the old masterpieces. Beyond his models, he created new theories of composition and brushwork; he introduced a new style of light color landscape with unique techniques. Moreover, benefiting from the lenient cultural policies of the Kangxi emperor (r. 1661-1722), he successfully led a movement of canon-formation in artistic circles. The research of this thesis is based on three types of sources: 1) Wang Yuanqi’s published writings, 2) his paintings, and 3) publications and manuscripts by Wang’s contemporaries. Different from previous scholarship which mainly focuses on the classicism of Wang Yuanqi’s work, this dissertation provides a comprehensive study of Wang’s life and his circle and investigates the reason and procedure of the rise of the Orthodox Painting School in the early eighteenth century

China?s challenges to future sustainable economic growth and the implications for the United States

The ?stunning comeback? of China after almost two centuries is one of the most significant trends affecting Western economies, particularly the United States (US). None of the key drives that have promoted China?s growth are really at risk if the Chinese government does not deviate from its present economic policy and keeps up gradual refinement of its unique and effective social-capitalist model. The real risks to China?s future growth are remaining poverty, the unbalanced and unsustainable growth model, bureaucracy, and the corruption of government officials. China?s government is taking determined steps to solve these challenges. The great challenge for the US is its large accumulated debt with China, and the need for additional borrowing to finance its massive economic stimulus plan. There is little doubt that US will (after solving the financial crisis of 2008 with China?s help) continue to be one of the most powerful nations in the world. Nevertheless, it will have to learn to share the world leadership with other countries, particularly with China, Europe and other fast growing developing countries. Gone is the absolute dominance of the US (in terms of ideas and money), and its use of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank as vehicles to spread its influence and market economy model over the developing world.China?s economic transformation, China?s social-capitalism, China?s challenges to economic growth, China?s remaining poverty, China?s corruption, China?s unsustainable growth model, US accumulated debt, inflation and devaluation of the dollar

Grain trade and market integration in China’s Qing dynasty

The paradox of China’s failure to industrialize despite its thriving commercialization before the 19th century has been debated intensively, especially in terms of whether market efficiency is sufficient for industrialization in the pre-modern period. This thesis sheds light on this question using archival data on grain prices covering Qing China’s most prosperous episode (1740-1820) to identify the determinants of market evolution as well as the true extent of market integration. My results suggest that China’s market efficiency on the eve of Western industrialization has been grossly overstated, and further imply that China’s market was heavily influenced by its bureaucratic structure. My analysis is based on a historical dataset of monthly grain prices (rice, wheat) in 211 prefectures across China and I match these with new data on the physical geography of the postal and river network and physiographic distribution. My analysis first confirms the close relationship between market integration and geographic proximity but shows that geographical influence is dominated by provincial boundaries. I then employ novel panel time series methods to account for the impact of local and global shocks and to investigate the evolving process of market integration over time. This analysis indicates that China experienced continuous market disintegration with fragmentation driven by political structure. These results support my hypothesis that Qing China’s political system was not conducive to the development of the market mechanism since its primary concern was market regulation rather than revenue

Confucian Jurisprudence in Practice: Pre-Tang Dynasty \u3ci\u3ePanwen\u3c/i\u3e (Written Legal Judgments)

Most scholarship on Chinese legal philosophy has neglected the study of Confucian jurisprudence in practice. As a result of this incomplete portrayal, scholars predominantly view the premodern Chinese Confucian legal tradition as lacking a rule of law system, which has led to blaming Confucianism for much of China’s modern and historical rule of law problems. This article seeks to complicate this view by examining Confucian jurisprudence in practice: specifically, the development of pre-Tang dynasty panwen (written legal judgments). Through analysis of specific panwen from various Chinese primary sources—many of which have never been translated into English—this article will show that even in Chinese antiquity the legal system was not solely marked by codification or the lack of the rule of law, but was far more complex and diverse than most scholars have portrayed. For example, elements of case law played an important role in Chinese legal history. Indeed, it is an especially good time to build our understanding of the use of cases and the role of panwen, in China’s legal past given the Supreme People’s Court’s recent emphasis on the role of case law in contemporary Chinese jurisprudence