China: Political, Social, and Economic Reforms from 1700s to the Present

Abstract

 Chinese social and economic history is both influenced by and, to a certain extent, married with Chinese political regimes. Various political dynasties from the past have each exercised significant control of Chinese social and economic environments, and continue to exert influence even to the present day. Three of these influential periods include the Kang Qian Flourishing Age (1723-1796), the Qing Dynasty Decline (1800s-1912), and the People’s Republic of China Communist Control (1949-present). A review and in-depth examination of each regime helps to both understand where China is today and also how it is likely to evolve in the Qing dynasty saw an increase in the number of markets and market towns, but also an evolution in market structures. If marketing is viewed as a hierarchical process, wherein there are some markets that are central and collect the goods from many lower markets in the hierarchy, then China was “filling out” its hierarchy during this period. There were markets that served entire regions, markets under these that served sections of regions, and an increasing number of markets that served the producers. Simultaneously, the markets that were serving the producers were moving from being periodic markets (markets that only met a few days a week, to which farmers could come and bring their produce) to becoming stationary markets that operated every day and had stores that existed all the time, wherein people were working full time as merchants. (2005, p. 2) Along with Western incursions, by the end of the eighteenth century the Qing dynasty was also being seriously threatened by a multitude of internal problems. First, there was the state’s inability to sustain an enormous increase in population. Because of a century of peace and relative prosperity, China’s population apparently doubled under the Manchus, reaching the level of about 300 million by the end of the eighteen century. The expansion of agricultural production was unable to keep up with such rapid demographic growth. By 1800, arable land had increased by less than 5 percent, woefully inadequate to support a population that had expanded by more than 100 percent. Rather than accept unemployment or starvation, many Chinese peasants turned to banditry or joined rebel movements to ease their misery.