Translator’s Introduction

The Development of China's Native Industries During the First World War by Zhou Xiuluan* presents statistical material about an important period of Chinese history much needed by those of us studying the economic and social transformation of modern China. In preparing his monograph, however, Zhou was not merely writing an economic historical analysis. He provided theoretical justification for the Chinese Communist political regime by focusing on a key period in the progression of Chinese society from feudal to collective control and explaining it according to Marxist historical interpretation.