New Perspectives on China’s Late Imperial Period

Patrick Leung obtained his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his doctoral degree in managerial economics from Harvard University. He is currently Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Economics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

List of Tables – List of Figures – Preface – Acknowledgments – Part One: Overview – When Did China Fall Behind? – Differences Between the Beliefs and Value Systems of the West and China – What Closed Door Policy? – Almost Everybody Disliked Merchants – Free Markets Without Capitalism? – Why Is the Chinese Population So Large? – Literacy Rates of Ming and Qing China – Why Hadn’t the Chinese Discovered the New World and Australia? – What Happened to Chinese Firearms? – Why China Had No Scientific and Industrial Revolution? – Rule of Law, Rule of Man and Rule by Law – Ruling Class Democracy versus Rule by Mandarins – Part Three: Why China Slept and Implications for the Future – China’s Long Sleep: Imperial Overstretch and Its Consequences – What If Europeans Had Not Come to China in the Early Modern Period? – Implications for China’s Resurgence – Index.

“This thought-provoking book by Patrick Leung is most timely at this juncture of geopolitical evolution. The book presents compelling arguments that many of the perceived wisdom about China's past are flawed and the ‘rise’ of China of late is a natural development from what had transpired in the Ming-Qing period. This book will enhance international understanding of China's past and present and help facilitate the development of more productive relationships between China and other nations.”— David Tien Sik Kiang, Chief Executive, Da Tang Xi Shi International Group Limited and Chairman of Finance Committee of Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce

“Patrick Leung has produced an impressive, interdisciplinary examination of the myriad factors that contributed to China’s long period of relative economic backwardness. Drawing on such priors, he offers explanations for the country’s present resurgence and suggests some signposts for its future path of evolution. There are China economists. There are China historians. There are China philosophers. And there are China jurists. Very few China scholars are able to pull together the large body of Chinese and foreign language literature into such a readable and informative analysis.”— Dr Simon Ogus, CEO DSG Asia Limited

"Based on deep research, Patrick Leung has written a book that challenges Western understandings of why China ‘went to sleep’ in its late imperial period, after earlier leading the world in many dimensions, including education, technology and living standards. His findings about the importance of geopolitical rivalries have broad historical implications. Read it!"—William H. Overholt, Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School, Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation