State-Building, The Original Push For Institutional Changes In Modern China, 1840-1950

The period of 1840 (when the Opium War broken out) till now is commonly regarded as China’s modern era, ‘modern’ in terms of China’s departure from its original growth and developmental path. In this context, the term modern has been intimately associated with something alien to the Chinese indigenous culture and pattern.There are several distinctive features for this period of 150 years (1840–1990). First, China did not begin with zero or primitivism. Up to c. 1800, China also produced roughly a third of the world total manufacturing output, ahead of the West (about 20 percent of the world total) by a significant 10 percent in the world total. In around 1830, China still matched the West reasonably comfortably. However, there was a dramatic change after 1840. In 1900, China’s share of manufacturing output declined to 6 per cent while the share of the West shot up to 77 per cent. Second, unmistakably changes during this period began with external shocks in the form of force majeure from the newly industrialised/industrialising modern powers. Table 1 contains main events marked by treaties between those powers and Qing China. Just about all such powers were actively involved.[...]