A HISTORY OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN CHINA: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF A CASH CROP IN GUANGDONG, 1644-1834

The dissertation consists of six chapters and is arranged in two major segments: the first half looks at the history of cane cultivation in China, the development of appropriate agricultural techniques, and the history of cane production. The second segment studies a specific socio-economic context of cash-crop cultivation and sugar production in the Pearl River Delta (Guangdong) from the beginning of the Qing period to 1834, the year the Charter of the East India Company, a major exporter of Cantonese sugar, was abolished. The dissertation thus analyses all important aspects of production of a cash-crop, and by carefully examining the technology used for production, questions whether barriers to further development in the industry were purely of a technological nature, or whether the socio-economic context of sugar production in South China inhibited the adoption of more efficient technology. By combining the study of the history of a particular commercial product over an expanse of several centuries with an analysis of the socio-economic context of production, the dissertation hopes to provide an insight into the economic history of late imperial China and add to the debate on the nature of economic development in China.; Three distinctive phases are identified in the industry: the initial phase during which the technology was borrowed from India and the industry developed under Buddhist auspices, followed by a period of indigenous technological developments. The last phase commenced from the late seventeenth century onwards when minor technological improvements were attempted, and improvements available within the parameters of pre-industrial technology rejected. The dissertation then explores the decentralized structure of small-holder production in Guangdong and proposes that the barriers to technological innovation and development lay within this structure of production. The development of a mercantile-gentry elite, the revitalization of lineage structures, and control of the marketing structure by this elite are then identified as the fundamental factors shaping the contours of production structures which remained dominant despite the incorporation of China into the world market.