Abstract: The theory proposed by the American scholar Kenneth Pomeranz in his work The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy can be identified as a categorical comparison from the perspective of pure economics. However, the theory is historically inapplicable, revealing a number of blind spots in its analysis of the trends and development of Chinese history from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Prior to the industrial development movement, in which Western Europe took the lead, China and Western Europe exhibited points of connection and similarity in terms of their history, social systems, and cultural movements. However, the two regions never experienced a "convergence." Therefore, a later "divergence" never occurred. On the contrary, as a consequence of the globalized expansion of Western Europe after the sixteenth century, the European and Chinese social systems began to tend toward uniformity. As a result of this trend, China's social and historical movements, systems of social organization, and even cultural forms began to resemble and converge with those of Western Europe. In examining the relationship between Chinese history and world history in the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, the concepts and methodology of civilization studies are highly applicable.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 2
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