"This book is the first Western monograph on Shanxi piaohao - private financiers from the Chinese hinterland - in the economic and business history of late imperial China, forming the original theory of Chinese hinterland capitalism. Deepening the existing understanding of capitalist dynamics at...

1. Introduction : changes in modern China and their causes -- 2. The Qing state and its success -- 3. The withering state and its consequences -- 4. Empire-wide unrest and failures in state-building, 1850-1870 -- 5. State revitalisation and federalism, 1850-1911 -- 6. Musical chairs for more...

This book provides the most detailed and complete picture of workers' protest in China to date. It locates their position within the context of Chinese political history and the role played by Chinese workers in radical political movements