Overview

This book explores the economic history of the traditional Chinese iron industry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with particular emphasis on the interactions among technological, economic and geographic factors. The traditional technology of iron production is described together with the ways in which it changed and developed in response to upheavals wrought by foreign competition, war and revolution and by the growth in China of a modern iron industry. The last episode in the modern fate of China's traditional iron industry occurred during the Great Leap Forward of 1958-60 when its technologies played a part in an enormous effort to expand iron and steel production and bring China out of a situation of economic gridlock. That campaign was overall a massive failure, but it had some partial successes which have generally been overlooked and in any case will be of interest to historians of the period. Many of the book's findings are counter-intuitive, and will provide food for thought in the study of Third World industrial development. The author has written widely on the history of science and technology in China, and is currently engaged in writing the volume on ferrous metallurgy for Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China.

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9780700709519

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Donald B. Wagner has written widely on the history of science and technology in China, and is currently engaged in writing the volume on ferrous metallurgy for Joseph Needham’s Science and Civilisation in China., The Foreword is by Peter Nolan of Jesus College, Cambridge.

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