ABSTRACT
Over the past few years we have reflected upon the appropriate methodology for understanding the “modern period” in China. Mizoguchi Yuzo argues that because the “search for the origins of Mao’s revolution” has occupied central stage in postwar studies of modern China, especially in intellectual history, our image of modern China has been distorted. This chapter looks at articles dealing with land systems and agricultural management, especially, Terada Hiroaki’s essay, “The Legal Character of Topsoil and Subsoil Practices: A Conceptual Analysis”. It explores the articles dealing with industrialization in the late Qing, beginning with “The Activities of British Capital in China in the 1860’s: The Management of the Jardine-Matheson Silk Mill” by Ishii Mayako. The chapter examines studies in the field of political history such as Sasaki Masaya’s continuing essay, “A Study of the Opium War: From the Arrival of Pottinger to the Signing of the Treaty of Nanjing (Part 1)”.
