Silk-Reeling in Modern East Asia: Internationalization and Ramifications of Local Adaptation: In the Late 19th Century

This is an attem pt to look at the situation o f late 19th century E ast A sia as the site o f an in terface betw een in ternationalization and increasing ram ifications o f patterns in local adaptation . The local regions chosen for my study w ere under g reat transform ation as they becam e directly involved in the w orld econom y. A fter the opening o f E ast A sia, both through the m assive penetration o f the w orld m arket and through the acceleration o f technological change deep into local areas, diverse

patterns o f local adaptation to in ternationalization em erged on an unprecedented scale. W hat I shall do here is, firs t deal w ith local regions individually and apart from the fram ew ork o f the state and then, put them into an in ternational context.