Author Description

Why has Japanese industrialization been so much faster than that of China? The relative economic development of Japan and China from similar nineteenth-century conditions are examined here in broad philosophical, social, political and historical perspective. This book challenges a common assumption that Chinese Confucianism does not encourage modernization, while Japanese Confucianism propelled for industrialization forward. it examines further reasons why Max Weber's judgment, "the Chinese would be probably more capable than the Japanese, of assimilating capitalism", has not been borne out.