Adam Smith and Yan Fu: Western Economics in Chinese Perspective - Hardcover

by Cheng-Chung Lai (Author)

This book examines at a static level how Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776) was introduced into China at the turn of the twentieth century. In a dynamic socio-economic context, Yan Fu (1854-1921) had The Wealth of Nations in mind as a prescription for China's "Wealth and Power". This book aims answer the question of whether The Wealth of Nations, a book which advocates laissez-faire, free trade, and minimum governance helpful for China with very different economic conditions and modes of thought to the West and goes on to reexamine Yan Fu's economic ideas through a modern economics perspective.

Back Jacket

This book examines at a static level how Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776) was introduced into China at the turn of the twentieth century. In a dynamic socio-economic context, Yan Fu (1854-1921) had The Wealth of Nations in mind as a prescription for China's "Wealth and Power". This book aims answer the question of whether The Wealth of Nations, a book which advocates laissez-faire, free trade, and minimum governance helpful for China with very different economic conditions and modes of thought to the West and goes on to reexamine Yan Fu's economic ideas through a modern economics perspective.

Author Biography

Cheng-chung Lai is Emeritus Professor at National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan), with three decades of experience in teaching economic history and history of economics thought. His books in English include: Adam Smith across Nations: Translations and Receptions of The Wealth of Nations, Oxford University Press (2000); Braudel's Historiography Reconsidered (2004). He was educated in Taiwan (BA) and Belgium (MA), received his doctorate from École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.