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International Conference Discusses the Great Divergence after Ten Years of Debate

2012-09-10
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Mr. LI Bozhong compared the GDPs and industrial structures of Yangzi Delta and the Netherlands in 1820s and came to the conclusion that both of them have transformed from traditional agricultural economy to modern industrial and commercial economy. Professor James Lee, Dean of the Humanities and Social Sciences School in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, stated in his research based on data analysis that unlike traditional view, China in Ming and Qing Dynasties was not caught in "Malthusian trap". Professor Leonard Blussé from Leiden University, the laureate of the Dutch Queen Knight Medal of Honor, illustrated the developing process of urban agglomeration in Lower Yangzi and Rhine Basin after 13 century in his report titled “Rhine and Yangzi, a Great Divergence? The Lower Yangzi and Rhine Basin Compared: 1350-1850.” The report argued that the development of urban agglomeration drives the local economy to be global. Professor Joseph McDermott from Cambridge University analyzed the financial function of Chinese ancestral shrine that had been neglected by other scholars in the past by using ancestral shrine in Huizhou as the study object and compared it with Japanese temples in the research report titled “What Weber, Freedman, and Pomeranz Did Not Know about the Ancestral Shrine.” Professor Long Denggao from Tsinghua University’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences analyzed diversified form of Chinese land ownership transactions and property rights. He came to the conclusion that resource allocation centered on land property is reinforced in Chinese traditional agricultural economy while the transformation to resource allocation centered on capital in modern economy is difficult. Professor Myung Soo Cha from Korean Yeungnam University expounded his comparative studies on famine relief system of China and DPRK in Qing Dynasty in the research report titled “State Famine Relief as a Cause of the Great Divergence: Evidence from a Vassal State of China.” He argued that state famine relief system will hinder long-term development of agricultural economy. Mr. Martin Uebele from University of Muenster estimated Germany’s GDP in 1500 to the mid-19th century and its long-term growth rate in the report titled “German Long Growth Since 1500 in the Context of the Great Divergence.”