Thinking Economics in Twentieth-Century China

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

This panel explores the various ways in which the economic has been thought in twentieth century China. Beginning with early Republican debates about the agrarian question and women, the panel proceeds to consider 1930s’ era translations of Max Weber’s understanding of the bureaucracy and the economic and the consistent return of Weber through the 20th century, Dai Jitao’s Cold-War era pan-Asianism, and ends with the “socialist market economy” in relation to classical economic theory. This panel presents the freshest new thinking about thinking economics in 20th century China.

Area of Study

• China and Inner Asia

Session Organizer

• Rebecca E Karl, New York University

Individual Presentations

• The Agrarian Question and the Woman Question - Andrew Liu, Villanova University

• The (In-)compatibility of the “Visible” and the “Invisible Hand”: Tracing the Intellectual Origins of the Chinese “Socialist Market Economy” - Isabella Maria Weber, The New School for Social Research

• Max Weber in Twentieth-Century China - Angie Baecker, University of Michigan

• The Impossibility of Pan-Asianism: Zhang Junmai’s Cold War Regionalism - Brian Tsui, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Discussant

• Rebecca E Karl, New York University