Smokeless sugar : the death of a provincial bureaucrat and the construction of China's national economy / Emily M. Hill.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hill, Emily M., 1957-

Series:

Contemporary Chinese studies.

Contemporary Chinese studies, 1206-9523

Contemporary Chinese Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Feng, Rui, 1899-1936.

Feng, Rui.

Sugar--Manufacture and refining--China--Guangdong Sheng--History--20th century.

Sugar.

Guangdong Sheng (China)--Politics and government--20th century.

Guangdong Sheng (China).

China--Politics and government--1928-1937.

China.

China--Economic conditions--1912-1949.

Guangdong Sheng (China)--Officials and employees--Biography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (337 p.)

Place of Publication:

Vancouver : UBC Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Part history, part biography, and part mystery story, Smokeless Sugar reveals how the concept of a national economy took shape in China by investigating the 1936 execution of Feng Rui, a provincial official who introduced modern sugar milling in Guangdong. Examining the circumstances of Feng Rui's arrest on charges of corruption, Emily Hill traces the construction of a Chinese national economy through cross-border interactions between industry and agriculture and between China and Japan. She makes the case that Feng was, in fact, a scapegoat in a multi-sided power struggle in which political leaders vied with commercial players for access to China's markets and tax revenues. This illuminating study challenges conventional wisdom about the effectiveness of the Republican state in promoting national unity during the Nanjing decade and highlights continuities in official economic policies from the 1930s to the Communist era.

Contents:

1 The Formation of Agricultural Expertise: Feng Rui's Education and Early Career

2 Public Service in Guangdong, 1931-36 : Economic Nationalism and Provincial Planning

3 Rice and Revenue: Guangdong's "Benefit Agriculture" Import Taxes

4 White Sugar: Global Business and Provincial Enterprises

5 Bitter Experiences with Sugarcane

6 Brokers, Smugglers, and the Official Sugar Monopoly, 1934-36

7 National Reunification and the Punishment of Feng Rui

8 Provincial Sugar Industry Programs, 1945-58

Conclusion: Shaping China's Economic Nation on the Eve of War.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [290]-309) and index.

ISBN:

1-283-71678-X

0-7748-1655-4

OCLC:

799730031