Global Powers in South China Sea

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The linguistic skills and historical knowledge required to write global economic history at this level of sophistication are rare. The author possesses all the qualifications required to have contributed an original and profound comprehension of political relations between states and their communities of merchants engaged in long distance commerce between Qing China and Western Europe before the Industrial Revolution. - Patrick Karl O’Brien, FBA former Director of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, UK. Global history has been enriched by the ‘Great Divergence’ concept, but much of it remains theoretical and speculative. With this global approach to the history of the South China Sea region, Manuel Perez-Garcia provides a data-rich analysis drawn from both European and Chinese sources that offers new perspectives on the fate of empires that avoids both the biases of Eurocentrism and Sinocentrism. This is a fine example of true global history. - Jan de Vries, University of California at Berkeley, USA. This book offers a new perspective on Qing economic and political practices, as well as the dynasty’s geopolitical tensions, through a local lens on foreign trade networks. Employing a reciprocal comparative framework, it illuminates the deep structural interconnections between Western and Chinese market systems. By utilising the innovative GECEM Database, which cross-references Western and Chinese primary sources to mine new archival data, the study constitutes a methodological advance that presents novel approaches beyond the Great Divergence debate. It is an essential reading for specialists in global economic history, sinology, East Asian studies, economics and international relations. Manuel Perez-Garcia is a Tenured Professor at the Department of History, School of Humanities, at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China). He was awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant under the Horizon 2020 / EU Funding for Research & Innovation Program to lead the GECEM Project (Global Encounters between China and Europe, www.gecem.eu), which examines market integration between China and Europe. He is the founder and director of the Global History Network in China (GHNC) (www.globalhistorynetwork.com)

This book examines the dynamic interplay of consumer behaviour, trade networks, and long-distance alliances in driving economic growth across Qing China, Western Europe, and the Spanish American colonies from 1680 to 1840. Employing a reciprocal comparative framework, it illuminates the deep structural interconnections between Western and Chinese market systems. By utilising the innovative GECEM Database, which cross-references Western and Chinese primary sources to mine new archival data, the study constitutes a methodological advance that offers fresh insights into the Great Divergence debate.

Moving beyond an analysis of large-scale structures, this work emphasises the decisive agency of traders. By facilitating the bidirectional flow of Chinese goods to the West and European commodities to China, merchants catalysed a transformation: they reconfigured consumption, spawned new demand, and reshaped transcontinental socioeconomic relations.

The study situates these dynamics within critical geopolitical junctures: the establishment of maritime customs under the Kangxi emperor in 1680, the closure of trade and rise of the Canton system under Qianlong in 1756, and the outbreak of the Opium Wars in 1840. These turning points illuminate transformations in trade strategies, local economies, state capacity, and relations between merchants and officials across the Ming–Qing transition.

Engaging with recent scholarship, Global Powers offers a new perspective on Qing economic and political practices, as well as the dynasty’s geopolitical tensions, through a local lens on foreign trade networks. It is an essential reading for specialists in global and economic history, sinology, East Asian studies, early modern history, as well as for economists and scholars of Sino-European relations.

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Manuel Perez-Garcia

Themen in »Global Powers in South China Sea«

Global History Qing China Consumption Trade Networks Early Modern Europe State Capacity Silver Digital Humanities Vicarious Consumption Theory Power Paradox Theory Governing Dynamics Opium Wars China-Europe International Relations Manila Galleons Jiangnan Region

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