Chinese Culture and

Recent Economic Development

( Part I)

By Dr. Ming Men

Visiting Fulbright Scholar

Chinese Culture and Recent

Economic Development

• The land of China

• A glance on Chinese history

• Chinese culture traits

• Chinese culture roots

Chinese Culture and Recent

Economic Development

• Family life

• Education

• Cultural attitudes

• Tips for doing business with China

The land of China

The land of China

• China’s culture, like all others, was

conditioned by the land which nurtured it.

• A large, disparate resource-rich physical

setting produced a large, disparate, self-

sufficient society.

5000 years history

• The land is the stage;

• The people are the cast.

Ancient civilization

• In pre-modern times, technological

inventions and scientific discoveries

depended on the experiences of

craftsmen and farmers, and the

enlightened genius’ casual

observations of nature.

Advanced technology

• Owing to a large population, there

were many able craftsmen, skillful

weavers and geniuses in China.

• The country thus made many

splendid contributions to science and

technology.

An example

The prosperous nation

• China held a leading position in the

fields of scientific discovery,

technological invention, productivity

improvement and wealth creation,

and was the most prosperous

economy in the world.

Ancient Chinese inventions

• Compass

• Dynamite

• Paper making technology

• Printing technology

Earthquake forecasting apparatus

Ancient Chinese “computer”

The closed China

• During the Qing Dynasty before 1840,

China was closed, or more

accurately, it highly controlled its

contacts with the outside world.

Vigorous trade control

• The western merchants could only deal

with a group of government appointed

merchants called ”Gong Hang”.

• The volume of the trade and the prices as

well as the personal activities of western

merchants were also regulated by the

Gong Hang.

Why did China impose such

limitations on trade?

• Chinese sense of superiority.

• The desire to protect itself.

The Opium War

• Despite strict government regulations

foreign trade in China expanded during the

later 18th century and early 19th century.

• As trade grew, the west found themselves

to have a large and rising trade deficit with

China.

• They were increasingly anxious to balance

their trade.

Why opium?

• Yet the Chinese, having a self-sufficient

economy, showed little interest in Western

products.

• Finally, in 1820, the West found a product

which China did not have, opium.

• Between 1829 and 1855, opium smuggling

developed rapidly along China’s South

Coast.

The effect of opium

• In the 1830’s, opium had became a vice in

China.

• Virtually all men under 40 smoked opium.

• The entire army was addicted.

• It affected all classes of people, from rich

merchants to Taoists.

• The total number of addicts in China in the

1830’s was as high as 12 million.

The weakened China

• Due to the smuggle of opium, the trade

deficit Western countries had with China

quickly turned into a trade surplus.

• China could not export enough tea and silk

to balance the trade.

• Instead the difference in trade was made

up by the export of Chinese silver, which

was highly valued for its fine qualities.

Chinese government’s decision

• Faced with this problem, the Chinese

government opened a debate among

Manchus and senior officials.

• The debate lasted for two years, in the

end, a minority group which favored an

uncompromising stand prevailed.

Fighting against opium

• In 1839, the emperor issued 39 articles

which imposed extremely severe

punishments, including death, for smoking

and trading opium.

• Special Commissioner Lin Ze-xu was sent

to Canton to ensure the rules were carried

out.

Lin Ze-xu

• Lin made 1,600 arrests and confiscated

11,00 pounds of opium in two months.

• In June, Lin forced foreign merchants to

hand over 20,000 chests of opium.

• He burned the opium in a public

demonstration and scattered the ashes

across the sea.