Social and Economic Drivers of Economic Development of Preindustrial China (Ming- beg. Of Qing)

This work is devoted to the study of the socio-economic drivers of pre-industrial China in the Ming and Qing era. The work is very relevant due to the incredible economic performance of China over the past 30 years. It may seem unbelievable, but in fact, for most of its history, China has been one of the largest economies in the world. In connection with the Chinese economic revival of recent decades, many scientists are increasingly talking about this topic in their scientific works. This historical phenomenon, due to which the economies of Western Europe has significantly advanced ahead of the Chinese counterpart, is called the “Great Divergence”. The main objective of this work was to consider the different views of foreign and Russian historians and economists and assess the level of development of the Chinese economy in comparison with the European one. It is worth considering facts such as the fact that Europe is an extremely diverse region in economic terms, therefore, special attention will be paid to the ratio of China's economic development compared to Western Europe. Particular emphasis was also placed on the consideration of various economic drivers of the late imperial period (Ming and Qing). The work is historiographic in nature. The works of famous historians and economists were taken, who were studying the Chinese economy and the features of its development compared to Europe and carefully analyzed. Some scientists had their own, very different from the mainstream view of the problem. Then, based on an analysis of the work, various theories were put forward that could explain the possible reasons for China's economic lag behind the countries of Western Europe. Each of them was analyzed on how well it explained the possible reasons for the lag. The works of such authors as Pomeranz, Tikhvinsky, Deepak Lal and others were examined. The result of the work was that the most plausible economic development of China was described in the work of Deepak Lal, who also gave the most plausible theory regarding the possible reasons for China's lagging behind Europe.