Sprouts of capitalism

[3][4] Shang Yue and other Chinese historians sought to justify Mao's hypothesis in the 1950s, producing a series of papers collected in two volumes entitled Essays on the debate on the sprouts of capitalism in China published in 1957 and 1960.

[6][7] Some versions of the theory held that indigenous development of industrial capitalism was forestalled by the 17th-century Manchu invasion or 19th-century conflicts with European powers such as the Opium War,[8] while others believed that the sprouts were always weak and had withered by the 19th century.

In 1980 the late-Ming historian Mori Masao said this work "failed to produce satisfactory theoretical results, though it uncovered a wealth of historical facts which had hitherto been unknown".

[9] Economists such as Philip Huang and Li Bozhong have attacked "sprouts" research and other approaches measuring Chinese economic history against developments in Western Europe.

They challenge the underlying assumption of a single path of development reflected by the European experience, and argue that focusing on similarities with Europe distorts the study of Chinese history.

[31] According to this theory, farmers responded to the 17th-century labour shortage caused by foreign invasions by adopting more efficient farming methods, leading to greater commercialization and proto-industrialization, which was curtailed by the Japanese interference from the late 19th century.