State and Market in Mid-Qing Economic Thought. The Case of Chen Hongmou (1696-1771)

Abstract

This article seeks an understanding of the basic assumptions underlying economic policy-making in mid-Qing China, through an analysis of the pronouncements and actions of Chen Hongmou, a long-serving provincial official identified by later writers as an examplar of the "statecraft" (jingshi ) movement. The Qing imperial administration was strongly committed to utilizing what we would term "market mechanisms" to achieve its economic goals. It sought to achieve the highest possible volume of commodity circulation (liutong ) and to uphold the principle of determining prices by market means (shijia ), as the best methods to ensure provisioning (yang ming) and generate wealth (sheng cai ). It recognized the existence of laws of commerce (maoyi zhi chang ), which state policies could not effectively contravene. This did not mean that the state could not play a highly activist role in the economy, but rather that achieving desired economic goals required adapting policies to, and making sophisticated use of, market forces. The article concludes by noting the similarities between this lineof economic thinking and that of eighteenth-century French physiocracy.