Strands of Modernization: The Circulation of Technology and Business Practices in East Asia, 1850–1920 ed. by David B. Sicilia and David G. Wittner

Abstract

Reviewed by: Strands of Modernization: The Circulation of Technology and Business Practices in East Asia, 1850–1920 ed. by David B. Sicilia and David G. Wittner Mila Davids (bio) Strands of Modernization: The Circulation of Technology and Business Practices in East Asia, 1850–1920 Edited by David B. Sicilia and David G. Wittner. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2021. Pp. 208. This collection of essays aims to highlight the circulation of technology and business practices within East Asia and the central role that Japan played in this process in the 1850–1920 period. Hybridization in the transfer of technology and business methods is a recurring theme in several chapters, with an important role for the agency of local actors. In doing so, the book contributes to the increasing number of studies [End Page 641] that consider the regions beyond the West not only as passive recipients of "advanced" Western technology but also pay attention to their active role as customizers, initiators, and also intraregional sharers. In the general introduction, the reader is introduced to the late nineteenth-century Japanese, Chinese, and Korean context by financial historians David Sicilia and David Wittner, who specialize in East Asian history. As they and many of their likely readers work largely outside the circle of historians of technology, they extensively explain the broad view of technology with which readers of this journal are quite familiar. Although modernization is central to the volume's title, the concept is not discussed extensively or problematized. An exception is the chapter by William Steele, in which he nuances the dominant narrative of Asian modernization as Westernization. The development of the rickshaw in Japan and its spread across Asia illustrate how local initiatives also contributed to modernization, underscoring the idea that modernity and modernization are neither uniform nor monolithic processes. The discussion about modernization in Asia as cited by Steele, however, does not resonate as such in the introduction. It is not connected with the active role of actors in Asia itself. The editors clearly use the concept to refer to the desire of governments to acquire Western technologies, practices, institutions, ideas, attitudes, etc. Wittner—who also published about the Tomioka Silk Filature and the Osaka Cotton Spinning Mill in T&C's April 2022 volume—illustrates how technology transfer in the Meiji period was largely determined by the wish to "modernize" and how the symbolic value of selected and imported technology was of greater importance than its contribution to technological and business functioning. For the Meiji government, the Tomioka silk mill was first and foremost a showcase of "modernity." The choices for the factory setup (brick and iron) and machines (imported from "advanced" France) underlined the "modernity" and "progress" of Japan. Sketching the role of Shibusawa Eiichi—a prominent businessman who for a short period was also involved in the Meiji government—who stressed the value of indigenous technological knowledge and expertise, Wittner shows that what is considered "truly modern" changes over time. Some other chapters, especially Kimura Masato's, highlight the role of Shibusawa as a driver of the transfer of Western technology and business practices to Japan and of the modification of those practices. The role of individuals in the transfer of ideas and business practices is also illustrated in Chen Yu's chapter about the Chinese entrepreneur and businessman Zhan Jian, who was inspired by what he saw as the successful Westernization of Japan and what he wanted to achieve in his own province, Jiangsu. A new aspect to the studies on international expositions is added by Jeffer Daykin—who illustrates how Japan deliberately chose to take over a setup for international exhibitions in which direct comparisons between artifacts were central, an approach that had been abandoned in the West at that time. [End Page 642] Unfortunately, only a few chapters provide a good overview of the promised intra-East Asian technology transfer from Japan. Apart from Steele's chapter on the rickshaw, Japan's role is also evident in the story of the spread of printing in China. Hon Tze-ki illustrates how the partnership with a major Japanese textbook publisher gave the Chinese company Commercial Press the opportunity to enter the market and...