This wholly original reassessment of critical issues in modern Chinese history traces social, economic, and ecological change in inland North China during the late Qing dynasty and the Republic. Using many new sources, Kenneth Pomeranz argues that the development of certain regions entailed the systematic underdevelopment of other regions. He maps changes in local finance, farming, transportation, taxation, and popular protest, and analyzes the consequences for different classes, sub-regions, and genders.Pomeranz attributes these diverse developments to several causes: the growing but incomplete integration of North China into the world economy, the state's abandonment of many hinterland areas and traditional functions, and the effect of local social structures on these processes. He shows that hinterlands were made, not merely found, and were powerfully shaped by the strategies of local groups as well as outside forces. This wholly original reassessment of critical issues in modern Chinese history traces social, economic, and ecological change in inland North China during the late Qing dynasty and the Republic. Using many new sources, Kenneth Pomeranz argues that the development of certain regions entailed the systematic underdevelopment of other regions. He maps changes in local finance, farming, transportation, taxation, and popular protest, and analyzes the consequences for different classes, sub-regions, and genders.Pomeranz attributes these diverse developments to several causes: the growing but incomplete integration of North China into the world economy, the state's abandonment of many hinterland areas and traditional functions, and the effect of local social structures on these processes. He shows that hinterlands were made, not merely found, and were powerfully shaped by the strategies of local groups as well as outside forces.

Kenneth Pomeranz , 1958—

著名曆史學傢，曾任美國曆史學會會長（2013—2014），“加州學派”代錶人物。1980年於康奈爾大學獲學士學位，1988年於耶魯大學獲博士學位，師從史景遷。現任美國芝加哥大學曆史係教授。主要著作有：《腹地的構建 ：華北內地的國傢、社會和經濟（1853—1937）》（榮獲1994年費正清奬）、《大分流：歐洲、中國及現代世界經濟的發展》（榮獲2000年費正清奬、2001年世界曆史協會年度圖書奬）、《貿易打造的世界：1400年至今的社會、文化與世界經濟》（與史蒂文•托皮剋閤著）等。

譯者

馬俊亞

1966年生，江蘇沭陽人。現為南京大學曆史係教授、博士生導師。主要著作有：《規模經濟與區域發展——近代江南地區企業經營現代化研究》《被犧牲的“局部”：淮北社會生態變遷研究（1680—1949）》等。