European luxury consumption in ChinaGovernment action, state capacity and consumer behavior (1680-1840)

Abstract

Abstract Commercial intercourse and cultural exchanges between China and Europe have been taking place for centuries. Without a global perspective, studies might be unilateral. The purpose of this thesis is to examine foreign trade and European import consumption in a specific period of early modern China, covering the period from the gradual opening but restricted maritime trade since the late 17th century to the outbreak of the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century. This thesis focuses on European luxury goods that entered China, especially clocks, wine and other handicrafts during this period. Being an important part of world trade, European luxury goods is closely related to the fields of global history, economic history and consumer studies. This study aims to give a detailed description and analysis of real consumption situation of that period by cross-referencing various sources - official edicts, memorials, imperial household records, local chronicles, etc. Also to have the situation of China’s foreign trade concretely and comprehensively displayed with researches on operation of China’s four major customs and the volume of import and export trade. Based on the Qing Emperors’ preference, the thesis also analyzes typical luxury consumption of the upper class in the Qing Dynasty, including the royal family, nobles, officials, merchants and intellectuals, in order to conduct comprehensive research on how these luxury consumption habits affected the formation of the imported goods market, the imitation industry and other local corresponding industries. The study of import and consumption of European luxury goods in China is not to enumerate historical statistics, but to reveal more factors and features of that time. The thesis focuses on finding more relevance in the issue of consumption, rather than production under the political situation of the time, and gives a comparative study from a global historical perspective. Supported by the existing researches in both Eurocentric and Sinocentric approaches, this study aims to reveal new perspectives on the theme of Euro-China trade in the early modern period. It is hoped that this study could serve as a complement to studies of the early modern China in a global historical context and examines the role of China as a consumer market in the global economy.