Evolution from Traditional to Modern Wage-Labor

Yanan Wang ()
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Yanan Wang: Xiamen University

Chapter Chapter 21 in The Basic Theory of Chinese Economy, 2026, pp 139-143 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This section analyzes the evolution from traditional to modern wage labor in China by examining how pre-existing labor forms affected the transition to modern wage relations. It highlights the “away-work” pattern, weak craft-guild organization, and merchant dominance as forces that subordinated production to commerce and discouraged reinvestment in industry. It further considers state-supervised industries, official monopolies, and dependent agricultural labor as additional obstacles to stable wage formation. The section argues that these historical conditions constrained later modernization, so that wage labor often developed in a distorted or hybrid form under capitalist influence.

Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-95-6330-2_21

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