Bottom-Up Industrialization in the People’s Republic of China: A Case Study of Industries Producing Small Things in Zhejiang

Asei Ito ()
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Asei Ito: The University of Tokyo

Chapter Chapter 13 in Imitation, Counterfeiting and the Quality of Goods in Modern Asian History, 2017, pp 245-281 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter examines the historical development of small things industries in the People’s Republic of China, focusing on the institutional constraints under the planned economy and the development process after the beginning of marketization reforms. A wave of socialist movements in the 1950s eliminated small businesses as well as the marketMarket itself, and resulted in serious shortages in small goods, whereas marketization reform allowed for the rebirth of small businesses; however, it was not long before product-quality issues emerged. By examining the case of the Yiwu Market, a large-scale wholesale marketWholesale market for consumer goods, this chapter shows that the crucial factors in the development of Yiwu as a center for the production of small things included the agglomerationAgglomeration of numerous small producers and buyers, operating with aggressive support by the local government. The chapter argues that small goods production and trade in ZhejiangZhejiang should be seen as a bottom-up pattern of industrializationBottom-up pattern of industrialization in Chinese light industry.

Keywords: China; Economic transition; Bottom-up industrialization; Small businesses; Product quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:stechp:978-981-10-3752-8_13

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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-10-3752-8_13

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