The Great Divergence
Despite its prosperity, the Tang dynasty marked the narrowing of China’s ideological scope, as Emperor Taizong (626-649 CE) openly criticized Buddhism, resulting in a decline in its influence. This coincided with the introduction of the civil service exam in the Sui dynasty and its development from the Tang dynasty onwards (Xu 2010). The exam was positive in bringing in people from a greater variety of backgrounds into the bureaucracy, but its set curriculum and strong emphasis on the arts and Confucianism, as opposed to finance or productivity incentives, led to a reduced capacity to think imaginatively and to a uniformity of thinking that stifled innovation over the following centuries (Koyama and Rubin 2022). The other problem with the civil service exams was that its difficulty to prepare for and pass, with only 2% doing so, and the presence of the most established academics, generated a prestige that subordinated other roles in society. This led to the absence of Jean-Baptiste Say’s third point for achieving innovation: the means to translate the knowledge into practice (Lowrey and Baumol 2013). Anyone with an entrepreneurial mindset or high status avoided productive activity, which was seen as for the inferior, and goods consequently fell into the hands of the peasants – a group who did not have the knowledge or resources to tinker and elevate these inventions. While this accounts for the unrealized potential of goods, like the hemp-spinning machine to make cotton, it also helps to explain the decline and abandonment of the water-driven spinning machine, which would have increased textile productivity, reduced labour costs, and put China on the path to industrialization. As scientific advances came to a standstill, the Chinese economy and its influence on foreign lands also began to wane. Zheng He’s death in 1433 marked the end to foreign interaction and all its aforementioned benefits as Ming China turned inward (Bileta 2022). China, for several centuries, had boasted the world’s greatest navy with crew sizes ranging between 27,000 and 37,000 men who were spread over hundreds of ships, nine of which were the Treasure Ship – a beast that had nine masts and measurements of 444 feet by 180 feet (Chang 1974). Across seven voyages, He travelled over 50,000 km, exploring the waters from the southeast Asian archipelago to east Africa and absorbing countries into the Ming tributary system, which allowed for peace and trade for both parties. The Yongle emperor, however, had been too extravagant in his ambitions abroad and internally; while he spent on the maintenance of his fleet, Di also reconstructed the Grand Canal in 1411 and ordered the creation of the Forbidden City, which unsettled the frugal Confucian courtiers. Amid greater conscience of protecting the northern border from the Mongols, the rising challenge of coastal centres, and the Yellow River flood in 1448, more courtiers began to believe that both the social order and their influence was at threat (Gronewald n.d.). It is therefore understandable why the government banned oceangoing ships in 1436 (and their destruction in 1525). It is also understandable how China was able to implement such a policy: China was politically unified as the bureaucratic elites were absorbed into a state whose authority was then not challenged by a Church, military, or gentry. Europe, in contrast, had representative institutions, like parliaments, that could place restraints on the rulers. Parliaments were also diverse, and the membership of landowning and mercantile elites allowed for policies that improved land allocation and reduced taxes. Most notably, the repeal of the Navigation Acts and Corn laws promoted free trade, elevating London as a major port and expanding Britain’s overseas trade network. With patent laws also in place, Britain fostered an environment where the people had confidence in the government to respect their intellectual property rights, which therefore led to investment in capital (Koyama and Rubin 2022).
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