Republican China as a Unity of Opposites: An Analysis of the Essence of Semi-colonialism and Semi-feudalism From 1911 to 1949

This chapter argues that the destruction of the Chinese economy and the immiseration of the productive classes of the country during the Republican era were caused by contradictions arising from the forceful articulation of the Chinese social formation to imperialism. We further argue that imperialism, as an external factor, could only cause the stagnation of the Chinese economy because of the particular essence of the modes of production found within Chinese imperial society at the end of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). The critical internal factors were strong bureaucratic and feudal modes of production, which left merchant capitalism unfree to develop. When imperialism opened China to the international capitalist market, Chinese merchant capitalists served as a bridge between imperialism and Chinese feudalism. Their growing influence tended to reinforce their capitalism's feudal and bureaucratic appearances. The articulation of this comprador capitalism with the State-based mode of production and feudalism created, during the Republican era, bureaucratic–capitalism, which increased the exploitation of working people by the State, landlords, and capitalists. This articulation of feudalism, bureaucratic–capitalism, and imperialism was the root cause of the underdevelopment of the Chinese economy.