The 6th Chuan Han Sheng Lecture The Impact of 1930s World Depression on China’s Society, Economy and Sino-Japanese Relations

Event Details

Date:

Saturday, 25 August 2018

Time:

9:00 am - 10:30 am

Room:

Room E302

UQ Location:

Forgan Smith Building (St Lucia)

URL:

https://hapi.uq.edu.au/event/session/3465

Event category(s):

Full Description:: The impact of the 1930s world depression on China is significant as an influence on Sino-Japanese relations, as an indicator of China's level of development and degree of integration into the world economy, and as an input into economic policy after 1949. China’s economic history during the depression can be divided into two major sub-periods: that up to December 1931 during which the devaluation of China’s currency offered its economy some protection; and that after Japan’s abandonment of the gold standard, when the rising value of silver introduced deflation and economic decline. This lecture will examine this history, focusing mainly on aggregate measures of economic output, in particular industrial production and GDP. It will conclude that the specific impact of the depression on output was limited, and most likely less than that of non-economic – climatic and military -- shocks, and go on to examine some possible redistribution effects and their impact on specific groups in Chinese society. The economy began to recover from 1936, suggesting that the problems were cyclical rather than inherent in the economic system.