COMPTES RENDUS - AFEC

Comptes rendus
unwilling to advance large sums to those whose skill (and honesty) might
prove wanting," and at another point (p. 135) he says that scarcely anyone
would argue that Suzhou had a bourgeoisie class that "consciously and
consistently attempted to take direct control of the économie process and
rationalize it to maximize the return on their capital". But if this is completely
true, what kind of hégémonie control did Suzhou possess over "its"
world System? Indeed, not much évidence is presented for the argument
that Suzhou during Ming times managed to get control over preexisting
markets in rice or tea or sait, nor is there much proof that thèse agricultural
products, in as far as they originated in Suzhou's hinterland, were sold
throughout China; other areas in China seem to hâve sold similar products.
As for manufactured products, it is difficult to see the lanterns of Suzhou
triggering off rice production around the Dongting Lake in Huguang, even
if at times Marmé seems to assume there exists such a connection. There
clearly are many other cities, agricultural régions, and merchants groups
outside Suzhou that were successful in one way or another, and within
Marmé's book itself many such counterexamples are mentioned. Whether
"dominance" was crucial in such a structure is problematic. Even the
question whether Suzhou was completely dominant in Jiangnan is doubtful
on the basis of many passages in this very book, and Suzhou's place in, or
trade with the remainder of the Yangzi delta is barely mentioned. As one
example, the cotton cloth merchants guild in Linqing was composed of
merchants from Jiading, Kunshan and Suzhou, not Suzhou alone - and we
are not told whether such a fact matters or not.
Now, Marmé does treat the question on whether there is any évidence
of capitalism is China, and he defines "capitalism" strictly and
narrowly as the reinvestment of économie profit in the productive process.
And while he would agrée with describing mid- and late-Ming Suzhou
préfecture as "proto-industrial," he dénies that such a situation naturally
would develop into industrialization and/or capitalism, despite its unfortunate
name. This is not an unreasonable position to take, perhaps; but I am
not sure how it can be squared with Marmé's "world System" approach.
Braudel and Wallerstein, of course, by positing world-economies before
any "pure" capitalist stage, insist on the invalidity of distinguishing
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