China's motor : a thousand years of petty capitalism / Hill Gates.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-319) and indexes.

Chinese Dynasties of the Late Empire -- Ch. 1. Introduction -- Ch. 2. The Tributary and Petty-Capitalist Modes of Production -- Ch. 3. Motion in the System -- Ch. 4. Cities and Space -- Ch. 5. Patricorporations: The State and the Household -- Ch. 6. Patricorporations: The Lineage -- Ch. 7. Dowry and Brideprice -- Ch. 8. Folk Ideologies: Rulers and Commoners -- Ch. 9. Folk Ideologies: Women and Men -- Ch. 10. Petty Capitalism in Taiwan -- Ch. 11. Re-creating the Tributary in China -- Ch. 12. Conclusions -- Appendix: Dowry to Wedding-Cost Ratios.

This monumental work reveals the continuities that underlie the changing surface of Chinese life from late imperial days to modern times. With a perspective that encompasses a thousand years of Chinese history, China's Motor provides a view of the social, economic, and political principles that have prompted people in widely varying circumstances to act, believe, and behave in ways that are labeled as Chinese.

Hill Gates identifies two modes of organization in Chinese society: the petty capitalist mode, through which small producers structure economic activities, and the tributary mode of state-centered initiatives. Applying these analytic categories, Gates renders transparent some of the contradictions in Chinese life.