7/30/2019 1990 Reviewed Work(s) the Asiatic Mode of Production in China. by Timothy Brook

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Review: [untitled]Author(s): Martin J. HeijdraSource: Pacific Affairs, Vol. 63, No. 4 (Winter, 1990-1991), pp. 550-551Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British ColumbiaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2759921 .

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7/30/2019 1990 Reviewed Work(s) the Asiatic Mode of Production in China. by Timothy Brook

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PacifcAffairs

Part 2 of Hsu's book is entirelydifferent n tone and topic. It representsan application to the Chinese case of the controversialmodels ofdisequilib-rium developed for Eastern Europe by Richard Portes and his colleagues.Here the presentation is heavily mathematical, and only academiceconomists are likely to find the material accessible. In chapter 4, Hsudevelops a two-sector, pen-economy model and then uses this model toexplore the relationship between foreign trade and consumer goods imbal-ance in a centrally planned economy. He then analyzes the impact of thepost-'78 reforms on his model and concludes that a given increase in for-eign trade is less inflationary nder the reformsthan under the pre-reformplanning regime. In chapter 5, Hsu develops several quantitative measures

of the intensityof consumer goods imbalance over the period 1956-85.Using his preferred indicator "Z," which is the growth rate of moneyincomes minus the growth rate of the supply of consumer goods, Hsushows (p. 166) thatthere is a strongcorrelation between positivevalues of Zand periods of rapid trade expansion. Hsu closes his discussion in chapter 6with an assessment of the prospects for further reform of the Chineseeconomy.

In sum, the analyticalmaterial of Part 2 is quite useful,albeit to a highly

specialized audience. Most ofPart 1, however,should have been lefton thecuttingroom floor.

UniversityfVictoria, anada RALPHW. HUENEMANN

THE ASIATIC MODE OF PRODUCTION IN CHINA. Edited by Timothy Brook.

Armonk NewYork):M.E. Sharpe. 1989. xi, 204 pp. U.S.$39.95, cloth. SBN0-87332-542-7.

EFFORTS o explain the humiliating power inequality between the westand China continue to dominate Chinese historical discourse, even if forwesternhistorians any possible answer is Eurocentric. Stressing similaritiesin pre-industrialized ocieties is Procrustean; stressing heir uniqueness ulti-mately mplies an intrinsic endency towards economic stagnation in China.The only solution is the development of theoreticalmodels which, while inprinciple universally applicable, incorporate the differentpreconditions

which actuallyobtained.For some, Marxism has one such model, the Asiatic Mode of Produc-

tion (AMP), which, if sound and applicable, could explain China's back-wardness vis-A-vishe west. The present collection of translated Chinesearticles exploring thisAMP could in principle, therefore,have been inter-esting and important. That it is not, is certainlynot the fault of TimothyBrook, its editor,whose own excellent and expert introduction makes theactual translations lmost superfluous. It is rather the result of the question-

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7/30/2019 1990 Reviewed Work(s) the Asiatic Mode of Production in China. by Timothy Brook

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BookReviews

able status ftheAMP itselfnd thedisappointinglyow evelofsophistica-tiondisplayed n the original rticles.

As is well known, nd recently uperbly hownby Brendan O'Leary(The AsiaticMode ofProduction-OrientalDespotism, istoricalMaterialism ndIndian History, xford: Basil Blackwell,1989), theAMP has quite a fewproblems. Theoretically, t does not constitute n internally onsistentmode of production; mpirically,tsrelevance o anycountry's ctual past sobscure; and scholastically,thas to be constructed rom cattered efer-ences byMarx.

As there re only limitednumber fways o put his remarks ogether,most articles ranslated ere merely uplicate, r introduce, arlierSoviet

andwestern fforts.he AMP is thusdefined s a variant fprimitiveom-munism, lavery r feudalism; s a transitional eriod between hefirstwo;oras an alternative outeby tself. thersrepeatthe discussions n whetherMarxcontinued, hangedor discardedhisopinionson theAMP.

No author onstructs theoreticallyonsistentmodel,or investigatesndetailthe AMP's existence nChina'spast-the few reatmentsf the well-field ystem re laughable. The one exception s a comparison f theAMPtoDai society,ut eventhen t s concludedthat he closefit annotbe but

superficial,s it "runs counter to the order of social developmentMarxproposed" p. 146).In many laces,mostnotedbytheeditor,Marx sclearlymisread,while

other rticles equiredheavy diting o make sense. Eventhen, bsurditiesremain.For example,we are told thatthe commune s historicallyncom-patiblewith he state, ven if t is the foundation fdespotism;when thetwo coexist after ll, they imply re a "combination f two social forma-tions" p. 92).

I cannot but wonderwhether notherhistorical ebate,on which pe-

cificfactors ontributed o thepersistence f "feudal" ociety,would nothave been a better opic.Brook maintains hat heAMPdebate is potential-ly more interesting,s it addresses nternal ather han externalfactors.do notthink his s actually he case. (See Bai Gang, Zhongguoengjianshe-hui changqiyanxu wenti unzhan deyoulai yu fazhan, Beijing: Zhongguo she-hui kexuechubanshe, 984).

Asit s,the book is useful nshowing hatbyprovidingn alternativeothe hithertomandatory talinist ive-stagesheory, heAMP debate has

made possiblediscussions fsuch "Chinese characteristics"s thebureau-cratic tateor thevillagecommunity,husparalleling hepolitical oncen-tration n Chinese-styleocialism. lsewhere, MP debates have also beenassociatedwithdissident ttacks n socialist despotic"government,ndindeed,suchovertones re also presenthere.Butone could onlywish hattheenergy pent nthisdebatewouldhave beenmorefruitful.

PrincetonUniversity,.S.A. MARTINJ. HEIJDRA

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