Part of the 2018 One Asia Forum Talk Series
With Professor Manuel Perez Garcia (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
Abstract: Global history is being renewed over the past years through concrete case studies. Formerly the pioneers of the field such as Braudel, Wallerstein, Gunder Frank and the California School scholars, among others, had undertaken ambitious research projects with the aim to compare diverse geographical and cultural areas of Asia and Europe. These researchers accurately developed theoretical models related to the different paths of economic growth and consumer behavior between East Asia (mainly China and Japan) and Europe for the period of the first industrialization. However, there is still a need for more concrete case studies when defining geographical and chronological units of comparison in a more local level to reframe big questions such as why Europe took-off and China stood behind during the first industrialization.