China Was Ahead for 700 Years. So Why Did Britain Industrialize First?It argues that England's advantage was not resources, IQ, stable government, or access to shipping. So what was it? How did it go from being 500 years behind to 500 years ahead?China was producing iron on an enormous scale centuries before Britain began its Industrial Revolution. It had coal, advanced technology, thriving markets, paper money, gunpowder, the compass, and brilliant inventors.
So why did the Industrial Revolution begin in Britain instead of China?
In this documentary, we explore one of history's greatest mysteries: the Needham Question. Discover how geography, cheap coal, high wages, overseas trade, scientific networks, and political competition helped Britain industrialize first.
We'll travel from China's Song Dynasty iron furnaces in 1078 to England's first steam engines in the 1700s, uncovering the surprising economic and historical forces that changed the world.
The video recites some interesting history, but never mentions Christianity.
China has had a pigeon hole culture/society/philosophy for well over ten thousand years. Everything in it's place, mandated by the heavens, then the emperor, then the bureaucrats, and to leave that place is...most calamitous and unfortunate. In a way, this is a very ordered way of looking at reality. A thing has it's own Qi, (spirit or informed nature) and it must ever remain so, in it's own little box, unchanging. Every sparrow must fall by direction of a higher power in a celestial hierarchy. The idea of intentionally mixing things together to 'see what would happen' was considered outright courting of chaos, a waste of time, and a tempting of heaven's most astute displeasure.
ReplyDeleteIn the west, an idea emerged of underlying concepts that informed things without direct intent of a higher power/intent/deity being required in all cases. With ascent of the Deists 'God's will' as a working answer was loosening, and more attention was being brought to 'why?' 'what caused that to happen?' Supernatural reasons were pushed further back in preferred priority as more of a last resort in favor of far more earthly knowable reason or explanation. The only drawback to this line of thinking was the near total abandonment of 'what happens now?? or just plain old consequences. Doing something because you could, or understanding how it worked was now far more important than what the cost of unintended side effects or actions would be. Curiosity was given far more license, and this lead to far more experimentation, which in turn lead to far more discoveries. The economics of wealth also played a part, as those who had wealth discovered they could engage in ventures outside of what they had been traditionally constrained to. Before it was more important for a person's worth or status to be determined entirely by birth, now talent was becoming incredibly important in many ventures. Even the wealthy could see the odd 'little guy' with a knack for numbers and accounting could be extremely valuable far more than their birth status would have determined. As the more skilled and talented were cultivated, and birth status was increasingly overlooked, more human potential was cultivated, technical innovation increased rapidly, efficiency was promoted above tradition: Voila, industrialization.