Early Introduction of List into China
When Friedrich List was born in 1789，China was at the zenith of its imperial prowess and complacent isolation.It is recorded that，as Lord Macartney journeyed to Beijing for business opportunities in 1793，the Chinese Emperor Qianlong addressed through him to the English monarch in such words： “Our Celestial Dynasty ’s majestic virtue has penetrated onto distant lands under Heaven，and Kings of all nations have offered their costly tribute by land and sea...we possess all things.I set no value on objects strange or ingenious，and have no use for your country ’s manufactures.”[1] By 1846 when List passed away，the situation for China had become utterly different.With the Treaty of Nanking signed in 1842 following its defeat in the Opium War，China embarked upon a centurylong road of peripheralization and resistance.Very precisely，the lifetime of List coincided with the steady decline of China.
As the door of China was forced open，western economic theories spread to China，first of all，thanks to a German missionary by the name of Karl Friedrich Gutzlaff （1803-1851），who published around 1840 in Chinese two booklets respectively on political economy and commerce.[2] Friedrich List was understandably not introduced to the Chinese，since Gutzlaff believed that only free market and laissez-faire operating in a British-type system would lead to economic and social progress.
The spread of western economic ideas into China did not accelerate until Chinese students returned from their overseas studies.In 1902，The Wealth of Nations was published in Chinese，its translator being Yan Fu，a UK-returned scholar who followed Adam Smith in advocating unrestricted international trade.[3] Yet，List was among the 20 or so economists mentioned in the preface of the Chinese version，and furthermore，other heavyweight Chinese intellectual leaders were attracted to List ’s arguments.For example，Liang Qichao，aware of the German Historical School and List，resented the free trade then imposed on China by western powers and urged China to implement a mercantilist policy.[4]
Classroom notes taken in 1911 by the Xiong brothers，two students at Peking Imperial Law School，indicate that List and his theory had been addressed in lectures.The anonymous lecturer apparently had sufficient knowledge of List ’s major viewpoints.In 1914，Dang Bao，a marginal newspaper published by some Chinese political activists in Japan，carried an article by Xu Zhongying “On the Relationship between Protection Policy and National Economy”.Although the actual identity of the author remains obscure even today，Xu ’s article gave a fairly detailed introduction to the key aspects of List ’s doctrine，highlighting the strategic need to make short-term sacrifices for long-term development.[5] Then in 1922，Ma Yinchu，a returned Chinese student from America，made a speech in Peking on“Doctrines of Marx and List: Which is fit for China？” Ma ’s conclusion was that China needed List more than Karl Marx，as the country was suffering from a very low level of productivity rather than any conflict between capital and labor.[6]
After all this，a full account of List and his theory came into China largely owing to the efforts of the Chinese studying in Germany.In 1925，a biography of List first appeared in China.It was authored by Liu Binglin （1891-1956），who had studied economics at the University of Berlin and the University of London as well during 1920-1925.[7] In the same year，Wang Kaihua （1893-1976），a Ph.D.candidate at the University of Tübingen，translated The National System of Political Economy，which came out in Chinese as National Economics in 1927.It is known that Wang graduated from Tübingen in 1926 with his dissertation on The Theory of List and Its Relevance to China.[8] These two returned scholars from Germany showed a high appreciation of List and his arguments.