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Abstract
This article studies the history of state intervention in East Asia’s varieties of capitalism through a case study of the electric power industry. The reasons for state intervention in China and Japan, their similarities and differences, and their relative importance are described and analysed. The origin and evolution of the different national models of state–business relations in the two countries are influenced by domestic factors such as national defence and internal unification, as well as external circumstances such as colonialism, occupation, and war.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. For an epistemological history of state capitalism see Ambrosius (Citation1981).
2. China’s national government did not begin to publish annual statistical reports on electricity production until 1932. And the Chinese government recognised that even the reported annual data could not be registered accurately because many small plants did not keep a production record. See ASIMH Ref. 23-25-00-017-01, p. 271. The Japanese Ministry of Communications has been publishing an annual statistical yearbook on the electricity industry since 1903. The data was believed to be highly reliable.
3. As Jackson (Citation2018, p. 16) noted, Shanghai ‘was colonial, in the sense that it was based on rule by foreign settlers.’ The SMC’s board was multinational in its composition, but excluded Chinese nationalities until 1928. There were Britons, Germans, and Americans on the board from 1873 to 1914. Japanese and Russian nationalities were included after the First World War. For details see Jackson (Citation2016 , pp. 45–46).
4. ASIMH, Ref. 23-25-00-017-02, p. 76, “shi jie dong li hui yi,” National Constructions Commission.
5. For rate wars in Japan see Kikkawa (2004, pp. 83–85).
6. For details of the rivalry see Umemoto (2000, pp. 64–68).
7. Hsü, The Rise of Modern China, 482.
8. ASIMH Ref. 23-25-00-017-01, p. 90, “shi jie dong li hui yi,” National Constructions Commission.
9. ASIMH Ref. 23-25-00-017-01, p. 101, “shi jie dong li hui yi,” National Constructions Commission.
10. ASIMH Ref. 02-02-008-01-004, p. 4, “bei jing yao hua dian deng gong si,” China Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
11. ASIMH Ref. 02-02-008-01-012, p. 12, “yang shang ni zai chang sha,” China Ministry of Foreign Affairs; AS Ref. 02-02-008-01-013, p. 13, “hua shang cheng wen,” China Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
12. It was fully reprivatised a decade later, but in 1932 the Guangzhou municipal government took it over again.
13. Annual data in 1932–1951 on foreign direct investment in China is not available despite some sporadic information.
14. The Siemens interest in electricity supply was divested in 1927. In 1928 that utility was nationalised, forming the basis of the Qishuyen Electric Works.
15. JACAR Ref. B04011203300, p. 28, “kyooku dento koshi,” 25 December 1922, Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
16. Hsü, The Rise of Modern China, 514–553.
17. ASIMH Ref. 23-25-00-017-01, pp. 92–96, “shi jie dong li hui yi,” National Constructions Commission.
18. ASIMH Ref. 23-25-00-003-01, p. 59, “dian ya ji zhou lü,” National Constructions Commission. In electrical engineering, frequency is the number of cycles per second in an alternating current; in other words, it is the rate at which current changes direction per second. It is measured in hertz.
19. ASIMH Ref. 23-25-00-003-01, p. 49, “dian ya ji zhou lü,” National Constructions Commission.
20. ASIMH Ref. 23-25-00-017-02, p. 52, “shi jie dong li hui yi,” National Constructions Commission.
21. ASIMH Ref. 23-25-00-017-01, p. 315, “shi jie dong li hui yi,” National Constructions Commission.
22. ASIMH Ref. 23-25-00-017-02, p. 79, “shi jie dong li hui yi,” National Constructions Commission.
23. There is sporadic margin statistics on some utilities in the 1930s, but collective yearly margin data on China’s electricity industry, like Japan’s, is not available.
24. ASIMH Ref. 23-04-023-01, p. 41, “zhong guo jian she yin gong si,” National Constructions Commission.
25. Calculated by the author based on Wang (Citation1997), adding the Qishuyen and the Capital works.
26. ASIMH Ref. 23-25-00-017-01, p. 316, “shi jie dong li hui yi,” National Constructions Commission.
27. JACAR Ref. C12121848500, p. 775, “shina niokeru denkijigyo no gaiyo,” Japan Ministry of Defence.
28. JACAR Ref. B02030552400, p. 305, “kahoku sangyokoshi seiritsu yokoan”, 31 May 1945, Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
29. JACAR Ref. C04123740400, p. 794, “kahoku denki jigyo togo yoryo no ken,” Japan Ministry of Defence.
30. JACAR Ref. C12122019900, p. 2055, “hokushi denkijigyo kondankai,” Japan Ministry of Defence.
31. JACAR Ref. B06050421800, pp. 270–271, “kahoku denryoku kofun yugen koshi,” Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
32. JACAR Ref. B02130137100, pp. 26–30, “chushina shinko kabushikikaisha,” Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
33. JACAR Ref. B0806126100, p. 20, “zoushi oyobi kessan kankei,” Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
34. ASIMH Ref. 24-04-058-01, p. 194, “jie shou di wei dian li shi ye,” National Resources Commission.
35. ASIMH Ref. 18-22-01-035-02, p. 8, “dong bei ri qiao,” China Ministry of Economic Affairs.
36. ASIMH Ref. 24-04-058-01, pp. 29–43, “jie shou di wei dian li shi ye,” National Resources Commission.
37. ASIMH Ref. 18-23-01-72-16-022, p. 13, “yang zi dian qi you xian gong si,” China Ministry of Economic Affairs.
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Chenxiao Xia
Chenxiao Xia is a lecturer of economic history at the Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University, Japan.