Recently, the English edition of The Westernization Movement and Early Thought of Modernization in China by Professor Zhou Jianbo, Director of the Department of Economic History, School of Economics at Peking University, was published by Palgrave Macmillan and will be included in the Palgrave Studies in Economic History series.

　　The Chinese edition was officially published by Shandong People's Publishing House in 2001, with a very good social impact. It has won the second prize of the 8th Peking University Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievement Award (2002), and the second prize of the 7th Beijing Municipal Philosophy and Social Sciences Outstanding Scientific Research Works Award (2002) and the Nomination Award for "Hundred Excellent Achievements" in Humanities and Social Sciences Research in the 30 Years of Reform and Opening-up at Peking University (2008). Phoenix Satellite TV Chinese Channel "Open Book 8 Minutes" once made a special introduction about this book.

　　The book mainly examines a series of economic ideas reflected in the process of the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty. It innovatively makes use of historical materials that have not been deeply covered by predecessors, and conducts in-depth research on enterprise management thinking and westernized modernization development strategy thinking, etc. According to this book, the Westernization Movement has brought in many economic ideas, especially in the manufacturing and entrepreneurship aspects, which have a profound impact on the industrialization of later generations. Under the influence of the Westernization Movement, the social status of the merchant class rose. Among them, new-style businessmen actively participated in political activities and had a positive impact in promoting social reform, local autonomy, and the establishment of new-style education. However, these ideological changes were quite limited.

　　The translator of this book is Professor Zhao Jianhua, School of Economics and Management, Three Gorges University. Prof. Zhao Jianhua is proficient in English translation and economic theory, and is the best choice for the translation work of this book. During the publication of this book, Professor Deng Gang, Tenured Professor of the Department of Economic History at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Editor-in-Chief of the Palgrave Studies in Economic History series, and other anonymous experts put forward many valuable revisions. We also acknowledge the efforts of the staff of the publishing house, and Chen Hao, Sun Shubin, Liu Ting, Huang Wenxin, Wei Linghao and other doctoral candidates from the School of Economics at Peking University.

　　Introduction to Publishers and Series

　　Palgrave Macmillan is a leading international academic publisher headquartered in London, England, and part of Macmillan Publishing Group along with Nature Publishing Group. Palgrave Macmillan is mainly dedicated to the humanities and social sciences, covering subjects such as business and management, economics and finance, operations research and management, politics and international relations, society and culture.

　　The editor-in-chief of the Palgrave Studies in Economic History series is Professor Deng Gang. This series of books aims to clarify and to enrich our understanding of past economies and economic phenomena, covering a wide range of topics, including financial history, labor history, development economics, commercialization, urbanization, industrialization, modernization, globalization, and changes in the world economic order.

　　Series editor

　　Kent G. Deng is an internationally renowned economic historian, Tenured Professor of the Department of Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Academician of the Royal Historical Society, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of China in Comparative Perspective, Contributing Editor of the Journal of History of Technology, and Editor of the Pacific Economic Review. He has long been engaged in the research on China's economic growth, China's early modern railway development, China's fiscal situation and its impact on the economy.

　　Published books:

　　Development or Stagnation: Technological continuity and Agriculture in pre-modern China (1993);

　　Marine activities and socio-economic development in China: 2100 BC- 1900 AD (1997);

　　China's pre-modern economy: Structural equilibrium and Capitalist Stagnation (1999);

　　Modern China’s politics and economy (1800-2000), etc.

　　Author

　　Zhou Jianbo is the Director of the Department of Economic History, Professor, Doctoral Supervisor of School of Economics at Peking University, Chair Professor of ISSC (International Center for Chinese Studies) at Aichi University, Japan. He is currently the Vice President of the Chinese Society for the History of Economic Thought, the Vice President of the Chinese Society for the History of Business, and the Director of the Institute of Social and Economic History of Peking University.

　　Published books:

　　Westernization Movement and Early Modernization Thought in China;

　　Boundary and Innovation of Finance: Finance, Culture and Society from a Historical Perspective;

　　Revelation of the Development of Ningde Business Gang;

　　Jianzhi Collection: Traditional Culture and Modern Value, etc.

　　Translator

　　Zhao Jianhua is Professor of the School of Economics and Management of Three Gorges University, foreign researcher of Northeast Asia Regional Innovation Research Institute of Pusan ​​University, South Korea, academic leader of "151" talents, member of China Economic History Society. He was awarded the Outstanding Young Scholar of Jiangxi Province (2004), published more than 30 academic papers successively, and presided over more than 10 programs at home and abroad, like Interstitial Bilingual Teaching Method (Key Project of Three Gorges University, 2014-2016), " Management Comparison Research on Sino-US Basin Water Resources from the Perspective of System Resource Constraint Theory (2011-2013)" (international cooperation project), "Three Gorges General History: History of Science and Technology" and so on.