Study On "Economic Construction Quarterly" Which Was Pubulished From 1942 To 1945 In The Republic Of China

The Economic Construction Quarterly is an economic research journal,edited by The Chinese Economic Construction Association under the Republic of China(1912-1949).The journal has been recognized as the first authoritative economic research journal at later period of the War of Resistance against Japan(1937-1945).The Quarterly was first introduced to the public on July,1942 and then stopped its publication in 1945(at the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan),which had a total of 3 volumes and 12 issues in each volume.The Quarterly includes research papers,statistics,book reviews,introductions on western economic theories,and various studies made by the members of the Chinese Economic Construction Association as well as other scholars in the society.The Chinese Economic Construction Association consists of a group of economic scholars and governors from the Ministry of Economic Affairs,Ministry of Transport,National Resources Commission,Central Design Bureau,Water Resources Committee and other high authority figures in the Republic of China's government(1912-1949).The purpose of the publication was to lay a foundation for economic thoughts,theories and policies to rebuild and develop the national economy ravaged by the War of Resistance against Japan(1937-1945).This paper on the study of the Quarterly's history of publication and all the studies introduced provides a comprehensive analysis of main theories proposed by economists and economic policies formulated by officials in the Republic of China(1912-1949).This paper combining the historical research method with economic research method aims to provide a comprehensive and systematic view on the academic contribution,historical influence and realistic enlightenment of the Quarterly.This paper contains nine chapters.The first chapter introduces the research topic,purpose,background,references,basic framework and methods used.The second chapter lays out the fundamental overview from the macro perspective of The Economic Construction Quarterly.The Chinese Economic Construction Association was established in Hongkong in April 1939 and moved to Chongqing in 1941.When the Association was first founded,Shen Yi,one of the permanent directors,proposed tp make a preparation for the post-war economic development.The proposal received wide support from Song Ziwen and National Resources Commission leading to the establishment of The Economic Construction Quarterly.From July 1942 to 1945,the Quarterly was issued in a total of three volumes of 12 issues in each.The authors of the Quarterly were all officials,scholars or experts with high economic degrees and more than half of them had studied in the foreign institutions and were then made key appointments at the economic field in China.They either serve as central members in the executive office of Republic of China,National Resources Commission,Ministry of Economic Affairs,Ministry of Transport,and Water Resources Committee and other economic departments,etc.,or as professors in famous institutions such as National Central University and Nankai University.From Chapter Three to Chapter Eight,each chapter respectively analyses one theme involved in the Quarterly in order to folly illustrate the academic contribution and economic thoughts.Chapter Three introduces the discussion and the discovery in the Quarterly concerning the economics theories,including weighting on the choices,pros and cons of free economy,planned economy and controlled economy,emphasizing on the analysis of advantages and disadvantages between state economy and private economy,discussions the issues under war time such as national defense economy and regional economy,and the progress made in translating and introducing foreign economic construction theories and other influential references to China.The fourth chapter focuses on the thoughts and experience of transport construction inspired by the Quarterly.It concentrates on the railroad construction which was a big challenge to Chinese transport at the moment,the fundamental principle that the Chinese railway deems to follow in the post-war construction;moreover,the most critical issue which is the budget,the process and management of its development.In addition,this chapter also includes the discussion on the various shipping methods such as highway,sea,and houses;also on development of the telecommunications and postal services,and on the manufacture of transport equipment.Chapter Five introduces the water conservancy for agriculture in the Economic Construction Quarterly.First of all,the overall aims at strengthening agricultural construction and realizing national industrialization are presented in this part.The aims have been accepted within the academics and politics including the relationship between agricultural construction and industrial construction,the promotion of agricultural industrialization and state ownership of land,the blueprint for building the production and marketing cooperatives.Secondly,the relationship between land and population will be presented in this part.China's basic conditions of larger population occupying less land,the overcapacity of land and lack of arable land.Lastly,land policies and agricultural policies would be presented in this part.Fourthly,some thoughts and advice on the development of water conservancy will be proposed in this part.Chapter Six will introduce the China's industrial development of mining.It includes the analysis of the cause and effect of China's weak and under-developed industry,the aims at achieving national industrialization,the overarching government's role played in industry development,the theoretical explanations and differences among the industrial version of Three Principles of the People,socialism and capitalism,the fund resources of developing mining industry,and the industrial layout and regional distribution of the mining sector.In addition,detailed analysis of mining industry will be discussed in this chapter including exploitation and development of mineral resources,and the planning and construction of steel industry and electronic industry.Chapter Seven introduces the relationship between China's economy and foreign economy.Two aspects(foreign investment and international trade)are included in this chapter.Firstly,it is necessary for China to attract and make efficient use of foreign investment to develop China's economy.In addition,the history of foreign investment to China and the foreign investment field before the War of Resistance Against Japan(1937-1945),main principles for introducing and using foreign capital,and channels and ways to attract foreign investment will also be presented in this part.Secondly,in the terms of the international trade policies,the history and basic characteristics of China's trade to foreign countries,the experience and theories collected for foreign trade,China's customs and trade policies,and some advice on promoting international trade will be discussed in this part.Chapter Eight introduces the monetary and financial problems presented in the Quarterly.It includes the history of developing and managing financial institutions(banks)for the government in Republic of China(1912-1949),the international financial condition after the War of Resistance Against Japan(1937-1945),the development of legal tender issued by the government of Republic of China(1912-1949)after the War(1937-1945)will be introduced in the first part.In the second part,some conclusion will be contributed to stabilizing the monetary condition,setting the monetary standard,building the financial system and analyzing the monetary and financial policies in the period from 1949 to 1969.Chapter Nine is the epilogue of the whole essay.The academic role,contribution,positive effects of and the inspiration drawn from Economic Construction Quarterly as well as some limitations of the Quarterly will be introduced in this chapter to offer readers a broad and objective view of this economic magazine.