The Modern Transition Of The Handicraft Industry In The Weixian Rural Area Of Shandong Province (1912-1937)

This thesis study the modern structural transition of the rural handicraft in Weixian in the Republic of China under the guide of the theory of the Proto-industrialization and by means of development economics and regional economics, then study the emergence, development, character and effect of the Proto-industrialization phenomenon after the modern industry came into being. I consider that many factors including specially ecological environment, Initial growth of the commodity economy, the development of the modern industry outside Weixian and the advocating of the local government created favorable conditions from the environment, market, technology and capital.In my opinion, the modern transformation of the rural handicrafts mainly embodied in the technology innovation and the growth of commodity market. Firstly, the improvement and spreading of the manual tools in the hand weaving heightened the product and quality and cut the cost. From the organizational form aspect, hand weaving and workshop or machine factory cooperated in the procedure and even in the same trade handicraft and machine industry coexisted in the long time. There were two completely reversal trends as of depression and prosperous in the handicraft trades structure. The handicraft transition caused large demand for machine-processed product and modern industry engendered in Weixian. Secondly, in Weixian rural handicrafts on behalf of hand weaving were extra-oriented ones under the guiding of the regional market inside and outside. Because of the participation of the merchant' capital the hand-made goods market developed deeply, such as manifold of the quantities and sorts of hand-made goods, expansion of The circulation area, the change of the transaction ways, multivariare of thebusiness subject. In the main, the modern large-scale and long-distance circulation pattern promoted the transition from the traditional natural economy to modern market economy.The transformation of the rural handicraft in Weixian made the whole town and country social economy importantly change, such as the transition of the traditional peasant economy, the development of the commercial farming, the flourishing of the service sector, the emergence and growth of the market town.To sum up, the growth of the market and technology innovation in varying degrees pushed the transformation of the socially economic structure and operation ways, accumulated newly developing factors for economy modernization in Weixian.