Citation
Kiser, Edgar & Cai, Yong (2004). Early Chinese Bureaucratization in Comparitive Perspective: Reply to Zhao. American Sociological Review, 69(1), 608-612.Abstract
Professor Zhao raises three important questions in his article about the relationship between war, aristocratic power, and bureaucratization in early Chinese history. He makes two empirical claims suggesting that warfare could not have caused bureaucratization in arring States and Qin China, because bureaucratization preceded it. First, he argues that “large-scale” warfare came after the initial stage of bureaucratization in the Warring States era. Second, he claims that there was an earlier period (a “first wave”) of bureaucratization in Chu in the seventh century BCE that preceded major war. Zhao’s third criticism is that warfare did notweaken the aristocracy in Warring States, but in fact strengthened it, and that this increasingly powerful aristocratic class carried out bureaucratic reforms.
URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240406900408Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2004Journal Title
American Sociological ReviewAuthor(s)
Kiser, EdgarCai, Yong