Abstract

There is a strong Eurocentric belief that Western civilisation represents the pinnacle of success that all other cultures ought to emulate. Even a cursory glance at most texts in the history of economic thought would erroneously suggest that China had little to contribute. An anti-Eastern bias is found in Weber’s (1951) argument that Confucianism and Taoism, while not antithetical to wealth accumulation, lacked the work ethic and the drive to innovate of Protestantism. This is all the more curious when one considers that China had the most advanced economy on the planet prior to the Industrial Revolution, and thus must have had something positive to contribute.