Smokeless Sugar
Author | : Emily M. Hill |
Publisher | : UBC Press |
Total Pages | : 336 |
Release | : 2010 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780774816533 |
ISBN-13 | : 0774816538 |
Rating | : 4/5 (33 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Part history, part biography, and part mystery story, Smokeless Sugar traces the formation of a national economy in China through an intriguing investigation of the 1936 execution of an allegedly corrupt Cantonese official. Feng Rui, a Western-educated agricultural expert, introduced modern sugar milling to China in the 1930s as a key component in a provincial investment program. Before long, however, he was accused of colluding with smugglers to pass foreign sugar off as a domestic product. Emily Hill makes the case that Feng was, in fact, a scapegoat in a multi-sided power struggle in which political leaders vied with commercial players for access to China's markets and tax revenues.