Kenneth Pomeranz`s The Great Divergence(2000) among recent works criticizing Europe-centered view of history is well-known to historians. After the publication of the book, the word ‘great divergence` has been regarded as an alternative for overcoming Eurocentric interpretation of history. Comparing the Lower Yangzi Delta with England especially in the eighteenth century, Pomeranz concludes there was no difference between two regions from the perspective of economic activities and situation. According to him, life standard and productivity in eighteenth-century China were very similar to those of England, and the two regions were all confronted with severe ecological crisis accelerated by proto-industrial activities. What was the reason that England did not run into the crisis unlike China experiencing ecological and environmental collapse in the end of the eighteenth century? Pomeranz points out two causes: America and coal. Because England or Western Europe could choose an alternative on the basis of America`s natural resources and coal. Economies of two regions continued to be based on labour intensification at least until the end of the eighteenth century. Pomeranz explains these change by using the term ‘industrious revolution`. This paper summarizes Pomeranz`s interpretation of eighteenth-century history, and examines whether his view of the industrious revolution would be suitable for understanding economic changes of China and England in the eighteenth century or not.

1 강진아, "중국의 부상과 세계사의 재조명 -캘리포니아 학파에서 글로벌 헤게모니論까지-" 부산경남사학회 (80) : 145-186, 2011

2 안종석, "영국 산업혁명의 원인 논쟁에 대한 비판적 검토와 ‘대분기’의 재고찰 ― ‘제도·문화적 해석’의 한계와 ‘경제적 해석’의 도전" 한국사회사학회 (103) : 349-400, 2014

3 양동휴, "영국 산업혁명과 신경제사 재론" 43 (43): 2004

4 이영석, "다시 돌아본 자본의 시대" 소나무 1994

5 이영석, "공장의 역사: 근대 영국사회와 생산, 언어, 정치" 푸른역사 2012

6 Clark, Gregory., "Work in Progress? The Industrious Revolution" 58 (58): 1998

7 Allen, R. C., "Why was the Industrial Revolution British?" 4 : 2009

8 Allen, R. C., "Was there an ‘Industrious Revolution’ before the Industrial Revolution? An Emprical Exercise for England, 1300-1830" 64 (64): 2011

9 Wrigley, E. A., "Urban Growth and Agricultural Change : England and the Continent in the Early Modern Period" 15 (15): 1985

10 Maddison, Angus, "The World Economy. A Millennial Perspective" OECD 2001

11 Bryant, Joseph M., "The West and the Rest Revisited : Debating Capitalist Origins, European Colonialism and the Advent of Modernity" 31 (31): 2006

12 Sugihara, Kaoru, "The Resurgence of East Asia: 500, 150 and 50 Year perspectives" Routledge 2003

13 Macpherson, C, "The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke" Clarendon Press 1962

14 Huang, Philip, "The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Lower Yangzi Region, 1350-1988" Stanford University Press 1990

15 De Vris, Jan, "The Industrious Revolution: Consumer Behavior and the Household Economy, 1650 to the Present" Cambridge University Press 2008

16 De Vris, Jan, "The Industrial Revolution and the Industrious Revolution" 54 (54): 1994

17 Pomeranz, Kenneth, "The Great Divergence" Princeton University Press 2000

18 So, B., "The Economy of Lower Yangzi Delta in Late Imperial China" Routledge 2012

19 Allen, R. C., "The Economic History of Britain Since 1700, Volume 1" Cambridge University Press 1994

20 Brown, Richard, "Society and Economy in Modern Britain 1700-1850" Routledge 1991

21 Clark, Gregory, "Shelter from the Storm : Housing and the Industrial Revolution, 1550-1909" 62 (62): 2002

22 Ogilvie, Sheilagh C., "Proto-industrialization in Europe" 8 (8): 1993

23 Mendels, F., "Proto-industrialization : the First Phase of the Industrialization Process" 32 (32): 1972

24 Coleman, D. C., "Proto-Industrialization : A Concept Too Many" 36 (36): 1983

25 M’cColloch, J. R., "On Baines and Ure" 61 : 1835

26 Nishijima, Sadao, "Linda Grove and Christian Daniels" University of Tokyo Press 1984

27 North, D, "Institutions" 5 (5): 1991

28 De Vries, Jan, "Industrious Peasants in East and West : Markets, Technology, and Family Structure in Japanese and Western European Agriculture" 51 (51): 2011

29 Goldstone, Jack, "Gender, Work and Culture : Why the Industrial Revolution Came Early to England but Late to China" 39 (39): 1996

30 Levine, David, "Family Formation in an Age of Nascent Capitalism" Academic Press 1977

31 Brenner, Robert., "England and Divergence from China’s Yanzi Delta" 61 (61): 2002

32 Marshall, Dorothy, "Dr. Johnson’s London" John Wiley & Sons 1968

33 Evelyn, John, "Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn, vol. 2" Henry Colburn 1850

34 Huang, Philip, "Development or Involution in Eighteenth-Century Britain and China?" 61 (61): 2002

35 Maddison, Angus, "Contours of the World Economy" Oxford University Press 2007

36 Wrigley, E. A., "Continuity, Chance and Change: The Character of the Industrial Revolution in England" Cambridge University Press 1988

37 Ogilvie, Sheilagh C., "Consumption, Social Capital, and the ‘Industrious Revolution’ in Early Modern Germany" 70 (70): 2010

38 Wong, Roy Bin, "China Transformed: Historical Change and the Limits of European Experience" Cornell University Press 1997

39 Lee, James, "Cameron Campbell and Wang Feng, “Positive Check or Chinese Checks?”" 61 (61): 2002

40 Pomerantz, Kenneth, "Beyond the East-West Binary : Re-situating Development Path in 18th Century World" 61 (61): 2002

41 Duchesne, Ricardo, "Beyond Sinocentrism and Eurocentrism" 65 (65): 2001

42 Lu, Hanchao, "Arrested Development : Cotton and Cotton Markets in Shanghai 1350-1843" 18 (18): 1992

43 Saito, Osamu, "An Industrious Revolution in an East Asian Market Economy? Tokugawa Japan and Implications for the Great Divergency" 50 (50): 2010

44 Sugihara, Kaoru, "Agriculture and Economic Growth" Blackwell 1997

45 강진아, "16-19세기 중국경제와 세계체제 - 19세기 분기론과 중국중심론" 이화사학연구소 (31) : 15-31, 2004