Shortage of Local Resources

1. Shortage of local resources

One of the major reasons scholars would claim that lead to the absence of industrial revolution is that the local resources which were invaluable to the advancement of technology as fuel and important materials. They argue China itself in 16th to 18th century were in lack of coal, wood, iron and other heavy metals.

I. Inaccessibility of coal in North

Steam engine and the extraction of heavy metal from ore like iron was important milestone in industrial revolution, since it started an automobile era and provided a harder construction material. However, their usage highly depended on coal as fuel. Coal had overridden the original use of charcoal as fuel, mainly due to the fact that charcoal is much less efficient than coal since it cannot burn long. Coal can also produce a hotter flame; hence using coal had made steam engine, iron extraction more feasible. In the reference book "the Great Divergence", the writer stated that in fact in both China and Europe actually the principle of steam engine was long known, only lacking appropriate source of fuel to run the engine. In Europe, the popularization of using steam engine was largely due to the discovery of coal. Therefore the discovery of Coal as fuel was probably most crucial resource to industrial revolution.

However, in 16th - 18th century China, such resource was never used. It was because the huge coal deposit was in northern China, which was a relatively backward region at that time. Starting from 1200, since the invasion of Mongolia, northern china was constantly hit by wars, diseases, and the economic center gradually shift the Jiangnan. Mining experts was either being captured by Jurchen invaders as a price to halt their invasion to China. Those who survived would have migrated to south for more prosperity.

Also, the long distance transportation of coal from north to southern large cities, where the technology level would be advanced enough to make use of coal, would also cost much, so mining expert would have no incentive to extract coal. Unfortunately, in the southern counterpart, coal was located in inland area like Guizhou, Yunnann and terrestrial transport would also be costly. With the absence of coal, it was difficult to see the popularization of engines, and this had shed the light of industrial revolution in China.

It is all about comparison. In Europe, the largest coal deposit was in Britain and luckily the coal mine was even located in coastal area, where cheaper water transport was viable. The coal consumption jumped from 200000 tons in 1550 to 3 million tons in 1696 in Britain . Therefore it can be seen that coal wais crucial to industrial state.

II. Lacking of lumber in southern part

In addition, there was also a lack of lumber in China. Although not really a resource for technological stimulus, the shortage of lumber still had some considerable negative effect to industrial revolution. In Ming/Qing era, wood and bamboo was the most important construction material for houses, ships and even Seawall. However, in Jiangnan plain, forests wee already scarce, due to continue deforestation for fuel and construction material in the earlier ages. Wood were abundant in upper part in Chiang Jiang river, like in Sichuan and Guizhou, and Jiangnan mainly relied these areas for lumber. However, due to the huge size of lumber, long distance to Jiangnan and terristorial constraint, the transportation cost of lumber is usually very high, hence the output of number from these southwest regions are very limited.

From the experience of Europe, during the proto-industrial mid-1700's, only about 5 per cent of all British iron was made into machine parts. In fact most machines in proto-industries were made of wood . Also, fleets would rely on lumber as base construction materials. In Britain, facing the same shortage of woods, they built one-third of their fleet in their colony, America, which still possess large forests.

In addition, wood can be made into charcoal, and it is also a source of fuel, albeit more inefficient. Even in Britain, the initial stage of industrial revolution relies on charcoal as fuel. Only because deforestation in Europe is severe, and forest was so scarce that added the incentive for British to find out substitutes for fuel. Luckily in Europe, coal was discovered and readily available, but in China, wood as fuel was also very limited. Li Bozhong's book pointed out that firewood was so expensive that people have to use them frugally as fuel to cook. Poor people even regarded it as luxuries. Shortage of wood, together with inaccessibility of coal, made fuelling of machine impossible, and hindering the progress of industrial revolution at Jiangnan.

III. The absence of other heavy metal

Heavy metals and alloys like copper, lead, tin and steel was also vital for making complex parts of machines, especially after 18th century. These metals are vital for mass producing machines as a part of industrial revolution. Yet, in Jiangnan, iron and other metal was not produced and totally relied on limited intra-province import, which made metal too expensive to use.

In China, the designs and principles of machines were always known, but lacking abundant supply of metal to manufacture it in large scale. The large water-powered spinning machine, which was invented in the Yuan dynasty, flywheel introduced from Europe in Qing era, and even the steam ship proposed in Tang's Dynasty, would all need metal gear or parts in order to make it durable. With the absence of metals, woods are used in the gear parts for machines, and the joints became fragile and inefficient to use. In short, the absence of metal made machine ineffective and reduce the incentive for people in China to use it.

2. Absence of periphery exploitation

Another reason of industrial revolution in Europe, in particular Britain, was that Britain has new worlds to exploit. This kind of exploitation was morally controversial, but it has in fact lead to a substantial growth in industrial revolution. However, China didn't have