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In-depth analysis of involution, highlighting population pressure and farming methods in Ming-Qing China.
Involution has been the key concept in my studies of Chinese history over the “longue durée.” It spotlights the reality of relatively high population pressure on farmland, with ever-decreasing farm size per capita throughout later imperial Chinese history, especially in the Ming-Qing era. Distinguished from gradually changing evolution and radical revolution, involution is characterized by mainly stationary technologies and methods of farming under ever-increasing population-to-land ratios.
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Philip C. C. Huang (2025) studied this question.
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