Modernization of the rural handicraft industry in modern China: a case study of the hand-loom weaving industry

Industrialization represents the core of modernization, and the modernization of the handicraft industry in modern China provides a valuable empirical case for understanding industrialization in late-developing economies. This article takes the rural hand-loom weaving industry in modern China as the research subject to examine its modernization and inherent characteristics. Initiated in the aftermath of the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), this modernization drive underwent two distinct phases: an initial upsurge and a subsequent setback. Propelled by imported foreign yarn and new weaving machinery, rural hand-loom weaving evolved from a marginal rural sideline into a large-scale production sector. Nevertheless, this developmental trajectory was abruptly halted by the global economic crisis of the 1930s and the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Marked by local cultural tradition, multi-dimensional factors, the interdependence of cities and the countryside, as well as the adoption of technological innovation and an expanding market, the modernization of the hand-loom weaving industry represents an unfinished path of “semi-industrialization.” This unique developmental path not only demonstrates the inherent potential of rural handicraft modernization in modern China but also exposes the profound challenges embedded in the Chinese countryside’s social and economic transformation.