Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

   No.3, 2017

 

The Development of the Javanese Sugar Industry and the Changing Pattern of the Prewar East Asian Sugar Industry

(Abstract)

 

Zhao Guozhuang

 

The late 19th and early 20th century saw great changes in the structure of the East Asian sugar industry. The once dominant Chinese sugar industry broke up as Japan and British Hong Kong became the main centers of the sugar industry, while Europe, Java, Cuba and China competed with each other, forming a new East Asian structure. The Javanese sugar industry played an indispensable role in these changes: cheap raw sugar from Java entered the East Asian market in large quantities, boosting the development of the Japanese and British Hong Kong refined sugar industry and exacerbating competition among the main entities in the East Asian sugar market, and good strains of sugarcane and advanced technology were introduced into East Asia, improving the varieties and increasing the acreage of sugarcane on the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, then ruled by Japan. Responding to the huge demand for sugar, the Javanese sugar industry took the initiative in transforming its operations, so that its refined sugar poured into East Asian markets. The multidimensional relationship between Java and the Chinese and Japanese sugar industries enables us to see the internal details of the changing position of these industries and helps us understand the multiple facets of social and economic change in prewar East Asia.