This is the first book to focus comparatively on the development processes of finance in China and Japan during the prewar period. The key issue is how to evaluate the role of government in the establishing of modern financial system. Both China and Japan started from a similar pre-modern situation in the middle of 19th century in that the monetary conditions were primitive and complicated, the traditional financial institutions were money-exchange-based, and above all, both countries had faced serious challenging pressure from the Western powers. International or domestic military affairs largely affected the development processes in both countries. While Japan succeeded in establishing its modern financial system that consistently supported its economic growth, China failed to modernize its money and banking system effectively at least until the end of World War II and the government had to change hands to the socialists, which further delayed the financial development. The experience of Japan suggests that the establishment of modern financial system may not simply be as a result of "spontaneous order", a concept used by Hayek, at least for the case of a catching-up country. The evolution process of money and banking in China shows that the role of government, especially its enforcement ability of and compliance to the rule of law may be more important than the "legal origins".
