Australian wool and Chinese industrialization, 1901-41

Chinese industrialization has been understood chiefly in terms of China's engagement with more powerful countries, especially Japan and Britain. During the early twentieth century, nevertheless, the development of China's woolen industry-part of a broader program of Chinese industrial development-depended largely on an import trade in raw wool from Australia. Through our study of this industry and trade, we show that a minor world power was more significant to Chinese industrialization than previously imagined.