This book explores the economic history of the traditional Chinese iron industry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with particular emphasis on the interactions among technological, economic and geographic factors. The traditional technology of iron production is described together with the ways in which it changed and developed in response to upheavals wrought by foreign competition, war and revolution and by the growth in China of a modern iron industry.
Many of the book's findings are counter-intuitive, and will provide food for thought in the study of Third World industrial development. The author has written widely on the history of science and technology in China, and is currently engaged in writing the volume on ferrous metallurgy for Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China.

Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 The changing economic geography of the traditional Chinese iron industry; Chapter 3 Traditional Chinese iron production techniques; Chapter 4 Small-scale ironworks of the mountains of Dabieshan; Chapter 5 Large-scale ironworks in Sichuan; Chapter 6 Crucible smelting in Shanxi; Chapter 7 Large- and small-scale ironworks in Guangdong; Chapter 8 Concluding remarks;

Donald B. Wagner has written widely on the history of science and technology in China, and is currently engaged in writing the volume on ferrous metallurgy for Joseph NeedhamâEUR(TM)s Science and Civilisation in China.,
The Foreword is by Peter Nolan of Jesus College, Cambridge.