This book presents the first quantitative study of social wealth in traditional China. Building on recent work by Professor Bozhong Li (李伯重), it offers systematic estimates of aggregate wealth—by asset type and institutional sector—in the Huating-Lou area during the 1820s.

First, it constructs the first social wealth table and wealth-to-income ratio for traditional China, addressing a critical gap in historical wealth research and providing benchmarks for studies covering broader geographic scopes and longer time horizons. Second, it re-examines early modernity in China’s Yangzi Delta through a wealth-based lens, identifying historical foundations of the region’s economic vitality. Third, by analyzing China’s most prosperous pre-industrial society, this study reveals institutional barriers to modernization encountered across traditional China.

This book, selected for the Chinese Academic Translation Project of the National Social Science Fund, is currently in translation. The English edition is expected to be officially published in 2026.