Amazon.com description: Product Description: The material in this book is framed and organized through the themes of world system's theory -- such as incorporation, commercialization of agriculture, industrialization, proletarianization, and the cyclical rhythm of the capitalist world-system.

"This is an important book on a subject of significance both to sociologists and sinologists. It is based on a rare combination of serious theoretical and empirical (including primary) research. It is the first serious attempt to explore the strengths and limits of world system theory in a Chinese context, the first that is to do so through a serious empirical study." -- Mark Selden

The whole range of sericulture is examined from the production process, the social and technical problems, and the motives of cultivators, to how this form of agriculture changed over time. This text, replete with concrete and historical detail, offers carefully researched data of interest to sociologists and sinologists, as well as those in anthropology, economics, political science, and history.