Smokeless Sugar

Part political biography, part economic history, and part murder mystery, Smokeless Sugar sheds new light on regional and national politics and state-led industrialization in Republican China by investigating the mysterious execution of a Cantonese official in1936.

Feng Rui, a Western-educated agricultural expert, introduced modern sugar milling in Guangdong in the 1930s as a key component in a program of light industrialization sponsored by the province’s ruler, Chen Jitang. Following Chen’s removal, however, Feng was accused of colluding with smugglers for passing off foreign sugar as a domestic product and was found guilty of corruption. Examining the truth behind the allegations against Feng Rui, Emily Hill makes the case that Feng was, in fact, a scapegoat in a multi-sided power struggle in which political leaders vied with commercial players for access to China's markets and tax revenues.

This compelling study of a Chinese official examines his role as a broker between regions and economic sectors and private trade and public policy. Emily Hill uncovers Feng Rui’s role in the conceptual and material construction of China’s modern economy and argues that his work helped to lay the foundations for China’s state-led industrialization program after 1949.

This compelling book will be of interest to historians of modern Chinese politics, economics, and culture.

Emily M. Hill is an associate professor of history at Queen’s University.