Hobson's argument for Chinese inputs to British industrialisation

Hobson's chapter on the Chinese origins of British industrialisation challenges accounts that explain Britain's industrial development entirely within Britain. He argues that British innovators consciously acquired Chinese technologies or knowledge that those technologies existed. Late development could then offer an advantage, allowing earlier inventions to be copied, assimilated, and refined. He compares this process with the way Western accounts describe Japan's later industrial development. Clarke considers the chapter fairly well researched but cautions that the effort to correct a European focus can overcorrect.