Ziang’s research focuses on fiscal monetisation in late imperial China and its impacts on state capacity between the 15^thand 19^th century. The thesis mainly covers studies on the transition from corvée to waged labourers in public employment, the reallocation of fiscal resources between the central and local governments, and the state’s market regulations in the salt industry. Ziang’s research on fiscal monetisation aims to understand the quantification behaviours of the state and the efficacy of quantitative means as a type of techniques in state governance.

Ziang’s wider interests include the history of quantification and economic thought as well as European fiscal history. 

Research Interests

• Fiscal Monetisation in the Late Imperial China; State Capacity; Chinese Economic History; History of Quantification

Thesis Topic

• Fiscal monetisation and re-quantification in China between the 15^th to 19^th century

Thesis Supervisors

• Professor Oliver Volckart and Professor Mary Morgan

Curriculum Vitae

View Ziang Liu's CV here: Ziang Liu CV [PDF]