This volume investigates the extent to which intra-regional trade and capital flows, rather than solely Western influence, dictated the economic trajectory of East Asia between 1850 and 1949. Kaoru Sugihara, a prominent economic historian, challenges the traditional historiography that frames Asian development primarily as a reaction to Western imperialism. By analyzing the internal mechanisms of the Asian international economy, the author provides a framework that emphasizes the agency of regional actors in shaping modern economic growth.

Experts recognize this work as a significant contribution to the field of Asian economic history for its focus on regional integration. Scholars frequently cite the text for its rigorous challenge to Eurocentric models of development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.