American scholar Kenneth Pomeranz's "
Great Divergence" theory provided an attractive economic perspective on Chinese history.
In terms of historical interpretation, however, it is narrow and problematical. Before the full development of industrialization initialed by the Western Europe, the historical trends, social systems, and
civilization movement of China and those of the Western Europe had never reached a non-divided point; therefore, the so called "
great divergence" between China and Western Europe in the 19th century did not ever exist. Rather, It was the worldwide expansion of the Western Europe, which included but not limited to industrialization, forced the Chinese to change their own social systems largely based upon the pattern of Western Europe. This trend made China's historical changes, social organization system, and even cultural characteristics demonstrated greater similarity and compatibility to that of the West. In dealing with the relevance of the 16 to 19-century Chinese history with the histories of the other parts of the world, the idea of civilization studies is with undeniable usage.