Social-Economic Change and its Impact on Violence: Homicide History of Qing China

In Social-Economic Change and its Impact on Violence: Homicide History of Qing China, Zhiwu Chen, Kaixiang Peng and Lijun Zhu offer the first estimate of interpersonal homicide rates of China for the period 1661–1898. The researchers find that the annual homicide rate ranged between 0.35 and 1.47 per 100,000 inhabitants during that period, a low level unmatched by Western Europe until the late 19th century. China’s homicide rate rose steadily from 1661 to 1821 but declined gradually thereafter until the turn of the century.