Chen Diexian (1879-1940) was a polymath, or, as Eugenia Lean introduces him, "a cosmopolitan man of letters, industrialist, and practitioner of science" (1). He left a large corpus of writings covering a broad array of topics from fiction and poetry, poli-tics, and economics, to physics and chemistry. Chen, however, is perhaps best known as an entrepreneur. In 1918, he founded the Association of Household Industries, which manufactured among other things a variety of cosmetics products, such as soap, toothpowder, face powder, and face cream. In the decades before and after World War II, the "Butterfly* brand name was well known throughout the Chinese-speaking world. As an industrialist and scientist with a knack for writing, Chen makes for a particularly attractive and useful subject of scholarly analysis. Vernacular Industrialism in China, although not a biography of Chen Diexian, sheds light on the diverse aspects of his life and career.
Immediately catching the reader's attention would be the phrase "vernacular
industrialism” in the title. The term is a loosc translation of xiao gongyi(小工藝），
which can also be translated as "minor industrial arts." In this book, Lean uses this phrase rather liberally to describe Chen's activities, especially in contrast to what she calls the "history of formal industry and science in China" (14). In this for-mulation, the "vernacular" falls into the category of "in formal" industry and science, a sector that diverges from the linear path of China's modernization. Lean, however, does not aim to replace the widely accepted narrative of state-led modernization in China. Rather, she seeks to highlight the alternative pathways of industrialization through the case of Chen. In this regard, Lean's narrative strategy is reminiscent of the "historical alternatives" school in US business and economic history...
