This volume brings together some of the very best of half a century of enduring scholarship in the Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient . The selected articles show how historians have developed their understanding of economic and social change in China and India. As introduced by two of its current editors, these seminal studies not only demonstrate the crucial contributions of JESHO but also reflect the various scholarly tendencies in their respective fields. Hence this volume offers readers a unique opportunity to critically compare the historical and the historiographical roots and routes of the modern development of these two new global superpowers. The contributions in this volume have been previously published as articles in Brill’s journal Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient . Please see the table of contents for more information.