Ok, granted, this one is probably true. Was commercilization (however you measure it) actually similar during the Ming or early Qing era then?
You certainly see a robust internal economy and trade network and by the late 1700s a robust cottage industry economy that everyone and their mothers (literally) were participating in, and intense internal economic competition especially after the Qing population boom (that occurred after Columbian crops such as the potato fully circulated through China).
But the point specifically was on the Northern Song, and I don't feel comfortable comparing "relative" commercialization. Too subjective. The Northern Song did implement pro-trade policies before being reduced, however, which is the point I'd like to make.
Ok so this part is really problematic. First of all nationalist movements are by definition not very pro-western, and the sort of nationalism you are talking about crystallized -after- the fall of the Qing dynasty. The rise of modern Chinese nationalism is commonly dated to the may 4th movement in 1919.
I'll concede the point here for you two to debate. Late (post-Opium War) Qing history is not my forte, and I'm not entirely comfortable arguing this.
Mostly, there was passive resentment and varying degrees of resistance to the state from varying levels of social strata, which were exacerbated by Qing disasters in the mid 1800s onwards. 1919 is where the nationalist movement crystallized, varying degrees of such were promulgated before then, and anti-Manchu sentiment was among the impetus for the Taiping rebellion, and plenty of rebellions, minor and large, before then.
Which is why I think a deeper integration of the Manchus into wider society, and a reversal of their policies of maintaining themselves as separate and aloof elites, is necessary to ensure the Qing dynasty can survive westernization.
I actually don't know enough about this to comment, save that no state, European or Asian, were good at controlling inflation in this time period.
China occupied, up until the introduction of Opium and the drastic reduction in silver production in the early 1800s (the former happened later than the latter) a unique and ultimately central position in the global economy, given just how ridiculous the amounts of silver it was importing (there was a reason why Ming/Qing era China never felt the needs to explore, because merchants were flocking to trade for Chinese luxury goods through Chinese merchant intermediaries, predominantly, and have been for centuries). It had, by all accounts, a massive internal economy. I'll dig up my sources, later today, but in one of the contributing factors the Ming had was being able to truly controlling the inflation that the massive amounts of silver was bringing, in conjunction with a whole slew of other problems (but inflation was primary). Not to say that it was all bad: the silver funded the expansion of the Chinese economy to unprecedented heights at the time and was important in funding many of the Ming's expensive and draining projects (like the modern additions to the Great Wall), and a vibrant vernacular culture.
After the early 1800s things changed, with the global silver trade drastically collapsing (which had its own effect on the Qing budget/economy), and the British efforts to commercialize opium in China, an the hopes that they could stem the continued influx of silver for tea (starting in ~the late 1810s, due to the fact Britain was on the gold standard because Newton made a major oppsie when denominating the exchange ratio between gold and silver, leading all silver to flee Britain), was so wildly successful that they were able to single-handedly reverse the balance of trade, so that China went from being a massive exporter (and importer of specie) into a net
importer (and exporter of specie), reversing...hundreds of years of trade
status quo.
Granted, there's been modern examinations of the role of arbitrage and the difference in bimetallic ratios between Europe and Asia as a possible contributing factor to the amount of silver China imported, but that's another story. I'll bring up the source on that later today, but look up
Fountain of Fortune: Money and Monetary Policy in China, 1000-1700,
Von Glahn (1996) in the meantime for an express look at this. It SHOULD have the figures on the silver trade and imports. If not and I'm confusing things, I've got other sources.