«Global History and New Polycentric Approaches: Europe, Asia And the Americas in a World Network System» (Palgrave, 2018) first book published by GECEM project «Global Encounters between China and Europe: Trade Networks, Consumption and Cultural Exchanges in Macau and Marseille (1680-1840)» led by professor Manuel Pérez García, first researcher (and so far only) based in China who obtained an ERC (European Research Council)-Starting Grant. He is Distinguished Professor at Universidad Pablo de Olavide and tenured associate professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Shanghai, China). The UPO is the European Host Institution of GECEM.

This book is co-edited by Manuel Pérez García (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) and Lucio de Sousa (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) and is the first book of the new series Palgrave Studies in Comparative Global History www.palgrave.com/de/series/15711. Manuel Perez is the editor in chief of this series. The foreword of this book is by Patrick O’Brien (St. Antonys College, University of Oxford), and the contributors are Richard Von Glahn (UCLA), Anne McCants (MIT), Carlos Marichal Salinas (Colegio de México), Bartolome Yun Casalilla (Universidad Pablo de Olavide) y Mihoko Oka (University of Tokyo), among others. In addition, this book has been reviewed by John Elliot, Jan de Vries, Patt Manning, Giorgio Riello, Antonio Ibarra, Shigeru Akita, Jack Owens, etc.

This book is published in Open Access and can be downloaded for free in this link: www.palgrave.com/de/book/9789811040528

Professor Manuel Pérez García joined the Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO) in July 2016 when this project started. The main objective is the analysis of changes in consumer behaviour in China and Europe between 1680 and 1840, when the industrial revolution in northwestern Europe took place. The circulation of goods of European origin (clocks, mirrors, wine) and goods of American origin (silver, chili, potato) in China fostered the process of integration between eastern and western markets.

Funded with 1.5 million euros by the European Research Council (ERC) within the prestigious Starting Grants program (Horizon 2020), the GECEM project www.gecem.eu is the result of the years (from 2011 until today) of research and work by Manuel Pérez in China at Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Professor Pérez is linked to Area de Historia Moderna at UPO, where he is currently developing this project in collaboration with the UPO research group ‘Globalización ibérica: redes entre Asia y Europa y los cambios en las pautas de consumo en Latinoamérica’, directed by Professor Bartolomé Yun Casalilla.