Hailian Chen | Ruhr-Universität Bochum (original) (raw)

Book by Hailian Chen

Hailian Chen’s pioneering study presents the first comprehensive history of Chinese zinc—an essen... more Hailian Chen’s pioneering study presents the first comprehensive history of Chinese zinc—an essential base metal used to produce brass and coin and a global commodity—over the long eighteenth century. Zinc, she argues, played a far greater role in the Qing economy and in integrating China into an emerging global economy, than has previously been recognized. Using commodity chain analysis and exploring over 5,800 items of archival documents, Chen demonstrates how this metal was produced, transported, traded, and consumed by human agents. Situating the zinc story within the human-environment framework, this book covers a broad and interdisciplinary range of political economy, material culture, environment, technology, and society, which casts new light on our understanding of early modern China.

Readership:
All interested in the history of Qing China’s political economy, institutions, society, environment, Southwest frontier, and material culture; especially scholars engaged in empirical research on miners, metallurgy, and global commodities.

Front Matter (open access https://brill.com/view/title/38555).
Forewords by Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel and Prof. George Bryan Souza, see https://brill.com/view/book/9789004383043/front-7.xml

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles by Hailian Chen

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (JRAS), 2024

The history of mining education in late Qing China has received relatively little attention in sc... more The history of mining education in late Qing China has received relatively little attention in scholarly literature. Through the lens of institutionalising global mining knowledge, this article addresses the following questions: how did the demand for expertise within the framework of mining bureaucracy evolve under the impact of Western imperialism; and how did mining education enter scholarly discourse and become eventually institutionalised in the late Qing China? Drawing on evidence from the collections of Sheng Xuanhuai’s archive series, it investigates two previously overlooked “failures” of Sheng’s mining-related enterprises, namely, his earliest mining practices in Hubei in the 1870s, and his proposal for establishing a mining school in Shandong in 1888–1889. It then reconnects these efforts with the histories of Western learning, late Qing mining bureaucracy, the monetary crisis of that era, and the global recruitment of engineers despite a pronounced distrust of foreign expertise. It argues that these seemingly discrete efforts or “failures” in fact paved the way for initiating China’s first engineering university as well as other mining colleges around 1895 and eventually led to the rise of engineering education before the entire educational system was transformed in China.

Artefact, 2023

Driven by Western imperialism, the late Qing reformers embarked on a new path towards institution... more Driven by Western imperialism, the late Qing reformers embarked on a new path towards institutionalizing technology-related matters for attaining China’s technological independence. Hitherto, overwhelming attention has been given to the training and translation programs in the Fuzhou Navy Yard and the Jiangnan Arsenal, but the influence of both institutional models in Chinese intellectual history has been overlooked. This article recasts our understanding of the origin of both models (jiqiju for industrial manufacturing and yiju for education) in the context of borrowing and imitating Western methods, and demonstrates how the two models stimulated the Confucian scholarly learning of arts. It argues that these pre-1885 efforts and debates on rewarding talent changed the trajectory of the Chinese intellectual pursuit of technology and paved the way to reforming the entire educational system after 1895.

ICON: Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology, 2021

In Qing China, the driving force of initiating technical education in the crisis-ridden age after... more In Qing China, the driving force of initiating technical education in the crisis-ridden age after 1840 was national defense. A large body of existing literature addresses the issues of “science” or “knowledge” in late nineteenth-century China, but neglects to ask how technology entered Chinese intellectual discourses and became a legitimate field in the educational system. This article addresses how literati-scholars, missionaries, and often overlooked official-industrialists, articulated their thoughts toward technology or arts in Chinese culture, through deepened contextualized and conceptualized analysis of historical works. It argues and demonstrates that it was the intellectual concept of arts (yi)—most remarkably, the hitherto neglected overarching term yixue (study/science of art) including both technology and science—that characterized late Qing scholarly debates. Indigenous art-related terms allowed Confucian scholars (including sinologists) to build up an intellectual space for an “imagined” technology, while defending China’s own cultural tradition.

Technikgeschichte, 2013

Previous studies of zinc in China and Europe have largely concentrated on issues of the origin of... more Previous studies of zinc in China and Europe have largely concentrated on issues of the origin of zinc in a specifi c place but have not addressed the connections and relationships produced and used between China and Europe because of zinc. This paper is the first attempt to approach the history of zinc transfer from China to Europe from a transnational perspective. My narrative of this zinc transfer goes beyond a classical comparison of two trading patterns modelled on the major factors of transfer. Instead, by viewing trade as a vehicle for moving commodities and transmitting ideas, knowledge and technology, I interpret the transfer of zinc from China to Europe chronologically on two levels: both the physical movement or fl ow of zinc as an object or commodity that was being incorporated into producing a series of new goods, especially in such as imitating golden decorations; and the technology for producing the metal. In order to examine both aspects, I discuss Chinese zinc and European inventions within their larger technological, economic, political, social and cultural contexts and address the following questions: why did the large-scale use of zinc emerge in China? How did Chinese zinc arrive in Europe and how was zinc adopted as a new raw material? Why and how was zinc discovered and produced in Europe? As my findings suggest, the arrival of Chinese zinc in Europe a ballast item led to its adoption in the production of new goods in Europe, for instance being used to produce imitation gold ornaments and toys. This use of Chinese zinc to create new consumer products in Europe then stimulated a race for ways to devise European zinc production, although this took a long time to master, and led to competition between inventors, in commerce and with traditional uses of other metals. Equally signifi cantly, connection and exchange via trade within European countries as well as China facilitated the spread of new goods and led to innovative uses of zinc in Europe.

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 2014

Stemming from an examination of the zinc industry in early modern China, this article centers on ... more Stemming from an examination of the zinc industry in early modern China, this article centers on a detailed survey of coal, the primary source of energy for processing zinc. On the basis of Qing archival documents, this article investigates the previously unknown spatial relationship of zinc ore deposits, coal mines, and zinc smelters; provides quantitative evidence of coal use by estimating the annual consumption of coal in processing zinc; offers a new perspective on the general use of coal in Qing China; and compares the coal-fuel efficiency problem in early European and Chinese zinc production. Keywords Qing China – zinc output – coal consumption – mine – smelter – European zinc

Journal of Material Culture, 2017

The history of zinc in general and its contribution to China's material culture during the late M... more The history of zinc in general and its contribution to China's material culture during the late Ming and early Qing period in particular is obscure. Specific issues have remained understudied, especially the historical demand for and production of this metal, as well as the locations of zinc mines. This article is the result of collaborative research that approaches these issues by employing and examining the historical development of zinc's commodity chain, in general, and by focusing on the early demand, in particular, for this metal. The authors discuss the emergence of demand for metallic zinc as a mint metal in the Ming, which spatially influenced the development and shift of zinc mining development from Guangdong province northwards and finally to Guizhou province in the Ming–Qing transition. Based upon primary Chinese texts, this article geographically situates the locations of zinc bearing ore (calamine) deposits that directly resulted in investing and developing zinc mines over this period.

(Peer-Reviewed) Book Chapters by Hailian Chen

Chen, Hailian. "2 Remaking Hinterland Guizhou: Ding Wenjiang’s (1887–1936) Pioneering Geo-surveys in Southwest China". Age of Exploration: How Chinese Scientists and Administrators Discovered China, edited by Elisabeth Kaske and Elisabeth Köll, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2024, pp. 23-52., 2024

In June 1911, Ding Wenjiang 丁文江 (also known as V. K. Ting, 1887–1936) stepped into Guizhou for ... more In June 1911, Ding Wenjiang 丁文江 (also known as V. K. Ting, 1887–1936) stepped into Guizhou for the first time when he as a returned student travelled from Europe back to China. Ding’s trip in Guizhou has been eulogized as the first Chinese geologist’s footsteps in that province.

Focusing on Ding Wenjiang’s encounter and exploration of Guizhou, this chapter takes a closer look at the survey reports, memoirs, and correspondence published by Ding and his contemporary fellows. It provides a new analytical framework to examine Ding’s pioneering geo-surveys, which went beyond the geological focus on natural studies like fossils, minerals, or stratigraphy, and extended into the spheres of topography, anthropology, and above all, the history and future of mining industries, resources as well as the general economy. By addressing why and how the renewed field knowledge on the Southwest was produced by Ding and his teams, this chapter reveals the previously overlooked pivotal connections between Ding Wenjiang’s first trip to Guizhou and his endeavor and sharp insight to discover possible railway routes in the Southwest. It argues that Ding Wenjiang’s geo-surveys re-positioned hinterland Guizhou in multiple interrelated spaces of Republican China.

This chapter showcases two less-mentioned, but arguably far-reaching, influences of Ding’s geo-surveys in the pre-1931 period: (1) training a young generation of geologists and topographers through walking (zoulu 走路 or buxing 步行) in the least accessible areas of China’s Southwest, to consolidate the scientific and educational enterprises; and (2) enhancing the openness and visibility of field knowledge (especially the topographic data) beyond the geological professions, to promote interactions between scientific and technical communities and society. For the latter aspect, this chapter analyzes the intimate link between Ding’s discovery of the obvious errors in mapping Guizhou’s main courier route and his initiative to produce the most influential and wide spread atlas of China, the Shenbao Atlas (Shenbao ditu 申報地圖) published in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of that newspaper, namely Zhonghua minguo xin ditu 中華民國新地圖 [New Atlas of the Republic of China] (published in 1934) and its reduced version Zhongguo fensheng xintu 中國分省新圖 [New Provincial Atlas] (first edition published in 1933, with five subsequent revised editions until 1948)

Wissensort in China. Jahrbuch der Deutschen Vereinigung für Chinastudien 16, edited by Martin Hofmann and Joachim Kurtz (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2023), 87–114., 2023

Beiyang University (Beiyang daxuetang), founded by Sheng Xuanhuai in Tianjin in 1895, is China’s ... more Beiyang University (Beiyang daxuetang), founded by Sheng Xuanhuai in Tianjin in 1895, is China’s first engineering university. As yet its history has received almost no attention in Western scholarship. This article examines the early history of Beiyang University and reconnects it with the little known histories of Bowen Academy (Bowen shuyuan, built around 1886–1888) and Gezhi Academy (Gezhi shuyuan, planned around 1893–1894) in Tianjin. It demonstrates that Sheng’s founding of Beiyang University was not a singular event or an aftereffect of the Sino-Japanese War. Rather, it was part of broader efforts initiated by reform-minded officials in late Qing China to develop technical education. I argue that the founding of daxuetang (universities) such as in the case of Beiyang University, created site of knowledge reuniting the moral learning of the Way (dao 道) with practical arts (yi 藝), as defined by the Confucian tradition. The establishment of Beiyang University pioneered the institutionalization of engineering education in China. Its infrastructure, especially the laboratories, mining museum, and summer schools for field surveys, provided physical spaces facilitating the transmission of practical knowledge.

Pauer, Erich, and Regine Mathias, eds. Accessing Technical Education in Modern Japan. Amsterdam University Press, 2022

Articles by Hailian Chen

Zinc was an essential base metal used to produce coin and brass in late imperial China and was al... more Zinc was an essential base metal used to produce coin and brass in late imperial China and was also a global commodity being exported from China to other parts of Asia and Europe in the early modern period. This article is a highly condensed result of the author’s zinc research project. It provides a methodological approach to our understanding of natural resources in history by tracing zinc’s commodity chain (including demand, production, transport, commercialization and consumption). At the intersections of technology and resources, the history of the Chinese zinc enterprise was an integration of a variety of resources (including zinc ores, capital, coal fuel, human labor, draft animals, and many other raw materials and types of “ecological footprints,” such as food resources).

27. Agricola-Gespräch (24.11.2018): »Kunyu gezhi 坤輿格致 oder die Geschichte der chinesischen Übersetzung des De re metallica libri XII« https://www.georgius-agricola.de/, 2018

Sollten Sie noch nicht mit uns im Schriftverkehr stehen und unsere Rundbriefe gernam besten per M... more Sollten Sie noch nicht mit uns im Schriftverkehr stehen und unsere Rundbriefe gernam besten per Mailzugeschickt haben wollen, so setzen Sie sich bitte mit uns in Verbindung.

Book Reviews by Hailian Chen

H-Net Reviews, 2024

Brown, Tristan G.. Laws of the land: Fengshui and the State in Qing China. Princeton: Princeton U... more Brown, Tristan G.. Laws of the land: Fengshui and the State in Qing China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023. 356 pp. $45.00 (cloth), ISBN 9780691246734.

Reviewed by Hailian Chen (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)
Published on H-Water (March, 2024)
Commissioned by Yan Gao

Citation: Hailian Chen. Review of Brown, Tristan G.. Laws of the land: Fengshui and the State in Qing China. H-Water, H-Net Reviews. March, 2024.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=59573

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Articles in Chinese by Hailian Chen

Journal of Inner Mongolia Normal University, 2007

《滇南矿厂图略》是清代吴其濬任云南巡抚时所编撰的一本有关云南矿厂的著作，该书比较全面地总结介绍了清代云南矿冶业的情况，包括矿物的开采、冶炼，铜银等矿厂的分布、运营管理等内容，尤其是将各矿厂的矿物... more 《滇南矿厂图略》是清代吴其濬任云南巡抚时所编撰的一本有关云南矿厂的著作，该书比较全面地总结介绍了清代云南矿冶业的情况，包括矿物的开采、冶炼，铜银等矿厂的分布、运营管理等内容，尤其是将各矿厂的矿物运输线路及所需船只、费用、时限等细节，一一陈述，为研究当时云南的矿物运输提供了珍贵的史料。本文结合该书内容（主要是下卷），并参考其它文献资料，从运输线路、运输成本、运输管理等方面，对清代云南铸币铜矿的运输问题进行了研究，并对运输线路的变迁做了初步分析。
Illustrated Accounts of Mines and Smelters in Yunnan was written by Wu Qijun (1789-1847), the provincial governor in Yunnan province then. That book was a comprehensive writing about mining industry. It contains many illustrations about mines, tools and distributions of smelters in the book. Especially, in the second volume, it records the detailed mint copper transport routes, distance, time, expenses, boats and management of officials. It is very valuable for studying mint copper transportation of that period. Focusing on the mint copper transportation system, this paper makes a preliminary study on Wu Qijun's book and other related historical texts. This paper analyzes the problems in the copper transportation system that transported copper from Yunnan to Beijing mints, Yunnan mints, and other provincial mints, and focuses on the issues of transport routes, cost, managements and the change of routes.

Thesis by Hailian Chen

MA Thesis at Tsinghua University (Beijing), 2008

清政府铸钱每年需要上千万余斤的铜料，自乾隆四年（公元1739年）起，国内铸币铜料绝大部分由云南供应。但云南的产铜区多位于深山险谷中，只能通过人背马驮，转运车船，从矿硐运往各地铸局。在交通运输工具... more 清政府铸钱每年需要上千万余斤的铜料，自乾隆四年（公元1739年）起，国内铸币铜料绝大部分由云南供应。但云南的产铜区多位于深山险谷中，只能通过人背马驮，转运车船，从矿硐运往各地铸局。在交通运输工具落后而又匮乏的背景下，长距离、大规模的铜运产生了复杂的滇铜运输组织体系。
《滇南矿厂图略》专门介绍了滇铜的采冶技术和矿厂经营管理，特别对滇铜运输的组织线路、运脚、官员和船只的调度和管理等记载得很详细。同时，《云南铜志》、《铜政便览》、《云南铜政全书》等历史文献中对铜运管理等方面亦均有记载；清朝历代的宫中档、军机处录副奏折等档案材料中有大量的铜运过各省的报告和在云南因铜运而进行交通运输设施建设的奏疏；地方志和游记类的文献中也多有关于滇铜运输的描述，如运铜官员黎恂撰写的《运铜纪程》等。目前利用这些历史文献资料对滇铜运输问题进行系统化地研究尚为缺乏，所见研究成果多偏重于滇铜运输问题的某一个方面。
本论文以《滇南矿厂图略》等历史文献为线索，以现代交通运输体系的理论为指导，从以运输线路为中心线索的运输技术和运输管理两方面，深入探讨了清代云南铸币铜矿的运输组织体系，主要包括：（1）解读了“铜厂”的概念；（2）云南铜厂的开办沿革和地理分布，将云南各铜厂的额定产量及分布标定在地图上；（3）滇铜供应本省铸局、京局、外省采买的运输线路组织、费用和运输管理，绘制出各运输线路地图，并将铜运与云南省内一般货物运输的运费、铜运在省外的运费进行比较；（4）滇铜在不同运输阶段的运输方式、技术特点及其难点，分析了人力背塃、马牛骡驮运、牛车挽运和船运几种不同的运输方式及其局限性。并通过对云南中南部的矿区考察，加深了对历史文献的认识和理解，补充和纠正了滇铜运输组织体系研究中的相关问题。最终从运输技术、交通运输条件和运输管理三方面综合评价了滇铜运输体系。

Since the fourth year of the Qianlong Reign (1737) in the Qing Period, most of the mints copper supply had been taken over by Yunnan Province, with the annual quota of more than 10 million jin to Peking and provincial mints. However, all the copper mining areas were situated in mountainous regions that posed great challenges for transportation out of Yunnan, only via labour pack, horse or cattle pack, cart and ship.

Diannan kuangchang tulüe 滇南礦廠圖略 (An Illustrated Account of Mines and Smelters in Yunnan) is a comprehensive writing about history of mining industry in Yunnan in the Qing Period, in particular with details on mint copper transportation routes, time, expenses, and managements of officials and boats. The administration on copper transportation could also be found in Yunnan tongzhi 雲南銅志 (On the copper of Yunnan), Tongzheng bianlan 銅政便覽 (A manual on copper administration) and Yunnan tongzheng quanshu 雲南銅政全書 (Complete Book on the Copper Administration of Yunnan). Moreover, information on copper transportation also exists in historical archives, local gazetteers and travel accounts. Nevertheless, a systematic research on copper transportation based on the above literature is still scarce.

With the focus on Yunnan copper transportation system, this thesis makes a preliminary but systematic study of the above mentioned historical texts. The textual research is also combined with a field investigation of copper mines and transportation routes in central and southwestern Yunnan. The following aspects are addressed and analysed: (1) a new explanation of the definition of copper mines; (2) the copper mines database and copper mines location map with annual quota; (3) the transportation routes for copper to Peking mints, Yunnan and provincial mints, as well as transportation expenses and administrations, with the map of transportation routes, and a comparison of transportation cost between copper and general goods in Yunnan and out of Yunnan; (4) the transportation means and techniques, assessing transport capability in Yunnan under discussions on shortage of cattle, improvement of roads and river way. The assessment of copper transportation system also includes an analysis of transportation technology, road conditions and transportation administration.

Papers by Hailian Chen

BRILL eBooks, Nov 21, 2018

BRILL eBooks, Nov 21, 2018

BRILL eBooks, Nov 21, 2018

Hailian Chen’s pioneering study presents the first comprehensive history of Chinese zinc—an essen... more Hailian Chen’s pioneering study presents the first comprehensive history of Chinese zinc—an essential base metal used to produce brass and coin and a global commodity—over the long eighteenth century. Zinc, she argues, played a far greater role in the Qing economy and in integrating China into an emerging global economy, than has previously been recognized. Using commodity chain analysis and exploring over 5,800 items of archival documents, Chen demonstrates how this metal was produced, transported, traded, and consumed by human agents. Situating the zinc story within the human-environment framework, this book covers a broad and interdisciplinary range of political economy, material culture, environment, technology, and society, which casts new light on our understanding of early modern China.

Readership:
All interested in the history of Qing China’s political economy, institutions, society, environment, Southwest frontier, and material culture; especially scholars engaged in empirical research on miners, metallurgy, and global commodities.

Front Matter (open access https://brill.com/view/title/38555).
Forewords by Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel and Prof. George Bryan Souza, see https://brill.com/view/book/9789004383043/front-7.xml

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (JRAS), 2024

The history of mining education in late Qing China has received relatively little attention in sc... more The history of mining education in late Qing China has received relatively little attention in scholarly literature. Through the lens of institutionalising global mining knowledge, this article addresses the following questions: how did the demand for expertise within the framework of mining bureaucracy evolve under the impact of Western imperialism; and how did mining education enter scholarly discourse and become eventually institutionalised in the late Qing China? Drawing on evidence from the collections of Sheng Xuanhuai’s archive series, it investigates two previously overlooked “failures” of Sheng’s mining-related enterprises, namely, his earliest mining practices in Hubei in the 1870s, and his proposal for establishing a mining school in Shandong in 1888–1889. It then reconnects these efforts with the histories of Western learning, late Qing mining bureaucracy, the monetary crisis of that era, and the global recruitment of engineers despite a pronounced distrust of foreign expertise. It argues that these seemingly discrete efforts or “failures” in fact paved the way for initiating China’s first engineering university as well as other mining colleges around 1895 and eventually led to the rise of engineering education before the entire educational system was transformed in China.

Artefact, 2023

Driven by Western imperialism, the late Qing reformers embarked on a new path towards institution... more Driven by Western imperialism, the late Qing reformers embarked on a new path towards institutionalizing technology-related matters for attaining China’s technological independence. Hitherto, overwhelming attention has been given to the training and translation programs in the Fuzhou Navy Yard and the Jiangnan Arsenal, but the influence of both institutional models in Chinese intellectual history has been overlooked. This article recasts our understanding of the origin of both models (jiqiju for industrial manufacturing and yiju for education) in the context of borrowing and imitating Western methods, and demonstrates how the two models stimulated the Confucian scholarly learning of arts. It argues that these pre-1885 efforts and debates on rewarding talent changed the trajectory of the Chinese intellectual pursuit of technology and paved the way to reforming the entire educational system after 1895.

ICON: Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology, 2021

In Qing China, the driving force of initiating technical education in the crisis-ridden age after... more In Qing China, the driving force of initiating technical education in the crisis-ridden age after 1840 was national defense. A large body of existing literature addresses the issues of “science” or “knowledge” in late nineteenth-century China, but neglects to ask how technology entered Chinese intellectual discourses and became a legitimate field in the educational system. This article addresses how literati-scholars, missionaries, and often overlooked official-industrialists, articulated their thoughts toward technology or arts in Chinese culture, through deepened contextualized and conceptualized analysis of historical works. It argues and demonstrates that it was the intellectual concept of arts (yi)—most remarkably, the hitherto neglected overarching term yixue (study/science of art) including both technology and science—that characterized late Qing scholarly debates. Indigenous art-related terms allowed Confucian scholars (including sinologists) to build up an intellectual space for an “imagined” technology, while defending China’s own cultural tradition.

Technikgeschichte, 2013

Previous studies of zinc in China and Europe have largely concentrated on issues of the origin of... more Previous studies of zinc in China and Europe have largely concentrated on issues of the origin of zinc in a specifi c place but have not addressed the connections and relationships produced and used between China and Europe because of zinc. This paper is the first attempt to approach the history of zinc transfer from China to Europe from a transnational perspective. My narrative of this zinc transfer goes beyond a classical comparison of two trading patterns modelled on the major factors of transfer. Instead, by viewing trade as a vehicle for moving commodities and transmitting ideas, knowledge and technology, I interpret the transfer of zinc from China to Europe chronologically on two levels: both the physical movement or fl ow of zinc as an object or commodity that was being incorporated into producing a series of new goods, especially in such as imitating golden decorations; and the technology for producing the metal. In order to examine both aspects, I discuss Chinese zinc and European inventions within their larger technological, economic, political, social and cultural contexts and address the following questions: why did the large-scale use of zinc emerge in China? How did Chinese zinc arrive in Europe and how was zinc adopted as a new raw material? Why and how was zinc discovered and produced in Europe? As my findings suggest, the arrival of Chinese zinc in Europe a ballast item led to its adoption in the production of new goods in Europe, for instance being used to produce imitation gold ornaments and toys. This use of Chinese zinc to create new consumer products in Europe then stimulated a race for ways to devise European zinc production, although this took a long time to master, and led to competition between inventors, in commerce and with traditional uses of other metals. Equally signifi cantly, connection and exchange via trade within European countries as well as China facilitated the spread of new goods and led to innovative uses of zinc in Europe.

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 2014

Stemming from an examination of the zinc industry in early modern China, this article centers on ... more Stemming from an examination of the zinc industry in early modern China, this article centers on a detailed survey of coal, the primary source of energy for processing zinc. On the basis of Qing archival documents, this article investigates the previously unknown spatial relationship of zinc ore deposits, coal mines, and zinc smelters; provides quantitative evidence of coal use by estimating the annual consumption of coal in processing zinc; offers a new perspective on the general use of coal in Qing China; and compares the coal-fuel efficiency problem in early European and Chinese zinc production. Keywords Qing China – zinc output – coal consumption – mine – smelter – European zinc

Journal of Material Culture, 2017

The history of zinc in general and its contribution to China's material culture during the late M... more The history of zinc in general and its contribution to China's material culture during the late Ming and early Qing period in particular is obscure. Specific issues have remained understudied, especially the historical demand for and production of this metal, as well as the locations of zinc mines. This article is the result of collaborative research that approaches these issues by employing and examining the historical development of zinc's commodity chain, in general, and by focusing on the early demand, in particular, for this metal. The authors discuss the emergence of demand for metallic zinc as a mint metal in the Ming, which spatially influenced the development and shift of zinc mining development from Guangdong province northwards and finally to Guizhou province in the Ming–Qing transition. Based upon primary Chinese texts, this article geographically situates the locations of zinc bearing ore (calamine) deposits that directly resulted in investing and developing zinc mines over this period.

Chen, Hailian. "2 Remaking Hinterland Guizhou: Ding Wenjiang’s (1887–1936) Pioneering Geo-surveys in Southwest China". Age of Exploration: How Chinese Scientists and Administrators Discovered China, edited by Elisabeth Kaske and Elisabeth Köll, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2024, pp. 23-52., 2024

In June 1911, Ding Wenjiang 丁文江 (also known as V. K. Ting, 1887–1936) stepped into Guizhou for ... more In June 1911, Ding Wenjiang 丁文江 (also known as V. K. Ting, 1887–1936) stepped into Guizhou for the first time when he as a returned student travelled from Europe back to China. Ding’s trip in Guizhou has been eulogized as the first Chinese geologist’s footsteps in that province.

Focusing on Ding Wenjiang’s encounter and exploration of Guizhou, this chapter takes a closer look at the survey reports, memoirs, and correspondence published by Ding and his contemporary fellows. It provides a new analytical framework to examine Ding’s pioneering geo-surveys, which went beyond the geological focus on natural studies like fossils, minerals, or stratigraphy, and extended into the spheres of topography, anthropology, and above all, the history and future of mining industries, resources as well as the general economy. By addressing why and how the renewed field knowledge on the Southwest was produced by Ding and his teams, this chapter reveals the previously overlooked pivotal connections between Ding Wenjiang’s first trip to Guizhou and his endeavor and sharp insight to discover possible railway routes in the Southwest. It argues that Ding Wenjiang’s geo-surveys re-positioned hinterland Guizhou in multiple interrelated spaces of Republican China.

This chapter showcases two less-mentioned, but arguably far-reaching, influences of Ding’s geo-surveys in the pre-1931 period: (1) training a young generation of geologists and topographers through walking (zoulu 走路 or buxing 步行) in the least accessible areas of China’s Southwest, to consolidate the scientific and educational enterprises; and (2) enhancing the openness and visibility of field knowledge (especially the topographic data) beyond the geological professions, to promote interactions between scientific and technical communities and society. For the latter aspect, this chapter analyzes the intimate link between Ding’s discovery of the obvious errors in mapping Guizhou’s main courier route and his initiative to produce the most influential and wide spread atlas of China, the Shenbao Atlas (Shenbao ditu 申報地圖) published in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of that newspaper, namely Zhonghua minguo xin ditu 中華民國新地圖 [New Atlas of the Republic of China] (published in 1934) and its reduced version Zhongguo fensheng xintu 中國分省新圖 [New Provincial Atlas] (first edition published in 1933, with five subsequent revised editions until 1948)

Wissensort in China. Jahrbuch der Deutschen Vereinigung für Chinastudien 16, edited by Martin Hofmann and Joachim Kurtz (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2023), 87–114., 2023

Beiyang University (Beiyang daxuetang), founded by Sheng Xuanhuai in Tianjin in 1895, is China’s ... more Beiyang University (Beiyang daxuetang), founded by Sheng Xuanhuai in Tianjin in 1895, is China’s first engineering university. As yet its history has received almost no attention in Western scholarship. This article examines the early history of Beiyang University and reconnects it with the little known histories of Bowen Academy (Bowen shuyuan, built around 1886–1888) and Gezhi Academy (Gezhi shuyuan, planned around 1893–1894) in Tianjin. It demonstrates that Sheng’s founding of Beiyang University was not a singular event or an aftereffect of the Sino-Japanese War. Rather, it was part of broader efforts initiated by reform-minded officials in late Qing China to develop technical education. I argue that the founding of daxuetang (universities) such as in the case of Beiyang University, created site of knowledge reuniting the moral learning of the Way (dao 道) with practical arts (yi 藝), as defined by the Confucian tradition. The establishment of Beiyang University pioneered the institutionalization of engineering education in China. Its infrastructure, especially the laboratories, mining museum, and summer schools for field surveys, provided physical spaces facilitating the transmission of practical knowledge.

Pauer, Erich, and Regine Mathias, eds. Accessing Technical Education in Modern Japan. Amsterdam University Press, 2022

Zinc was an essential base metal used to produce coin and brass in late imperial China and was al... more Zinc was an essential base metal used to produce coin and brass in late imperial China and was also a global commodity being exported from China to other parts of Asia and Europe in the early modern period. This article is a highly condensed result of the author’s zinc research project. It provides a methodological approach to our understanding of natural resources in history by tracing zinc’s commodity chain (including demand, production, transport, commercialization and consumption). At the intersections of technology and resources, the history of the Chinese zinc enterprise was an integration of a variety of resources (including zinc ores, capital, coal fuel, human labor, draft animals, and many other raw materials and types of “ecological footprints,” such as food resources).

27. Agricola-Gespräch (24.11.2018): »Kunyu gezhi 坤輿格致 oder die Geschichte der chinesischen Übersetzung des De re metallica libri XII« https://www.georgius-agricola.de/, 2018

Sollten Sie noch nicht mit uns im Schriftverkehr stehen und unsere Rundbriefe gernam besten per M... more Sollten Sie noch nicht mit uns im Schriftverkehr stehen und unsere Rundbriefe gernam besten per Mailzugeschickt haben wollen, so setzen Sie sich bitte mit uns in Verbindung.

H-Net Reviews, 2024

Brown, Tristan G.. Laws of the land: Fengshui and the State in Qing China. Princeton: Princeton U... more Brown, Tristan G.. Laws of the land: Fengshui and the State in Qing China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023. 356 pp. $45.00 (cloth), ISBN 9780691246734.

Reviewed by Hailian Chen (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)
Published on H-Water (March, 2024)
Commissioned by Yan Gao

Citation: Hailian Chen. Review of Brown, Tristan G.. Laws of the land: Fengshui and the State in Qing China. H-Water, H-Net Reviews. March, 2024.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=59573

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Journal of Inner Mongolia Normal University, 2007

《滇南矿厂图略》是清代吴其濬任云南巡抚时所编撰的一本有关云南矿厂的著作，该书比较全面地总结介绍了清代云南矿冶业的情况，包括矿物的开采、冶炼，铜银等矿厂的分布、运营管理等内容，尤其是将各矿厂的矿物... more 《滇南矿厂图略》是清代吴其濬任云南巡抚时所编撰的一本有关云南矿厂的著作，该书比较全面地总结介绍了清代云南矿冶业的情况，包括矿物的开采、冶炼，铜银等矿厂的分布、运营管理等内容，尤其是将各矿厂的矿物运输线路及所需船只、费用、时限等细节，一一陈述，为研究当时云南的矿物运输提供了珍贵的史料。本文结合该书内容（主要是下卷），并参考其它文献资料，从运输线路、运输成本、运输管理等方面，对清代云南铸币铜矿的运输问题进行了研究，并对运输线路的变迁做了初步分析。
Illustrated Accounts of Mines and Smelters in Yunnan was written by Wu Qijun (1789-1847), the provincial governor in Yunnan province then. That book was a comprehensive writing about mining industry. It contains many illustrations about mines, tools and distributions of smelters in the book. Especially, in the second volume, it records the detailed mint copper transport routes, distance, time, expenses, boats and management of officials. It is very valuable for studying mint copper transportation of that period. Focusing on the mint copper transportation system, this paper makes a preliminary study on Wu Qijun's book and other related historical texts. This paper analyzes the problems in the copper transportation system that transported copper from Yunnan to Beijing mints, Yunnan mints, and other provincial mints, and focuses on the issues of transport routes, cost, managements and the change of routes.

MA Thesis at Tsinghua University (Beijing), 2008

清政府铸钱每年需要上千万余斤的铜料，自乾隆四年（公元1739年）起，国内铸币铜料绝大部分由云南供应。但云南的产铜区多位于深山险谷中，只能通过人背马驮，转运车船，从矿硐运往各地铸局。在交通运输工具... more 清政府铸钱每年需要上千万余斤的铜料，自乾隆四年（公元1739年）起，国内铸币铜料绝大部分由云南供应。但云南的产铜区多位于深山险谷中，只能通过人背马驮，转运车船，从矿硐运往各地铸局。在交通运输工具落后而又匮乏的背景下，长距离、大规模的铜运产生了复杂的滇铜运输组织体系。
《滇南矿厂图略》专门介绍了滇铜的采冶技术和矿厂经营管理，特别对滇铜运输的组织线路、运脚、官员和船只的调度和管理等记载得很详细。同时，《云南铜志》、《铜政便览》、《云南铜政全书》等历史文献中对铜运管理等方面亦均有记载；清朝历代的宫中档、军机处录副奏折等档案材料中有大量的铜运过各省的报告和在云南因铜运而进行交通运输设施建设的奏疏；地方志和游记类的文献中也多有关于滇铜运输的描述，如运铜官员黎恂撰写的《运铜纪程》等。目前利用这些历史文献资料对滇铜运输问题进行系统化地研究尚为缺乏，所见研究成果多偏重于滇铜运输问题的某一个方面。
本论文以《滇南矿厂图略》等历史文献为线索，以现代交通运输体系的理论为指导，从以运输线路为中心线索的运输技术和运输管理两方面，深入探讨了清代云南铸币铜矿的运输组织体系，主要包括：（1）解读了“铜厂”的概念；（2）云南铜厂的开办沿革和地理分布，将云南各铜厂的额定产量及分布标定在地图上；（3）滇铜供应本省铸局、京局、外省采买的运输线路组织、费用和运输管理，绘制出各运输线路地图，并将铜运与云南省内一般货物运输的运费、铜运在省外的运费进行比较；（4）滇铜在不同运输阶段的运输方式、技术特点及其难点，分析了人力背塃、马牛骡驮运、牛车挽运和船运几种不同的运输方式及其局限性。并通过对云南中南部的矿区考察，加深了对历史文献的认识和理解，补充和纠正了滇铜运输组织体系研究中的相关问题。最终从运输技术、交通运输条件和运输管理三方面综合评价了滇铜运输体系。

Since the fourth year of the Qianlong Reign (1737) in the Qing Period, most of the mints copper supply had been taken over by Yunnan Province, with the annual quota of more than 10 million jin to Peking and provincial mints. However, all the copper mining areas were situated in mountainous regions that posed great challenges for transportation out of Yunnan, only via labour pack, horse or cattle pack, cart and ship.

Diannan kuangchang tulüe 滇南礦廠圖略 (An Illustrated Account of Mines and Smelters in Yunnan) is a comprehensive writing about history of mining industry in Yunnan in the Qing Period, in particular with details on mint copper transportation routes, time, expenses, and managements of officials and boats. The administration on copper transportation could also be found in Yunnan tongzhi 雲南銅志 (On the copper of Yunnan), Tongzheng bianlan 銅政便覽 (A manual on copper administration) and Yunnan tongzheng quanshu 雲南銅政全書 (Complete Book on the Copper Administration of Yunnan). Moreover, information on copper transportation also exists in historical archives, local gazetteers and travel accounts. Nevertheless, a systematic research on copper transportation based on the above literature is still scarce.

With the focus on Yunnan copper transportation system, this thesis makes a preliminary but systematic study of the above mentioned historical texts. The textual research is also combined with a field investigation of copper mines and transportation routes in central and southwestern Yunnan. The following aspects are addressed and analysed: (1) a new explanation of the definition of copper mines; (2) the copper mines database and copper mines location map with annual quota; (3) the transportation routes for copper to Peking mints, Yunnan and provincial mints, as well as transportation expenses and administrations, with the map of transportation routes, and a comparison of transportation cost between copper and general goods in Yunnan and out of Yunnan; (4) the transportation means and techniques, assessing transport capability in Yunnan under discussions on shortage of cattle, improvement of roads and river way. The assessment of copper transportation system also includes an analysis of transportation technology, road conditions and transportation administration.

BRILL eBooks, Nov 21, 2018

BRILL eBooks, Nov 21, 2018

BRILL eBooks, Nov 21, 2018

Journal of The Economic and Social History of The Orient, Feb 11, 2014

Stemming from an examination of the zinc industry in early modern China, this article centers on ... more Stemming from an examination of the zinc industry in early modern China, this article centers on a detailed survey of coal, the primary source of energy for processing zinc. On the basis of Qing archival documents, this article investigates the previously unknown spatial relationship of zinc ore deposits, coal mines, and zinc smelters; provides quantitative evidence of coal use by estimating the annual consumption of coal in processing zinc; offers a new perspective on the general use of coal in Qing China; and compares the coal-fuel efficiency problem in early European and Chinese zinc production.

Journal of Material Culture, Apr 17, 2017

The history of zinc in general and its contribution to China's material culture during the late M... more The history of zinc in general and its contribution to China's material culture during the late Ming and early Qing period in particular is obscure. Specific issues have remained understudied, especially the historical demand for and production of this metal, as well as the locations of zinc mines. This article is the result of collaborative research that approaches these issues by employing and examining the historical development of zinc's commodity chain, in general, and by focusing on the early demand, in particular, for this metal. The authors discuss the emergence of demand for metallic zinc as a mint metal in the Ming, which spatially influenced the development and shift of zinc mining development from Guangdong province northwards and finally to Guizhou province in the Ming-Qing transition. Based upon primary Chinese texts, this article geographically situates the locations of zinc bearing ore (calamine) deposits that directly resulted in investing and developing zinc mines over this period.

Accessing Technical Education in Modern Japan, 2022

Zinc for Coin and Brass, 2018

Zinc for Coin and Brass, 2018

Zinc for Coin and Brass, 2018

Zinc for Coin and Brass, 2018

Zinc for Coin and Brass, 2018

Zinc for Coin and Brass, 2018

Zinc for Coin and Brass, 2018

Zinc for Coin and Brass, 2018

Zinc for Coin and Brass, 2018

Technikgeschichte, 2013

Previous studies of zinc in China and Europe have largely concentrated on issues of the origin of... more Previous studies of zinc in China and Europe have largely concentrated on issues of the origin of zinc in a specifi c place but have not addressed the connections and relationships produced and used between China and Europe because of zinc. This paper is the fi rst attempt to approach the history of zinc transfer from China to Europe from a transnational perspective. 1 My narrative of this zinc transfer goes beyond a classical comparison of two trading patterns modelled on the major factors of transfer. Instead, by viewing trade as a vehicle for moving commodities and transmitting ideas, knowledge and technology, I interpret the transfer of zinc from China to Europe chronologically on two levels: both the physical movement or fl ow of zinc as an object or commodity that was being incorporated into producing a series of new goods, especially in such as imitating golden decorations; and the technology for producing the metal. In order to examine both aspects, I discuss Chinese zinc and European inventions within their larger technological, economic, political, social and cultural contexts and address the following questions: why did the large-scale use of zinc emerge in China? How did Chinese zinc arrive in Europe and how was zinc adopted as a new raw material? Why and how was zinc discovered and produced in Europe? As my fi ndings suggest, the arrival of Chinese zinc in Europe a ballast item led to its adoption in the production of new goods in Europe, for instance being used to produce imitation gold ornaments and toys. This use of Chinese 1 Acknowledgements: I would like to thank the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) for supporting my zinc research project under project leader Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel at the University of Tübingen, and the Organising Committee of the German Society for the History of Technology (Gesellschaft für Technikgeschichte) for inviting me to participate in their annual conference in 2011. I am truly indebted to Prof. George Souza for sharing his invaluable knowledge and insights and to Prof. Dagmar Schäfer for calling my attention towards a transnational approach and for her helpful comments on the earlier drafts of this article, particularly with improving my English. Thanks are also due to Dr. Marcus Popplow, Prof. Constantin Canavas and the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable suggestions for revision and improvement.

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 2014

Stemming from an examination of the zinc industry in early modern China, this article centers on ... more Stemming from an examination of the zinc industry in early modern China, this article centers on a detailed survey of coal, the primary source of energy for processing zinc. On the basis of Qing archival documents, this article investigates the previously unknown spatial relationship of zinc ore deposits, coal mines, and zinc smelters; provides quantitative evidence of coal use by estimating the annual consumption of coal in processing zinc; offers a new perspective on the general use of coal in Qing China; and compares the coal-fuel efficiency problem in early European and Chinese zinc production.

Zinc for Coin and Brass, 2018