Conceptions of National Weakness in Late 19th and Early 20th Century China (A01)

• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 230856760

Meteorology entered a new phase around the year 1850. It was shaped by an institutional strengthening of the observation of weather on a nation-state level. Since weather, however, could not be constrained by the borders of the nation-state, it became increasingly important, to initiate international cooperation with respect to the observation and research of weather. This automatically presented a certain tension to national or imperial goals. This project looks into the initial problems encountered by “international” meteorology. It uses a non-European case as an example for the development and the establishment of international cooperation, focusing on academic and governmental meteorology in China and its relationship to international (but mainly European dominated) developments.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1095: Discourses of Weakness and Resource Regimes
• Applicant Institution: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Iwo Amelung