Remeasuring China. The Local and Translocal Dimensions of the Chinese Weights and Measures Reforms (ca. 1927-1937)
Asian Studies
Final Report Abstract
This project explored the transformation of metrological systems in Republican China, viewing it as a critical lens to examine the interplay between global standardization processes, dynamics of state formation, and transformations of everyday life in early twentieth century-China. During the 1920s and 1930s, measurements of lengths, volumes and weights formed highly complex landscape in China, for two main reasons: Firstly, the pre-existing pattern of Chinese weights and measures was extremely diversified, and already under the Qing Dynasty there had not been a unified system. Secondly, the metric system was not the only foreign influence on the realm of Chinese weights and measurements. Rather, there was a pluralism of international standards (British, Japanese, and other) that was particularly visible in the foreign concessions of Chinese cities and within the orbit of large international companies. Through carefully selected case studies, this project explored various facets of the great metrological transformations of this time period. Parts of the project-related research took the government (institutions and persons) as their points of departure. However, at the same time they also considered the ramifications of the central administration’s policies for different parts of Chinese society. By situating the metronomical transformations within a broader matrix of global standardization, state formation, and local contestation, the project repositioned measurement systems as a central category of historical inquiry. Far from being a technical footnote, measurement thus becomes a window into the making of modern China and a prism through which to examine the entangled dynamics of science, politics, and everyday life. In tracing the contested path of metrication, the project contributed not only to Chinese historiography but also to global conversations on the politics of knowledge, the infrastructures of governance, and the historical constitution of globality itself.
Publications
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Measuring Semi-colonialism: the International Metrological Negotiation in Shanghai in the 1930s. conference paper, the 6th Annual Conference of Urban History, in Sichuan, Chengdu, 2023
Dominic Sachsenmaier
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Remeasuring China: the Global and Local Dimensions of Nanjing Metrological Reform. University Goettingen Repository.
Li, Can
