The Zinc Administration in Southwest China, 1700 - 1850: Instiutional, Economic and Social Case Studies
Final Report Abstract
As addressed in the project application, previous studies on zinc were limited to the technological features of the metal. Without doubt, those earlier research results laid a foundation for our understanding of the particularities of zinc, but an approach to a comprehensive examination of the metal was lacking. This may be largely due to the general difficulty in getting access to sources that deal with mining history in China. This project aims at closing this gap of knowledge by investigating historical archival sources that reveal various aspects of zinc in Chinese history. As proposed, this project put a great deal of effort and time in acquiring and investigating the Palace memorials and Routine memorials housed in Beijing and Taipei (including the published ones). The analysis of the vast accumulation of lengthy reports regarding zinc contained in the memorials is a time-consuming process, but worthwhile to be undertaken as long as the new findings broaden our view and stimulate another cycle of search and research into other sources. The research results suggest that, globally speaking, China was the leading zinc producer over the eighteenth century, and that Guizhou province was the zinc production center in Qing China. Above all, the historical evidence reinforces the view that zinc, as a mint metal and as a raw material in general, played an important part in Qing China’s economy and society. This outcome greatly advances our knowledge of the history of zinc in Qing China as well as worldwide in the early modern period. Moreover, the approaches adopted in the research, e.g. database analysis of historical archival sources, field surveys, and foremost, the commodity chain analysis, prove to be effective ways in historical studies and narratives. Last but not least, the cooperative teamwork within the whole MMF-project research group as well as with associated researchers has been a great support for the zinc project.
Publications
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Yingxiang shijie de faming zhuanli 影响世界 的发明专利 (Inventions and Patents that Influenced the World), Dai Wusan et al. (ed.), Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, 2010
Chen, Hailian
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“Zinc Transfer from China to Europe via Trade, ca. 1600–1800: A Transnational Perspective.” Technikgeschichte 80, 1: 71–94, 2013
Chen, Hailian
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“Fueling the Boom: Coal as the Primary Source of Energy for Processing Zinc in China and Comparison with Europe, ca. 1720–1820.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 57, 1 (2014): 76–111
Chen, Hailian
