Rough Work: A New Look at Chinese Paper-making Communities

ROUGH WORK with Yiyun Peng, Ph.D. Candidate, Cornell, History

Beyond Workshops: Spatial Distribution of Paper-making Communities and Properties in Upland Southeast China, 1700-1950

Paper-making was a prevalent and profitable industry in upland Southeast China in the late imperial and republican periods. Previous analyses have largely focused on paper workshops and studied their output, paper-making skills, and so forth. In other words, the paper industry was depicted as an agglomerate of paper-workers in small workshops. But the activities of paper-makers in the workshops were only part of the industry. This paper looks beyond the workshops and reveals the spatial distribution of various components, including its communities and properties, of the whole industry.

In all, this new way of looking at the industry provides a new perspective on the interactions of production and environment and of different groups of producers, and demonstrates the heterogeneity of utilizing the highlands and the ways in which people across space stretched their influence to the remote uplands to make the most of their living environment.

Please read the paper in advance - when you register, you'll receive a link to it via the registration confirmation email.

ROUGH WORK: Discussing research in progress, hence the term, rough work.  This rough work session is hosted by the East Asia Program's Graduate Student Steering Committee (GSSC).