- Language: English
- June 11, 2024 12March 15, 2024, 5:00-6:00 pm (HKT):00 – 1:30 pm
- March 15, 2024, 9:00-10:00 am (GMT)
- Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk
ABSTRACT
The Making of China’s Post Office traces the origins and early development of the country’s modern postal system. Sweeping in perspective, it goes beyond the bounds of institutional history to explore the political maneuverings, economic imperatives, and societal pressures both inhibiting and driving forward postal development. Although its prime mover was Robert Hart, Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, the wider cast of characters includes foreign and native staff, Qing officials, local administrations, commercial interests, and foreign governments.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Weipin Tsai, historian of modern China, focusing on the late Qing to the Republican period, an era of dramatic change in China as it was reluctantly forced to open up to foreign trade, ideas and technology. Principal interests are in Chinese modernisation and its engagement in globalisation from the 19th century onwards, in particular the role of the foreign-run Chinese Maritime Customs Service, trade networks, the creation of the Chinese Postal Service, and Chinese print culture in the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. Dr Tsai’s new monograph, The Making of China’s Post Office: Sovereignty, Modernization, and the Connection of a Nation, is due out in February 2024.
ABOUT THE SERIES
This monthly webinar series features the newest research on the history of Chinese business and entrepreneurship. If you have any questions about this webinar series or would be interested in giving a talk, please contact Dr. John D. Wong (jdwong@hku.hk) or Dr. Ghassan Moazzin (gmoazzin@hku.hk).
