Table of Contents
Abstract
The Tin Centuries: Technology and Statecraft in Qing China (University of Washington Press) tells the story of how a mundane metal linked miners and officials to both global capitalism and an emerging technocratic state. By tracing tin’s movement across mountains and oceans, the book shows how this metal connected miners in Yunnan and Southeast Asia, transoceanic entrepreneurs and traders, and Qing officials who confronted unprecedented demands on natural resources. It reveals the evolving trajectory of Qing statecraft—a transformation that foreshadowed China’s path toward modernity within an expanding global economy.
About the Speaker
Yijun Wang is a historian of early modern China. Her research interests include history of technology, material culture, and gender. She received her BA from Tsinghua University (2010) and her MA (2015) and PhD (2019) from Columbia University. She joined the Department of History at NYU in 2019. Wang is currently working on a new project on the long-durée global history of oranges centered on East Asia. The project offers a perspective for understanding plants, insects, and landscapes that became entangled with humans long before industrial agriculture, revealing patterns of smallholder agriculture, local knowledge, political economy, and human-nonhuman relationships that industrial monoculture has obscured.
About the Chinese Business History Webinar 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).
