讲座信息

时 间：2026年10月29日 10:10–12:00

地 点：三教106

题 目：Print Technology and Geographic Knowledge in Late Qing China

本讲摘要

Wei Yuan’s Haiguo Tuzhi 海國圖志, edited and published from earlier sources in the aftermath of the First Opium War, introduced Chinese readers to many aspect of global geography they had never considered before. It contained previously unknown information about Europe, South Asia, North and South America, and even many nearer countries. Why was public geographical information about the world so rare in China until the mid to late nineteenth century? Contrary to popular believe and previous historiography, it was not that few Chinese went abroad. Chinese travelled all over the world in the early modern period. They were present in Europe, North, Central, and South America, African trading ports, Middle Eastern pilgrimage routes, and South Asian metropolises. And yet, writing about these places in the Chinese language was non-existant. Why? Using the collected series 小方壺齋輿地叢鈔 as an important case study of Ming-Qing travel literature, we will examine when and why certain narratives were published or not published. The talk will offer a discussion of two competing explanations. The first argument is political and cultural: that laws, customs, and regulations prevented people from appearing to have traveled. While rational within their own frameworks, these laws and customs may have had detrimental impact on the understanding of global economics, technological development, and geopolitical facts. The other explanation is material and technological. It argues that print capitalism as it existed in China did not encourage widespread publication on the same scale as in Europe. Fewer writings made it to print, perhaps in part because of the limitations of Chinese print technology. Here the 小方壺齋 series will offer several relevant examples.

主讲人介绍

雷震，北京大学科学技术与医学史系助理教授，普林斯顿大学博士，牛津大学硕士。他的研究方向为中国、东亚与南亚近代（从19世纪到现在）科技史，特别关注通信技术、知识交流和科学理论的演化。他曾获得Fulbright 奖学金、Blakemore奖学金，并于2023年春赴剑桥大学李约瑟研究所任李氏基金研究员。2024年春于斯坦福大学出版社出版了他的第一本专著Seeking News, Making China: Information, Technology, and the Emergence of Mass Society。他最近的文章发表在Technology & Culture和Late Imperial China等期刊。