Artisanal Practice and Popular Culture in Late Imperial China

Hosted by the Partner Group of the Max Planck Institute at the Institute for the History of Natural Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences

June 19th -21st 2008 Beijing, China

The workshop will explore the manifold influence of popular culture, religion, and ritual on artisanal practice in late imperial China. In nearly all the technical arts in pre-modern China, most artisans thought of knowing and doing things as a spiritual process that involved worshipping local gods. This is because they lived at the intersection of the material, social, and spiritual worlds. Popular religious culture cut across all levels of society, serving as the nexus of social and spiritual interaction for maintaining community bonds, expressing authority, and reproducing technical knowledge. As today, imperial and local governments were watchful of these developments because of their significance to vital industries of the economy and to social stability.

Historians have seldom examined the rich and varied sources of popular culture and religion important to Chinese science, technology and medicine. References to popular religious festivals, songs, prayers and rituals are strikingly absent from most of the literati writings on which historians have primarily depended. The view we have is still largely from horseback, of great men and their books for whom discourse on technical knowledge was more often an ideal expression of social order and virtue than personal experience or livelihood.

Speakers will discuss the complex interaction of popular culture, religion, and ritual in a particular craft and draw comparisons among the different fields.

Organizers: Philip S. Cho (pcho@ihns.ac.cn) and Sun Xiaochun (Partner Group Director xcsun@ihns.ac.cn)

Workshop Poster: http://mpiwg.ihns.ac.cn/poster-small.jpg

Speakers:
Qian Wei (Beijing Science and Technology University) Understanding the Social Organization of Ming and Qing Ironsmiths through Large Cast Iron Artifacts

Li Xiaocen (Beijing Science and Technology University) Stone Mold Casting and Religious Rituals

Liu Delin (Zigong Salt Museum) The Zigong Salt Industry and Salt Gods

Philip S. Cho (MPI-CAS Partner Group) The Urbanization of Silkworm Temples and Dissemination of Sericulture Technology through Popular Religious Songs in 18th Century Jiangnan

Zhao Feng (China National Silk Museum) Tang Dynasty Weavers and Workshops

You Zian (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Late Qing Epidemics and Morality Books

Peng Mu (University of Pennsylvania) Paper and the Materialization of the Yin
World: A Case Study on Funeral Practices in Hunan

Han Yi (MPI-CAS Partner Group) The Song Government’s Control and Reform of Popular Healers

Chen Jinguo (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) The Diviner’s Compass and the Popularization of Astronomical and Geographical Knowledge

Lin Jiashu (Zhangzhou Municipal Government) The Artistry of Mud and Wood: Building Earthen Homes for Commoners

Fang Lili (The Chinese Fine Arts Institute, Center for Anthropological Studies) Blood, Earth, and Livelihood: Late Qing and Republican Porcelain Craftsmen Societies and Organizations

Chen Jianzhong (Quanzhou Municipal Museum) The Transmission of Carving Technology in the Making of Dehua Porcelain in Quanzhou

Sun Xiaochun and Li Geng (MPI-CAS Partner Group) Cosmology and the Gnoman Measurement

Watabe Takeshi (Dong Hai University) The Transmission and Reception of the Qi Min Yao Shu (Essential Techniques for the Peasantry) in Japan

Liu Tianzheng (Zhejiang Normal University) The Compilation of Artisanal Knowledge in Ming and Qing Daily Encyclopedias and Their Influence on Popular Culture

Zhu Xi (Beijing Normal University) Handicraft Trade Organizations, Temples, and Worship

Xi Longfei (Wuhan University of Science and Engineering) Ningbo Vessels along Sea routes between China and Japan during the Ming and Qing

Guan Xiaowu (Inner Mongolia Normal University) The Origin of Lanzhou Waterwheels: Manufacturing Technology and Social Function

Zong Xiongsheng (MPI-CAS Partner Group) Divination for Farmers