Empires of Coal

Fueling China’s Entry into the Modern World Order, 1860-1920

Nonfiction, History, Modern, 19th Century, Asian, China, World History
Cover of the book Empires of Coal by Shellen Xiao Wu, Stanford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Shellen Xiao Wu ISBN: 9780804794732
Publisher: Stanford University Press Publication: April 22, 2015
Imprint: Stanford University Press Language: English
Author: Shellen Xiao Wu
ISBN: 9780804794732
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Publication: April 22, 2015
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Language: English

From 1868–1872, German geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen went on an expedition to China. His reports on what he found there would transform Western interest in China from the land of porcelain and tea to a repository of immense coal reserves. By the 1890s, European and American powers and the Qing state and local elites battled for control over the rights to these valuable mineral deposits. As coal went from a useful commodity to the essential fuel of industrialization, this vast natural resource would prove integral to the struggle for political control of China.

Geology served both as the handmaiden to European imperialism and the rallying point of Chinese resistance to Western encroachment. In the late nineteenth century both foreign powers and the Chinese viewed control over mineral resources as the key to modernization and industrialization. When the first China Geological Survey began work in the 1910s, conceptions of natural resources had already shifted, and the Qing state expanded its control over mining rights, setting the precedent for the subsequent Republican and People's Republic of China regimes.

In Empires of Coal, Shellen Xiao Wu argues that the changes specific to the late Qing were part of global trends in the nineteenth century, when the rise of science and industrialization destabilized global systems and caused widespread unrest and the toppling of ruling regimes around the world.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From 1868–1872, German geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen went on an expedition to China. His reports on what he found there would transform Western interest in China from the land of porcelain and tea to a repository of immense coal reserves. By the 1890s, European and American powers and the Qing state and local elites battled for control over the rights to these valuable mineral deposits. As coal went from a useful commodity to the essential fuel of industrialization, this vast natural resource would prove integral to the struggle for political control of China.

Geology served both as the handmaiden to European imperialism and the rallying point of Chinese resistance to Western encroachment. In the late nineteenth century both foreign powers and the Chinese viewed control over mineral resources as the key to modernization and industrialization. When the first China Geological Survey began work in the 1910s, conceptions of natural resources had already shifted, and the Qing state expanded its control over mining rights, setting the precedent for the subsequent Republican and People's Republic of China regimes.

In Empires of Coal, Shellen Xiao Wu argues that the changes specific to the late Qing were part of global trends in the nineteenth century, when the rise of science and industrialization destabilized global systems and caused widespread unrest and the toppling of ruling regimes around the world.

More books from Stanford University Press

Cover of the book Apostles of Modernity by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book Architects of Austerity by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book Money Games by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book BRICS or Bust? by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book Anthropology's Politics by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book The History of Missed Opportunities by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book Track Two Diplomacy in Theory and Practice by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book A Sense of Justice by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book The Experimental Imagination by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book The Emotional Logic of Capitalism by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book Leading Culture Change by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book Sectarian Gulf by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book No Billionaire Left Behind by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book Disquieting Gifts by Shellen Xiao Wu
Cover of the book #iranelection by Shellen Xiao Wu
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy