Kaijun Chen

The proposed research project, a book manuscript, reveals the vital role that bannerman bondservant-experts played in producing technological knowledge and distinctive artistic forms central to cultural policies of the high Qing state. Drawing on first-hand archaeological evidence from Jingdezhen, as well as the voluminous Archive of the Imperial Handicraft Workshops, the book manuscript investigates the industrial regulatory institutes at court, regional factory in Jingdezhen, the imperial design system, technological treatises and experiments deployed in porcelain manufacture. Most broadly this project, grounded in the methods of science and technology in society, literary and art history, contributes to the studies of global empires.