Xiaofei Gao

This dissertation project undertakes a historical examination of maritime Manchuria, in order to explore role of seaborne interactions in shaping historical processes of social, commercial, and cultural exchange that transcend the boundaries of nation-states across the long twentieth century. The project probes the ways that seaborne activities intensified processes of integration in East Asia, while introducing differentiation within coastal communities and promoting degradation of the marine environment and violence. The underlying argument of this work is that much nation building, region making, as well as marine environmental transformation, was dependent on the seas and those who made their living from them along the Manchurian coast and what I am calling the "Bohai/Yellow Sea Rim."

This project explores the transnational, social, and environmental history of modern China from the vantage point of maritime northeast China. It shows how seaborne pursuits figured centrally in different political regimes controlling this region. Transnationalism and modernity in Chinese development strategies also generated confrontations centered on labor displacement and environmental degradation. Using resource management and labor practices as lenses, this study argues that understanding Japanese imperialism, the Chinese revolution, and social and environmental transformations in the twentieth century requires attention to China’s northeastern coast.