Seminar organisers: Zoey Shen, Tom Learmouth, Bumjin Park
Venue
Autumn Term: CKK.2.18 (Cheng Kin Ku Building) unless otherwise stated
Winter Term: CKK 1.17, unless otherwise stated
Time: 12-1pm, unless otherwise stated
Winter Term 2024 - 2025
28 January
- Ying Dai (Cambridge)
- Working Patterns in the twentieth century Yangtze Valley: Evidence from Lineage Genealogies
Abstract: The history of labour is essential for understanding China’s transformation from an agricultural economy to the workshop of the world during the twentieth century. However, reliable occupational data from censuses are only available from 1982 onwards. My research identifies lineage genealogies (jiapu), compiled after the Reform and Opening-up period, as a new, reliable, and representative source for studying the working patterns of twentieth-century China from various perspectives. The Yangtze Jiapu Dataset (YJD), comprising 210,383 occupational observations from 211 jiapu, suggests a delayed structural change and significant regional differences across the Lower Yangtze, Middle Yangtze, and Upper Yangtze regions. A subset of the YJD, consisting of 92 jiapu that comprehensively record by-employment, suggests a double-peak pattern of by-employment in the Yangtze Valley over the long twentieth century. This reflects China’s unique historical trajectory and highlights specialization, structural change, and land systems as key shaping factors. I will also present preliminary data on lifetime occupational changes, intergenerational occupational mobilty, and the occupations of husbands and wives, for which I look forward to receiving further feedback.
11 February
- Anne Booth (SOAS)
- The Causes and Consequences of Globalisation in Southeast Asia from the 16th century to the Present
11 March
- Jan Lucassen (International Institute of Social History)
- Earning an Income in India, 1500-1900
Tuesday 7 October
- Toan Luu Duc Huynh (Queen Mary)
- A Land of Sages: A Legacy of Former Elites and University Professors in Vietnam
- Venue: Vera Anstey Room
26 November
- Nina Liu (KCL)
- Printing and Women: The Gendered Impact of Printing Technology in Imperial China
3 December
- Kota Ogasawara (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
- Technology, Institutions, and Regional Growth: Evidence from the Mineral Mining Industry in Industrialising Japan