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The Making of China’s Post Office
Sovereignty, Modernization, and the Connection of a Nation
Series: Harvard East Asian Monographs
Brief Description
The Making of China's Post Office traces the origins and early development of the country's modern postal system. Sweeping in perspective, it goes beyond the bounds of institutional history to explore the political manoeuvrings, economic imperatives, and societal pressures both inhibiting and driving forward postal development....
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See moreThe Making of China’s Post Office traces the origins and early development—and the political maneuverings and economic imperatives—of the institution. Using Chinese archives, Tsai illustrates the extent to which local agency shaped the design and development of the first nationwide modernization project to directly impact people’s daily lives.
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Description
The Making of China's Post Office traces the origins and early development of the country's modern postal system. Sweeping in perspective, it goes beyond the bounds of institutional history to explore the political manoeuvrings, economic imperatives, and societal pressures both inhibiting and driving forward postal development.
Although its prime mover was Robert Hart, Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, the wider cast of characters includes foreign and native staff, Qing officials, local administrations, commercial interests, and foreign governments.
Drawing extensively on archival material from the Second Historical Archives of China in Nanjing, the Tianjin Municipal Archives, and the Archive of Queen's University Belfast, Weipin Tsai contextualises the making of the post office within the country's long and contested path of modernisation, bringing Chinese voices to the fore.
Tsai illustrates the extent to which local agency shaped the design and development of the service as it expanded from experimental coastal operation into China's interior and on to its border periphery, the first nationwide modernisation project to directly impact people's daily lives. Ultimately, the grand spatial reach of the Post Office carried significant symbolic meaning in relation to sovereignty for the Qing government and for later Republican administrations.
Series: Harvard East Asian Monographs
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The Making of China’s Post Office
The Making of China's Post Office traces the origins and early development of the country's modern postal system. Sweeping in perspective, it goes beyond the bounds of institutional history to explore the political manoeuvrings, economic imperatives, and societal pressures both inhibiting and driving forward postal development. Although its prime mover was Robert Hart, Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs...Hardback$15099Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780674295889
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 20 February 2024
Country: United States
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Illustration: 16 photos, 6 color photos, 11 illus., 1 color illus., 16 maps, 13 tables
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 28.0mm
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 229.0mm
Weight: 1066g
Pages: 450
About the Author
Weipin Tsai is Senior Lecturer in Modern Chinese History at Royal Holloway, University of London.
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