China Ports: History, Heritage & Development

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

According to the World Shipping Council, 7 of the world's 10 busiest container ports are now located in China. With the exception of the capital Beijing, almost all of China's largest cities are coastal or inland ports. Despite government attempts to lessen economic disparity between the seaboard and the hinterland, it is the ports of China's east and southeast which remain the centres of wealth in what is soon to be the world's largest economy. These economic and political developments have buoyed scholarly interest in the development of port cities in China and the growth in the marine economy. In various fields of engineering, for example, the new opportunities presented by such growth have opened up a range of new realms of research. The University of Nottingham has been at the forefront of such trends, with its International Academy for Marine Economy and Technology (IAMET), located on Nottingham's China campus in the city of Ningbo, seeking to train a new generation of engineers and managers for China's shipping and port-related industries.China's maritime, coastal and port history also represent key areas of enquiry in the Humanities. Scholarship on the history and legacy of China's treaty ports, in particular, has become a major subfield in modern Chinese history. Other research has covered the material history of maritime and port China, as well as the 'maritime silk road'; the spatial and topographic configurations of China's coastal cities; underwater cultural heritage in China; and the cultural legacies of China's ports in the long history of immigration, transport and trade.To date, however, there has been relatively little engagement between those who work on this cultural, material and social history of maritime China, and those who study (or directly work with) the physical and economic features of China's ports today. This is perhaps surprising, as the recent development of China's marine sector and the rapid growth of its port cities all reflect specific historical legacies, while the protection and celebration of China's maritime heritage has emerged as an important task in most of China's port cities, as witnessed in the opening throughout China of port and/or maritime museums (a number of which are represented in this network).This network aims to remedy this gap by bringing together, under the for Cross-Disciplinary Research Networks Highlight Notice, a community of scholars and practitioners who share an interest in China's port cities and marine economy, but who rarely have the opportunity to learn from one another or engage in any form of dialogue. It will include: (i) Humanities scholars (in history, archaeology, Sinology, art history) who work on the cultural, economic, material, social and spatial history of maritime and coastal China; (ii) social scientists who work on China's urban and maritime development, as well as related fields such as shipping and logistics; (iii) engineers currently working in areas related to China's marine economy and urban and/or port environment (such as in geospatial engineering, SAR geocoding, engineering surveying, architectural engineering, and port and harbour construction); and (iv) museum practitioners engaged in the preservation and presentation of China's maritime past. These scholars and practitioners will take part in 3 international workshops. The first of these will be held at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, the second at the Port Museum of China in Ningbo, and the third on the University of Nottingham's UK campus. Through these events, the network will facilitate a sustainable dialogue across disciplinary and sectoral boundaries, and establish lasting Sino-British collaboration in a new field which might be referred to as 'China port studies'. These developments will benefit a range of disciplines in both the UK and China, and will give rise to a range of cross-disciplinary collaborative projects in the years to come.