China Ports: History, Heritage & Development

根据世界航运理事会的数据，目前全球10个最繁忙的集装箱港口中有7个位于中国。除了首都北京，中国笔下最大的城市几乎都是沿海或内陆港口。尽管政府试图缩小沿海和内地之间的经济差距，但中国所在的东部和东南部的港口仍是中国的财富中心。中国很快将成为世界最大经济体。这些经济和政治发展激发了学术界对中国港口城市发展和海洋经济增长的兴趣。例如，在工程学的各个领域，这种增长带来的新机会开辟了一系列新的研究领域。诺丁汉大学一直走在这一趋势的前沿，其位于宁波市诺丁汉中国校区的国际海洋经济与技术学院(IAMET)试图为中国的航运和港口相关行业培养新一代工程师和管理人员。中国的海事、沿海和港口历史也是人文学科的重点研究领域。尤其是对中国通商口岸历史和遗产的研究，已经成为中国近代史上的一个重要分支领域。其他研究涵盖了海上和港口中国的物质史，以及“海上丝绸之路”；中国所在沿海城市的空间和地形形态；中国的水下文化遗产；以及中国港口在漫长的移民、运输和贸易历史中的文化遗产。然而，到目前为止，研究中国海上的文化、物质和社会历史的人，与研究(或直接研究)中国港口的人之间的接触相对较少。这也许是令人惊讶的，因为最近中国海洋领域的发展和港口城市的快速发展都反映了特定的历史遗产，而保护和庆祝中国的海洋遗产在中国的大多数港口城市已经成为一项重要的任务，整个中国港口和/或海洋博物馆(其中一些博物馆在这个网络中有代表)的开放就证明了这一点。这个网络旨在弥补这一差距，在跨学科研究网络突出通知下，聚集了一群对中国的港口城市和海洋经济感兴趣的学者和从业者。但他们很少有机会相互学习或进行任何形式的对话。它将包括：(I)研究中国海洋和沿海的文化、经济、物质、社会和空间史的人文学者(历史、考古学、汉学、艺术史)；(Ii)研究中国的城市和海洋发展以及航运和物流等相关领域的社会科学家；(Iii)目前在与中国的海洋经济和城市和/或港口环境有关的领域工作的工程师(如地理空间工程、合成孔径雷达地理编码、工程测量、建筑工程和港口建设)；以及(Iv)致力于保护和展示中国海洋历史的博物馆从业人员。这些学者和实践者将参加3个国际研讨会。第一次将在香港海事博物馆举行，第二次将在宁波中国港口博物馆举行，第三次将在诺丁汉大学英国校区举行。通过这些活动，该网络将促进跨越学科和部门界限的可持续对话，并在一个新的领域建立中英持久的合作，该领域可能被称为“中国港口研究”。这些发展将使英国和中国的一系列学科受益，并将在未来几年产生一系列跨学科合作项目。

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.