清华科学博物馆沙龙第1期
时间：2019年9月2日（周一）下午15:00–17:00
地点：科学史系系厅（蒙民伟科技大楼南楼212）
主讲人：朱敬（University of Warwick）
主题：Collecting, Displaying and Interpreting Chinese Objects of Science, Technology and Medicine in UK in the 19th and 20th century
内容摘要：
Historians of science have increasingly realized the significance of scientific instruments and technical objects for the understanding the practices of science and scientific knowledge production, as has been argued in the concept of “thick things” by Ken Alder (2007). However the materiality pertaining to Chinese science, technology and medicine still remains a hardly explored area. Meanwhile, in the well-established scholarship of British collection history of Chinese material cultures, scientific objects are scantly considered. However, there are Chinese traditional scientific objects, including compasses, scales, celestial globes, star maps, mathematical instruments, herbal medicine samples and acupuncture models in several British museums. During a recent research fellowship at the Science Museum, I was tasked with tracing, documenting and analyzing such holdings. This paper explores how Chinese scientific objects were collected, preserved and displayed in the UK. Drawing on the China collections at Science Museum, London, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and British Museum, it asks which particular scientific objects attracted British interests since 19th century and traces their provenances and biography.
Apart from collection, this paper also examines the exhibition history of Chinese scientific objects in UK. My current research finds four major exhibitions: China section at the International Health Exhibition in London (1884); The “Maze Collection” of Chinese Junk Models in the Science Museum in London (1938); Chinese Medicine: an exhibition illustrating the traditional medicine of China, at the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and Library (1966); and the exhibition of China ancient traditional technology in Birmingham (1995). By examining how these exhibitions were designed, curated and engaged with audiences, it enriches our understanding of the material experiences and spatial representations of Chinese ancient science, technology and medicine in UK.
主讲人简介：
Jing Zhu is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of History, University of Warwick. She received her PhD degree in History from the University of Edinburgh in 2018. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow of Forum Transregional Studies, affiliated with Art History of Humboldt University in Berlin from October 2018 to July 2019. Jing was a UK-China Rutherford Research Fellow at the Science Museum in London from March to July 2018, where she did research for their China collection. Her research focuses on the visual representation and production of visual knowledge of ethnography in late imperial and Republican China by exploring the intersections of gender, visuality and empire; she is also developing new research projects on scientific images and Chinese scientific collections and exhibitions.
