No abstract

The study develops a new perspective on the historiography of architecture and technology of China based on engineering sources, laboratory methods and fieldwork. It argues that China's move towards modern ceramics involved a paradigmatic shift between two systems of knowledge from the 1840s, and that new construction activities induced the modern move. The article engages Shanghai's heyday of high-rise buildings and elaborates the Manufacture Céramique de Shanghai (1914-35), a factory under the Belgian company Crédit Foncier d'Extrême-Orient, that introduced modern manufacture of European architectural ceramics into China at a crucial moment. The case study is interwoven with rich fabrics in a broader picture. As revealed, architectural ceramics led the paradigmatic shift and the progress forwards, aided by rising efforts from Chinese engineers of diverse fields. Engineering methods were applied to porcelain and pottery studies too, leading to the birth of "Ceramics Engineering" in China.

No abstract

Table 1 is drawn on the statistics from the below mentioned archival collection. All imports/exports were via Shanghai. ** The picul is a traditional unite of weight used in imperial China and later, equal to about 60 kg.

No abstract