Unearthing the Nation

Unearthing the Nation Modern Geology and Nationalism in Republican China

by Grace Yen Shen

University of Chicago Press, 2014
Cloth: 978-0-226-09040-5 | Electronic: 978-0-226-09054-2
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226090542.001.0001

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ABOUT THIS BOOKAUTHOR BIOGRAPHYREVIEWSTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Questions of national identity have long dominated China’s political, social, and cultural horizons. So in the early 1900s, when diverse groups in China began to covet foreign science in the name of new technology and modernization, questions of nationhood came to the fore. In Unearthing the Nation, Grace Yen Shen uses the development of modern geology to explore this complex relationship between science and nationalism in Republican China.

Shen shows that Chinese geologists—in battling growing Western and Japanese encroachment of Chinese sovereignty—faced two ongoing challenges: how to develop objective, internationally recognized scientific authority without effacing native identity, and how to serve China when China was still searching for a stable national form. Shen argues that Chinese geologists overcame these obstacles by experimenting with different ways to associate the subjects of their scientific study, the land and its features, with the object of their political and cultural loyalties. This, in turn, led them to link national survival with the establishment of scientific authority in Chinese society.

The first major history of modern Chinese geology, Unearthing the Nation introduces the key figures in the rise of the field, as well as several key organizations, such as the Geological Society of China, and explains how they helped bring Chinese geology onto the world stage.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Grace Yen Shen is assistant professor of Chinese history at Fordham University.

REVIEWS

“Unearthing the Nation is more than a scientific history. Shen’s in-depth analysis reveals that national, political, and cultural loyalties had a key role in the development of Chinese geology, and she seamlessly integrates this into her narrative on the discoveries and evolution of the field. . . . [T]his is an important book: it presents a comprehensive history of Chinese geology while demonstrating the discipline’s unique pattern of development.”

— Xu Xing, Nature

“If you want a nice, short, well-written book that explains the birth of a modern science in China and why it matters, this is a good choice.”

— Alan Baumler, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Frog in a Well

“A groundbreaking study, Unearthing the Nation examines the development of the field of modern geology in early twentieth-century China. It deftly shows how Chinese geologists explored new relationships between man and land, navigated the shifting terrain of early twentieth-century politics, and delved into the unexpected opportunities of wartime China when military exigencies opened up the hinterland for exploration. Like the physical land that China’s modern geographers encountered in their fieldwork, the book is a fascinating read and exposes readers to the ever-changing landscape of modern Chinese science, its relationship with global geography, and Republican era politics.”

— Eugenia Lean, Columbia University

“Grace Yen Shen’s Unearthing the Nation is a rich, innovative, and finely crafted historical study of Chinese geology and society during the Republican period. It creatively combines political history, cultural analyses, and the history of science in tracing the development of the Chinese geoscientific community and related institutions, with special attention to the transnational dimensions of the enterprise. It will be recognized as a major contribution not only to the history of Chinese geology but also to modern Chinese history and the history of modern science in general.”

— Zuoyue Wang, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

“A lucid and original account of geology that gainsays the long-standing view of science in China as passive and inert. Instead, Grace Yen Shen grants early Chinese geologists the intellectual acumen to grasp the implications of their work in scientific, political, and social terms. They not only forged a new field of geology but also created a new scientific community of geologists, which envisioned a new China below the earth that was worth saving.”

— Benjamin A. Elman, author of A Cultural History of Modern Science in China

“In charting the evolution of geology and the geological community in China, Unearthing the Nation offers a portrait of modern China in miniature and a provocative interpretation of the interplay between science, nationalism, and modernity. The book is an engaging read—rich, nuanced, and elegantly written. It also bristles with insights and ideas. An excellent and long overdue study of the most important scientific discipline in early twentieth-century China.”

— Fa-ti Fan, Binghamton University

"This book provides a context and narrative for the main players, journals, and associations for geology in Republican China. The research is copious and Shen has made a genuine contribution by linking key players with narrative facility."

— Journal of East Asian Studies

Introduction - Grace Yen Shen
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226090542.003.0001
This chapter is available at:
https://academic.oup.com/chica...

The Lay of the Land: Territoriality, Foreign Exploration, and Modern Geology in Qing China - Grace Yen Shen
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226090542.003.0002
[Qing, Materiality, Territory, Self-Strengthening, Geological exploration, Resources, Empire]
Chapter 1 sets the stage by asking why Chinese became interested in modern geology at all, and how they began to reconceptualize their homeland as an object of study. The chapter begins by tracing Qing era modes of thinking about the empire, its spatial diversity, and territorial knowledge. It then links early foreign geological exploration in China to subsequent territorial and economic encroachment, and explains how the mechanical attempts of “Self-strengthening” scholar-officials to introduce the methods of geology and mining failed to generate domestic interest. The desire to learn modern geology only arose when Chinese students with overseas experience began to see their own territory as a vast unknown. With this new perspective and the threat of foreign political and economic domination, a small group of individuals drew attention to the materiality of the land— its structure, composition, history, and properties— rather than the simple identification of mineral resources. (pages 17 - 46)
This chapter is available at:
https://academic.oup.com/chica...

Shaping the Field: Fieldwork and the Creation of the Modern Chinese Geologist - Grace Yen Shen
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226090542.003.0003
[Fieldwork, Labor, Geological research, Training, Zhang Hongzhao, Ding Wenjiang, Weng Wenhao, Li Siguang, Geological Survey, Peking University Department of Geology]
Chapter 2 examines the role of fieldwork in grounding the Chinese geological enterprise by reshaping both the bodies and self-images of Chinese scientists. The chapter follows Zhang Hongzhao, Ding Wenjiang, Weng Wenhao, and Li Siguang from their study-abroad experiences through the establishment of research and training institutions, such as the Geological School, Geological Survey, and Peking University Department of Geology. Fieldwork was not only important as a critical skill for conducting geological research, it was also the primary means for transmitting geological concepts to uninitiated students and assimilating Western learning to the native environment. The strenuous physical nature of fieldwork challenged traditional Chinese notions of proper behavior and helped promote the idea of the Chinese intellectual as a vigorous, active individual capable of productive labor. (pages 47 - 72)
This chapter is available at:
https://academic.oup.com/chica...

A Host of Nations: Cosmopolitanism and the Geological Society of China - Grace Yen Shen
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226090542.003.0004
[Geological Society of China, Frontier regions, Cosmopolitanism, Community building]
Despite successes in building local geological institutions and fostering native research, Chinese geologists still could not reach an international audience or stem the tide of foreign exploration on the Chinese frontier. Chapter 3 analyzes Chinese efforts to overcome these difficulties on their own terms. The chapter begins with several early attempts at community building and ends with the Geological Society of China’s high-profile activities in the 1920s. Rather than excluding foreign researchers, the Society framed Chinese territory as a shared concern and made themselves indispensable as hosts to otherwise competitive research interests from around the world. This move gave Chinese geologists exposure to foreign research networks and access to foreign investigations of remote frontier regions. By projecting a unified image of China and a cosmopolitan vision of Chinese geology in the midst of the chaotic politics of the Republican period, Chinese geologists solidified their claim to represent their home territory to the world. (pages 73 - 108)
This chapter is available at:
https://academic.oup.com/chica...

The Nanjing Decade: Geological Expansion and the State - Grace Yen Shen
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226090542.003.0005
[Nanjing Decade, Weng Wenhao, Li Siguang, Research Institute of Geology, Geological Survey of China, Scientific autonomy]
Chapter 4 looks at how Chinese geologists tried to preserve their scientific autonomy against the growing demands of the Guomindang state in the “Nanjing Decade” (1927-1937). Having built up international ties in the previous decade, the Geological Survey of China was able to set its own agenda while giving lip-service to the central administration, but as war with Japan seemed imminent, Weng Wenhao entered into high-level economic planning and blurred the lines between Survey and state. In contrast the Research Institute of Geology led by Li Siguang was founded under Guomindang auspices but quickly distanced itself from the regime’s instrumentalist approach to science. Though their strategies were radically different, both the Research Institute and the Survey extended the territorial scope of Chinese geology and pursued the kind of research they perceived to be in China’s best interests. (pages 109 - 144)
This chapter is available at:
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Resistance and Reconstruction: Emergence of a Domestic Community - Grace Yen Shen
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226090542.003.0006
[War of Resistance, Geological Survey, Petroleum, Scientific exchange, Frontier territories, Migration]
Chapter 5 examines how Chinese geologists dealt with the Japanese occupation of China’s coastal regions during the War of Resistance. The chapter describes the great inland migration of Chinese scientific institutions and the problems of wartime scarcity. Under these conditions, Chinese geology expanded to include new members without the same intellectual pedigrees as the pre-war community, and existing institutions had to develop new mechanisms for initiating them into an active research community. The move to the Interior also opened up previously inaccessible frontier territories to Chinese geological investigation, and the urgency of China’s fuel shortage brought the Geological Survey to these outlying areas in search of petroleum. On one hand, the wartime experience galvanized the community and gave it the confidence to privilege the physical evidence of the earth over naysaying foreign authorities. However, the isolation of war also narrowed Chinese focus, and Chinese geology showed signs of becoming strictly the geology of China by Chinese, rather than an open program of scientific exchange. (pages 145 - 174)
This chapter is available at:
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Conclusion - Grace Yen Shen
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226090542.003.0007
This chapter is available at:
https://academic.oup.com/chica...