Towards modern ceramics in China: Engineering sources and the manufacture céramique de shanghai

Abstract

Chinese ceramic technology moved from craftsmanship to an industry-based science “ceramics engineering” from the 1840s to the 1940s. The study argues that construction activities induced the move, starting in architectural ceramics. Increasing efforts from architects, civil and railway engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, and chemical and geological engineers directed the development, ultimately incorporating China’s porcelain and pottery industry as one branch. This new perspective on the historiography of architecture and technology of China is built on engineering and archival sources, laboratory methods, and fieldwork. While opening a broad picture, the article also focuses on a crucial moment when the Belgian company Crédit Foncier d’Extrême-Orient introduced into China the modern manufacture system of ceramics in 1909-35. The history engages Shanghai’s heyday of high-rise buildings.