On October 4, participants discussed how state and private initiatives overlap in road projects and explored possible mechanisms behind such overlap. The discussion also covered other essential factors in studying the formation of transportation infrastructure, such as the diverse natural landscapes and the empire’s economic and frontier policies.
The topic and reading materials were suggested by Dr. Yuan-Heng Mao, and the meeting was moderated by Dr. Yuan-Heng Mao.
Required Reading:
Nanny Kim, “Privatizing the Network: Private Contributions and Road Infrastructure in Late Imperial China (1500–1900),” in Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World, ed. Susan E. Alcock, John P. Bodel, and Richard J. A. Talbert (Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 66–89. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118244326.ch11