On November 4, participants discussed how walls did (or did not) matter, both ideologically and practically, to the actors involved in negotiating construction projects. The discussion also reflected on how different understandings of the walls and traces of negotiations are preserved in different genres of sources. Considering the political, economic, and sociocultural context of the negotiations, the discussion moved beyond walls to explore roads and bridges.
The topic and reading materials were suggested by Dr. Yuan-Heng Mao and Dr. Sunkyu Lee. The meeting was moderated by Dr. Yuan-Heng Mao.
Required Reading:
Si-yen Fei, Negotiating Urban Space: Urbanization and Late Ming Nanjing (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2009), Ch.2. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1x07xr2
Richard von Glahn, “Review of Negotiating Urban Space: Urbanization and Late Ming Nanjing,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 71, no. 1 (2011): 209-220. https://doi.org/10.1353/jas.2011.0001