On 8 September, Dr. Yuan-Heng Mao presented "Road Projects and Partial Connectivity in Late Imperial China" at the International Institute of Social History's lunch seminar. The talk examined the limited extent of road improvement in China during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) periods. Based on digitally annotated commemorative inscriptions that accompanied roadwork, the study addressed three questions: 1) How exceptional were major road improvements in late imperial China? 2) Why were improvements so hard to organize? 3) Why did improvements not necessarily bring better connectivity for all? The presentation also introduced the project's data workflow, highlighting COMARKUS and other digital platforms developed collaboratively by the project team.