Project Details
Projekt
Mint Metal Procurement for Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: An Inquiry into the Organisational Capacity of the Qing State
Applicant
Professor Dr. Achim Mittag
Subject Area
Asian Studies
Term
from 2005 to 2009
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 13020509
As part of the research group Monies, Markets and Finance in China and East Asia, 1600-1900: Local, Regional, National and International Dimensions , this project aims at assessing the organisational capacity of the eighteenth and nineteenth century Qing state by investigating its capability and flexibility in steering the macro-economic process of procuring mint metals for the provincial mints of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. For this purpose, we will inquire into the political, economical, social, and institutional dimensions of transporting monetary metals to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang mints on overland routes and domestic waterways as well as by imports of monetary metals from abroad, especially copper from Japan. This inquiry is primarily based on two different kinds of sources, namely a large corpus of archival documents and a wide range of historical sources of the traditional type. While carefully analysing the former, we will also pay close attention to the regulations and stipulations of standards and set quotas contained in the latter. By examining side by side the wealth of information and data obtained from these two different kinds of sources, the project offers an innovative approach to the study of economic and social history of late imperial China which combines solid historical scholarship with quantitative analysis.
DFG Programme
Research Units
