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Promoting standardisation in modern China: British and American engineers’ organisations, local Chinese engineers, and their transnational networks, 1901–41

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2024

Lin-Chun Wu
Lin-Chun Wu*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
*
Email: wulinchun@ntnu.edu.tw
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Abstract

Standardisation is a product of the second wave of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America. This article examines how Western standardisation practices were introduced, transmitted, and promoted in China during the first half of the twentieth century. In particular, it looks at the critical role played by British, American, and local Chinese engineers in the transmission process. The topics covered in the present article have seldom been considered, and this article tries to fill the gap in scholarship. It analyses the shifting patterns of various standardisation efforts that are closely related to the governance of both cities and the wider nation. Work examined includes that of the Engineering Society of China, led by British engineers, which initiated standardisation in the Shanghai International Settlement in the early twentieth century; that of the Association of Chinese and American Engineers, founded by engineers of China and the USA, which, after World War I, began to implement the standardisation of railway infrastructure, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Transportation of the Beijing government; and efforts in the 1930s under the Nanjing government to establish an ‘engineering’ or ‘technocratic’ state, which included the execution of national schemes for the development of industrial standardisation. From the period of World War I until the 1930s, the orientation and practices of American standardisation strategies dominated China; then, due to the worsening situation of the Chinese–Japanese War, ideological tendencies and national strategies for standardisation began to diverge.

Keywords

Chinese Institute of EngineersEngineering Society of ChinaAssociation of Chinese and American EngineersEngineering Society of Shanghaiinternationalisation of China
Type
Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , First View , pp. 1 - 17
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Asiatic Society

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References

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9 ‘Engineering Standards’, The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette, 23 December 1904.

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18 The Presidential Address of 1933–35 was entitled ‘Responsibility of Engineers in China’. The 1935–36 President's Address was entitled ‘Duties & Responsibility of the Society’ and the 1937–39 President's Address was entitled ‘Social Responsibility of the Engineering’. See ‘Note of History of the Society’, JESC (1940–41), p. 50.

19 Ibid., p. 27.

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28 ‘The Commission on Railway Technics’, JACAE I.1 (1920), pp. 6–11.

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31 Shen Bao 申報 [Shanghai News] 4 April 1922, p. 13.

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33 R. Leibrand, ‘China—Americanized?’, The China Weekly Review, 14 June 1930, p. 62.

34 Since World War I, there have been many appeals for European countries to resist the phenomenon of American mass culture and commodity culture sweeping through Europe; even as early as the beginning of the twentieth century, French elites were deeply concerned about the phenomenon of Americanisation. For more details, see R. W. Rydell and R. Kroes, Buffalo Bill in Bologna: The Americanization of the World, 1869–1922, chapter 6 (Chicago, 2005), pp. 142–269.

35 For more details, see Lin-chun Wu 吳翎君, Meiguo ren weijing de zhongguo meng─qiye jishu yu guanxi wang 美國人未竟的中國夢──企業、技術與關係網 [America's Unfinished China Dream: Business, Technology and Relationships] (Taipei, 2020), pp. 257–60, 291–99.

36 Special Issue of Chinese Institute of Engineers 中國工程師學會會務特刊 [zhong guogong cheng shi xue huihui wute kan] IX.1 (1942), p. 7.

37 W. C. Kirby, ‘Engineering China: birth of the developmental state, 1928–37’, in Becoming Chinese: Passages to Modernity and Beyond, (ed.) Wen-hsin Yeh (Berkeley, 2000), pp. 137–60.

38 For the details of Wu Chengluo's life and his contribution to the system of weights and measures and the promotion of industrial standardisation, see Miao Wu 吳淼, Wu Chengluo yu zhongguo jindaihua Jincheng 吳承洛與中國近代化進程 [Wu Chengluo and the Progress of Modernisation in China] (Shanghai, 2011), pp. 107–33.

39 Chengluo Wu 吳承洛, ‘Sanshi nian lai zhongguo zhi gongchengshi xuehui’ 三十年來中國之工程師學會 [The Chinese Society of Engineers for the past 30 years], in Zhou Kaiqing 周開慶 (ed.), Sanshi nian lai zhi zhongguo gongcheng 三十年來之中國工程 [Thirty Years of Chinese Engineering], vol. 2 (Taipei, 1969), pp. 9–13; Z. Fang 房正, Jindai gongchengshi qunti de minjian lingxiu──zhongguo gongchengshi xuehui yanjiu 近代工程師群體的民間領袖──中國工程師學會研究，1912-1950 [The Civil Leaders of Modern Engineers: A Study of the Chinese Engineers’ Association, 1912–1950] (Beijing, 2014), p. 61.

40 ‘Zhonghua gongchengshi hui jianzhang’ 中華工程師會簡章 [The Chinese Society of Engineers’ regulations, 1913], Zhonghua gongchengshi hui baogao 中華工程師會報告 [Report of the Chinese Society of Engineers] 1 (1913).

41 Zhen Yun 惲震, ‘Dian li dian gong zhuan jia yun zhen zi shu (yi)’ 電力電工專家惲震自述(一) [Autobiography of power electrician expert Yun zhen], Zhongguo keji shiliao 中國科技史料 [Historical Materials of Chinese Science and Technology] 3 (2000), pp. 197–98.

42 Zhejiang minzheng yuekan 浙江民政月刊 [Zhejiang Civil Affairs Monthly] 47 (1931), pp. 9–14; 48 (1931), pp. 5–10; 49 (1931), pp. 9–17; 50 (1932), pp. 9–13.

43 Naiguang Gan 甘乃光, ‘Xingzheng xiaolü yanjiuhui sheli zhi zhiqu’ 行政效率研究會設立之旨趣 [The purpose of establishing the Administrative Efficiency Research Institute] (published on 1 July 1934), in Naiguang Gan, Zhongguo xingzheng xinlun 中國行政新論 [A New Theory of Chinese Administration] (Beijing, 1943), p. 44.

44 Yunwu Wang 王雲五, ‘Gongye biaozhunhua’ 工業標準化 [Industrial standardisation], Shanghai qingnian zhoukan 上海青年週刊 (published by Shanghai YMCA) 30.43 (1930), pp. 1–4; Yunwu Wang, ‘Gongye biaozhunhua’ [Industrial standardisation], Fangzhi shibao 紡織時報 [Textile Times] 760 (1930), pp. 2–3, 6–7.

45 ‘Wupin biaozhunhua’ 物品標準化 [Item standardisation], Ran zhi fang zhoukan 染織紡週刊 [Dyeing & Weaving Weekly] 780 (1933), pp. 145–46; ‘Chupin biaozhunhua’ 出品標準化 [Production standardisation], Tielu yuekan 鐵路月刊 (Jing hu 京滬, Hu hang yong 滬杭甬) [Railroad Monthly] I.27 (1936), p. 417.

46 Boqiao Yang 楊伯僑, ‘Gongye biaozhunhua’ 工業標準化 [Industrial standardisation], Gongye biaozhun yu duliangheng yuekan 工業標準與度量衡月刊 [Monthly Journal of Industrial Standards and Weights Measures] II.7 (1936), pp. 1–4.

47 Shizhu Yin 殷師竹, ‘Meiguo zhi shangye biaozhunhua shiye ji qi jiazhi’ 美國之商業標準化事業及其價值 [US business standardisation and its value], Shangye yuebao 商業月報 [Business Monthly] 11.11 (1931), pp. 1–13; 11.12 (1931), pp. 1–12.

48 Chengluo Wu 吳承洛, ‘Gongye biaozhunhua (I)’ 工業標準化 [Industrial standardisation], Gongye zhongxin 工業中心 [Industrial Centre] II.4 (1933), pp. 73–75; Chengluo Wu, ‘Biaozhunhua yundong zhi guocheng ji qi duiyu gongye geming jingji tongzhi yu kexuehua yundong zhi yingxiang’ 標準化運動之過程及其對於工業革命經濟統制與科學化運動之影響 [The process of the standardisation movement and its impact on the Industrial Revolution economic system and the scientific movement], Kexue de zhongguo 科學的中國 [Science in China] 2.9 (1933), pp. 3–7; Chengluo Wu, ‘Zhongguo gongye biaozhunhua zhi huigu ji jinhou yingcai tujing zhi niyi’ 中國工業標準化之回顧及今後應採途徑之擬議 [A review of industrial standardisation in China and the proposed approach for the future], Gongcheng 工程 [Engineering] 15.1 (1942), pp. 7–13; 15.2 (1942), pp. 21–32.

49 Chengluo Wu 吳承洛, ‘Zhongguo gongye biaozhunhua zhi huigu ji jinhou yingcai tujing zhi niyi’ 中國工業標準化之回顧及今後應採途徑之擬議 [A review of industrial standardisation in China and the proposed approach for the future], Yu min裕民 [Wealth of the People] 5 (1943), pp. 9, 12.

50 Ibid., pp. 15–16.

51 Ibid., pp. 12–23.

52 Guozhen Wu 吳國楨, ‘Gongye biaozhunhua yu duliangheng yi zhi qiantu’ 工業標準化與度量衡一之前途 [The future of industrial standardisation and metric unification], Gongye biaozhun yu duliangheng yuekan 1.4 (1934), p. 1.

53 Gongbo Chen 陳公博, ‘Fakan ci’ 發刊詞 [Foreword of initial issue], Gongye biaozhun yu duliangheng yuekan工業標準與度量衡月刊 1.1 (1934), pp. 1–3.

54 Zhizhong Jing 井志忠, ‘Manzhou dianye zhushihuishe shimo’ 滿洲電業株式會社始末 [History of Manchurian Electric Co.], Waiguo wenti yanjiu 外國問題研究 [Research on Foreign Issues] 2 (2011), pp. 3–11.

55 See ‘惟器利，方可摧堅敵銳；惟大量補充，方可持久致勝’ in Chao Huang 黃超, ‘Gongye biaozhunhua yu guofang’ 工業標準化與國防 [Industrial standardisation and national defence], Gongye biaozhun yu duliangheng yuekan 2.9 (1936), pp. 1–5. In addition, in the early 1930s, the nationalist government's standardisation drive in the military industry was clearly influenced by Germany, but this article focuses on the British and American engineer networks and fails to capture the German influence. Hans V. Seeckt, a German military advisor, prepared the ‘Report on the Reorganization of the Chinese Army’, which shows that the standardisation of the nationalist government's military defence in the early 1930s was influenced by the German side. See Kirby, W. C., Germany and Republican China (Stanford, CA, 1984)Google Scholar.

56 ‘Zhongguo gongye mou biaozhunhua, gongcheng biaozhun xiejinhui chengli’ 中國工業謀標準化、工程標準協進會成立 [China industry seeks standardisation, engineering standards association established], Zhongguo gongchengshi xuehui huiwu tekan 中國工程師學會會務特刊 [Special Issue of the Chinese Engineers’ Association] 9.1 (1942), p. 7.

57 Wei-han 維翰 (trans.), ‘1934 nian guoji biaozhunhua huiyi gaikuang’ 1934年國際標準化會議概況 [Overview of the 1934 International Conference on Standardisation], Gongye biaozhun yu duliangheng yuekan 2.3 (1935), pp. 27–30.

58 Yu-gan 育幹, ‘Shijie dongli huiyi’ 世界動力會議 [World Power Conference], Dongfang zazhi 東方雜誌 [The Eastern Miscellany] 27.16 (1930), pp. 5–7.

59 Peiyuan Ren 任培元, ‘Shijie dongli huiyi’ 世界動力會議 [World Power Conference], Zhongguo dianli 中國電力 [China Power] 1.1 (1937), pp. 55–57; ‘Zhongguo gongchengshi xuehui ershisi niandu huiwu zongbaogao: guanyu tuipai daibiao canjia shijie dongli xiehui huiyi shixiang’ 中國工程師學會二十四年度會務總報告：關於推派代表參加世界動力協會會議事項 [The 24th Annual General Report of the Chinese Institute of Engineers: About Sending Delegates to the World Power Association Conference], Gongcheng zhoukan 工程週刊 [Engineering Weekly] 5.10 (1936), p. 3.

60 International Organization for Standardization (ISO), https://www.iso.org/home.html (accessed 1 September 2023).

61 Zhongyang biaozhunju 中央標準局, Zhongyang biaozhunju gaikuang mulu 中央標準局概況目錄 [Central Bureau of Standards Catalogue] (Nanjing, 1947), p. 1. ‘The quarterly Industrial Standards Bulletin’, published in 1944–1946, was published as ‘Standards’ in 1947–1948. The Central Bureau of Standards established an office in London to strengthen international standards liaison.

62 Xian-de Xiang 向賢德, ‘Tezai: gongye biaozhunhua’ 特載：工業標準化 [Special Issue: Industrial standardisation], Gongye biaozhun tongxu 工業標準通訊 [Industry Standard Communications] 1 (1944), pp. 23–30.

63 Xian-de Xiang 向賢德, ‘Te zai: woguo gongye jianshe ying yi tuixing gongye biaozhunhua wei xianwu’ 特載：我國工業建設應以推行工業標準化為先務 [Special Issue: Industrial standardisation should be the first priority in our industrial construction], Gongye biaozhun tongxun 3 (1945), pp. 21–23.

64 The author's preliminary view was that the USA relied heavily on the opinions of various civilian committees to promote industrial standardisation in the early twentieth century, and that this idea should run counter to the postwar attempt of a nationalist government to strengthen the spirit of national power and develop defence industries. However, further research will be needed.