Making the Palace Machine Work
eBook - ePub

Making the Palace Machine Work

Mobilizing People, Objects, and Nature in the Qing Empire

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Making the Palace Machine Work

Mobilizing People, Objects, and Nature in the Qing Empire

About this book

Making the Palace Machine Work: Mobilizing People, Objects, and Nature in the Qing Empire brings the studies of institutions, labour, and material cultures to bear on the history of science and technology by tracing the workings of the Imperial Household Department (Neiwufu) in the Qing court and empire. An enormous apparatus that employed 22,000 men and women at its heyday, the Department operated a machine with myriad moving parts. The first part of the book portrays the people who kept it running, from technical experts to menial servants, and scrutinises the paper trails they left behind. Part II uncovers the working principles of the machine by following the production chains of some of its most splendid products: gilded statues, jade, porcelain, and textiles. Part III examines the complex task of managing living organisms and natural environments, including lotus plants grown in imperial ponds in Beijing, fresh medicines sourced from disparate regions, and tribute elephants from Southeast Asia.

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Yes, you can access Making the Palace Machine Work by Martina Siebert,Kai Jun Chen,Dorothy Ko in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & 19th Century History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Routledge
Year
2025
eBook ISBN
9781040794395

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Table of Contents
  6. List of Figures, Tables, Charts, and Maps
  7. Frontispiece
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Conventions for the Notation of Time, Weights, and Measures
  10. Note on Translation
  11. Note on the Frontmatter Maps and Cover Image
  12. Introduction
  13. Part I Operating the Machine: Personnel and Paper Trails
  14. Part II Producing the Court: Materials and Artefacts
  15. Part III Mobilizing Nature: Plants and Animals
  16. Contributors
  17. Bibliography
  18. Index