| Abstract | This dissertation proposes a new perspective on historical urban studies by conducting a critical analysis of the rise of Shanghai as a world urban center in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This new perspective consists of two strands, cultural traffic and cultural exchange, which are used to explore the travel of cultural, political, and commercial agents and the circulation of their practices of technology, goods, theatrical repertoires, tastes of consumption, as well as coded spaces. These travels and circulation originated from the dual historical contexts of the mid-nineteenth century, the opening of Shanghai as a sea port and a geographic shift caused by the partial closure of the Grand Canal and the Taiping Rebellion (1852–64). The goal of this dissertation is to explore the invention of Shanghai in the trans-regional historical transformation, rather than as an isolated development, by showing the cross flows of cultures and interactions among actors from different parts of China, Asia, and the world. The dissertation consists of three parts, each deals with a group of connected themes. Part I consists of three chapters that explore the dissemination of science, technology, and knowledge by expert translators, printers and publishers. The dissemination of scientific knowledge and technology never went in a single direction, but reflected the way in which historical actors devoting themselves in building bridges and making borders as means of inducing or restricting the cross-cultural circulation of knowledge and technology. Part II consists of two chapters that deal with the issue of the regional shift of urban culture from the Canal-based cities to the seaport. The (re)territorialization of popular theaters and the relocation of Jiangnan aesthetic interiors in Shanghai were different manifestations of this geographic shift. Part III also contains of two chapters that examine the cross-cultural adaptation as symbolic act to the global economic circulation. The trans-generic adaptation of foreign literature such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, can be seen as commentary on unequal circulation of labor and capital, while the adaptation of World Fairs' entertainment sector displaced the universal motif of productive power of the World Expositions by displaying the consumptive energy. |
