张之洞在中国通商银行创办过程中的言论述评

在中国通商银行创办的过程中,张之洞和盛宣怀在一系列问题上发生了矛盾和冲突。张之洞主张先办铁路后办银行,不愿意保举盛宣怀创办并督理银行,迟迟才同意对御史管廷献的奏折列名复奏,并对中国通商银行提出了一些限制条件。其思想动机,本质上是利益之争,是为了防止盛宣怀由控制中国通商银行进而控制芦汉铁路。张之洞和盛宣怀之间的派系矛盾、张之洞重“官”轻“商”的“官本位”思想及其现代银行意识的淡薄等因素也都影响到他对盛宣怀创办中国通商银行的态度。     

Nature,space and distances in an imperial boundary network: The delimitation of the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau boundary

This article discusses an episode of boundary delimitation/demarcation conducted between British and German imperial powers on the central African Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau in the late 1890s. I situate vignettes on the boundary's delimitation in 1897-98 within broader processes of imperial territorialisation to note that the boundary eventually produced on the plateau represented a fabrication resolving tensions between its ‘natural’ and textual sources. Specifically, I argue the boundary was produced to mediate between a diplomatic nature, written in metropolitan worlds by diplomats and cartographers, and a colonial nature, a zone of phenomenal experiences, inhuman encounters and ‘sensation’ (Wark, 2016). I emphasise the experience of technical practice to suggest that this itself represented a form of imperial power, capable of challenging or ‘deferring’ (Bhabha, 2012) metropolitan circuits of governance and knowledge production, not least by revealing the liveliness of the material world undergoing imperial territorialisation. Sensation produced the form of the writings and archives of survey-exploration: often confounded by problems of their data and surroundings, commissioners made the epistemological and subjective manoeuvrings through which they appeared to rise above their inert surroundings to master them. But this does not characterise the experience of fieldwork on the plateau, which was constituted by a panoply of technical situations wherein delineations between objects, observers and their material settings were indeterminable.     

清科举考试中的"补殿试"、"未殿试"问题

清朝科举考试中的补殿试,是指会试中式者未参加当年殿试,而参加以后科年的殿试;所谓未殿试,是指会试中式者不再参加以后科年的殿试.由于对这部分人的称呼不明确,著录标准也不统一,就使得文献在这类人员的著录问题上产生许多混乱.     

《四库全书总目》纠误两则

于中国历史与文化的研究赐惠颇多的《四库全书总目》亦有纰漏之处,我们发现该书在明代史料鉴别上出现了两处失误:将《姜氏秘史》与《革除编年》、《续藏书》与《熙朝名臣实录》各自看作两本不同的书,并给予迥异的评价。通过考证,《革除编年》即《姜氏秘史》,《熙朝名臣实录》即《续藏书》。《四库全书总目》一书两收两评的失误,让我们体会到当时政治对学术的干预及做学问之难。     

清科举考试中的“补殿试”、“未殿试”问题

清朝科举考试中的补殿试,是指会试中式者未参加当年殿试,而参加以后科年的殿试;所谓未殿试,是指会试中式者不再参加以后科年的殿试。由于对这部分人的称呼不明确,著录标准也不统一,就使得文献在这类人员的著录问题上产生许多混乱。     

Breeding for insect-resistant cotton across imperial networks, 1924-1950

This paper investigates the elevated expectations and dramatic downturns of the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation’s African experimentation program. It follows the trials of U.4, an insect-resistant variety bred to withstand continental growing conditions, whose expansion through east and southern Africa was filled with promise but ended in disappointment. My argument has two strands. First, U.4 was a product of imperial connections. It was an amalgam of breeding knowledge accumulated in India, specialized training received in Trinidad, and specimens imported from across the empire. Transnational scientific networks were crucial to the Corporation’s initial breeding successes. Second, the story that follows suggests that imperial scientific experts did not impose the Corporation’s research goals monolithically across a wide range of African environments. Rather, Corporation scientists recognized the diversity of African environments and adapted their breeding programs to match local agro-ecological realities. I suggest that the ECGC breeding program is a story of expert knowledge that incorporated rather than undermined ecological specificity.     

清康熙绘本《黄河图》及相关史实考述

台北故宫博物院图书文献处藏有一幅不具作者与年代的长卷式绢本彩绘《黄河图》。经考证,此图是康熙帝亲自授命、由康熙朝河道总督靳辅延聘幕僚周洽、李含渼等人在清康熙二十三至二十六年(1684—1687)间绘制而成。周洽通过实地考察黄河并参照各地其他舆图,与李含渼等一起绘成两幅《黄河图》。靳辅于康熙二十六年九月将其中一幅呈奏康熙帝御览,后收贮于清内务府造办处舆图房,现存北京中国第一历史档案馆;另一幅在民国时期被北平图书馆舆图部收购,现藏台北故宫博物院图书文献处。周洽《黄河图》采用鸟瞰式画法,描绘了靳辅治理黄河、运河时修建的重要水利工程,以及黄河下游两岸重要的自然和人文地理景观,反映了清代的舆图绘制机制,具有极其重要的历史价值。此图是仅存的几幅鸟瞰式水利图之一,也是最精美、最能代表康熙前中期绘图风格的黄河图之一,在中国地图史和艺术史上都占有重要地位。     

The archaeology of World War II karst defences in the Pacific

During World War II, the Japanese military, using either their own or civilian labour, excavated tunnels into the limestone of many Pacific islands and modified natural caves for use as command posts, hospitals, combat positions, storage, and shelter. Civilians also used caves to shelter themselves during the war. This article introduces the archaeology of WWII caves and tunnels referred to collectively as ‘karst defences.’ While karst defences exist across the Pacific, little is known about these sites both historically and archaeologically. Based on a study in Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and analysis of karst defence construction and function, this article demonstrates that karst defence use extends beyond what has been described in historical accounts. The authors find that the sites in Saipan were used by three different groups of people and identifies distinct Japanese military and civilian sites and evidence of post-war use by the United States.     

Communicating with the European Resistance: an assessment of the Special Operations Executive’s wireless facilities in the UK during the Second World War

Summary: This article presents for the first time an examination of the Special Operations Executive’s (SOE) UK-based communication facilities. Established in 1940, SOE was responsible for coordinating all acts of sabotage against the enemy overseas. This was only possible with the aid of a reliable communications link with the Resistance. By examining SOE’s Home Stations, this article will demonstrate the value the organization placed in reliable wireless communications.     

Food for Rome: A stable isotope investigation of diet in the Imperial period (1st–3rd centuries AD)

During the Empire, the population of Rome was composed mostly of lower-class free citizens and slaves. Viewed from historical records, the Roman diet included primarily olives, wine, and wheat, but poor and enslaved Romans may have eaten whatever they were able to find and afford, leading to significant heterogeneity in the Roman diet. Previous carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of skeletons from Imperial Italy have begun to reveal variation in diet, but little is known about what people ate in the capital city. This study complements previous work by adding new isotope data from human skeletons found in two Imperial-period (1st–3rd centuries AD) cemeteries in Rome. These data suggest that urban and suburban diets differed, most notably in the consumption of the C₄ grain millet. Comparing these new data with all published palaeodietary data from Imperial Italy demonstrates that significant variation existed in the diet of the common people.