08.05.2023

Lecture: Patrick Aberle, "Tree Oil in Tax Records of Late Imperial China"

Patrick Aberle, M.A. (Universität Tübingen), "Tree Oil in Tax Records of Late Imperial China", a lecture in the colloquium "History and Culture of China"

Dienstag (Tue), 9. Mai  2023, 16:00 c.t. Hybrid-Veranstaltung in Wilhelmstraße 133, Raum 30
https://zoom.us/j/94741561215?pwd=WFppZUdlcmJWWnVYcC9SWnI0aHhiQT09
Meeting ID: 947 4156 1215
Passcode: 686475

Abstract Under the paradigm of the Anthropocene, a current focus of Chinese natural history lies in human-induced landscape changes. In the framework of the deforestation debate, scholars examined the development of anthropogenic forests - predominantly wood-producing ones. Except for moriculture, economic trees that produce more specialized products, like oil trees, receive less attention in the field. This study provides an analysis of the georeferenced data from the LoGaRT database. It constructs a spatial narrative of the development of official knowledge on the wood oil tree in a Geographical Information System (GIS). Thereby, it determines whether and how the spread of this knowledge is correlated to the general expansion of gazetteers with methods of spatial statistics. Based on conversion rates of land tax records, this talk further seeks to assess the development of the economic value of wood oil tree plantation and evaluate its regional differences.
Bio Patrick Aberle is a PhD student at the University of Tübingen. His research interests include the Chinese History of Science and Technology as well as Environmental History.