The Stone and the Wireless: Mediating China, 1861–1906

Shaoling Ma

Published by Duke University Press 2021

The Stone and the Wireless

Mediating China, 1861–1906

Shaoling Ma

In the series Sign, Storage, Transmission

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478013051

Overview
Contents

About this book

Shaoling Ma examines late Qing China's political upheavals and modernizing energies through the problem of the dynamics between new media technologies such as the telegraph the discursive representations of them.

Author / Editor information

Shaoling Ma is Assistant Professor of Humanities at Yale-NUS College, Singapore.

Reviews

“The beauty of Shaoling Ma's inspiring and provocative argument is that it allows for a reconsideration of late Qing culture through a new prism and for the expansion of mediality beyond the familiar confines of Western culture. Offering fresh readings and giving new life to key texts in modern Chinese history and literature, Ma makes an intervention that will force the field of Chinese studies to reassess its methodology and fundamental assumptions.”

-- Yomi Braester, author of Painting the City Red: Chinese Cinema and the Urban Contract

“From late Qing texts and media studies to Marxist criticism and affect theory, The Stone and the Wireless combines different archives, discourses, and theoretical registers in new and exciting ways. This innovative, rich, and intellectually engaging work will appeal to those in Chinese studies and media studies more broadly.”

-- Andrea Bachner, author of The Mark of Theory: Inscriptive Figures, Poststructuralist Prehistories

"Scholars and graduate students interested in global media cultures and media theory will find The Stone and the Wireless a valuable addition to the North American and Western European canon of media theory. This book not only challenges the predominant emphasis on forms and objects, but also constructs a complex web of mediation through its narrative. Chinese notions, texts, and historical contexts serve as the subjects of discussion, not the backdrop. For scholars of world literature, comparative literature, and science fiction, the book offers close readings of untranslated and understudied sources."

-- Xuenan Cao Modern Chinese Literature and Culture

"Connecting history, theory, and area studies, The Stone and the Wireless makes contributions to many fields, including media studies, literary criticism, and cultural studies. It introduces new sources to the study of media history and science fiction history in China. It also provides valuable insights and fresh materials to the global history of technology by investigating the circulation of technical knowledge between new areas and regions."

-- Yue Zhao H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews

"The Stone and the Wireless . . . sets an important example for readership in and beyond the China field that sources such as Guo’s diplomatic diaries and newspaper photojournalism have immense interdisciplinary potential. Using media theory methods, these objects of historical interest can exist within area-specific history and form part of generative, ongoing debates surrounding media and media technology."

-- Alina Scotti Technology and Culture

"Scholars in gender studies and labor history will also be inspired by its discussion of gendered subjectivity and the working masses in Chinese literature. Since our current era is marked by the widespread popularity and significant influence of Artificial Intelligence, general readers will find the debates surrounding the capacity of machines to replicate human cognition and language during the late Qing era very relevant as well."

-- Yu Liu Asian Ethnicity

"Ma’s book is a valuable addition to the growing literature on media in Chinese history. Her focus on the late Qing period, instead of the republican era, is especially worthy of praise. The Stone and the Wireless opens an intellectual space to think about mediation and ponder its strengths and weaknesses as a method. It will be an essential read for Chinese media studies going forward."

-- Ulug Kuzuoglu Cultural Politics

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
INTRODUCTION The Forms of Media Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I 記 JI Recordings
One. Guo Songtao’s Phonograph: The Politics and Aesthetics of Real and Imagined Media Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
Two. Stone, Copy, Medium: “Tidbits of Writing” and “Official Documents” in New Story of the Stone (1905–1906) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
PART II 傳 Chuan/Zhuan Transmissions
Three. Lyrical Media: Technology, Sentimentality, and Bad Models of the Feeling Woman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
PART III 通 Tong Interconnectivity
Four. 1900: Infrastructural Emergencies of Telegraphic Proportions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Five. A Medium to End All Media: “New Tales of Mr. Braggadocio” and the Social Brain of Industry and Intellect Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Conclusion: Stone, Woman, Wireless Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 312

eBook

Published: May 3, 2021
ISBN: 9781478013051