Between Technological Nostalgia and Engineering Imperialism

Digital History Readings of China in the Finnish Technoindustrial Public Sphere 1880–1912

Authors

• Mats Fridlund University of Gothenburg https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5759-0027
• Matti La Mela Aalto University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0340-9269

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33355/tw.83224

Keywords:

China, technological imperialism, digital history, public sphere, geopolitics, engineering

Abstract

How does foreign technology influence a country’s industrialization? This classical question is approached in an exploration of ‘technological geopolitics’ through a study of the Finnish technological community’s representations of the foreign technology and industrialization of the great power China. More specifically, we analyze how Imperial China was represented 1880–1912 in one central element of the Finnish ‘technoindustrial public sphere’: the journals of the Finnish community of technologists. This article opens up a new area of research within history of Finnish technology through an empirical study on Finland-China technological and industrial relations. It furthermore provides a contribution to digital history through the use of a quali-quantitative 'readsearch' analysis of the Finnish technical journals. The analysis shows that the Chinese technologies were represented in two primary ways. First, as ancient or traditional Chinese technologies often serving a ‘nostalgic’ function to demonstrate western industrial advances. Second, when portraying modern technologies emphasis was on the strength of the West—extracting Chinese natural resources or exploiting Chinese commercial possibilities. This latter imperialist theme is further explored through a study of two Finnish engineers in the employ of Western colonial interests in China that thus unearth a previously neglected Finnish imperialist attitude.