[Inscription on a brick from the walls of Yingtian Fu, modern Nanjing, circa 1373. The characters denote the rank, name or profession of officials and craftsmen involved in the production.]

My latest interest is examining how and when technology became an 'object of knowledge" in Premodern Chinese Culture. I am enquiring into methodological concerns on how technology history is pursued and what the Chinese view can contribute to it (Non-European perspectives). A lacquer box, a gavel, a bridge across the Changjiang river, and a forger form the heart of my current research. They are the avatars with which I analyze and selectively depict the historical development and conceptualization of technological evolution, in particular (1) the social, political, institutional, normative etc. mechanisms of controlling practical knowledge flow; (2) the various means of knowledge dissemination, texts, sketches, instruments, the products, man’s skills, professionalism and expertise; (3) the locality or universality of technology; (4) the relation between use and production. As part of this project I am exploring the analysis of inscriptions on objects as a mode of knowledge appropriation and a mechanism of control.