This project examined how and when technology became an "object of knowledge" in Premodern Chinese Culture. Dagmar Schäfer enquired into methodological concerns on how technology history is pursued and what the Chinese view can contribute to it (in terms of non-European perspectives). A lacquer box, a gavel, a bridge across the Changjiang river, and a forger formed the heart of this research. They were the avatars with which Schäfer analyzed and selectively depicted the historical development and conceptualization of technological evolution, in particular:
- the social, political, institutional, normative etc. mechanisms of controlling practical knowledge flow
- the various means of knowledge dissemination, texts, sketches, instruments, the products, man’s skills, professionalism, and expertise
- the locality or universality of technology
- the relation between use and production
As part of this project Schäfer explored the analysis of inscriptions on objects as a mode of knowledge appropriation and a mechanism of control