Shanghai Daily Monday 13 October 2014 OPINION A7

When it comes to literature or personal biography, it is a problem, because some of these accounts are written by hand, and the writing is done with a Chinese brush and in an illegible calligraphic style totally beyond the grasp of a “ foreigner like me. Christian Henriot French historian French historian still thirsts for knowledge about Shanghai, lauds its rich archives

Q: Why are you infatuated with the most papers only ran two or three issues inconveniences. I understand that history of Shanghai? before they went defunct, such as Min Li perhaps something needs to be A: I am infatuated with Shanghai Bao. This, again, is a fascinating topic, classified and withheld from the public, because Shanghai used to have but one that has to be backed up by a but scholars abroad can read or copy concessions, of which there is a substantive body of research. whatever they want to read and copy voluminous literature. That’s one in archives. advantage it has to offer. Of course, Q: Why is there more literature on That difference has made the life we foreign scholars can read works in Shanghai than other Chinese cities? of Chinese scholars harder than their foreign languages, but it would be better A: Basically it’s because Shanghai has foreign peers. if Chinese literature is available. a much richer bibliography. Beijing, for As for the popularity of Shanghai’s example, is also an interesting topic, the Q: Over the course of studying history as a research subject, it is information about which is now readily Shanghai, have you ever encountered actually part of an academic trend that available. But 15 or 10 years ago, things any difficulty such as understanding started in the 1960s. Historians then Ni Tao were not that easy. Shanghai dialects, slangs, things that began to do case studies that focused Shanghai, with a copious supply of are quintessentially Shanghainese? on certain Chinese cities. I would say [email protected] information about its own past, is hard A: Technically, yes I have. But that is the trend has finally reached China over to be surpassed in this respect. Many invariably the case when you look into the last decade. Editor’s note: scholars now are turning their attention old documents and accounts. Even being T h e go o d n e w s i s t h at to d a y m y C h i n e s e French historian and sinologist to Hankow (today’s Wuhan) or Beijing, Chinese sometimes doesn’t help. postgraduates and doctoral candidates I had little difficulty coping with Christian Henriot, better known but still, Shanghai is generating the have better access to archives. largest body of research. official records, most of which are Their research methodology might in China as An Keqiang, is The richness of bibliography is one written in a lucid, coherent manner. be somewhat problematic, but they are one of the most renowned factor, and Shanghai’s particular history But when it comes to literature or per- becoming more skilled researchers. experts on Shanghai’s history. is another. Its development is unique, sonal biography, it is a problem, because Chinese and Western historians’ He has written about certain hugely different from Beijing, and again, some of these accounts are written by approaches differ a little bit. For obscure facets of the city’s it is systemically documented. hand, and the writing is done with a Chinese brush and in an illegible cal- instance, there is this popular idea in past, with publications such I personally know someone who does the West of employing the concept of research on the past of Guangzhou, or ligraphic style totally beyond the grasp as “Prostitution And Sexuality urban space, images or other visual Canton as the city was previously known, of a foreigner like me. records to chronicle urban history. In In Shanghai” and “Shanghai, but the city has scarce literature of this But this issue can always be solved China, its influence is still incipient. 1927-1937: Municipal Power, k ind. Either it is not well preserved or not by consultations with colleagues and Locality, and Modernization.” treasured for some unknown reasons. Chinese friends. Q: How did you become hooked on His forthcoming book, “Scythe For historians, a large bibliography Nonetheless, even if you are able to read Chinese, and read newspapers like Shanghai? and the City: A Social History is everything, something like you Shen Bao, how much of its contents can A: I wrote my doctoral dissertation of Death in Shanghai (1865- journalists, required to sift through at Stanford University, the subject of considerable information. you make sense of? I say that because which is the state of Shanghai between 1965),” is a continuation of times have changed, so have language 1927 and 1937, as well as the city’s first that academic devotion to Q: A majority of histories on Shanghai and terminology. Adapting to these modern government. Shanghai. He teaches at chronicle the periods leading up to changes takes time. My i nterest owes to the fact that Ch i na is Institut d’Asie Orientale in Lyon, the 1949 liberation. But there are far very distinct from the West, in that it had France. Henriot recently spoke fewer after that. Now that limitations Q: Looking back on a 30-year obsession with China , and Shanghai no local governments — in the modern to Shanghai Daily reporter Ni are fewer, do you expect the depth sense of the word — before the 1920s. in particular, how do you regard your Tao about his research and and breadth of historical writing on It did, however, have county magis- Shanghai to be broadened? profession? trates’ office, or dao tai, but the cities how his interest in Shanghai A: Surely they can be broadened to A: I would say Shanghai’s history is lacked their own municipal governing has grown into a lifelong accommodate history after 1949. extremely splendid and colorful. It is an structures that we had in the West. And fascination. We are freer to discuss what happened inexhaustible mine of research subjects. they were not autonomous, either. afterward. There might still be cases Every time I come here, I feel refreshed, This is the opposite of Western history, where access to archives is still limited, that there still are plenty of issues that where we have had an autonomous democratization movement in China. but there is already a large quantity of merit and await academic attention. tradition since the 11th century. China Nevertheless, the common scholarly information offered by civil affairs or Although there already are numerous did not have its modern governments approach of applying Western theories to public health authorities. books and papers on Shanghai’s past, until a very late period. China is ill-fitted, and I figured a Chinese Despite more academic freedom than the possibilities of further discoveries Its first one came into being in 1921, social perspective was needed. before, certain limitations remain, are infinite. founded by Sun Yat-sen in Guangzhou. My doctoral thesis was written in 1980. mostly in terms of official regulations My hope is that Shanghai’s archives My early research at Stanford dealt Prior to that, my research was primarily or bureaucratic oddities. For example, can be more open in granting more with that chapter of history, but with a about the newspaper industry in staff at Chinese archives may tell you freedom to researchers. different focus on Shanghai from 1927 Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. that part of the documents you want to I wish I were younger so I would have to 1937. I had wanted to write a history of read are off limits, without naming any more energy to spare for new topics that I started out with the idea to explore Chinese newspapers or journalism, only reasons. And they demand that I only emerge incessantly. All in all, writing the modernization of Shanghai to find that there was already a book in scan or make photocopies of one third about Shanghai’s past is a timeless art. municipal government then and its France about this. of a document. But I need the remaining relationship with local elites, and how I checked its bibliography to see what two thirds for research. This cold the latter played a role in autonomy and citation I could use for my own research. shoulder is sometimes frustrating. local governance, and what role. This But disappointingly, it was hard to locate I visit Shanghai’s archives once a year, Shanghai Daily welcomes the ideas was a trendy topic. the archives. so it’s less of a problem for me than for My purpose was to discover if Where can you get a complete collection some Chinese scholars. For them it is of others. Please send your idea to there had been dynamics of a local of Shen Bao from that period? Moreover, a big concern, and causes unnecessary [email protected]