id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentence	flesch	summary	cache	txt
hom-95	Xue, Xiaoping	An Enduring Vision: Qingdao Observatory and the Transnational Meteorology in Modern China, 1898–1937	2025	18	.pdf	application/pdf	9837	359	25	An Enduring Vision: Qingdao Observatory and the Transnational Meteorology in Modern China, 1898–1937 Xiaoping Xue Introduction In 1898, German geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833–1905), on behalf of the German Empire (1871–1918), proposed a blueprint for the northern Chinese coastal city of Qingdao, emphasizing the need for an observatory dedicated to meteorological, geomagnetic, and astronomical observations. Instead, it critically employs a transnational perspective and integrates Actor Network Theory (ANT) to examine how meteorological materials, scientists, and various local practices, such as observational techniques and data exchange, manifested and evolved across both spatial and temporal dimensions.5 The transnational meteorology of Qingdao engages with the regional context of China’s national formation, highlighting the co-contributions of multiple states, such as China, Japan, and Korea.6 Furthermore, to move beyond the limitations of the transnational perspective that “see nation-states – homogeneous, simple, and rigid – as the only actors,”7 and to address the unexpected moments of internal power inconsistencies during the Sino-Japanese co- management of Qingdao Observatory, as well as the sustained scientific collaborations across three regimes, this paper applies network as an alternative approach.8 By foregrounding the agency of local scientists and scientific practices, this study responds to the calls by historians of science to relocate meteorology.9 Building on scholarly reflections on network theories,10 it also brings back discourses and unequal power relations into the analysis while focusing on the role of shifting peripheries and centers in shaping multiple scientific networks.11 Importantly, writing this connected story does not imply that science is independent of imperialism, colonialism, or nationalism.	cache/hom-95.pdf	txt/hom-95.txt