Dr. Ghassan Moazzin (Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and Department of History, The University of Hong Kong)

This new research project aims to reconstruct the history of China’s electrical and electronics industries between the late 19th century and the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Situated at the intersection of economic and business history, urban history, the history of technology and global history, my research traces the introduction and adaptation of electrical technology and electrical appliances in modern China. In addition to its primary focus on the business history of the two industries, the study will reconstruct Chinese consumers’ integration of electrical goods into their daily lives and how businesses interacted with those consumers in order to understand the development of China as a market for electrical goods. In sum, this study will explain the role that the electrical and electronics industries played in the electrification of modern China and how the two industries can be situated in the broader development of Chinese business in modern China.