This is a past event
Aberdeen Chinese Studies Group is pleased to welcome Dr Huang Xuelei, a Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, will speak on 'Odorizing China: The Modern Cosmetics Industry and Changing Smellscapes in China, 1880s-1920s'.
The term ‘smellscape’ has been widely used in recent studies of sensory history. Smellscapes exist as a kind of non-visual sensory landscape and their importance tends to be ignored. This paper explores the development of the modern cosmetics industry and its impact on the transformation of smellscapes in China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The large-scale import of cosmetics and toiletries from the West started in the 1880s. Manufactured scents that were carried by soaps, perfumes, tooth powders, and face cream gained decisive victory over natural floral scents that were common in traditional Chinese cosmetic items. The rapid development of the domestic chemical industry from the 1910s further speeded up the transformation of smellscapes in China. This paper traces the process during which manufactured (often artificial) fragrances penetrated different social spaces in China and examines the factors that contributed to this profound transformation of human perceptions and sensibilities.
Speaker information:
Huang Xuelei’s main research area is social and cultural history of modern China, particularly early Chinese cinema, media culture, and sensory history. Her new book entitled 'Shanghai Filmmaking: Crossing Borders, Connecting to the Globe, 1922-1938'(Brill 2014) examines early Chinese film history and demonstrates that early Chinese cinema developed in a matrix of global cultural production and distribution, and interacted closely with print culture and theatre. Her current research project explores the social and cultural history of smell in modern China and examines the role of sensory/olfactory experience in this historical process of drastic social change, increasing trans-cultural contacts, and the shaping of modern social imaginaries.
- Speaker
- Dr Huang Xuelei
- Hosted by
- Aberdeen Chinese Studies Group
- Venue
- F61 Edward Wright Building, University of Aberdeen