Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Program in China Studies Predissertation-Summer Travel Grants 2013
Doctoral Candidate
History
New York University
The French Railroad Project in Yunnan and Everyday Politics of Labor in Early Twentieth Century China

The French colonial administration of Indo-China attained the Chinese railroad concessions in the late 19th century. The construction of the Yunnan railroad (1898-1910) aroused local discontent and confronted an unprecedented labor shortage due to Yunnan’s harsh geography. While these two issues forced French managers and administrators to develop solutions in line with their colonial principles, railroad workers reacted to the French colonial policies in their own ways. My dissertation project analyzes the construction of the French railroad in Yunnan within the frame of French colonialism and labor politics in southwestern China. I propose that the everyday interactions between the two were the site of struggle and reconciliation.