Qingrou Zhao
Thesis title: Counting in, counting out: a history of census-making in Shanghai, 1840s-1949
Economic and Social History
Year of study: 3
- School of History, Classics and Archaeology
Contact details
- Email: q.zhao-25@sms.ed.ac.uk
PhD supervisors:
Background
BA Finance, Peking University (2016 - 2020)
BA International Politics (Dual Degree), Peking University (2017 - 2020)
MPhil Economic and Social History (Distinction), University of Oxford (2020 - 2022)
PhD Economic and Social History, University of Edinburgh (2022 - expected 2026)
PhD project funded by Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS) ESRC DTP PhD Studentship (2022 - 2026)
Undergraduate teaching
I tutor the following courses in history:
- Historian's Toolkit (sem 1, 2024-25, 2023-2024)
- The Global Economy since 1750 (sem 2, 2023-24, 2022-23)
I also tutor the following courses in social and political science:
- Introduction to Political Data Analysis (sem 2, 2024-25, 2023-24, 2022-23)
Research summary
"Counting in, counting out: a history of census-making in Shanghai, 1840s-1949"
My PhD research concerns the International Settlement and the French Concession in Shanghai from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Specifically, I look at census-making processes by the French, British-American, Chinese, and Japanese authorities from the 1860s to 1949. I study why and how censuses were conducted in different jurisdictions of Shanghai, how "modern" census-making found its way into China in this process, as well as the cooperation, emulation, and friction across different empires in a trans-imperial laboratory.
Current research interests
History of Sino-British and Sino-French Relations, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Chinese History, Global and Imperial History, Economic and Social History, History of Migration, Children's HistoryPast research interests
History of Financial Crisis, Chinese Financial HistoryOrganiser
Co-Convenor:
- Edinburgh Centre for Global History Graduate Workshops (University of Edinburgh, July 2023 - May 2024)
- First Annual Graduate Student Conference on Economic and Social History (University of Edinburgh, 7 July 2023)
- Oxford Economic and Social History Graduate Seminar (University of Oxford, October 2021 - June 2022)
- Oxford Annual Economic and Social History Workshop (University of Oxford, 26-27 April 2021)
Papers delivered
Enculturating Britishness in Shanghai: Children’s Columns in The North China Herald, 1891-1894 (Jointly with Miss Shuya Su)
Children’s History Society Conference 2024 | Presentation | Newcastle, 4 – 6 July 2024
Greener on the other side? The motivations of Chinese migration into the Shanghai International Settlement, 1885-1935
Joint East Asian Studies Conference 2024 | Presentation | Preston, 26 – 28 June 2024
RHI IHR New Perspectives in Global Economic History | Special issue workshop | London, 5 June 2024
Economic History Society Annual Conference | Poster | Newcastle, 5 – 7 April 2024
Economic History Society Residential Training Course | Presentation and workshop | Coventry, 29.11 – 2.12 2023
Cambridge Chinese Migration Studies Group Seminars | Presentation | Online, 3 November 2023
Counting in, Counting out: Practical and Ideological Considerations Behind Nineteenth-Century Shanghai Settlement Census-Making
Oxford International History of East Asia Seminars | Presentation | Oxford, 23 October 2023
Edinburgh Centre for Global History Graduate Workshops | Paper workshop | Edinburgh, 18 October 2023
The 1882-1883 Shanghai Financial Crisis Revisited: An Analysis From the Perspective of Self-Strengthening Enterprises
CEPR The Chinese Economic History in the Long Run Conference | Poster | Manchester, 21 October 2022
Oxford Economic and Social History Graduate Seminar | Presentation | Oxford, 23 February 2022
Eighth International Society for Quantitative History Summer School | Presentation | Online, 12 July 2021