On the 28th of October, the Meanings, Identities and Communities Cluster were honored to have hosted Dr Ghasssan Moazzin and his talk “Electric China: The Origins of the Chinese Electrical and Electronics Industries, 1870-1937.” Dr Moazzin is Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the School of Humanities (Department of History) at the University of Hong Kong. In total, there were 7 students and 4 faculty in attendance.
The talk was part of Dr Moazzin’s ongoing book project and research. He provided the context and background of his research. Drawing upon sources in the University of Tokyo, he shows how China was viewed as a prominent market for electric goods. However, the literature so far had only covered electric supply in China and focused less on electronic appliances. Hence, he seeks to bridge this gap in the field.
Dr Moazzin revealed that the start of electronics in China only began earnestly in the 1870s with the introduction of electric trams and lightbulbs. These lightbulbs were symbols of modernity and by 1924 over 200 cities had electric plants. Using primary sources based on advertisements of electric appliances at that time, Dr Moazzin showed how electricity was tightly wound with the concept of modernity and the modern family. While there was a dominance of foreign firms in producing electric appliances, there was a rise of domestic firms by World War 1. During this period, there was a rise in privately owned Chinese companies and the establishment of a manufacturing plant for electric goods by the government. The government had created this plant in relation to its war efforts and mostly concentrated on creating radios.
In investigating the privately-owned companies, Dr Moazzin uses the case study of Oppel, a domestic electric lamp company. He argues that the main usage of electricity at that time was lightbulbs. He proceeded to trace the history of the lightbulb industry in China. He highlights how the lightbulb industry was initially supplied by foreign firms. It was only in 1933 that Oppel’s founder, Hu Xiyuan managed to acquire a German manufacturing plant with its machinery and staff. Through this acquisition, Oppel could scale up their production, reduce their cost and increase the quality of its product. Moreover, Oppel utilized the network of Overseas Chinese to create a distribution network outside China. Hence, by 1933, Oppel became a strong competitor to foreign based firms. Dr Moazzin argues that the possibility of Oppel’s rise was due to the absence of a Western-style patent system which allowed for domestic industrialization. Moreover, while Oppel was engaged in nationalist lobbying in efforts to sell its lightbulbs, it was the increase in quality that drove its success.
The talk ended with Dr Moazzin answering questions and comments from the audience members. One audience member brought up the gendered aspect of the advertisements. In these images, the electric appliances were located in the domestic sphere, such as refrigerators and vacuum cleaners. Dr Moazzin shared that he had encountered how the appliances had actually led to more responsibilities for women in the household.
