Infrastructure of Empire: Vernacular Knowledge and Colonial Expertise in Northeast Asia

A fascinating history of how local knowledge shaped the infrastructure of Japan's colonial empire.Roads, dams, and cities are celebrated as monuments to engineering expertise and imperial ambition. But who actually built them? And whose knowledge made them possible? In Infrastructure of Empire, Yuting Dong offers a new history of Japanese colonial rule in Northeast China by analyzing how colonial engineers consolidated the imperial rule through engaging with laborers, craftspeople, and local intermediaries when erecting physical and knowledge infrastructure. Rather than treating infrastructure as the product of colonial planners alone, Dong reveals how construction depended on the vernacular knowledge of local workers and intermediaries whose understanding of materials, the natural environment, and local practices shaped every stage of the process. Drawing on archival sources in five languages alongside close analysis of the physical infrastructure itself, she uncovers how Japanese engineers adapted and appropriated the contributions of the laborers and intermediaries, as well as how they ultimately translated the knowledge possessed by these local actors into imperial technology. Extending from the Russo-Japanese War through the early years after WWII, Infrastructure of Empire also traces the lasting legacy of colonial infrastructure and the technological knowledge it produced. By reexamining the relationship between labor and expertise, this book offers a fresh perspective on the history of technology, empire, and colonialism while challenging long-standing assumptions about who creates knowledge, who receives credit for innovation, and how infrastructure reshapes both landscapes and political power.

About the Author

Yuting Dong is an assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago.