Not So Difficult, Not So (De)Colonial: Postcolonial Heritage in Shanghai since 1949

Schedule

Tuesday 30 May | 17:30 - 19:00
Speaker: Yiming Liu
Supervisors: Clare Melhuish and Dean Sully
Guest Panellist: Stelios Giamarelos from The Bartlett School of Architecture

Abstract

This research project seeks to analyse the interplay between colonial history, decolonisation, and heritage-making in Shanghai’s urban environment. By examining the built heritage, socio-political and cultural fabric of postcolonial Shanghai, the research aims to identify the characteristics of colonialism and decoloniality in built heritage. 

The study will draw on various sources, such as literature, fieldwork, media, interviews, and Chinese academic perspectives, to affirm the sovereignty of historiography and highlight the epistemic and aesthetic constitution and reconstitution that occurred before, during, and after the period of semi-colonialism in Shanghai.

The research advocates for decolonising approaches and strategies in the management and discourse of Shanghai's historic built environment, as well as utilising an innovative interdisciplinary methodology that involves autoethnography with archival research to investigate the researcher’s positionality and reflexive self and societal awareness in examining the postcolonial and decolonial circumstances of Shanghai’s colonial heritage.

Image: Cite Bourgonge by Yiming Liu, 2018. 
Image Caption: Cite Bourgogne: A glimpse into history. This image showcases Cite Bourgogne, a historic alley and residence constructed in 1930, situated within Shanghai's former French Concession.