Politics and Meteorology in Republican China, 1912–1949

Abstract

Meteorology, politics, and modern state-building in Republican China (1912–1949) were mutually constitutive. The Central Observatory, the Institute of Meteorology of Academia Sinica, the Chinese Meteorological Society, and the Central Meteorological Bureau gradually established a national meteorological system within a scientific landscape that was shaped by unequal treaties, colonial legacies, and foreign-run institutions while also becoming increasingly nationalized, professionalized, and internationalized. As a result of struggles for institutional autonomy, improvements in meteorological services in the early Republican period, and wartime applications and administrative integration during the wartime period, meteorology evolved from being a largely scientific and technical enterprise into being an increasingly important instrument of state governance. The case of the Republic of China provides an important perspective for understanding how a non-Western state appropriated, reorganized, and expanded meteorological knowledge in pursuit of national goals.