The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Judd Kinzley and his talk "Natural Resources and the Making of Modern Xinjiang, 1907-1962" on November 10.
This talk will focus on the central role that natural resources played in shaping Chinese state power and authority in China's far western province of Xinjiang. Based on his forthcoming book, this talk will highlight the often overlooked role played by an assortment of Chinese and Soviet state agents, as well as a wide variety of non-state actors, each of whom were seeking to stake their own claim to Xinjiang's lucrative natural resources. Their combined efforts to gain access to the region's gold, wool, petroleum, and rare minerals served to construct the foundations of Chinese state power and authority in this distant border region.The talk runs from 3:00 to 5:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.
Dr. Judd Kinzley is a historian of modern China with research and teaching interests that include environmental history, state power, industrial development, and wartime mobilization. His research tends to center around understanding the connections that exist between state power and the natural world in various Chinese peripheral and border regions.