The production of fabric and its transformation into clothes was worldwide one of the first sectors to embrace modern industrialisation, even though continuities (of domestic working spaces, traditional production processes, manual technologies, etc.) often coexisted with changes (the factory, the factory system, the power loom…). The 7th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology revisits the capital importance of the textile sector in the development of the industrial period. This edition focuses on the heritage and archaeology of the textile industry from the East, the West and the world to explore its commonalities (transfer of technology, building materials, typologies, etc) and singularities (chronological disparities, heritage practices, etc.)
The East-West series of workshops aims to exchange ideas and knowledge among Western and Eastern colleagues to build a more international and diverse industrial archaeology. The activity is organised jointly by the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology (USTB, China), and the UK Association for Industrial Archaeology with its Young Members.
PLACE:
Zoom (online meeting).
Register for FREE to get the Zoom link to the event here:
DATE & TIME:
23 November 2024, Saturday.
10.00-12.00 London time
SPEAKERS & TALKS:
- Yiping DONG (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China): "Complexity of the Conservation of Textile Heritage in China"
The textile industry was one of the most important engines for global industrialization. Chinese modern industries were established mainly in port cities through two channels: foreign investments and the "Westernization Movement" after the Opium War. The new manufactory demanded a new type of building--the modern industrial buildings--which had a crucial influence on the modernization of Chinese architecture. From the perspective of technology transfer in East Asia, this research explores the modern textile factories in the Yangtze Delta region of China and the further localization of textile production with the modernization of urban spaces. However, this industry has a long pre-industrial tradition in China, especially in the Yangtze Delta region. How did the new techniques of mechanical mass production impact the region, one with its own rich timber construction tradition? Focusing on the historical origins of Chinese modern industrial buildings and routes of technology transfer, this paper will take early textile mills in Yangzi Delta region as examples to reveal the process of modernization in the building industry in China. The textile industry also significantly impacts urban development with its booming and declining, meanwhile the narrative of industrial past also shifted its discourses in the past decades.
- Ian MILLER (The University of Salford, Britain): "Salford Twist Mill: Uncovering an Iconic Textile Factory"
The Salford Twist Mill of 1799–1801 has attracted much attention as a pioneering example of an iron-framed building, the first textile mill in England to have benefited from steam heating and one of the earliest buildings in the world to have been permanently lit by gas. Aspects of the mill’s development have been debated since its destruction in the mid-20th century, although several points of contention were clarified during an archaeological excavation and associated research conducted by the University of Salford in 2016–17. In particular, fragments of structural ironwork recovered from demolition layers yielded fresh evidence for the building’s internal cast-iron frame, enabling a definitive account to be drawn up of one of the first iron-framed mills.
- Mark WATSON (Historic Environment Scotland, Britain): "Global Textile Industries and their Built Heritage"
The East-West and West-East trade in textiles- raw materials and finished goods- has left a trail of mills and factories, craft skills and know-how, that mean rich cultural connections, some more or less exploitative. Mark will comment on these and draw on what we have yet to learn about the industry, its role in bringing economic development, commonalities in types of mill, and differences. The story begins locally in New Lanark and crosses the world, an attempt to put that place in context for UNESCO, and the assistance of TICCIH (the International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage) in achieving that overview. The global pandemic in 2020-2022 actually made some places better known and some voices heard through online discussions that replaced in-person meetings that were intended to take place in Europe. Is the east-west balance imperfect but better?
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Dr Yiping DONG is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture, Design School at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Coordinator of History, Theory, and Heritage LAB. As a trained architect and architectural historian and conservation researcher and practioner, she is active in the research of architectural history and heritage. Her research interests include: Heritage theory, Chinese architectural history and theory in a global context, industrial heritage and heritage-led regeneration, architectural design in context, and the adaptive reuse of buildings. She is deputy secretary of the Urban-Rural Built Heritage Committee of the Architectural Society of China, an academic member of IAHAC (Industrial Architecture Heritage Academic Committee) of China, a Board member and National Representative of TICCIH (International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage), and Vice President of ACHS (Association of Critical Heritage Studies). She is the academic coordinator and program leader of the WHITRAP-XJTLU advanced training course for Sustainable Development and Built Heritage (2019 and 2020) for the Asia Pacific Region. She was invited as the Visiting Professor for Sapienza University of Rome in 2023. Dr Dong’s recent research focuses on the cultural revitalization of the urban-rural heritage in China and the anthropological approach to understanding landscape, urban, and architectural history. She co-initiated the China Yanping Art Harvest 2018/2019/2020 project, the Safeguarding Heritage and Community of Shuangta Research Project (2021-2023), and the 2024 Kunming Dianchi Art Festivalis.
Ian MILLER has been a professional archaeologist for more than 35 years, working primarily in north-west England where he has gained recognition as a regional specialist in industrial archaeology. His particular research interests include the development of Lancashire’s textile and glass industries, their buildings and the associated growth of industrial townscapes, with special reference to Manchester and Salford. In 2008-15, Ian led the Lancashire Textile Mills Survey, a strategic research project that was funded by Historic England that aimed to quantify all the textile-manufacturing sites in Lancashire and provide a qualitative assessment of the surviving buildings. Building on the success of that survey, Ian led similar studies of textile mills in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire, and compiled the illustrated text for a dedicated volume on textile mills for inclusion in Historic England’s ‘Introduction to Heritage Assets’ series of guidance documents. Ian is currently Director of the Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service, which is housed in the University of Salford and provides specialist advice on archaeological matters to Greater Manchester’s ten district planning authorities. Ian is also Co-editor of Industrial Archaeology Review, the leading international journal for industrial archaeology.
Mark WATSON, from the External Relations and Partnerships Directorate of Historic Environment Scotland, is a joint author of the TICCIH (The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage) comparative study The Heritage of the Textile Industry (with Heike Oevermann and Bartosz Walczak). He has degrees in History (University of Oxford) and Industrial Archaeology (University of Birmingham), worked in museums and then joined what is now Historic Environment Scotland, listing buildings and managing change to historic buildings and conservation areas across Scotland. He wrote the nomination for New Lanark’s inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List (inscribed 2001) and parts of that for the Forth Bridge (2015). He has also contributed to two Europa Nostra award-winning projects (Knockando and Stanley Mills). Watson is the UK national representative TICCIH. He researches textile industries, engineering, architecture and industrial heritage.
