Publication New edited volume by Martin Hofmann and Joachim Kurtz

All knowledge is local. The sites in which knowledge is produced, stored, or transmitted shape its form and content. In the wake of the spatial turn questions regarding the situatedness of knowledge have acquired greater significance in several fields of the humanities and social sciences. Which places play an important role for the collection and interpretation of knowledge? How do spatial conditions shape theories and practices? Which site-specific forms or media are used to preserve or transmit knowledge? And what is the relevance of the site for the validity of knowledge claims?

Wissensorte in China approaches these questions through eleven case studies and one survey article. The contributions cover a broad time frame, ranging from the Han dynasty through the present. They examine the spatial dimensions of institutions of higher learning and sites of occupational training, reconstruct commercial and religious sites such as book boats and Buddhist book wheels, and analyze texts and social practices as sites of knowledge in their own right. Together, the articles provide fascinating insights into one of the world’s richest knowledge cultures.

The volume is an outcome of the XXX. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Vereinigung für Chinastudien (DVCS), held at the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS) at Heidelberg University in November 2019.