Vernacular Industrialism in China: Local Innovation and Translated Technologies in the Making of a Cosmetics Empire, 1900-1940

by Eugenia Lean

In early twentieth-century China, Chen Diexian (1879-1940) was a maverick entrepreneur--at once a prolific man of letters and captain of industry, a magazine editor and cosmetics magnate. He tinkered with chemistry in his private studio, used local cuttlefish to source magnesium carbonate, and published manufacturing tips in how-to columns. In a rapidly changing society, Chen copied foreign technologies and translated manufacturing processes from...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231193483
• ISBN13: 9780231193481
• Release Date: March 2020
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.2" x 9.1"