After my B.A. in Sinology and Social Science and M.A. in Chinese History and Philosophy from Ruhr-University Bochum, I continued my academic path at Bochum with a doctoral thesis on the history of waste treatment in twentieth-century urban China. Ever since my M.A. studies, and rooted in my former position as a research assistant and editorial manager for the interdisciplinary book series Climate & Culture (Brill Publisher) at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) in Essen, my research focus has been on modern Chinese environmental and social history, the history of sustainability in China, as well as waste and consumption studies, both in a Chinese and global context.
In my doctoral dissertation I compare the three cities of Shanghai, Chengdu, and Hong Kong for changing patterns of unsustainable as well as sustainable waste management, strategies for waste pollution mitigation and application of recycling knowledge throughout the twentieth century, integrating both political as well as cultural dynamics into my historical analysis. My dissertation is based on extensive periods of research at East China Normal University 华东师范大学 in Shanghai and the Shanghai Municipal Archives 上海市档案馆, The University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Public Records Office and The Hong Kong Museum of History as well as Sichuan University 四川大学 in Chengdu, the Chengdu Municipal Archives 成都市档案馆, and the Sichuan Provincial Archives 省档案馆.
“The Trash and Treasures of Chinese Cities: Twentieth-Century Approaches to Waste Treatment in Shanghai, Chengdu, and Hong Kong” (graduated 22 June 2020 with the grade summa cum laude).
2014.11–2020.06.
Doctoral candidate, Faculty for East Asian Studies, Ruhr-University Bochum
2011.05.–2015.12.
Research Assistant/editorial manager for the publication series Climate and Culture (Brill Publisher, Leiden), edited by Carmen Meinert und Claus Leggewie, at the Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities (KWI), Essen.
2019.04–2019.08.
Scholarship for the finalization of dissertation projects at Ruhr University Bochum, granted by the Wilhelm and Günter Esser Foundation.
2017.09–2018.02.
Chinese Government Sholarship, granted by the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC, Guojia liuxue jijin guanli weiyuanhui 国家留学基金管理委员会)
2016.01.–2018.12.
German government doctoral scholarship, granted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF).
Fabian, N and Lou, LIT. 2019. “The Struggle for Sustainable Waste Management in Hong Kong: 1950s–2010s.” Worldwide Waste: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2(1): 11, 1–12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/wwwj.40
May 2019
“Der Abfall der Vergangenheit: Lektionen aus der chinesischen Umweltgeschichte,” Verleihung der Promotionsabschlussstipendien der Wilhelm und Günter Esser-Stiftung, RUB Blue Square, Bochum.
June 2018
“Burn It or Bury It On ‘Borrowed Land’? The Rise and Fall of Waste Incineration Technology in Shanghai’s Foreign Settlements and Colonial Hong Kong,” International Wokshop “Envirotech Histories of Modern East Asia”, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) 14 June 2018.
“Dumping As If there Were No Tomorrow? Landfill Dependence and the Rejection of Foresightful Waste Management in Colonial Hong Kong," International Conference “Other 'Horizons of Expectation' in East Asia? Generation and Modi of Future Visions in the Past of China, Japan and Korea”, Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, Belgium, 1 June 2018.
October 2017
“Waste Landscape: Historical Explanations for Hong Kong’s Dependence on the Landfill," Fourth Conference of the Association for East Asian Environmental History (EAEH 2017), Nankai University, Tianjin, P.R. China, 28 October 2017.
July 2017
„Umwelteinflüsse der Abfallbewältigung in Hongkong seit dem späten 19. Jahrhundert Environmental Impacts of Waste Management in Hong Kong Since the Late 19th Century,“ Umwelthistorisches Kolloquium, Universität Freiburg, 7 July 2017.
January 2017
"Urban Development, Risk, and the Struggle for a Clean Environment: Managing Household Waste in 20th Century Hong Kong," New Directions in Hong Kong History—‘Work-in-Progress’ Postgraduate Workshop, University of Bristol, 13 January 2017.
November 2016
"Refuse as a Resource? Twentieth Century Urban Development and Historical Strategies of Waste Management in Hong Kong and Shanghai", CHESS—China and the Environment in the Social Sciences Workshop 2016—Local Climate Change Governance & Resource Management in China, University of Vienna, 20 November 2016.
May 2016
“‘Nuisance’, Pollutant, or Valuable?: Street Sanitation and Waste Treatment in Hong Kong and Shanghai from the late 19th until the mid-20th Century, Spring History Symposium 2016, The University of Hong Kong, 5 May 2016.
October 2015
“Cleaning Up the Treaty Ports: The Challenge of Waste Treatment in Late Qing and Early Republican China”, Third Conference of the Association for East Asian Environmental History (EAEH 2015), Kagawa University, Takamatsu, Japan, 25 October 2015.
July 201
“Waste Management and Recycling in Chinese Cities in the 19th and 20th Centuries”, UCLA–Shanghai Jiaotong Text and Methodology Workshop 2015, Jiaotong Universität, Shanghai, P.R. China, 11 July 2015.
June 2015
„Recycling und Abfallmanagement im spät-qingzeitlichen und republikzeitlichen China [Recycling and Waste Management in Late Qing and Republican China]“, Mittagsforum, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Fakultät für Ostasienwissenschaften, 10 June 2015.
“Covered with Garbage: Fighting Urban Waste in 19th and 20th Century China”, East Asian Studies Slam, RUB50—International Week, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 8 June 2015.
June 2013
„Feuerversicherung als Faktor der Modernisierung in Chinas Treaty Ports zwischen 1850 und 1920 [Fire Insurance as a Factor of Modernization in China’s Treaty Ports between 1850 and 1920]“, Mittagsforum, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Fakultät für Ostasienwissenschaften, 24 June 2013.
Modern Chinese Environmental and Social History
waste, consumption, and pollution
history of sustainability in China
history of public health in China
history of insurance in China
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Last update: Mar 24, 2024
