Exploring entwined histories through Chinese material culture in Scottish museums

The East Asia Collections in Scottish Museums review by National Museums Scotland has highlighted the impressive presence of Chinese material culture in Scotland. Largely accumulated from the late nineteenth century onwards, they partly reflect the rapid British imperialist expansion into China at the time, as well as the many other complex and nuanced manners with which China and Scotland interacted with each other. How can we begin understanding these objects and their contexts? What complex stories are they able to tell? Requiring no prior knowledge on Chinese material culture and history, this workshop invites any interested attendee to follow together one object’s journey from China to Scotland: ‘an Ancient Chinese land deed’ gifted to the University of Aberdeen museum collections.

We will first explore some of the original cultural contexts and meanings which could be gleaned by using the 'deed’ as a source of data. This includes physical features, functions and broader themes such as the Qing imperial court and military conflicts. From that, we will explore the complex stories the ‘deed’ can represent. This includes the two original owners of the ‘deed’, who had lived through the tumultuous time of late Qing-dynasty China. We will also turn our attention to the later Scottish collectors of the ‘deed’, a family of missionaries from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, who sojourned in China for 40 years.

Through the Stephens, we will discuss some of the complexities behind the presence of missionaries in China; their roles and experiences while in the field, and how they contributed to the growth of Chinese material culture in Scotland. The ‘deed’, along with many other Chinese objects housed in the collections of Scottish museums, represent an exciting host of contexts, meanings and stories that could resonate with the diverse audiences that visit Scottish museums today. The workshop will conclude by questioning how we might transpose this knowledge into the museum space; and how Chinese material culture could be utilised in telling the nuanced and complex histories shared between China and Scotland.