时间社有书斋 ｜Koji Hirata: Making Mao's Steelworks

Making Mao’s Steelworks - Industrial Manchuria and the Transnational Origins of Chinese Socialism

In this Book Study Seminar, we are honored to welcome Professor Koji Hirata to discuss his new book, Making Mao’s Steelworks: Industrial Manchuria and the Transnational Origins of Chinese Socialism.

This book centers on the Anshan Iron and Steel Works, a major industrial enterprise in Northeast China located at the geopolitical intersection of China, Russia, and Japan. It traces the development of Anshan from 1915 to 2000, revealing the hybrid nature of China’s rapid industrialization—a hybrid shaped by transnational exchanges, domestic dynamics, and local agency. Drawing on archival materials in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and English, this is the first comprehensive study of the enterprise’s evolution before, during, and after the Mao era (1949–1976).

Through this unique lens, the book explores the complex transnational influences on Mao-era China and sheds light on the symbiotic relationship between socialism and capitalism in the twentieth century. By doing so, it situates China within the broader global history of late industrialization.

Professor Koji Hirata received his undergraduate degree in law and politics from the University of Tokyo. He then pursued an M.Phil in History at the University of Bristol, where he began studying modern Chinese history. He later spent several years living in Taiwan, mainland China, and Russia, studying Chinese and Russian. In 2018, he earned his Ph.D. in History from Stanford University. Before joining Monash University in Australia, he was a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge.

作者/主谈人 (Author/Presenter)

Hirata, Koji: Senior Research Fellow of History at Monash University

与谈人（Discussants）

安舟（Andreas, Joel): Professor of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University

侯丽 (Hou, Li): Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design, Harvard University

李洋 (Li, Yang): Assistant Professor at Department of History and Integrated Liberal Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison

宋念申 (Song, Nianshen): Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences, Tsinghua University

主持人 (Moderators)

董一格 (Dong, Yige): Assistant Professor of Sociology, SUNY Buffalo

召集人 (Organizer)

张博伦 (Zhang, Bolun): Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Zhejiang University

海报制作（Poster）

陈青妍 (Chen, Qingyan): Department of Sociology, Renmin University of China

时间 (Time)

北京时间：2025年06月11日8:00 Beijing Time: June 11, 2025, 8:00 AM

美东时间：2025年06月10日20:00 Eastern Time (US): June 10, 2025, 8:00 PM

Zoom Room: 973-7165-5023

工作语言 (Language)

英文 (English)