ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

The Discovery of Folk Weather Wisdom in China (1910s-1940s)

• In Event: Weathering Science

English Abstract

This paper sketches the complex relationship between folk weather wisdom and meteorology. Rather than reducing it to a simple narrative of the latter replacing the former, it draws attention to the scientific interests in weather proverbs, examining the weather proverb-collecting activities of Chinese meteorologists in the first half of the 20th century. By the end of the 19th century, drawing on instrument-generated meteorological data from a wide range of locations to create a weather map had become a dominant method for national-level weather forecasting. It was developed in China after 1911. However, this article notices that scientists became even more interested in the local weather experiences after meteorology became a professionalised field in China. Did the prognostic value of weather proverbs naturally appeal to meteorologists? How did they integrate regional environmental knowledge into the application of general meteorological principles? I argue that social context played a key role in shaping scientific interests in weather proverbs. It was the folklore study rising at the end of the 1910s and 1920s that raised the visibility of weather proverbs among meteorologists. Foreign meteorological practices strengthened the impetus to investigate the scientific value of folklore. Under the new scientific perspective on proverbs, the regional character of weather proverbs came into clearer focus, while local experiences travelled beyond geographical boundaries and gained significance at the national level. Also, this article highlights a methodological shift in using weather proverbs with the meteorological network expanding in Republican China.

Author

• Xinyue Li, University of Manchester