IsisCB Explore

Article ID: CBB179264008

Fathers to be blamed: Media and the public accountability of Zikawei Observatory's typhoon warnings in Treaty-port Shanghai (2023)

Zhu, Marlon (Author)

Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage
Volume: 26
Issue: 1
Pages: 83-96
Publication date: 2023
Language: English

DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2023.01.05

URI: https://engine.scichina.com/doi/10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2023.01.05

Outside Links

WorldCat

Google Scholar

JSTOR

Marine transportation Science and industry Periodicals; serials Hurricanes; typhoons Weather forecasting Astronomical observatories Meteorology Communication of scientific ideas Public understanding of science 19th century Shanghai (China)

This paper examines the public 'auditing', through media, on the incipient civil weather service in Shanghai in the nineteenth century. Jesuit fathers' Zikawei Observatory became, since the 1880s, a de facto head observatory of issuing weather information in China. To Shanghai's mercantile community, which was dominated by shipping and marine insurance interests, Zikawei's typhoon warnings had been of prime importance. This paper introduces and argues that, the commercial English-language newspapers, which published in Shanghai and circulated among other port cities along the typhoon-inflicted China coasts, had constituted an inter-port forum for the mercantile 'users' of the weather service to judge the 'efficiency' of Zikawei. "Who's to blame" questions in the commercial newspapers closely connected to the shipping trade had framed what's to be meteorological fact in the Jesuits and mariners' everyday life in treaty-port Shanghai.

...More

Included in

Article Maria Serena I. Diokno (2023) Introduction. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (pp. 3-8). unapi

Citation URI

data.isiscb.org/p/isis/citation/CBB179264008

This citation is part of the Isis database.

Citations Indexes

Similar Citations

Article Aitor Anduaga; (2022)
Epistemic Network: The Jesuits and Tropical Cyclone Prediction, 1860–1900 (/p/isis/citation/CBB396826892/)

Book Avilés, Lourdes B.; (2013)
Taken by Storm, 1938: A Social and Meteorological History of the Great New England Hurricane (/p/isis/citation/CBB001422405/)

Article James Bergman; (2016)
Knowing Their Place: The Blue Hill Observatory and the Value of Local Knowledge in an Era of Synoptic Weather Forecasting, 1884–1894 (/p/isis/citation/CBB526823553/)

Article Kelly Krause; (2016)
A Framework for Visual Communication at Nature (/p/isis/citation/CBB025509663/)

Article Venancio, Giselle Martins; (2013)
Ler ciência no Brasil do século XIX: a Revista Popular, 1859--1862 (/p/isis/citation/CBB001420695/)

Article Chi Chi Huang; (2021)
‘Hong Kong can afford a typhoon or two’: British discussions of revolving storms (/p/isis/citation/CBB713469641/)

Article Wilson, Kris; (2008)
Television Weathercasters as Potentially Prominent Science Communicators (/p/isis/citation/CBB000831212/)

Book Kiernan, Vincent; (2006)
Embargoed Science (/p/isis/citation/CBB000930980/)

Article Cook, Guy; Robbins, Peter T.; Pieri, Elisa; (2006)
“Words of Mass Destruction”: British Newspaper Coverage of the Genetically Modified Food Debate, Expert and Non-Expert Reactions (/p/isis/citation/CBB000670778/)

Article Lewenstein, Bruce V.; (2005)
Introduction---Nanotechnology and the Public (/p/isis/citation/CBB000660445/)

Article Anderson, Alison; Allan, Stuart; Petersen, Alan; Wilkinson, Clare; (2005)
The Framing of Nanotechnologies in the British Newspaper Press (/p/isis/citation/CBB000631024/)

Article Stephens, Lowndes F.; (2005)
News Narratives about Nano S&T in Major U.S. and Non-U.S. Newspapers (/p/isis/citation/CBB000631023/)

Article Christidou, Vasilia; Dimopoulos, Kostas; Koulaidis, Vasilis; (2004)
Constructing Social Representations of Science and Technology: The Role of Metaphors in the Press and the Popular Scientific Magazines (/p/isis/citation/CBB000550314/)

Article Savio, Marco Antonio Cornacioni; (2013)
As guerras de Minerva: a Revista Politécnica e a construção de uma ideia de ciência em São Paulo, 1904--1917 (/p/isis/citation/CBB001420702/)

Article Cobb, Michael D.; (2005)
Framing Effects on Public Opinion about Nanotechnology (/p/isis/citation/CBB000631025/)

Article Emre Canpolat; (2023)
Different periods, similar challenges, opposing paths: Exploring the social structure of popular science magazines in Turkey (/p/isis/citation/CBB199991944/)

Chapter Heymann, Matthias; (2009)
Natural disaster and environmental coherence: Lessons from a storm, flood, and a hurricane (/p/isis/citation/CBB001180478/)

Book Anduaga Egaña, Aitor; (2019)
Ciclones y terremotos. Jesuitas, predicción, comercio y el dominio español en Cuba y Filipinas, 1850-1898 (/p/isis/citation/CBB193451536/)

Book Stella Cottam; John E. Ventre; (2024)
Cincinnati Observatory: Its Critical Role in the Birth and Evolution of Astronomy in America (/p/isis/citation/CBB343013295/)

Book Halford, Pauline; (2004)
Storm Warning: The Origins of the Weather Forecast (/p/isis/citation/CBB000500362/)