Xinxian (Felix) Li

This paper examines the importance of local knowledge for state building. Drawing upon the quantity and quality of local gazetteers, the regional encyclopedias of imperial China, we measure the accumulation of local knowledge in 267 prefectures over a millennium. We find that the gazetteers facilitated the local penetration of state power and infrastructure between 1000 and 1820, and continued to contribute to the modernization of state infrastructure during the period of reform between 1860 and 1911. Analyzing the content of gazetteers reveals that the gazetteer effect arises from the richness, concretization, and uniqueness of records of local characteristics. These findings indicate that the state is not merely built on unified and standardized measures but also on context-based local knowledge that increases the legibility of subjects.

This paper examines how mass media influences language assimilation by studying the introduction of radio broadcasting in Japan between 1926 and 1950. Leveraging Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK)’s monopoly in radio broadcasting and its exclusive use of Tokyo dialect, I analyze how exposure to NHK radio affected local linguistic patterns. Using comprehensive linguistic atlases and radio signal data, I find that exposure to NHK radio significantly reduced language distance to Tokyo dialect. I further analyze how economic conditions, human capital, and institutional context moderated this assimilation effect.