Jianghua Steamship as a Medium: Formation, Translation and Impact of Materiality

This study takes the Jianghua steamship and its contemporary representation Zhiyin Hao as a case to explore the role of material media in institutional negotiation, cultural transformation, and spatial reproduction. The findings show that the construction of Jianghua steamship revealed the institutional coordination and interest game between the late Qing government and commercial capital in the process of navigation modernization. In the contemporary cultural tourism context, it has been transformed into Zhiyin Hao, where industrial heritage is reconstructed through characters and scenes, becoming a consumable form of local culture. Moreover, the immersive spatial design of Zhiyin Hao turns the ship from a transportation tool into a medium of social interaction and urban communication. The evolving meanings of Jianghualun demonstrate the agency of material objects and the dynamic generative mechanism of the actor-network in which they participate.