Red Brick Imperialism: How Vernacular Knowledge Shaped Japanese Colonial Expertise in Northeast China, 1905–45

This article analyzes the influence and mechanism of Japanese imperialism by examining red brick building in Manchuria (Northeast China). Manchuria's extreme climate and geography led Japanese experts to work with Chinese brick masons. They absorbed Chinese laborers and artisans' vernacular knowledge, translating it into their technical expertise and rebranding it as part of their technological superiority. Studying documents in Russian, Japanese, and Chinese reveals that technology transfer is an interactive yet uneven process between various actors and the environment. This article further complicates the depiction of Japanese imperialism in Northeast China, arguing that imperialism builds on an appropriation and erasure of local knowledge. At the intersection of imperialism and nationalism, red brick became the staple building material in Northeast China, influencing how people build there even today.