Multiple Exposures: Ghosts, Buddhism, and Visual Heritage in Early Twentieth-century China

Through ghost photography, mechanical art reproduction, and news columns, this dissertation examines how new media forms and technologies were deployed in early 20th-century China to preserve and reproduce Chinese Buddhist and artistic heritage. It analyzes the art arena and political press as key sites for the legitimation of Chinese Buddhism and the creation of new images of China's past in light of the partition of China's territory among imperial powers, the plundering of artistic treasures by armies and art collectors, and the rise of anti-religious campaigns. Marking a material turn in a literati culture deeply rooted in textual practices, it argues that visual technologies became the preferred mode of authenticating the past and establishing a common Chinese culture in the early Republic.