My dissertation examines the transmission of tin mining and pewter crafting technology in China and Southeast Asia from the 1700s to 1840s in the context of global trade and explores the knowledge system and the socio-economic environment that enabled the technological innovation and transmission in the early modern period. Chinese used pewter, a tin alloy, to produce everyday objects. From the 1700s, the tin supply came from the southwest border of China and from Bangka, an island in present-day Indonesia. Chinese miners operated the tin mining in Bangka and the Dutch East India Company dominated its trade to China. The imported tin inspired artisanal experiments in China that involved multiple materials. Pewter artisans appropriated techniques from other fields of metalwork to the production of pewter, while artisans who specialized in cloisonné, lacquer, and pottery also applied pewter in their own works to create new designs. The technical experiments and new designs created in the Imperial Workshop quickly spread in local workshops and created fashions in mass production and consumption. How did Qing bureaucrats collect and systemize the knowledge of mining from miners? How did the knowledge of mining travel from the local to the court within the Qing empire, and how did it travel from China to Southeast Asia? How did knowledge of pewter crafting transmit between different artisans' groups, and how did this communication create innovations? By answering these questions, I can explore the knowledge system and the socio-economic environment that enabled the technological innovation and transmission, and reveal how the development of international trade, capitalism, and colonialism in the early modern period contributed to the transmissions and innovations of technology in China.