Download or read book Early Chinese Work in Natural Science written by Joseph C.Y. Chen and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 1996-03-01 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book re-examines the nature of early Chinese work in natural science, on the basis of original records analysis and artifacts discovered in recent decades by archaeological explorations of China's past. It presents a concise account of early scientific ideas and thoughts of nature, and their effect on the development of natural science. It is suggested that the traditional characterization of early Chinese work in natural science requires substantial modification. The absence of early Chinese participation in the development of 'modern' science is not, as commonly assumed, a consequence of lacking early scientific tradition in ancient China. It is argued that the concept of 'inhibitive' factors is dubious without taking their dynamical relationships into account, and that socio-economical and political influence has to be considered when seeking answers to the major setbacks in science and technology in China. The book also shows that there is no basis for the claims saying that acoustics and astronomy in China have their roots in Babylon.
Download or read book Chinese Science Explorations of an Ancient Tradition written by Shigeru Nakayama and published by MIT Press (MA). This book was released on 1973 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some readers will be drawn to this survey of traditional Chinese science by the idea that humanity has evolved more than one tradition of natural science that deserves to be taken seriously as a study in itself. Others will wish to explore the possibility that by reconstructing and imaginatively adopting the viewpoint of so different a culture, they might become more critical in judging what aspects of the West's Scientific Revolution grew out of local pressures and prejudices rather than out of the inner necessities of science itself.The volume falls naturally into two complementary parts. The first provides the reader with perspectives on the work of Joseph Needham, whose monumental, multi-volume "Science and Civilisation in China" is so largely responsible for the growing awareness on the part of inquiring people everywhere that the Chinese technical traditions reached a high level, and that the birth of modern science and technology owes a great deal to them. Needham's work has often been cited as the greatest one-man historical compilation of the twentieth century.Needham himself has contributed an opening "Meditation" to "Chinese Science, " in which he recapitulates the motive forces and ideals behind his life's work--of which the historical study of Chinese science is only one aspect. Derek J. de Solla Price then provides biographical material on Needham and gives an account of the genesis and evolution of his "magnum opus." Needham's central concern with the effect of social and economic factors on the rate of scientific and technological change is examined by A. C. Graham. Shigeru Nakayama demonstrates through a study of all of Needham's publications the presence of a connected philosophy of history and of science that Needham evolved as a young biochemist concerned with the organization and development of life.The more numerous essays in the second part of the book extend Needham's work of mapping out the areas of Chinese science, venturing into provinces hitherto "terra incognita." The contributors cover the Chinese world view, astronomy, optics, pharmacology, and medicine.In particular, they discuss the Chinese concept of nature (in an essay written by Mitukuni Yosida); the development, and limiting factors on the development, of Chinese astronomy (Kiyosi Yabuuti); the Mohist optics of ca. 300 B.C. (A. C. Graham and N. Sivin); the use of elixir plants, as described in the pharmaceutical manual of the adept Lu Ch'un-yang (Ho Peng Yoke, Beda Lim, and Francis Morsingh); "Man as a Medicine," the traditional therapy using drugs derived from the human body (William C. Cooper and N. Sivin); and the early history of anesthesia in China and Japan (Saburo Miyasita). The book closes with a critical bibliography citing books and articles in Western languages (N. Sivin).The book is the second in The MIT East Asian Science Series.
Download or read book The Origins of Sciences in China written by Xiaoyuan Jiang and published by Springer. This book was released on 2021-05-27 with total page 960 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume outlines the origins of a wide range of disciplines including astronomy, agricultural science, medicine, physics, chemistry, and natural history. It provides an overview of China’s history of science and technology, which can be traced back to the pre-Qin times when the arts had free expression and the schools of thought were unrestricted. It also includes a glossary and comparison of the chronicle of events in China and the West for reference. This is the first volume in the series History of Science and Technology in China. History of Science and Technology in China is the first series with high academic values on general history of Chinese science and technology, with contributions by top-notch scholars in this field. This 5-volume work provides an encyclopedic historical panorama of Chinese scientific and technological development. It unfolds the history of Chinese science and technology through a clarified timeline from as early as the far ancient times to the very present. This work consists of five volumes: Origins of Chinese Sciences, Ancient Chinese Studies of Heaven and Earth, High Tide of Chinese Sciences, Theoretical and Technological Development, and Western Influences.
Download or read book The High Tide of Science and Technology Development in China written by Xiaoyuan Jiang and published by Springer. This book was released on 2021-08-05 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume highlights the major science and technology developments in the period from the 7th to 18th century under the influence of Chinese and Western communications and diplomacy, discussing topics such as the Chinese abacus, herbalism, natural history literature in ancient China and musical theory. This book is the third volume in the series History of Science and Technology in China. History of Science and Technology in China is the first series with high academic values on general history of Chinese science and technology, with contributions by top-notch scholars in this field. This 5-volume work provides an encyclopedic historical panorama of Chinese scientific and technological development. It unfolds the history of Chinese science and technology through a clarified timeline from as early as the far ancient times to the very present. This work consists of five volumes: Origins of Chinese Sciences, Ancient Chinese Studies of Heaven and Earth, High Tide of Chinese Sciences, Theoretical and Technological Development, and Western Influences.
Download or read book A History of Chinese Science and Technology written by Yongxiang Lu and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-10-10 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A History of Chinese Science and Technology (Volumes 1, 2 & 3) presents 44 individual lectures, beginning with Ancient Chinese Science and Technology in the Process of Human Civilizations and an Overview of Chinese Science and Technology, and continuing with in-depth discussions of several issues in the History of Science and the Needham Puzzle, interspersed with topics on Astronomy, Arithmetic, Agriculture and Medicine, The Four Great Inventions, and various technological areas closely related to clothing, food, shelter and transportation. This book is the most authoritative work on the history of Chinese Science and Technology. It is the Winner of the China Book Award, the Shanghai Book Award (1st prize), and the Classical China International Publishing Project (GAPP, General Administration of Press and Publication of China) and offers an essential resource for academic researchers and non-experts alike. It originated with a series of 44 lectures presented to top Chinese leaders, which received very positive feedback. Written by top Chinese scholars in their respective fields from the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and many other respected Chinese organizations, the book is intended for scientists, researchers and postgraduate students working in the history of science, philosophy of science and technology, and related disciplines. Yongxiang Lu is a professor, former president and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and Vice Chairman of the National Congress of China.
Download or read book Chinese History written by Endymion Porter Wilkinson and published by Harvard Univ Asia Center. This book was released on 2000 with total page 1220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Endymion Wilkinson's bestselling manual of Chinese history has long been an indispensable guide to all those interested in the civilization and history of China. In this latest edition, now in a bigger format, its scope has been dramatically enlarged by the addition of one million words of new text. Twelve years in the making, the new manual introduces students to different types of transmitted, excavated, and artifactual sources from prehistory to the twentieth century. It also examines the context in which the sources were produced, preserved, and received, the problems of research and interpretation associated with them, and the best, most up-to-date secondary works. Because the writing of history has always played a central role in Chinese politics and culture, special attention is devoted to the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese historiography.
Download or read book Development History Of Ancient Chinese Glass Technology written by and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2021-02-04 with total page 818 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Worldwide research on ancient glass began in the early 20th century. A consensus has been reached in the community of Archaeology that the first manmade or synthetic glasses, based on archaeological findings, originated in the Middle East during the 5000-3000's BC. By contrast, the manufacturing technology of pottery and ceramics were well developed in ancient China. The earliest pottery and ceramics dates back to the Shang Dynasty - the Zhou Dynasty (1700 BC-770 BC), while the earliest ancient glass artifacts unearthed in China dates back to the Western Han Dynasty. Utilizing the state-of-the art analytical and spectroscopic methods, the recent findings demonstrate that China had already developed its own glassmaking technology at latest since 200 BC. There are two schools of viewpoint on the origin of ancient Chinese glass. The more common one believes that ancient Chinese glass originated from the import of glassmaking technology from the West as a result of Sino-West trade exchanges in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD). The other scientifically demonstrates that homemade ancient Chinese glass with unique domestic formula containing both PbO and BaO were made as early as in the Pre-Qin Period or even the Warring States Period (770 BC-221 BC), known as Yousha or Faience.This English version of the previously published Chinese book entitled Development History of Ancient Chinese Glass Technology is for universities and research institutes where various research and educational activities of ancient glass and history are conducted. With 18 chapters, the scope of this book covers very detailed information on scientifically based findings of ancient Chinese glass development and imports and influence of foreign glass products as well as influence of the foreign glass manufacturing processes through the trade exchanges along the Silk Road(s).
Download or read book Ancient Chinese Encyclopedia of Technology written by Jun Wenren and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-10-29 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents the first translation into English of the full text of the Kaogong ji. This classic work, described by the great scholar of the history of Chinese science and technology Joseph Needham as "the most important document for the study of ancient Chinese technology", dates from the fifth century BC and forms part of the Zhouli (The Rites of the Zhou Dynasty), one of the great Confucian classics. The text itself describes the techniques of working and the technologies used by over twenty different kinds of craftsmen and artificers, such as metal workers, chariot makers, weapon makers, music instrument makers, potters and master builders. This edition, besides providing the full text in English, also provides a substantial introduction and other supporting explanatory material, over one hundred illustrations of ancient Chinese artefacts, and the original Chinese text itself.
Download or read book Encyclopaedia of the History of Science Technology and Medicine in Non Western Cultures written by Helaine Selin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-03-12 with total page 2428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here, at last, is the massively updated and augmented second edition of this landmark encyclopedia. It contains approximately 1000 entries dealing in depth with the history of the scientific, technological and medical accomplishments of cultures outside of the United States and Europe. The entries consist of fully updated articles together with hundreds of entirely new topics. This unique reference work includes intercultural articles on broad topics such as mathematics and astronomy as well as thoughtful philosophical articles on concepts and ideas related to the study of non-Western Science, such as rationality, objectivity, and method. You’ll also find material on religion and science, East and West, and magic and science.
Download or read book China s Early Empires written by Michael Nylan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-11-04 with total page 671 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows how recent archaeological discoveries have enriched our perception of the cultural history of China in the Classical era.
Download or read book Intellectual Developments in Greece and China written by Raymond W.K. Lau and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a study of historical sociology and a comparison of ancient Greece’s and ancient China’s intellectual developments. It provides a special historical-sociological theoretical model, allowing the exploration of how and why Greece’s and China’s developments followed two different trajectories. This model allows a superior explanation of this phenomenon than previous studies, which all employ the outdated methodology of mono-causal determinism. This work takes the critique of Eurocentric views in comparative studies, pioneered by Joseph Needham in Science and Civilization in China, to a new level of excellence, because, in addition to presenting new empirical findings and dispelling previous misunderstandings, it also provides a sophisticated theoretical analysis. It will appeal to scholars and students in the fields of comparative intellectual studies, sinology, historical sociology, classics, and intellectual history.
Download or read book Divination and Prediction in Early China and Ancient Greece written by Lisa Raphals and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-17 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book compares the intellectual and social history and past and present contexts of mantic practices (divination) in Chinese and Greek antiquity.
Download or read book Historical Perspectives On East Asian Science Technology And Medicine written by Alan Kam Leung Chan and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2002-07-24 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical Perspectives on East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine brings together over fifty papers by leading contemporary historians from more than a dozen nations. It is the third in a series of books growing out of the tri-annual International Conference on the History of Science in East Asia, the largest and most prestigious gathering of scholars in the field. The current volume broadens the field's traditional focus on China to include path-breaking work on Vietnam, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and even the transmission of Asian science and technology to Europe and the United States. Topics covered include: traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino medicines; Chinese astronomy; Japanese earthquakes; science and technology policy; architecture; the digital revolution; and much else.
Download or read book Shamanism and the Origin of States written by Sarah Milledge Nelson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sarah Milledge Nelson’s bold thesis is that the development of states in East Asia—China, Japan, Korea—was an outgrowth of the leadership in smaller communities guided by shamans. Using a mixture of historical documents, mythology, archaeological data, and ethnographic studies of contemporary shamans, she builds a case for shamans being the driving force behind the blossoming of complex societies. More interesting, shamans in East Asia are generally women, who used their access to the spirit world to take leadership roles. This work challenges traditional interpretations growth of Asian states, which is overlaid with later Confucian notions of gender roles. Written at a level accessible for undergraduates, this concise work will be fascinating reading for those interested in East Asian archaeology, politics, and society; in gender roles, and in shamanism.
Download or read book Half Sound Half Philosophy written by Jing Wang and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2021-01-14 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the late 1990s until today, China's sound practice has been developing in an increasingly globalized socio-political-aesthetic milieu, receiving attentions and investments from the art world, music industry and cultural institutes, with nevertheless, its unique acoustic philosophy remaining silent. This book traces the history of sound practice from contemporary Chinese visual art back in the 1980s, to electronic music, which was introduced as a target of critique in the 1950s, to electronic instrument building fever in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and to the origins of both academic and nonacademic electronic and experimental music activities. This expansive tracing of sound in the arts resonates with another goal of this book, to understand sound and its artistic practice through notions informed by Chinese qi-cosmology and qi-philosophy, including notions of resonance, shanshui (mountains-waters), huanghu (elusiveness and evasiveness), and distributed monumentality and anti-monumentality. By turning back to deep history to learn about the meaning and function of sound and listening in ancient China, the book offers a refreshing understanding of the British sinologist Joseph Needham's statement that “Chinese acoustics is acoustics of qi.” and expands existing conceptualization of sound art and contemporary music at large.
Download or read book The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China Volume 5 written by Joseph Needham and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1978 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fifth volume abridgement of Joseph Needham's monumental work is concerned with the staggering civil engineering feats made in early and medieval China.
Download or read book The Natural Philosophy of Chu Hsi 1130 1200 written by Yung Sik Kim and published by American Philosophical Society. This book was released on 2000 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chu Hsi (1130-1200) exerted a lasting influence on the thought and life of the Chinese in subsequent cent. The core of his synthesis was moral and social philosophy, but it also included knowledge about the natural world. His doctrine of ke-wu (invest. of things) made him mindful of the specialized knowledged in such "scientific" traditions as astronomy, harmonics, med., etc. This study of Chu Hsi's thought gives a systematic account of the basic concepts of his natural philosophy. Also discusses Chu Hsi's actual knowledge about the natural world. And examines the relation between Chu Hsi and Chinese "scientific" traditions and compares his natural knowledge with that of the Western scientific tradition.
