Download or read book The Traditional Chinese Iron Industry and Its Modern Fate written by Donald B. Wagner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the economic history of the traditional Chinese iron industry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with particular emphasis on the interactions among technological, economic and geographic factors. The traditional technology of iron production is described together with the ways in which it changed and developed in response to upheavals wrought by foreign competition, war and revolution and by the growth in China of a modern iron industry. Many of the book's findings are counter-intuitive, and will provide food for thought in the study of Third World industrial development. The author has written widely on the history of science and technology in China, and is currently engaged in writing the volume on ferrous metallurgy for Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China.
Download or read book The State and the Iron Industry in Han China written by Donald B. Wagner and published by NIAS Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings both literary and archaeological evidence to bear in an investigation of the history of the Han state's iron monopoly, and considers the reasons for its establishment and the intense opposition it provoked.
Download or read book Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not written by Prasannan Parthasarathi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-11 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not provides a striking new answer to the classic question of why Europe industrialised from the late eighteenth century and Asia did not. Drawing significantly from the case of India, Prasannan Parthasarathi shows that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the advanced regions of Europe and Asia were more alike than different, both characterized by sophisticated and growing economies. Their subsequent divergence can be attributed to different competitive and ecological pressures that in turn produced varied state policies and economic outcomes. This account breaks with conventional views, which hold that divergence occurred because Europe possessed superior markets, rationality, science or institutions. It offers instead a groundbreaking rereading of global economic development that ranges from India, Japan and China to Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire and from the textile and coal industries to the roles of science, technology and the state.
Download or read book Zinc for Coin and Brass written by Hailian Chen and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-11-26 with total page 822 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hailian Chen’s pioneering study presents the first comprehensive history of Chinese zinc—an essential base metal used to produce brass and coin and a global commodity—over the long eighteenth century. Zinc, she argues, played a far greater role in the Qing economy and in integrating China into an emerging global economy, than has previously been recognized. Using commodity chain analysis and exploring over 5,800 items of archival documents, Chen demonstrates how this metal was produced, transported, traded, and consumed by human agents. Situating the zinc story within the human-environment framework, this book covers a broad and interdisciplinary range of political economy, material culture, environment, technology, and society, which casts new light on our understanding of early modern China.
Download or read book Iron and Steel in Ancient China written by Donald B. Wagner and published by BRILL. This book was released on 1993 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the production and use of iron and steel in early China, and simultaneously a methodological study of the reconciliation of archaeological and written sources in Chinese cultural history. Includes chapters on the technology of iron production based on studies of artifact microstructures.
Download or read book Graphics and Text in the Production of Technical Knowledge in China written by Francesca Bray and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 787 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on history of science and philosophy of knowledge, this wide-ranging collection of essays on varieties of diagram, schema, technical illustration and chart offers a challenging new interpretation of technical knowledge in Chinese thought and practice.
Download or read book Science and Civilisation in China Volume 5 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Part 11 Ferrous Metallurgy written by and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book China and Historical Capitalism written by Timothy Brook and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-09-05 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the historical relationship that has arisen between the concept of capitalism and the idea of China. Formulated by European intellectuals in order to identify the social formation in which they found themselves, capitalism was portrayed as unique to Europe and as an organic outgrowth of Western civilization. In this way, China was rejected as a model of civilization, and seen merely as despotic, feudal or stagnant. This Eurocentric judgement has hung over all subsequent thinking about China, even influencing Chinese perceptions of their own history. The aim of this collaborative project is to examine how the experience of capitalism as a European social formation and as a world-system has shaped knowledge of China. In addition the volume aims to establish new foundations on which a theory of Chinese society might be built, in order to perceive and understand Chinese development in less Eurocentric terms.
Download or read book Religion Technology and the Great and Little Divergences written by Karel Davids and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2012-11-09 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Religion, Technology, and the Great and Little Divergences Karel Davids offers a new perspective on technological change in China and Europe before the Industrial Revolution. This book makes an innovative contribution to current debates on the origins of the 'Great Divergence' between China and Europe and the ' Little Divergence' within Europe by analysing the relationship between the evolution of technical knowledge and religious contexts. It deals with the question to what extent disparities in the evolution of technical knowledge can be explained by differences in religious environment. It takes a comparative look at the relation between technology and religion in China and Europe between c.700 and 1800 from four angles: visions on the uses of nature, the formation of human capital , the circulation of technical knowledge and technical innovation.
Download or read book Science and Civilisation in China Part 13 Mining written by Peter J. Golas and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-02-25 with total page 604 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fifth volume of Dr Needham's immense undertaking covers the subjects of chemistry and chemical technology. This, the thirteenth part of the volume, is the first history of Chinese mining to appear in a western language. Covering from the Neolithic period to the present day it deals with the full range of Chinese mining from copper to mercury, arsenic to coal and a large number of other minerals and materials. The author draws extensively not only on written sources but also on archaeological remains, and observation of traditional techniques still in use. The interrelationship between Chinese mining and the social, economic and political conditions in which it took place is examined, and leads the author to conclude that these extraneous factors were probably more important in determining how mining was carried out than technological progress.
Download or read book The New Industrial Revolution written by Peter Marsh and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-17 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rapid emergence of China and India as prime locations for low-cost manufacturing has led some analysts to conclude that manufacturers in the "old economies"--the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan--are being edged out of a profitable future. But if countries that historically have been at the forefront of events in manufacturing can adapt adroitly, opportunities are by no means over, says the author of this timely book. Peter Marsh explores 250 years in the history of manufacturing, then examines the characteristics of the industrial revolution that is taking place right now.The driving forces that influence what types of goods are made and who makes them are little understood, Marsh observes. He discusses the key changes in what is happening in manufacturing today, including advances in technology, a greater focus on tailor-made goods aimed at specific individuals and industry users, participation of many more countries in world manufacturing, and the growing importance of sustainable forms of production. With broad historical sweep and dozens of engaging examples, Marsh explains these changes and their import both for consumers making purchase choices and for manufacturers assessing how to participate successfully in the new industrial era.
Download or read book Technology Gender and History in Imperial China written by Francesca Bray and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-19 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What can the history of technology contribute to our understanding of late imperial China? Most stories about technology in pre-modern China follow a well-worn plot: in about 1400 after an early ferment of creativity that made it the most technologically sophisticated civilisation in the world, China entered an era of technical lethargy and decline. But how are we to reconcile this tale, which portrays China in the Ming and Qing dynasties as a dying giant that had outgrown its own strength, with the wealth of counterevidence affirming that the country remained rich, vigorous and powerful at least until the end of the eighteenth century? Does this seeming contradiction mean that the stagnation story is simply wrong, or perhaps that technology was irrelevant to how imperial society worked? Or does it imply that historians of technology should ask better questions about what technology was, what it did and what it meant in pre-modern societies like late imperial China? In this book, Francesca Bray explores subjects such as technology and ethics, technology and gendered subjectivities (both female and male), and technology and statecraft to illuminate how material settings and practices shaped topographies of everyday experience and ideologies of government, techniques of the self and technologies of the subject. Examining technologies ranging from ploughing and weaving to drawing pictures, building a house, prescribing medicine or composing a text, this book offers a rich insight into the interplay between the micro- and macro-politics of everyday life and the workings of governmentality in late imperial China, showing that gender principles were woven into the very fabric of empire, from cosmology and ideologies of rule to the material foundations of the state and the everyday practices of the domestic sphere. This authoritative text will be welcomed by students and scholars of Chinese history, as well as those working on global history and the histories of gender, technology and agriculture. Furthermore, it will be of great use to those interested in social and cultural anthropology and material culture.
Download or read book Steel written by Tony Fry and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-02-26 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steel has, over centuries, played a crucial role in shaping our material, and in particular, urban landscapes. This books undertakes a cultural and ecological history of the material, examining the relationship between steel and design at a micro and macro level – in terms of both what it has been used to design and how it has functioned as a 'world-making force'. The research for the book is informed by diverse sources including industry journals, contemporary accounts and technical literature – all framed by rich, early accounts of iron and steel making from the middle ages to the opening of the industrial age, and most notably, the crucial works of Vannoccio Biringuccio, Georgius Agricola, Andrew Ure and Harry Scrivenor. In contrast, trans-cultural accounts of the history of metallurgy from eminent sinologists and cultural historians like Joseph Needham and G.E.R. Lloyd are used. Readings on the pre-history and history of science, as well as histories and philosophies technology from scholars such as Siegfried Giedion, Merritt Roe Smith, L.T.C Rolt, Robert B. Gordon inform the analysis. Social and economic history from historians such as Eric Hobsbawn, William T. Hogan and David Brody are consulted; labour process theory is also examined, particularly the influential writings of F.W. Taylor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and his contemporary critics, like David Nobel and Harry Braverman. Many other disciples also inform the account: histories of urban design and architecture, transport and military history, environmental history and geography.
Download or read book Mr Science and Chairman Mao s Cultural Revolution written by Chunjuan Nancy Wei and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China is emerging as a new superpower in science and technology, reflected in the success of its spacecraft and high-velocity Maglev trains. While many seek to understand the rise of China as a technologically-based power, the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s may seem an unlikely era to explore for these insights. Despite the widespread verdict of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution as an unmitigated disaster for China, a number of recent scholars have called for re-examining Maoist science--both in China and in the West. At one time Western observers found much to admire in Chairman Mao's mass science, his egalitarian effort to take science out of the ivory tower and place it in the hands of the disenfranchised peasant, the loyal worker, and the patriot soldier. Chunjuan Nancy Wei and Darryl E. Brock have assembled a rich mix of talents and topics related to the fortunes and misfortunes of science, technology, and medicine in modern China, while tracing its roots to China's other great student revolution--the May Fourth Movement. Historians of science, political scientists, mathematicians, and others analyze how Maoist science served modern China in nationalism, socialism, and nation-building--and also where it failed the nation and the Chinese people. If the Cultural Revolution contributed to China's emerging space program and catalyzed modern malaria treatments based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, it also provided the origins of a science talent gap and the milieu from which a one-child policy would arise. Given the fundamental importance of China today, and of East Asia generally, it is imperative to have a better understanding of its most recent scientific history, but especially that history in a period of crisis and how that crisis was resolved. What is at issue here is not only the specific domain of the history of science, but the social and scientific policies of China generally as they developed and were applied prior to, during, and after the Cultural Revolution.
Download or read book Technology in World Civilization revised and expanded edition written by Arnold Pacey and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-08-03 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The new edition of a milestone work on the global history of technology. This milestone history of technology, first published in 1990 and now revised and expanded in light of recent research, broke new ground by taking a global view, avoiding the conventional Eurocentric perspective and placing the development of technology squarely in the context of a "world civilization." Case studies include "technological dialogues" between China and West Asia in the eleventh century, medieval African states and the Islamic world, and the United States and Japan post-1950. It examines railway empires through the examples of Russia and Japan and explores current synergies of innovation in energy supply and smartphone technology through African cases. The book uses the term "technological dialogue" to challenges the top-down concept of "technology transfer," showing instead that technologies are typically modified to fit local needs and conditions, often triggering further innovation. The authors trace these encounters and exchanges over a thousand years, examining changes in such technologies as agriculture, firearms, printing, electricity, and railroads. A new chapter brings the narrative into the twenty-first century, discussing technological developments including petrochemicals, aerospace, and digitalization from often unexpected global viewpoints and asking what new kind of industrial revolution is needed to meet the challenges of the Anthropocene.
Download or read book A Mencius Reader written by Donald B. Wagner and published by NIAS Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains material for students of Classical Chinese at three different levels. 1) The first chapter of Mencius, reproduced from a modern punctuated edition, with very detailed notes and glosses intended for students in their second semester of Classical Chinese. 2) The same chapter, reproduced from a Song wood-block edition, which beginning students who are more ambitious may wish to use instead of the punctuated edition. 3) Notes and glosses on the Eastern Han commentary of Zhao Qi (included in the Song edition), intended for more advanced students
