Download or read book Two Way Knowledge Transfer in Nineteenth Century China written by Ian Gow and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-11-18 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a biography of a remarkable Scottish missionary worker, Alexander Wylie, a classical nineteenth century artisan and autodidact with a gift and passion for languages and mathematics. He made significant contributions to knowledge transfer, both to and from China: in missionary work as a printer, playing an important role in the production and distribution of a new Chinese translation of the Bible; as a teacher, translating into Chinese key western texts in science and mathematics including Newton and Euclid and publishing the first Chinese textbooks on modern symbolic algebra, calculus and astronomy; and as a writer in English and an internationally recognised major sinologist, bringing to the West much knowledge of China and contributing extensively to the development of British sinology. The book concludes with an overall evaluation of Wylie’s contribution to knowledge transfer to and from China, noting the imbalance between the significant corpus of scholarly work specifically on Wylie by Chinese scholars in Chinese and the lack of academic studies by western scholars in English.
Download or read book Astrology and Cosmology in Early China written by David W. Pankenier and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-10 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on a vast array of scholarship, this pioneering text illustrates how profoundly astronomical phenomena shaped ancient Chinese civilization.
Download or read book The Prehistoric Maritime Frontier of Southeast China written by Chunming Wu and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book presents multidisciplinary research on the cultural history, ethnic connectivity, and oceanic transportation of the ancient Indigenous Bai Yue (百越) in the prehistoric maritime region of southeast China and southeast Asia. In this maritime Frontier of China, historical documents demonstrate the development of the “barbarian” Bai Yue and Island Yi (岛夷) and their cultural interaction with the northern Huaxia (华夏) in early Chinese civilization within the geopolitical order of the “Central State-Four Peripheries Barbarians-Four Seas”. Archaeological typologies of the prehistoric remains reveal a unique cultural tradition dominantly originating from the local Paleolithic age and continuing to early Neolithization across this border region. Further analysis of material culture from the Neolithic to the Early Iron Age proves the stability and resilience of the indigenous cultures even with the migratory expansion of Huaxia and Han (汉) from north to south. Ethnographical investigations of aboriginal heritage highlight their native cultural context, seafaring technology and navigation techniques, and their interaction with Austronesian and other foreign maritime ethnicities. In a word, this manuscript presents a new perspective on the unique cultural landscape of indigenous ethnicities in southeast China with thousands of years’ stable tradition, a remarkable maritime orientation and overseas cultural hybridization in the coastal region of southeast China.
Download or read book Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen written by Paul U. Unschuld and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2003-04-08 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The essential reference for ancient Chinese medicine."—Donald Harper, University of Chicago
Download or read book East Asian Archaeoastronomy written by Zhenoao Xu and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2000-11-17 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical astronomical records can play an important role in modern research, especially in the case of ancient Chinese observational data: sunspot and aurora records are important for the study of solar variability; solar and lunar eclipse records for the study of the Earth's rotation; records of Comet Hally for the study of orbital evolution; "guest star" records for the study of supernova remnants; planetary conjunction records for research in astronomical chronology. In the past, Western scientists have not been able to exploit these valuable data fully because the original records were difficult to gather and interpret, and complete English translations have not been available. East-Asian Archaeoastronomy is the first comprehensive translation into English of such historical records for modern research. The book also features an introduction to East Asian astronomy and offers guidance on how to use the records effectively. It will not only be a valuable research tool for astronomers but should also be of great interest to historians of China and Chinese science.
Download or read book On the Heavens written by Aristotle and published by Aeterna Press. This book was released on 1969 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the Heavens (Greek: Περὶ οὐρανοῦ, Latin: De Caelo or De Caelo et Mundo) is Aristotle’s chief cosmological treatise: written in 350 BC it contains his astronomical theory and his ideas on the concrete workings of the terrestrial world. It should not be confused with the spurious work On the Universe (De mundo, also known as On the Cosmos).
Download or read book Overlapping Cosmologies In Asia written by Bill M. Mak and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-02-28 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new, transnational, and interdisciplinary understanding of cosmology in Asian history. Cosmologies were not coherent systems belonging to separate cultures but rather complex bodies of knowledge and practice that regularly coexisted and co-mingled in extraordinarily diverse ways.
Download or read book Seveneves written by Neal Stephenson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-05-19 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon comes an exciting and thought-provoking science fiction epic—a grand story of annihilation and survival spanning five thousand years. What would happen if the world were ending? A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space. But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . . Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth. A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.
Download or read book On Their Own Terms written by Benjamin A. Elman and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 606 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In On Their Own Terms, Benjamin A. Elman offers a much-needed synthesis of early Chinese science during the Jesuit period (1600-1800) and the modern sciences as they evolved in China under Protestant influence (1840s-1900). By 1600 Europe was ahead of Asia in producing basic machines, such as clocks, levers, and pulleys, that would be necessary for the mechanization of agriculture and industry. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Elman shows, Europeans still sought from the Chinese their secrets of producing silk, fine textiles, and porcelain, as well as large-scale tea cultivation. Chinese literati borrowed in turn new algebraic notations of Hindu-Arabic origin, Tychonic cosmology, Euclidian geometry, and various computational advances. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, imperial reformers, early Republicans, Guomindang party cadres, and Chinese Communists have all prioritized science and technology. In this book, Elman gives a nuanced account of the ways in which native Chinese science evolved over four centuries, under the influence of both Jesuit and Protestant missionaries. In the end, he argues, the Chinese produced modern science on their own terms.
Download or read book China and the International Astronomical Union written by Thierry Montmerle and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-07-29 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seen from “inside the IAU,” this book tells the in-depth story of a major crisis in which China “divorced” from the International Astronomical Union in 1960 as a protest against the admission of Taiwan. This happened to all the scientific unions at the same time, and to the Olympic Games, which, unexpectedly, would serve as a laboratory for the “reconciliation” which took place following the re-opening of China to the world 20 years later. The so-called “China conflict” is the most important crisis in the post-WWII history of the IAU. Yet, many details about this conflict and its links to broader geopolitical events have long remained unsettled, obscure, or altogether absent. In particular, the book describes for the first time the “separation” period, which covered the Cultural Revolution, and in which the IAU made desperate official efforts to reach out to China, while some groups of Western and Chinese astronomers managed to keep contact at times. On the occasion of the IAU Centenary celebrations in 2019, the book revisits this painful succession of events using unpublished documents from the IAU Archives and the International Council of Scientific Unions. The book also contains supplementary typescripts of selected handwritten correspondences and the full translation of key original Chinese documents unknown to readers outside China. What emerges is a complex and fascinating story of human relations and science diplomacy under the shadow of the Cold War. Readers will learn how the 20-year “China conflict” as lived by astronomers and scientists is important not only for the history of the IAU, but also for the history of contemporary China. “This book is full of so many original documents of the IAU office, very reliable and good to open to the public readers.” Shuhua Ye, Shanghai Observatory (IAU Vice-President, 1988-1994) This book is a companion book to "Astronomers as Diplomats," published at the same time in the same series.
Download or read book Heavenly Clockwork written by Joseph Needham and published by CUP Archive. This book was released on 1986-09-18 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A reissue with a foreword and supplement, of a modern classic published in 1960. The invention of the mechanical clock was one of the most important turning points in the history of science and technology. This study revealed six centuries of mechanical clockwork preceding the first mechanical escapement clocks of the West of about AD 1300. Detailed and fully illustrated accounts of elaborate Chinese clocks are accompanied by a discussion of the social context of the Chinese inventions and an assessment of their possible transmission to medieval Europe. For this revised edition, Dr Joseph Needham has contributed a new foreword on recent research and perceptions. In a supplement John H. Combridge details a modern reconstruction of Su Sung's timekeeping device, which together with textual studies modifies our understanding of this important early technology.
Download or read book Astronomy and Calendars The Other Chinese Mathematics written by Jean-Claude Martzloff and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-09-01 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presented from the viewpoint of the history of mathematics, this book explores both epistemological aspects of Chinese traditional mathematical astronomy and lunisolar calendrical calculations. The following issues are addressed: (1) connections with non-Chinese cultural areas; (2) the possibility or impossibility of using mathematics to predict astronomical phenomena, a question that was constantly raised by the Chinese from antiquity through medieval times; (3) the modes of representation of numbers, and in particular the zero, found in the context of Chinese calendrical calculations; and (4) a detailed analysis of lunisolar calendrical calculations. Fully worked-out examples and comparisons between the results of calculations and the content of Chinese historical calendars from various periods are provided. Traditional Chinese calendrical and mathematical astronomy consists of permanently reformed mathematical procedures designed to predict, but not explain, phenomena pertaining to astronomy and related areas. Yet, despite appearances, models of the mathematical techniques hidden behind this voluminous corpus reveal that they depend on a limited number of clear-cut mathematical structures. Although only a small fraction of these techniques have been fully studied, what is known surprisingly broadens our knowledge of the history of Chinese mathematics. Sinologists interested in the history of Chinese science, and anyone interested in the history of Chinese mathematics, the Chinese calendar, and the history of Chinese mathematical astronomy from its origin (104 BC) to its European reform (AD 1644) will find this book very useful. The present English language edition is a fully revised and updated version of the French original. Even though this is a research monograph in sinology, no particular sinological background is required, although a basic understanding of ‘concrete mathematics’ is needed. From the reviews of the French edition: This is a demanding, rigorous book to read ... worth the concentrated study it requires. The rewards are not only in the details but in the general overview that ...[it] provides. Joseph Dauben, EASTM, 2011 ...first Work in a Western language to turn to for anyone interested in the details of Chinese calendrical computations. Benno Van Dalen, ISIS, 2011 Martzloff’s careful scholarship and his overall look at the calendar beyond astronomical calculations, ..., make this book a most valuable contributions to a field of increasing interest. U. D’Ambrosio, Mathematical Reviews, 2013
Download or read book Ling Shu written by and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ling Shu, considered to be the Canon of Acupuncture, is the second part of the Huang Di Nei Jing, The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic. These conversations about heaven, man, and earth and their dynamic relationships are attributed to the Yellow Emperor circa 2600 B.C. and his ministers. The first part is called the Su Wen, Simple Questions. The second part, the Ling Shu, is translated here by Wu Jing-Nuan in its context as the first known treatise about acupuncture with its associated medical procedures and for its philosophical beauty. The title itself expresses a world vision and reality where material and structure are secondary to the living energy of Ling Shu, the Spiritual Pivot.
Download or read book Europe and China written by Luís Saraiva and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2013 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Missionaries, and in particular the Portuguese Assistancy of the Society of Jesus, played a fundamental role in the dissemination of Western scientific knowledge in East Asia. They also brought to Europe a deeper knowledge of Asian countries. This volume brings together a series of essays analyzing important new data on this significant scientific and cultural exchange, including several in-depth discussions of new sources relevant to Jesuit scientific activities at the Chinese Emperor's Court. It includes major contributions examining various case studies that range from the work of some individual missionaries (Karel Slavíček, Guillaume Bonjour) in Beijing during the reigns of Kangxi and Yongzheng to the cultural exchange between a Korean envoy and the Beijing Jesuits during the early 18th century. Focusing in particular on the relationship between science and the arts, this volume also features articles pertaining to the historical contributions made by Tomás Pereira and Jean-Joseph-Marie Amiot, to the exchange of musical knowledge between China and Europe.
Download or read book The China Review Or Notes and Queries on the Far East written by Nicholas Belfield Dennys and published by . This book was released on 1888 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book From China to Paris written by Yvonne Dold-Samplonius and published by Franz Steiner Verlag. This book was released on 2002 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The reports of a conference of 11 scholars who began the task of examing together primary sources that might shed som elight on exactly how and in what fomrs mathematical problems, concepts, and techniques may have been transmitted between various civilizations, from antiquity down to the European Renaissance following more or less the legendary silk routes between China and Western Europe.
Download or read book The Sextants of Beijing Global Currents in Chinese History written by Joanna Waley-Cohen and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2000-04-17 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This powerful work puts to rest the long-held myth that Chinese civilization is monolithic, unchanging, and perennially cut off from the rest of the world. An inviting history of China from the days of the ancient Silk Road to the present, this book describes a civilization more open and engaged with the rest of the world than we think. Whether in trade, religious belief, ideology, or technology, China has long taken part in fruitful exchange with other cultures. With implications for our understanding of and our policies toward China, this is a must read.
