China
William C. Summers
Introduction
Archeological evidence for scientific and
technological knowledge in China extends at least to the Neolithic period (ca.
6000 BC) while written material is available from as early as the Shang period
(ca. 1700 - 1025 BC). Early
traditions, dating from the Shang, include divinations written in the precursor
to modern Chinese on flat bones and turtle shell (oracle bones) and
technically advanced bronze castings.
The Zhou dynasty (1122 - 256 BC) was characterized by the development of
the dominant philosophical schools of traditional Chinese thought: Daoism,
Confucianism, Moism, and Legalism.
By the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) comprehensive cosmological views of
the universe had been developed by the Daoists based on a few universal principles: yin and yang
complementarity, the relations and correspondences of wu xing (the five phases
of the universe: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water), together with notions of
qi (vital force, or matter-energy) and li (natural order, or organizing
principle). The most coherant and
comprehensive exposition of this basic cosmology is found in Huai-nan Tzu (ca. 139 BC), a summary of
learning sponsored by Liu An, King of Huai-nan.
One theme in Daoist thought
which is of major interest is the quest for elixirs of immortality. This activity was both theoretical and
experimental, and led to the development of the Chinese alchemical tradition,
not concerned with transmutation of metals as in the West, but in the formation
of substances which could confer immortality and sagehood. Much knowledge of the properties and
behavior of natural substances emerged from this work. This tradition started
at least 2 millenia ago and was well-established by the end of the Three
Kingdoms period (220-265 AD) when Ge Hong (Ko Hung) compiled his work on daoist
alchemical techniques, Bao pu tzi (Pao-pu tzu) (ca. 317 AD).
Another approach to the
natural world was through the organization of plants, animals, and minerals
into their uses by mankind in the form of books called ben cao (often
translated as pharmacopoeia). The
ben cao are texts that include natural history, biological classifications, and
practical and medical uses of natural materials, in modern terms, biology,
geology and medicine. By the Ming
dynasty (1368 - 1644 AD), great, comprehensive ben cao texts had been compiled
that are still used in China today, for example the Ben cao gang mu (1596 AD) by Li
Shi-zhen.
Also during the Ming
dynasty, China took an active interest in the learning of the West that was
brought by Jesuit missionaries.
Because of the importance of calendrical science in the cosmology of
Chinese thought and its role in political affairs, the Ming rulers were especially
interested in the recent advances in European astronomy the associated
mathematical approaches. The
interplay of two quite different cosmologies during this period gives an
especially interesting opportunity to examine the role of politics, culture and
tradition on the development of science and the change in beliefs about nature.
By the time of the Qing
dynasty (1644 - 1911) the many interactions between China and the West provoked
reactions within China, at one extreme, to adopt Western scientific learning in
toto, and at the other extreme, to reject it completely in favor of indigenous
traditions. While other Asian
countries (e.g., Japan and India) were able to follow their own paths to
modernization, China was racked by internal strife and external assaults from
the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. During this period of about 100 years,
China struggled to modernize its science, education, technology and industries
under the handicaps of civil wars and rebellions, and probably most
importantly, lack of capital for investment in these essential activities. For the historian of science, then,
this period in Chinese history affords a clear example of the role of economic
and social factors in the course of the scientific enterprise.
In the twentieth century,
China has struggled to find its national philosophy of life through wrenching
debates in the early 1920s and to decide on the proper balance between politics
and science since the 1950s. The
role of ideology in scientific inquiry is clear in the case of genetic research
in China under the influence of the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko. Likewise, the role of national politics
can be studied in scientific and technological projects such as the development
of nuclear weapons and the construction of the hydrological project on the
Yangtze river known as the Three Gorges Dam.
The study of some of these
themes might be organized on the Chinese achievements in cosmology, technology,
and modern science.
The stability and
durability of the Chinese cosmology—that is, the yin-yang and wu xing
model—is quite remarkable.
It has survived for over 2000 years and is still alive and well in both
folk beliefs and in traditional Chinese medicine. It has wide explanatory power and adaptability.
The achievements of Chinese
artisans, engineers, and scientists in papermaking, metallurgy, hydrology,
agriculture and medicine are well-described in the Western literature and
provide interesting comparisons with Western approaches to similar practical
problems.
The particular Chinese way
of approaching the problems of how science relates to politics and the state is
another possible way to study science in China. The interplay of ideology of the state and culture and the
ideologies of scientific inquiry has been of concern in China for a long
time. While it has surfaced in the
twentieth century in more obvious ways (e.g., genetics, economics, physics), in
earlier times daoist research on elixirs of immortality had political
overtones, and independent thinking often led to politically subversive
ideas.
Another approach to better
understand science in China is to study the works and lives of major figures
for whom significant descriptive material is available in English. Four such individuals, representing chronologically
different periods, are the daoist alchemist, Ge Hong (283-343), the Sung
polymath, Shen Gua (1031-1095), the great ben cao author, Li Shi-zhen
(1518-1593), and the modern architect of public health in China, Wu Lien-te
(1879-1960).
Resources
A text on the history of Chinese civilization which
has more than the usual focus on the history of ideas and events in history of
science, medicine and technology is the comprehensive survey by Jacques Gernet,
A History of Chinese Civilization, Second Edition, Cambridge University Press,
1996. The major reference source
in the study of history of science in China is the massive series compiled
under the leadership of Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, Cambridge University
Press, 1954- . This multi-volume
work, still in progress, is organized into two introductory volumes followed by
individual volumes devoted to specific scientific fields, e.g., mathematics,
meteorology, botany, etc.
Abridgements of some of these volumes, useful as classroom texts, have
been prepared by Colin Ronan together with Joseph Needham under the title The
Shorter Science and Civilization in China, Cambridge University Press, 1978 - .
Current scholarship on the
history of science in China is published in a wide variety of places,
apparently depending on the scholarly affiliation of the author. Some work appears in journals devoted
to Asian studies, some in those on history of science and medicine, and some in
sources covering particular diciplines, e.g., philosophy, astronomy,
mathematics, etc. One central
source for this scholarship is the annual Current Bibliography, published by Isis, the journal of the
History of Science Society. The
only journal in English devoted to this field is Chinese Science, published sporadically by
the International Society for the History of East Asian Science, Technology,
and Medicine (ISHEASTM). The Newsletter
for the History of Chinese Science is published by the Institute of History, Tsing
Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, and is in Chinese.
International meetings
are organized periodically by the International Society for the History of East
Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine.
The address of the society is ISHEASTM/SIHSTMAO, Instituts
dExtrme-Orient, 52 ru du Cardinal Lemoine, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France. A major center for scholarly research
in this field is the Needham Research Institute, 8 Sylvester Road, Cambridge
CB8 9AF, United Kingdom. The URL
for the world-wide-web site for the Needham Research Institute is
http://www.soas.ac.uk/Needham/ (the final backslash is required). The NRI publishes a periodic newsletter
which is free upon application. An
internet bulletin board on East Asian Science can be found at
easci@ccat.sas.upenn.edu and is moderated by Nathan Sivin at the University of
Pennsylvania.
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Day 1
Origins of Chinese Scientific Thought - I: Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism
Theme: Man and nature
The period known as the Eastern Zhou dynasty (771-
ca 453 BC), when the Zhou moved
their capital from the Wei valley to Loyang in the east of China, was when the
Chinese world view was beginning to take shape. In the following period of
politcal fragmentation, known as the Warring States period (453- ca 221 BC),
the major schools of Chinese thought were developed and refined. Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism and
Moism all had their origins in this period. Buddhism, an important strain of Chinese thought, was a
later import from India (1st-3rd c. AD).
The aims of each of these schools of thought was to understand man's
relationship to nature and to other human beings. Thus, theories of man as a social and moral entity and man
as part of the universe were developed.
To understand the background to later refinements of Chinese views of
nature, it is important to have in mind the basic assumptions and world-views
upon which these later ideas were predicated. Key concepts include the emphasis on relational aspects of
the world, the notion of a parallelism between the earthly realm and a heavenly
realm, and many forms of correlational thinking leading to elaborate theories
of correspondences. In addition to
general background reading in the cultural history of this period (e.g.,
Gernet, Chaps. 1-5), a selection from one of the three great Confucian
thinkers, Hsn Tzu (fl. 298-238) illustrates a strongly realistic view of
nature which attempts to channel the Confucian tradition into less
superstitious and more rational directions. From this selection one can see Hsn's own rationalist
position as well as something of the prevalent ideas of his time against which
he was arguing.
Student Reading
"Rationalism
and realism in Hsn Tzu", pp. 112-127 in DeBary, Chan and Watson, Sources
of Chinese Tradition,
Columbia University Press (1960).
Chapters
4-5 (pp. 19-57) Ronan and Needham, The Shorter Science and Civilization in
China,
Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press (1978).
Extended Reading
Chapter
1 - 5, pp. 37 ‑128 in
J. Gernet, A History of Chinese Civilization, Second Edition, Cambridge
University Press (1996).
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Day 2
Origins of Chinese scientific thought - II: The
Huai nan tzu
Theme: A description of the Chinese world
The Huai nan tzu is one of the earliest texts which
deals in a comprehensive and consistent way to formulate a view of what we
would call nature. It is known in
various editions and has been extensively studied and commented on by scholars
in China since its composition in about 139 BC. Unfortunately, it is not available in a complete translation
in English even now. Recently, two
scholarly translations of selected chapters have appeared, and we will read the
introduction to the Huai nan tzu from Le Blanc's book. We will read two different selections from
the Huai nan tzu translated by two eminent Western scholars made at different
times and for different purposes.
You will note that the style and level of scholarly comment varies
greatly between these two selections.
The Huai nan tzu has 21
chapters as follows (from Le Blanc):
1.
Searching out Tao
2.
The Beginning of Reality
3.
The Patterns of Heaven
4.
The Forms of Earth
5.
The Seasonal Regulations
6.
Peering into the Obscure
7.
The Seminal Breath and Spirit
8.
The Fundamental Norm
9.
The Craft of the Ruler
10.
On Erroneous Designations
11.
Placing Customs on a Par
12.
The Responses of Tao
13.
A Compendious Essay
14.
An Explanatory Discourse
15.
On Military Strategy
16.
Discourse on Mountains
17.
Discourse on Forests
18.
In the World of Man
19.
The Necessity of Training
20.
The Grand Reunion
21. Outline of the Essentials
The first translation by
E.R. Hughes in 1960 was made for a general survey of Chinese thought. It tends to be in familiar vernacular
English with rather free paraphrasing.
Still, one gets the general idea of what the work is about. Hughes gives us a selection from
Chapter 1 (which he translates as "The Universe from the Angle of the
Tao"), one from Chapter 2 ("The Beginning of the Universe from the
Angle of Being and Non-Being"), and one from Chapter 3 ("The
Beginning of the Universe from the Angle of Speculative Astronomy").
The second translation by
John S. Major has been published in 1993 and is a detailed translation and
critical study of only Chapters 3, 4 and 5. Comparing Major's translation of Chapter 3 (which he
translates as "The Treatise on the Patterns of Heaven") with that of
Hughes, for the same material, shows the difference between a "free"
translation and a "scholarly" one. In addition to general cosmological notions, this chapter
includes detailed description of astronomical observations and theories for
each planet
Student Reading
Primary Text: Selections from the Huai nan tzu (ca.
139 BC):
Pp.
287-292 in E.R. Hughes, editor, Chinese Philosophy in Classical Times, Dent/Dutton (1960).
Pp.
62-75 in J.S. Major, Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought, SUNY Press (1993).
Background Reading:
Pp.
1-8 in Charles Le Blanc, "Huai Nan Tzu", Hong Kong University Press
(1985).
Chapter
XI, The Universal Order, in DeBary, Chan and Watson, Sources of Chinese
Tradition,
Columbia University Press (1961).
Extended Reading
Chapters
7-11 (pp. 78- 215) Ronan and Needham, The Shorter Science and Civilization
in China,
Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press (1978).
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Day 3
Alchemy: The Nei pien of Ge Hong
Theme: Medicine, belief and alchemy
Medicine, alchemy, botany and the like are modern
categories which do not alway correspond very well to the patterns of thought,
writing and activity in past times.
This holds for both East and West, of course. The treatise Nei pien by the 4th-century scholar, Ge Hong (Ko
Hung), brings together ideas, theories, processes, and aims that we associate
with both chemistry and medicine.
It is also rooted in the cosmology of his time. A major interest of Chinese scholars
for many centuries was the search for ways to attain immortality. Certain beliefs (especially of daoist
origin) led to the idea that physical immortality was naturally possible. The search for understanding of this
phenomenon involved many things we class under the rubric of chemistry, alchemy
or even medicine. Because of the
search for "elixirs of immortality" there were famous cases of
failure with poisonings. The Ware
translation of the Nei pien is the only one widely available but is heavily
contaminated throughout with Western categories, assumptions and
terminology. Reading it with an
eye on these sorts of problems can be a useful exercise. The basic ideas, however, give some
sense of the medieval Chinese view of this aspect of nature.
Student Reading
Ge
Hong (Ko Hung), Nei pien, Chap. 4: Gold and Cinnabar and Chap. 11: The Genie's
Pharmacopoeia, in J.R. Ware, Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in the China of
A.D. 320: The Nei Pien of Ko Hung, Dover (1981).
J.Needham
and Ho Ping‑y, "Elixir Poisoning in Medieval China", Chap. 16
in J. Needham, Clerks and Craftsmen in China and the West, Cambridge University
Press (1970).
________________________________________________________________
Day 4
Ben
Cao (Pen Ts'ao) Traditions
Theme:
Natural
history and materia medica in China
Two of the most important texts in Chinese medicine
are Huang di nei jing, and Ben cao gang mu ("The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal
Medicine" and "The Great Pharmacopoeia"). These texts are still used as the bases
for Chinese Traditional Medicine.
The Huang di nei jing is
(probably) a multiauthored text in which a dialog between the mythical
Yellow Emperor and one of his chief ministers explors many aspects of medicine:
the concept of the body and its function, the detection, causes and treatment
of illness, and the way remedies act. The Ben cao gang mu is a compendium of
medication (in the broad sense) which gives the historical background for the
drugs, much botanical information, as well as the indications for the uses of
the materials. The literary
tradition of such treatises on drugs gives a good idea of thinking about those
areas now identified as botany, geology and mineralogy, as well as pharmacology
and physiology.
Student Reading
Primary Texts:
Selections
on therapy in Huang di nei jing, Book 4, pp. 147‑158 in I. Vieth, The
Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, University of California Press (1966).
Li
Shi zhen: Ben cao gang mu (1596), pp. 145‑168 in P.U. Unschuld, Medicine
in China: A History of Pharmaceutics, University of California Press (1986).
Background
Reading
Pp. 11‑28. In P.U.
Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Pharmaceutics, University of California Press (1986).
Extended Reading
Chapter
3 ‑ Unification of the Empire, Confucianism, and the Medicine of
Systematic Correspondences in P.U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History
of Ideas,
University of California Press, 1985.
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Day 5
East-West Interactions
Theme: Unity and diversity
Contrary to the view of many Americans, China, and
Asia in general, has not been isolated from the rest of the world. During several periods in Chinese
history government policies were expansionistic and embassies to distant
foreign lands were dispatched.
Chinese ships ventured widely and trade routes flourished between China
and Europe. These interactions
were sometimes interrupted for long periods, but there is much evidence to
suggest substantial cultural and technical interchange. These suggested readings provide a
general idea about such East-West interactions (Needham) and give two specific
cases of such contact during the Tang (618-ca 900 AD) (Schafer), and the Ming
(1368-1644) (Spence).
Student Reading
Chapter
1- The Glory of Tang, in E. A. Schafer: The Golden Peaches of Samarkand;
a Study of Tang Exotics, University of California Press (1963).
Chapter
1 - Shall and Verbiest: To God Through the Stars, in J. Spence, To Change
China: Western Advisers in China, 1620-1960, Penguin (1980).
Extended Reading
Chapter
7 - Conditions of travel of scientific ideas and techniques between China and
Europe, in J. Needham, Science and Civilization in China, Volume 1, Cambridge
University Press (1954).
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Day 6
Science in Contemporary China
Theme: Scientism, Marxism, Genetics and Bombs
Beginning in the late 19th century, reformers in
China increasingly looked to Western learning to help China solve both internal
and external problems. One aspect
of such Western thought was Marxism.
Another was Science. The
two were somewhat related, since Marxism claimed to be a "scientific"
approach to the world. The last
century in China has seen a major struggle between traditional views of man,
society and nature and some Western views of these things. Reformers in new Republican China
initiated a major debate in the early 1920's about the "proper"
philosophy for China. Belief in
"Science" was a keystone of the reformers position. The victory of "scientism" in
this struggle for the hearts and minds of the Chinese was a major factor in
Chinese thought in this century.
The other major influence was the Sinicised version of Marxism as
developed by Mao and his followers.
The politics of the Cold War were played out in such sensitive
scientific fields such as genetics and atomic physics. The two suggested readings serve to
illustrate the interplay of science, politics and ideology in the 20th-century
Chinese context.
Student Reading
Pp.
1‑9; 77‑89, in L. Schneider: Lysenkoism in China: Proceedings of
the 1956 Qingdao Genetics Symposium, M.E. Sharpe (1986).
Pp.
1-34 in J. Huxley, Heredity East and West: Lysenkoism and World Science, Henry Schumann
(1949).
Chapters
1‑ 4, in J.W. Lewis and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb, Stanford University Press
(1988).
Extended Reading
Chapter
1 in D.W.Y. Kwok, Scientism in Chinese Thought, 1900‑1950, Yale University Press
(1971).
________________________________________________________________
Possible Student
Research Topics:
1. The
nature of "proof" in Chinese mathematics
2.
History of mechanical calculating aids
3.
Chinese cosmology in art, literature, religion
4.
Chinese conception of time and timekeeping devices
5.
Natural history as art in the East and West
6.
Genetics and crop breeding in early China
7.
East-West exchange of natural products, plants and animals
8.
Historical role of the Nei Ching in Chinese medicine
9. Comparison of the search for elixirs of
immortality, East and West
10.
Western medicine in China in the 20th C.
11.
The role of the physician in Chinese society
12.
Physics, cosmology, and Chinese music
13.
History of ethanol in China
14.
History of navigational theory
practice in China
15.
Epidemic disease in China and societal responses
16.
Medicine, physicians and healing as portrayed in Chinese literature
17.
Forensic science in China
18.
Cross-cultural comparison of some particular concept about nature
19.
Calendrical science in China
20.
Books of historical importance in Chinese medicine