History of science and technology in China
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History of science and technology in China |
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Ancient Chinese scientists and engineers made significant scientific innovations, findings and technological advances across various scientific disciplines including the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, military technology, mathematics, geology and astronomy.
Among the earliest
The
Mo Di and the School of Names
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The
Needham further notes that the Han dynasty, which conquered the short-lived Qin, were made aware of the need for law by Lu Jia and by Shusun Tong, as defined by the scholars, rather than the generals.[4]
You conquered the empire on horseback, but from horseback you will never succeed in ruling it.
Derived from
Using shadow clocks and the abacus (both invented in the ancient
In architecture, the pinnacle of Chinese technology manifested itself in the
Han dynasty
The
The mechanical engineer
Four Great Inventions
The "Four Great Inventions" (simplified Chinese: 四大发明; traditional Chinese: 四大發明; pinyin: sì dà fāmíng) are the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing. Paper and printing were developed first. Printing was recorded in China in the Tang dynasty, although the earliest surviving examples of printed cloth patterns date to before 220.[16] Pin-pointing the development of the compass can be difficult: the magnetic attraction of a needle is attested by the Louen-heng, composed between AD 20 and 100,[17] although the first undisputed magnetized needles in Chinese literature appear in 1086.[18]
By AD 300, Ge Hong, an
"Some have heated together sulfur, realgar and saltpeter with honey; smoke and flames result, so that their hands and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house where they were working burned down."[20]
These four discoveries had an enormous impact on the development of Chinese civilization and a far-ranging global impact. Gunpowder, for example, spread to the Arabs in the 13th century and thence to Europe.[21] According to English philosopher Francis Bacon, writing in Novum Organum:
Printing, gunpowder and the compass: These three have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world; the first in literature, the second in warfare, the third in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes, in so much that no empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries.
— [22]
One of the most important military treatises of all Chinese history was the Huo Long Jing written by
For the 11th century invention of ceramic
China's scientific revolution
Among the engineering accomplishments of early China were
In the 7th century, book-printing was developed in China, Korea and Japan, using delicate hand-carved wooden blocks to print individual pages.[citation needed] The 9th century Diamond Sutra is the earliest known printed document.[citation needed] Movable type was also used in China for a time, but was abandoned because of the number of characters needed; it would not be until Johannes Gutenberg that the technique was reinvented in a suitable environment.[citation needed]
In addition to gunpowder, the Chinese also developed improved delivery systems for the
Song dynasty
The
There were many famous inventors and early scientists in the Song dynasty period. The statesman
The equally talented statesman
Chinese astronomers were the first to record observations of a supernova, the first being the SN 185, recorded during the Han dynasty. Chinese astronomers made two more notable supernova observations during the Song dynasty: the SN 1006, the brightest recorded supernova in history; and the SN 1054, making the Crab Nebula the first astronomical object recognized as being connected to a supernova explosion.[25]
Archaeology
During the early half of the
Geology and climatology
In addition to his studies in meteorology, astronomy, and archaeology mentioned above, Shen Kuo also made hypotheses in regards to
Chemistry
Until the Song dynasty, Chinese medicine classified drugs under the system of the Zhenghe bencao (Herbal of the Zhenghe Era):
- Superior drugs, associated with immortality, were used for the realization of vital powers
- Medium drugs that enrich one's nature
- Inferior drugs were those used to treat diseases
These early forms of drugs were made using primitive methods, usually just simple dried herbs, or unprocessed minerals. They were developed into combinations known as "elixirs of immortality". These early magical practices, supported by the imperial courts of
Mongol transmission
Theory and hypothesis
As Toby E. Huff notes, pre-modern Chinese science developed precariously without solid
The men of old changed the name of their methods from problem to problem, so that as no specific explanation was given, there is no way of telling their theoretical origin or basis.
— [40]
Despite this, Chinese thinkers of the Middle Ages proposed some hypotheses which are in accordance with modern principles of science. Yang Hui provided theoretical proof for the proposition that the complements of the parallelograms which are about the diameter of any given parallelogram are equal to one another.[40] Sun Sikong (1015–1076) proposed the idea that rainbows were the result of the contact between sunlight and moisture in the air, while Shen Kuo (1031–1095) expanded upon this with description of atmospheric refraction.[41][42][43] Shen believed that rays of sunlight refracted before reaching the surface of the Earth, hence the appearance of the observed Sun from Earth did not match its exact location.[43] Coinciding with the astronomical work of his colleague Wei Pu, Shen and Wei realized that the old calculation technique for the mean Sun was inaccurate compared to the apparent Sun, since the latter was ahead of it in the accelerated phase of motion, and behind it in the retarded phase.[44] Shen supported and expanded upon beliefs earlier proposed by Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE) scholars such as Jing Fang (78–37 BCE) and Zhang Heng (78–139 CE) that lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth obstructs the sunlight traveling towards the Moon, a solar eclipse is the Moon's obstruction of sunlight reaching Earth, the Moon is spherical like a ball and not flat like a disc, and moonlight is merely sunlight reflected from the Moon's surface.[45] Shen also explained that the observance of a full moon occurred when the Sun's light was slanting at a certain degree and that crescent phases of the moon proved that the Moon was spherical, using a metaphor of observing different angles of a silver ball with white powder thrown onto one side.[46][47] Although the Chinese accepted the idea of spherical-shaped heavenly bodies, the concept of a spherical Earth (as opposed to a flat Earth) was not accepted in Chinese thought until the works of Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) and Chinese astronomer Xu Guangqi (1562–1633) in the early 17th century.[48]
Pharmacology
There were noted advances in traditional Chinese medicine during the Middle Ages. Emperor Gaozong (reigned 649–683) of the Tang dynasty (618–907) commissioned the scholarly compilation of a materia medica in 657 that documented 833 medicinal substances taken from stones, minerals, metals, plants, herbs, animals, vegetables, fruits, and cereal crops.[49] In his Bencao Tujing ('Illustrated Pharmacopoeia'), the scholar-official Su Song (1020–1101) not only systematically categorized herbs and minerals according to their pharmaceutical uses, but he also took an interest in zoology.[50][51][52][53] For example, Su made systematic descriptions of animal species and the environmental regions they could be found, such as the freshwater crab Eriocher sinensis found in the Huai River running through Anhui, in waterways near the capital city, as well as reservoirs and marshes of Hebei.[54]
Horology and clockworks
Although the Bencao Tujing was an important pharmaceutical work of the age, Su Song is perhaps better known for his work in
Magnetism and metallurgy
Shen Kuo's written work of 1088 also contains the first written description of the magnetic needle
In addition to the method similar to the Bessemer process mentioned above, there were other notable advancements in Chinese metallurgy during the Middle Ages. During the 11th century, the growth of the iron industry caused vast
Mathematics
Alchemy and Taoism
In their pursuit for an elixir of life and desire to create gold from various mixtures of materials, Taoists became heavily associated with alchemy.[80] Joseph Needham labeled their pursuits as proto-scientific rather than merely pseudoscience.[80] Fairbank and Goldman write that the futile experiments of Chinese alchemists did lead to the discovery of new metal alloys, porcelain types, and dyes.[80] However, Nathan Sivin discounts such a close connection between Taoism and alchemy, which some sinologists have asserted, stating that alchemy was more prevalent in the secular sphere and practiced by laymen.[81]
Experimentation with various materials and ingredients in China during the middle period led to the discovery of many ointments, creams, and other mixtures with practical uses. In a 9th-century Arab work Kitāb al-Khawāss al Kabīr, there are numerous products listed that were native to China, including waterproof and dust-repelling cream or varnish for clothes and weapons, a
Gunpowder warfare
The significant change that distinguished
Jesuit activity in China
The
[The Jesuits] made efforts to translate western mathematical and astronomical works into Chinese and aroused the interest of Chinese scholars in these sciences. They made very extensive astronomical observation and carried out the first modern cartographic work in China. They also learned to appreciate the scientific achievements of this ancient culture and made them known in Europe. Through their correspondence European scientists first learned about the Chinese science and culture.
— [2]
Johann Adam Schall published Yuan Jing Shuo, Explanation of the Telescope, in 1626, in Latin and Chinese. Schall's book referred to the telescopic observations of Galileo.[90][91]
Conversely, the Jesuits were very active in transmitting Chinese knowledge to Europe.
The followers of the French
Scientific and technological stagnation
One question that has been the subject of debate among historians has been why China did not develop a
It was not that there was no order in nature for the Chinese, but rather that it was not an order ordained by a rational personal being, and hence there was no conviction that rational personal beings would be able to spell out in their lesser earthly languages the divine code of laws which he had decreed aforetime. The
Taoists, indeed, would have scorned such an idea as being too naïve for the subtlety and complexity of the universe as they intuited it.— [100]
Another prominent historian of science, Nathan Sivin, has argued that China did indeed experience a scientific revolution in the 17th century; however, it must be understood in the context of its time and culture, rather than through a Western lens as an analog of Europe's revolution.[101]
There are also questions about the philosophy behind traditional Chinese medicine, which, derived partly from Taoist philosophy, reflects the classical Chinese belief that individual human experiences express causative principles effective in the environment at all scales. Because its theory predates use of the scientific method, it has received various criticisms based on scientific thinking. Philosopher Robert Todd Carroll, a member of The Skeptics Society, deemed acupuncture a pseudoscience because it "confuse(s) metaphysical claims with empirical claims".[102]
More recent historians have questioned political and cultural explanations and have put greater focus on economic causes.[
In his book
The Republic of China (1912–1949)
The Republic of China (1912–1949) saw the introduction in earnest of modern science to China. Large numbers of Chinese students studied abroad in Japan and in Europe and the US. Many returned to help teach and to found numerous schools and universities. Among them were numerous outstanding figures, including Cai Yuanpei, Hu Shih, Weng Wenhao, Ding Wenjiang, Fu Ssu-nien, and many others. As a result, there was a tremendous growth of modern science in China. As the Communist Party took over China's mainland in 1949, some of these Chinese scientists and institutions moved to Taiwan. The central science academy, Academia Sinica, also moved there.
People's Republic of China
After the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, China reorganized its science establishment along Soviet lines. Although the country regressed scientifically as a result of government policies which led to famine during the Great Leap Forward and political chaos during the Cultural Revolution, scientific research in nuclear weapons and satellite launching still gained great success. From 1975, science and technology was one of the Four Modernizations, and its high-speed development was declared essential to all national economic development by Deng Xiaoping. Other civilian technologies such as superconductivity and high-yield hybrid rice led to new developments due to the application of science to industry and foreign technology transfer.
In March 1986, China launched a large-scale technology development plan, the 863 Project.[104]: 88
As the People's Republic of China becomes better connected to the
researches and other fields.In 2016, China became the country with the highest science output, as measured in publications. While the US had been the biggest producer of scientific studies until then, China published 426,000 studies in 2016 while the US published 409,000.[105] However, the numbers are somewhat relative, as it also depends how authorship on international collaborations is counted (e.g. if one paper is counted per person or whether authorship is split among authors).[105]
See also
- Chinese astronomy
- Chinese mathematics
- History of Chinese archaeology
- List of Chinese discoveries
- List of Chinese inventions
- List of inventions and discoveries of Neolithic China
- Military history of China
- History of canals in China
- Science and Civilization in China
- Traditional Chinese medicine
- Two Bombs, One Satellite
- Yongle Encyclopedia
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External links
- Institute for the History of Natural Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology
- Popular Science Alliance Network, Internet Society of China
- China Association for Science and Technology
- China International Association for Promotion of Science and Technology (CIAPST)
- China Popular Science Network
- China Research Institute for Science Popularization
- Science Education Network
- China Association of Children's Science Instructors
- China Science
- China Statistical Yearbook on Science and Technology 1991–2015