China: technical, scientific and social change, by J. Siry

[print version]

Traditional phases: wü xing, or the theory of the five elements. From Shü Jîng

· Metal

· Wood

· Water

· Earth

· Fire

Contrast this with the Greek doctrine of the four elements:

1. earth
2. air
3. water
4. fire

Three great inventions (Sir Francis Bacon postulated) are emblems of “modernity:”

1. Printing
2. Compass
3. Gunpowder

These great inventions are all Chinese originally.

Chinese are originators and transformers of material culture. Four lessons emerge from the transfer of technical discovery and expertise from east to west.

1. Discovery [Gé Zhî ] is not use and neither is it the same as dispersal.

2. Use is not always decisive despite proficiency. (Astronomy, polaris)

3. Invention is the parent of necessity.

Magnetic compass

Paper

Canals, canal locks and paddle boats

Cartography Chang Heng, 116 AD, (1311-1320)

Decimal system

Suspension bridges (stone arched)

Porcelain (851 AD reported, c. 3^rd century AD)

Fumigation

Mechanical clock (astronomical) with escapement mechanism

Block printing and movable type

Rudders, large ships and watertight bulkheads

Bronze and cast iron bells (120 BC oxygenation used in smelting of iron ore)

Cannons and populous armies

4. Sufficiency may be the purpose of progress but it relates to discontent.

Why then in 1400, when China, India, Persia and the Ottomans stand equally with western European powers does the apparent race to ascendancy not belong to China?

• Biogeographical hypothesis – isolation, superiority, & self-reliance. (J. Diamond)
• Demographic hypothesis – population explosion in China pressed against the means of subsistence (Tang and Song making it necessary for Ming to maintain an enormous infrastructure, from 1368-1644.)
• IQ hypothesis – The bureaucracy was selecting for excellence in obsolete fields.
• “Great titration” of George Sarton – the Arabs bring the pieces to Europe where they combine with a mechanistic philosophy of mathematical reason and logical deduction based on calculus, statistics and a universal language of inquiry.
• Needham’s hypothesis – cultural values differed remarkably from the west.
• Toynbee’s optimal resistance concept – Yuan and Ch’ing dynasties created more upheaval than the traditional hierarchies were able to influence, stultifying advances needed to fend off Asian and western incursions.

Therefore, at the Thirty Years war’s end, western European rivalry lead to overseas colonialism while Chinese civilization continued migration to parts of Asia as it was “colonized” by the Manchu or Ch’ing dynasty. Foreign domination of China and the subsequent European and Japanese pressure to possess the wealth of Chinese commercial and technical centers prompted an eclipse of Chinese mastery in fine technology, for which it had been world famous since the Tang and Sung dynasties of the Middle Ages.

Who Was?

Shen Kua. Dream Pool Essays 1086 AD Magnetism

Lou Shu. Pictures of Tilling and Weaving 1145 AD irrigation; “step” bucket chain

to raise water into the fields.

Rice & silk were currency used by farmers to pay

taxes (burdensome).

	Tulips as tools?
	Tools of Toil: what to read.
	Tools are historical building blocks of technology.
Technology can be understood if tools have three facets.
Tools used in both Music and Architecture led to mechanization and automation.
Tools and the study of technology require us to reflect on the power of instruments,