Article ID: CBB242505949

Joseph Needham's Research on Chinese Machines in the Cross-Cultural History of Science and Technology (April 2019)

unapi

Zhang, Baichun (Author)
Tian, Miao (Author)


Technology and Culture
Volume: 60
Issue: 2
Pages: 616-624


Publication Date: April 2019
Edition Details: Themed issue on Joseph Needham's "Sceince and Civilization in China"
Language: English

Using cross-cultural comparison, Joseph Needham composed a "connected history" of Chinese science and technology in global context, so that his Science and Civilisation in China (SCC) offered a refreshing view of science and technology to readers. In the SCC's subvolume on mechanical engineering (vol. 4, part 2), for example, the authors identified many inventions in premodern China, including the efficient harness, the gimbal, and the waterwheel linkwork escapement. Needham further tried to verify the possible origin and transregional dissemination (including stimulus diffusion) of such inventions as the astronomical clockwork and the interconversion of rotary and rectilinear motion in Eurasia. Although it was difficult to make satisfying arguments about the impact of Chinese knowledge on any European invention, Needham's methodologies, and even his enlightening speculations, are of real significance for present and future scholarship.

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Includes Series Articles

Article Nappi, Carla; Wark, McKenzie (April 2019) Reading Needham Now. Technology and Culture (pp. 562-573). unapi

Article Mei, Jianjun (April 2019) Some Reflections on Joseph Needham's Intellectual Heritage. Technology and Culture (pp. 594-603). unapi

Article Kuijpers, Maikel H. G. (April 2019) Materials and Skills in the History of Knowledge: An Archaeological Perspective from the "Non-Asian" Field. Technology and Culture (pp. 604-615). unapi

Article Chen, Buyun (April 2019) Needham, Matter, Form, and Us. Technology and Culture (pp. 574-582). unapi

Included in

Article Tilley (April 2019) A Great (Scientific) Divergence: Synergies and Fault Lines in Global Histories of Science. Technology and Culture (pp. 583-593). unapi

Article Hsia; Schäfer (April 2019) Introduction to Themed articles on Joseph Needham's "Science and Civilization in China". Technology and Culture (pp. 554-561). unapi

Article Moon (April 2019) Editor's Note: Themed articles on Joseph Needham. Technology and Culture (pp. 553-553). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB242505949/

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Authors & Contributors
Mei, Jianjun
Chen, Buyun
Xuetao Li
Liu, Jerry
Huang Xing
Lu, Jiaxi
Concepts
History of technology, as a discipline
History of science, as a discipline
Cross-cultural comparison
Methodology
Historiography
Global history
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, early
19th century
Places
China
East Asia
Germany
Taiwan
Korea
Institutions
International Congress of the History of Science
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