Article ID: CBB864767954

Chinese paleontology and the reception of Darwinism in early twentieth century (2017)

unapi

The paper examines the social, cultural and disciplinary factors that influenced the reception and appropriation of Darwinism by China's first generation paleontologists. Darwinism was mixed with Social Darwinism when first introduced to China, and the co-option of Darwinian phrases for nationalistic awakening obscured the scientific essence of Darwin's evolutionary theory. First generation Chinese paleontologists started their training in 1910s–1920s. They quickly asserted their professional identity by successfully focusing on morphology, taxonomy and biostratigraphy. Surrounded by Western paleontologists with Lamarckian or orthogenetic leanings, early Chinese paleontologists enthusiastically embraced evolution and used fossils as factual evidence; yet not enough attention was given to mechanistic evolutionary studies. The 1940s saw the beginning of a new trend for early Chinese paleontologists to incorporate more biological and biogeographical components in their work, but external events such as the dominance of Lysenkoism in the 1950s made the Modern Synthesis pass by without being publicly noticed in Chinese paleontology. Characterized by the larger goal of using science for nation building and by the utilitarian approach favoring local sciences, the reception and appropriation of Darwinism by first generation Chinese paleontologists raise important questions for studying the indigenizing efforts of early Chinese scientists to appropriate Western scientific theories.

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Authors & Contributors
Jin, Xiaoxing
Yen, Hsiao-pei
Kay Young
Mogilner, Marina
Harris, James J.
Kuan-yen Liu
Concepts
Evolution
Science and politics
Darwinism
Social Darwinism
Science and race
Nationalism
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
Qing dynasty (China, 1644-1912)
20th century
Places
China
Russia
Great Britain
England
United States
Japan
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