Article ID: CBB909755255

Technology for Re-Engineering the Qing Empire: The Concept of “Arts” and the Emergence of Modern Technical Education in China, 1840-1895 (2021)

unapi

In Qing China, the driving force of initiating technical education in the crisis-ridden age after 1840 was national defense. A large body of existing literature addresses the issues of “science” or “knowledge” in late nineteenth-century China, but neglects to ask how technology entered Chinese intellectual discourses and became a legitimate field in the educational system. This article addresses how literati-scholars, missionaries, and often overlooked official-industrialists, articulated their thoughts toward technology or arts in Chinese culture, through deepened contextualized and conceptualized analysis of historical works. It argues and demonstrates that it was the intellectual concept of arts (yi)—most remarkably, the hitherto neglected overarching term yixue [study/science of art] including both technology and science— that characterized late Qing scholarly debates. Indigenous art-related terms allowed Confucian scholars (including sinologists) to build up an intellectual space for an “imagined” technology, while defending China’s own cultural tradition.

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Authors & Contributors
Kurtz, Joachim
Jie Zhang
Hui Zou
Chiang, Chu-Shan
Chang, Ping-Ying
Elizabeth LaCouture
Concepts
Technology and culture
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
East Asia, civilization and culture
Technology and society
Medicine
Textile industry
Time Periods
Qing dynasty (China, 1644-1912)
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
18th century
Ming dynasty (China, 1368-1644)
Places
China
Scotland
Japan
Germany
Europe
Institutions
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
Astronomical Bureau (China)
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