Kao Gong Ji: The World's Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies trans. by Guan Zengjian and Konrad Herrmann

Abstract

Reviewed by: Kao Gong Ji: The World's Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies trans. by Guan Zengjian and Konrad Herrmann Jianjun Mei (bio) Kao Gong Ji: The World's Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies Translated and commented by Guan Zengjian and Konrad Herrmann. Leiden: Brill and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, 2020. Pp. 222. Kao Gong Ji: The World's Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies Translated and commented by Guan Zengjian and Konrad Herrmann. Leiden: Brill and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, 2020. Pp. 222. Kao Gong Ji (The artificers' record), the earliest Chinese book on technologies, probably written during fifth to fourth centuries BC, is widely known for the difficulties in understanding it. Except for Joseph Needham, who cited Kao Gong Ji extensively in his monumental Science and Civilisation in China, few scholars in the West have carried out systematic research on it. The first full translation in English appeared in 2013 under the title Ancient Chinese Encyclopedia of Technology: Translation and Annotation of the Kaogong Ji, [End Page 591] translated by Jun Wenren. The publication of Guan Zengjian and Konrad Herrmann's full translation of Kao Gong Ji in both English and German is another valiant effort to do justice to this difficult and important text—and to promote global interest and research in ancient Chinese technologies. Guan and Herrmann's book is composed of an introduction, the text, analysis-commentaries, and bibliography. The introduction provides a concise examination of three issues, namely extant editions of Kao Gong Ji, its historical background, and the location and period of its origin. While the discussion of the editions of Kao Gong Ji and its origin is informative for readers in understanding the transmission history of the text, the survey of its historical background seems somewhat superfluous, since that information can be easily found in general surveys on China's history. The text comprises two parts, with Part One covering such sections as the manufacture of chariots, bronze weapons, measuring standards, and descriptions of the roles of associated craftsmen. Part Two includes other crafts and their craftsmen, such as the manufacturer of chimes, jade polishers, arrow tip manufacturers, potters, weapon carpenters, and construction workers. Compared to Wenren's book, which completely separates the English translation from the original classical Chinese text, the text in Guan and Herrmann's book is organized in sections, with each section comprising of the original text in classical Chinese, then the text translated into modern Chinese, English, and German in that sequence. This presentation provides readers with the great benefit of easily crosschecking a specific part of the text in different languages. It is interesting to compare Guan and Herrmann's English translation with those by Needham and Wenren. Needham's translation put more emphasis on the meaning of the text, while Wenren clearly followed Needham's approach and directly adapted Needham's translation at many points in his book. However, Guan and Herrmann's translation exhibits their own style, which is featured by the translation of almost every sentence in their original order. As a result, Needham's translation appears more fluent, while Guan and Herrmann's translation is better in reflecting the original writing structure and mode of the presentation of arguments of the text. The analysis-commentaries present some detailed discussions in English on ten major subjects, namely the manufacture of carriages, astronomy, bronze technology, bronze objects, metrology, musical instruments, jade, ceramics and porcelain, civil engineering, and the manufacture of bows. These discussions present a comprehensive review of previous studies that have been carried out over the past thirty years. For example, on the six formulas for bronze alloys, scholars have for decades debated over the explanation of the formula "金锡半(copper, tin one half)" for casting bronze mirrors. On the basis of previous studies, Guan and Herrmann have taken the ratio 2:1 as the formula for bronze mirrors, since "a desired silver-like colour of the alloy was achieved because of its high Sn content (ca.30%)" (p. 138). [End Page 592] The bibliography lists nearly all publications in Chinese related to Kao Gong Ji, in particular those of the past thirty years. They are organized into four groups: research papers, editions of Kao Gong...