When the Chinese Meet the West

Abstract

When discussing the images of science in traditional Chinese culture in the previous chapter, there seems to be one important part missing - some concrete examples of traditional scientific achievement. This seemingly simple task actually places me in a dilemma. ‘Whether or not there was science in ancient China’ has been a quandary that has bothered modern scholars. In fact, ‘what counts as science’ became an issue only after the Chinese had met the West. There was no generic term for science in ancient China, though there were activities and knowledge in Chinese history that would be called ‘scientific activities and knowledge’ today. For example, astronomy and calendrical science were highly developed in ancient China and the ancient Chinese people made systematic records of celestial observations which included eclipses, sun-spots, comets, novas, super novas, meteor showers, and aurora. The much-mentioned ‘Four Inventions’ (gunpowder, compass, paper making and printing) are believed to be the most important contributions that Chinese people made to the world. There were also achievements in the field of agriculture, ceramics, textile, and architecture.