Science and Civilisation in China (1954–present) is an ongoing series of books about the history of science and technology in China published by Cambridge University Press. It was initiated and edited by British historian Joseph Needham (1900–1995). Needham was a well-respected scientist before undertaking this encyclopedia and was even responsible for the "S" in UNESCO. To date there have been seven volumes in twenty-seven books. The series was on the Modern Library Board's 100 Best Nonfiction books of the 20th century.Modern Library, 1999. 100 Best Nonfiction." Needham's work was the first of its kind to praise Chinese scientific contributions and provide their history and connection to global knowledge in contrast to eurocentric historiography.
By asking the questions of why modern science did not develop in China, and why China was technologically superior to the West prior to the 16th century, Needham’s Science and Civilisation in China is also recognized as an influential work in stimulating the discourse on the multicultural roots of modern science.
In 1954, Needham—along with an international team of collaborators—initiated the project to study the science, technology, and civilisation of ancient China. This project produced a series of volumes published by Cambridge University Press. The project is still continuing under the guidance of the Publications Board of the Needham Research Institute (NRI), chaired by Christopher Cullen.
Volume 3 of the encyclopedia was the first body of work to describe Chinese improvements to cartography, geology, seismology and mineralogy. It also includes descriptions of nautical technology, sailing charts, and wheel-maps.
Needham's transliteration of Chinese characters uses the Wade-Giles system, though the aspirate apostrophe (e.g., ch'i) was rendered 'h' (viz. chhi; traditional Chinese: 氣; Mandarin Pinyin: qì). However, it was abandoned in favor of the pinyin system by the NRI board in April 2004, with Volume 5, Part 11 becoming the first to use the new system.volume 5, part 11, page xxxii
Background
Development Joseph Needham's interest in the history of Chinese science developed while he worked as an Embryologist at Cambridge University. At the time, Needham had already published works relating to the history of science, including his 1934 book titled A History of Embryology, and was open to expanding his historical scientific knowledge. Needham's first encounter with Chinese culture occurred in 1937 when three Chinese medical students arrived to work with him at the Cambridge Biochemical Laboratory. Needham's interest in Chinese civilization and scientific progress grew as a result and led him to learn Chinese from his students. Two of those students, Wang Ling, and Lu Gwei-djen, would later become his collaborators on Science and Civilisation in China.
In 1941, China's eastern universities were forced to relocate to the west as a result of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Chinese academics sought the help of the British government in an effort to preserve their intellectual life. In 1942, Needham was selected and appointed as a diplomat by the British government and tasked with traveling to China and assessing the situation. During his three years there, Needham realised that the Chinese had developed techniques and mechanisms which were centuries older than their European counterparts. Needham became concerned with the exclusion of China in the Western history of science and began to question why the Chinese ceased to develop new techniques after the 16th century.
Publication Armed with his new-found knowledge, Needham returned to Cambridge in 1948 and began working on a book with one of the Chinese medical students he met in Cambridge, Wang Ling, who was now a professor at a university. Initially, he planned on releasing only one volume of his findings through the Cambridge University Press, but later changed his mind and proposed up to eleven volumes. In 1954, Needham published the first volume of Science and Civilisation in China, which was well received and was followed by other volumes which focused on specific scientific fields and topics. Needham, along with his collaborators, was personally involved in all of the volumes of Science and Civilization, up until Needham's death in 1995. After Needham's death, Cambridge University established the Needham Research Institute. Scholars of the institution continue Needham's work and have published 8 additional volumes of Science and Civilisation in China, since his death.
Volumes Volume Title Contributors Date Notes Vol. 1 Introductory Orientations Wang Ling (research assistant) 1954 Vol. 2 History of Scientific Thought Wang Ling (research assistant) 1956 OCLC Vol. 3 Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and Earth Wang Ling (research assistant) 1959 OCLC Vol. 4,Part 1 Physics and Physical Technology Physics Wang Ling (research assistant), with cooperation of Kenneth Robinson 1962 OCLC Vol. 4,Part 2 Physics and Physical Technology Mechanical Engineering Wang Ling (collaborator) 1965 Vol. 4,Part 3 Physics and Physical Technology Civil Engineering and Nautics Wang Ling and Lu Gwei-djen (collaborators) 1971 Vol. 5,Part 1 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Paper and Printing Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin 1985 Vol. 5,Part 2 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Magisteries of Gold and Immortality Lu Gwei-djen (collaborator) 1974 Vol. 5,Part 3 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Historical Survey, from Cinnabar Elixirs to Synthetic Insulin Ho Ping-Yu and Lu Gwei-djen (collaborators) 1976 Vol. 5,Part 4 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Apparatus and TheoryLu Gwei-djen (collaborator), with contributions by Nathan Sivin 1980 Vol. 5,Part 5 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Physiological Alchemy Lu Gwei-djen (collaborator) 1983 Vol. 5,Part 6 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Military Technology: Missiles and Sieges Robin D.S. Yates, Krzysztof Gawlikowski, Edward McEwen, Wang Ling (collaborators) 1994 Vol. 5,Part 7 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic Ho Ping-Yu, Lu Gwei-djen, Wang Ling (collaborators) 1987 Vol. 5,Part 8 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Military Technology: Shock Weapons and CavalryLu Gwei-djen (collaborator) Vol. 5,Part 9 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Textile Technology: Spinning and Reeling Dieter Kuhn 1988 Vol. 5,Part 10 "Work in progress" Vol. 5,Part 11 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Ferrous Metallurgy Donald B. Wagner 2008 Vol. 5,Part 12 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Ceramic Technology Rose Kerr, Nigel Wood, contributions by Ts'ai Mei-fen and Zhang Fukang 2004 Vol. 5,Part 13 Chemistry and Chemical Technology Mining Peter Golas 1999 Vol. 6,Part 1 Biology and Biological Technology Botany Lu Gwei-djen (collaborator), with contributions by Huang Hsing-Tsung 1986 Vol. 6,Part 2 Biology and Biological Technology Agriculture Francesca Bray 1984 Vol. 6,Part 3 Biology and Biological Technology Agro-industries and Forestry Christian A. Daniels and Nicholas K. Menzies 1996 Vol. 6,Part 4 Biology and Biological Technology Traditional Botany: An Ethnobotanical Approach Georges Métailié 2015 Vol. 6,Part 5 Biology and Biological Technology Fermentations and Food Science Huang Hsing-Tsung 2000 Vol. 6,Part 6 Biology and Biological Technology Medicine Lu Gwei-djen, Nathan Sivin (editor) 2000 Vol. 7,Part 1 The Social Background Language and Logic Christoph Harbsmeier 1998 Vol. 7,Part 2 The Social Background General Conclusions and Reflections Kenneth Girdwood Robinson (editor), Ray Huang (collaborator), introduction by Mark Elvin 2004 OCLC
Summaries There have been two summaries or condensations of the vast amount of material found in Science and Civilisation. The first, a one-volume popular history book by Robert Temple entitled The Genius of China, was completed in a little over 12 months to be available in 1986 for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to China. This addressed only the contributions made by China and had a "warm welcome" from Joseph Needham in the introduction, though in the Beijing Review he criticized that it had "some mistakes ... and various statements that I would like to have seen expressed rather differently". A second was made by Colin Ronan, a writer on the history of science, who produced a five volume condensation The Shorter Science and Civilisation: An abridgement of Joseph Needham's original text, between 1980 and his death in 1995. These volumes cover: China and Chinese science Mathematics, astronomy, meteorology and the earth sciences Magnetism, nautical technology, navigation, voyages Mechanical engineering, machines, clockwork, windmills, aeronautics Civil engineering, roads, bridges, hydraulic engineering
Reception Critical acclaim
Groff Conklin of Galaxy Science Fiction in 1955 said that Vol. 1 "presents a richly patterned tapestry of the development of civilization in the Far East", and that "it is for everyone who is intrigued by the unknown, whether future (science fiction) or past (scientific history)".
Jonathan Spence wrote in a 1982 New York Times article "this work is the most ambitious undertaking in Chinese studies during this century".
The New York Times obituary for Needham stated that students of China hail Needham's encyclopedia and compare him to Charles Darwin in terms of importance regarding scientific knowledge.
In 1999 Roger Hart published Beyond Science and Civilization: A Post-Needham Critique giving more analysis of Needham's work about how sciences of the West and China differed in practice to make for different historical attributes.
According to Arun Bala, the author of The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science, Needham postulates that scientific knowledge may evolve to more closely resemble Chinese philosophical views of nature; signifying his belief in Chinese inherent wisdom.
Criticism from scholars Science and Civilisation in China was welcomed and is highly regarded among scholars because of its extensive comparative coverage of Chinese innovations.Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035 Needham established that scientific advancements, and analytical ingenuity were abundant in China in early modern times.Perdue, Peter C."Joseph Needham's Problematic Legacy." Technology and Culture, vol. 47 no. 1, 2006, pp. 175-178. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/tech.2006.0092 He pointed to basic Chinese inventions ended up in the west, including the magnetic compass, and the mechanical clock, and printing. Needham also wrote that once these inventions reached they had a great impact on social life, and helped to stimulate the economy, as well as usher in the Scientific Revolution. Other scholars criticized his Marxist background, his understanding of Chinese culture, and his methodology.
Historian Robert Finlay suggested "Needham never shied away from bold generalizations" and "employs many outdated concepts and makes countless unsupported assertions". Finlay points out that Needham never focuses on individual states and regions, instead he places Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and Western achievements within the context of reciprocal relations of Eurasian cultures.
Editor of Volume 6, Nathan Sivin and Needham's research collaborator Lu Gwei-djen include updated research to support some of Needham's claims. However, Sivin is critical of Needham suggesting more research is required citing his assumptions of Taoism's role in promoting scientific feats in China.