Science and Civilisation in China (1954–2008) is a series of books initiated and edited by British biochemist and China scholar Joseph Needham (1900–1995). They deal with the history of science and technology in China. To date there have been 27 volumes (and parts). The series was on the Modern Library Board's 100 Best Nonfiction books of the 20th century.[1]
In 1954, Needham — along with an international team of collaborators — started a project to study the science 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.[2]
Needham's transliteration of Chinese characters uses the Wade-Giles system, except that the aspirate apostrophe (e.g., ch'i) is rendered 'h' (viz. chhi; traditional Chinese: 氣; Mandarin Pinyin: qì). This was abandoned however in favor of the Pinyin system by a decision of the NRI board in April 2004. The 2008 volume 5, part 11, by Donald B. Wagner was the first to use the new system.[3]
"And it is true that this old language [(Classical Chinese, as readable today as it was 2000 years ago)], in spite of its ambiguity, has a concentrated, laconic, lapidary quality, making an impression of austere elegance, pith and virility, unequalled in any other invented instrument of human communication." — Karlgren, B. (1926) Philology in Ancient China, Oslo: Aschehong (Nygaard) Institutet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning; A, Forelesninger, no. 8, as cited and augmented by Needham 1954, p. 41
Contents |
| Vol./ Part |
Title | Writer/Contributors | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introductory Orientations | Joseph Needham, Wang Ling (ra) | 1954 | |
| 2 | History of Scientific Thought | Joseph Needham, Wang Ling (ra) | 1956 | OCLC |
| 3 | Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and Earth | Joseph Needham, Wang Ling (ra) | 1959 | OCLC |
| 4/01 | Physics | Joseph Needham, Wang Ling (ra), Kenneth Robinson (coop) | 1962 | OCLC |
| 4/02 | Mechanical Engineering | Joseph Needham, Wang Ling (co) | 1965 | |
| 4/03 | Civil Engineering and Nautics | Joseph Needham, Wang Ling (co), Lu Gwei-djen (co) | 1971 | |
| 5/01 | Paper and Printing | Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin | 1985 | |
| 5/02 | Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Magisteries of Gold and Immortality | Joseph Needham, Lu Gwei-djen (co) | 1974 | |
| 5/03 | Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Historical Survey, from Cinnabar Elixirs to Synthetic Insulin | Joseph Needham, Ho Ping-Yu [Ho Peng-Yoke] (co), Lu Gwei-djen (co) | 1976 | |
| 5/04 | Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Apparatus and Theory | Joseph Needham, Lu Gwei-djen (co), Nathan Sivin (con) | 1980 | |
| 5/05 | Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Physiological Alchemy | Joseph Needham, Lu Gwei-djen (co) | 1983 | |
| 5/06 | Military Technology: Missiles and Sieges | Joseph Needham, Robin D.S. Yates (co), Krzysztof Gawlikowski (co), Edward McEwen (co), Wang Ling (co) | 1994 | |
| 5/07 | Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic | Joseph Needham, Ho Ping-Yu [Ho Peng-Yoke] (co), Lu Gwei-djen (co), Wang Ling (co) | 1987 | |
| 5/08 | Work in progress | Volume editor/contributors unknown | 20__? | |
| 5/09 | Textile Technology: Spinning and Reeling | Dieter Kuhn | 1986 | |
| 5/10 | Work in progress | Volume editor/contributors unknown | 20__? | |
| 5/11 | Ferrous Metallurgy | Donald B. Wagner | 2008 | |
| 5/12 | Ceramic Technology | Rose Kerr, Nigel Wood, Ts'ai Mei-fen (con), Zhang Fukang (con) | 2004 | |
| 5/13 | Mining | Peter Golas | 1999 | |
| 6/01 | Botany | Joseph Needham, Lu Gwei-djen (co), Huang Hsing-Tsung (con) | 1986 | |
| 6/02 | Agriculture | Francesca Bray | 1984 | |
| 6/03 | Agroindustries and Forestry | Christian A. Daniels, Nicholas K. Menzies | 1996 | |
| 6/04 | Work in progress | Volume editor/contributors unknown | 20__? | |
| 6/05 | Fermentations and Food Science | Huang Hsing-Tsung | 2000 | |
| 6/06 | Medicine | Joseph Needham, Lu Gwei-djen, Nathan Sivin (ed) | 2000 | |
| 7/01 | Language and Logic | Christoph Harbsmeier | 1998 | |
| 7/02 | General Conclusions and Reflections | Joseph Needham, Kenneth Girdwood Robinson (ed), Ray Huang (co), Mark Elvin (intro) |
2004 | OCLC |
There have been two attempts to condense the vast amount of material found in Science and Civilisation. The first, a one-volume popularisation 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 he commented to the Beijing Review that it had "some mistakes ... and various statements that I would like to have seen expressed rather differently".[4] It has been translated into 43 languages and the Chinese edition is approved within the secondary curriculum of the Chinese school system.[5]
A second attempt 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.[6] These volumes cover:
An introduction to Chinese science is given by another Needham Research Institute affiliate, Professor Ho Peng Yoke in the book: Li, Qi and Shu, An Introduction to Science and Civilization in China, published 1985, Dover Edition 1999. This has sections on mathematics, astronomy and alchemy.