An Introduction to the Development of Science and Technology in China

4 credits · Undergraduate

Science and technology in China from antiquity to the present is surveyed through the study of selected topics in some depth. Particular emphasis is given to science and technology as a window to appreciate certain aspects of Chinese culture and history. Two important questions are explored through contrasting China with the West: the conditions for the development of modern science and the central role of science and technology in modernization. Specific topics include the following: (1) history of science and technology in the West as background; (2) scientific thought and concepts of nature in ancient China; (3) traditional Chinese mathematics; (4) traditional Chinese astronomy; (5) Chinese medicine: history, philosophy, theory and practice; (6) innovation and progress in pre-modern Chinese technology; (7) early introduction of western science by missionaries and the Needham question; (8) science and technology in the Self-Strengthening Movement and the May Fourth Movement ('Mr Science'); (9) science and technology from 1949 to the 1980s; (10) innovation and technology since the 1980s.