Science in China has a long history and developed quite independently of Western science. Needham (1993) has researched widely on the development of science and technologies in China, the effect of culture, and the transference of these principles, unacknowledged, to the West. The Chinese contribution to Western science is particularly interesting because it serves as a center of controversy about the roots of Western science.
According to traditional Western scientists, the roots of science and the scientific method is in Greece and Greek thought. There is a tendency among scientists to claim that not only modern science, but science in general, was characteristic of European thought. The accompanying argument in that all scientific contributions from non-European civilizations were technology-based, not science-based (Needham, 1993).
"Development of Western science is based on two great achievements the invention of the
formal logical system(in Euclidean geometry) by the Greek philosophers, and the discovery
of the possibility to find out causal relationships by systematic experiment(during the
Renaissance). In my opinion,one has not to be astonished that the Chinese sages have not to be astonished that the Chinese sages have not made these steps. The astonishing thing is that these discoveries were made at all". wrote Albert Einstein Letter to J. S. Switzer, 23 Apr 1953, Einstein Archive 61-38
Needham (1993), instead, looks at the distinction and definitions about science as too narrow. Mechanics was the pioneer among the modern sciences and the precursor to the mechanistic paradigm that all other sciences endeavor to imitate. Needham also concedes that mechanics is based on Greek deductive geometry.
However, Needham (1993, p. 43) points out that modern science is much more than mechanics and has greatly expanded beyond the boundaries of mechanistic thinking. He looks at the development of science as a mixture of influences from different cultures and peoples.
There have been many Western innovations that have their basis in China, particularly those in printing (paper, block printing, and moveable-type printing), agricultural technology (irrigation systems), mechanical engineering (clockwork, iron, and lead manufacturing, efficient harnesses), and martial (gunpowder, the precursors to the barrel gun, and cannons) technology."Suppose we erect a classification of four pigeonholes, science vertically on the left and technology vertically on the right, and let the upper boxes represent direct historical genesis while the lower ones represent subsequent reinforcement. Then taking the upper left-hand compartment first, the contribution of the Greeks will have the greatest share, for Euclidean deductive geometry and Ptolemaic astronomy, with all they imply, were undoubtedly the largest factor in the birth of the 'new, or experimental. science'....In the upper right hand compartment the situation is entirely different, for in technology Asian influences in and before the Renaissance (especially Chinese) ere legion..."
We will discuss the contributions of China to the history of technology by focusing on a few key innovations.
We don't know exactly when paper was first used in China but evidence from archaeological records indicate that it was prior to the first century AD. In China, the most common source for paper was the bark of the paper mulberry tree (Gies & Gies 1994 p 182). Paper is made by tearing up rags, or the bark of trees or certain grasses and putting them into a large pot with water. The mixture is boiled and the pulplike mass that lies at the bottom is removed, strained and spread out to dry.
Paper was first used by the Chinese for wrapping and it was not until the 3rd century that paper replaced bamboo, silk, and wood as a writing medium.
But writing was not the only use for paper. The Chinese began using paper, made from rice straw, for toilet purposes in the sixth century, AD. Also, the Chinese began to have a paper currency in the early 9th century.
A second technology developed in China was printing. The Chinese began to use wood block printing in the 7th century where the text is carved into the wood blocks which are then inked. A blank sheet of paper is placed over the inked block so that the image can be transferred to the paper.
"T'ang culture. Buddhist influence in art, especially in sculpture, was strong during the T'ang period. Fine examples of Buddhist sculpture are preserved in rock temples, such as those at Yongang and Longmen in northwest China. The invention of printing and improvements in papermaking led to the printing of a whole set of Buddhist sutras (discourses of the Buddha) by 868. By the beginning of the 11th century all of the Confucian classics and the Taoist canon had been printed"
There is not doubt that the Chinese invented gunpowder. The ways in which they used it and how their use of gunpowder differed from the West has been debated. The first known recipe for saltpetre, teh principal ingredient of gunpowder, can be found in a Chinese military manual written by Wu Ching Tsung Yao from 1044 (Burke, 1978). This military manual also gave directions for making a bomb using gunpowder so most historians believe that bombs or grenades were used by Chinese troops from before the 11th century.
Source: The impact of China on the history of technology
enngr.sjsu.edu
