East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (EASTM - Universität Tübingen)

Goldschmidt, Asaf

Changing Standards: Tracing Changes in Acu-moxa Therapy During the Transition from the Tang to the Song Dynasties

Contents
Note from the Editor   7
In Memory of Prof. Yabuuti Kiyosi
Presentation
—CATHERINE JAMI     10
Yabuuti Kiyosi as a Historian of Exact Sciences
—YANO MICHIO  
13
Responses to Prof. Yabuuti's Work: Studies on Mathematical Astronomy
in Ancient China
—QU ANJING   20
Scientific Discourse and National/Cultural Identity within the Boundary
of Chinese Civilisation: Yabuuti's View on the Dialogue between the
Civilisations of China, Korea, and Japan
—TSUKAHARA TOGO   24
Yabuuti Kiyosi's Research on Traditional Technology in Japan
—TÔGÔ TOSHIHIRO   32
Blast Furnaces in Song–Yuan China
—DONALD B. WAGNER
41
Changing Standards: Tracing Changes in Acu-moxa Therapy During the
Transition from the Tang to the Song Dynasties
—ASAF GOLDSCHMIDT       75
REVIEWS
Peter, Golas, Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. 5: Chemistry and
Chemical Technology. Part XIII: Mining—reviewed by Donald
Wagner   112
Jürgen Kovacs and Paul U. Unschuld (trsl.), Essential Subtleties on the Silver
Sea. The Yin-hai jing-wei: A Chinese classic on ophthalmology.—
reviewed by Hartmut Walravens   119
Andrea Bréard, Re-Kreation eines mathematischen Konzeptes im
chinesischen Diskurs. "Reihen" vom 1. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert
—reviewed by Erhard Scholz   122
Paul U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: Historical Artifacts and
Images—reviewed by Ruth Rogaski   126
Keith Pinn, Paktong: The Chinese Alloy in Europe, 1680-1820—
reviewed by Mei Jianjun   129
Park Seong-Rae, Portents and Politics in Korean History
—reviewed by Paik Songjung   134


Qu, Anjing

20 EASTM 18 (2001)
Responses to Prof. Yabuuti's Work:
Studies on Mathematical Astronomy in
Ancient China*
Qu Anjing
With the collaboration of Yano Michio
[Qu Anjing is a full professor in Mathematics at Northwest University, China.
He got his PhD in history of science in 1994. During the periods of 1994 to
1995, and 1999 to 2000, he was a visiting scholar at the Needham Research
Institute, Cambridge, UK and Harvard, USA, respectively. He is currently a
JSPS fellow at Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan. His research focuses on the
history of mathematical science. His most recent book on the Zhou bi suan jing
    will appear in 2002.]
*   *   *
Mathematical astronomy was an art related to the calendar-making system in
ancient periods. Of the exact sciences, mathematical astronomy was the only
subject that attracted great attention from emperors in ancient and medieval
China. After Christian missionaries had brought western science into China in
the sixteenth century, the old tradition was gradually lost, and ever fewer people
could understand what the principles guiding the traditional Chinese calendar-
making systems were. In the past three centuries, however, traditional Chinese
mathematical astronomy has attracted the attention of a number of eminent
scholars, inside and outside China, who have tried to figure out its real meaning.
                                                
* This article is the result of research supported by the Japan Society for the Promo-
tion of Science (JSPS, P00019). It was read at the XXIst International Congress of History
of Science, Mexico City, Special Session in Memorial of Prof. Yabuuti Kiyosi, July 9,
2001.
21 In Memory of Prof. Yabuuti Kiyosi
Yabuuti’s Contributions to the History of Mathematical Astronomy
in Ancient China
Yabuuti Kiyosi (1906-2000) was a pioneer who made people realize that
research on the history of mathematical astronomy in China is a worthwhile
endeavour. Before he threw himself into this field, there were already some
scholars in East Asia who had devoted their efforts to this area of knowledge in
order to find out what kind of method was used in various calendar-making
systems in ancient China. But, none of them really approached this subject in a
modern scientific way.
Through his long and active academic life, Yabuuti made great contributions
to the history of mathematical astronomy in ancient China. In my opinion, there
are two important achievements that deserve to be highlighted: First, Yabuuti
discovered the fact that the quadratic interpolation that appeared in Yixing’s 
 Dayan li    calendar of 724 AD is equivalent to the method used by
Gauss in his astronomical calculations.1 In fact, as Yabuuti pointed out, this
quadratic interpolation appeared first in Liu Zhuo’s   Huangji li   
calendar of 600 AD. Liu’s algorithm is a kind of piecewise quadratic
interpolation of equal interval, while Yixing’s method is that of unequal interval.
Modern mathematics tells us that the higher the order of interpolating function,
the bigger the amplitude of vibration around the interpolating point.2 This fact
shows that higher order interpolations, say fourth or higher, are not good for
practical application, neither in science nor in engineering. That is the reason
why Liu’s algorithm is still used in modern times, such as in celestial surveying.
Liu Zhuo’s quadratic interpolation method occupied a leading position
among various numerical algorithms in ancient Chinese calendar-making
systems. There is no doubt that, from the technical point of view, this method
guaranteed a high degree of precision for computing the motion of celestial
bodies in these systems. This may explain the reason why ancient Chinese
astronomers were able to maintain a high degree of correct prediction in their
calendar-making systems.
Second, Yabuuti discovered that some important formulas in ancient Chinese
calendar-making systems are reasonable, such as the formulas for predicting the
time of actual new moons and eclipses. Based on his modern astronomical
knowledge, he set up a few differential equations from which he derived the
formulas for the computation of actual new moons and eclipses that appeared in
ancient Chinese calendar-making systems.3 As a result of his excellent work in
                                                
1 Yabuuchi Kiyoshi    , Zuitô rekihôshi no kenkyû        
(Research on the History of Calendrical Methods in the Sui and Tang Dynasties; Tokyo:
Sanseido, 1944; Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1989), pp. 71-74.
2 Qu Anjing   , "Bian Gang: A Mathematician of the 9th Century," Historia
Scientiarum 6.1 (1996): 17-30.
3 See note 1, pp. 312-331.
22 EASTM 18 (2001)
this field, historians of science began to realize that ancient Chinese astronomers
might not have been as ignorant of the celestial motions as people had
previously imagined.
Achievements of Chinese Scholars in the Past Half Century
Of those who responded to Yabuuti’s work on mathematical astronomy in
ancient China, Li Yan  , Yan Dunjie   , Chen Meidong    and
Liu Jinyi    should be mentioned first. Yabuuti pointed out the
relationship between Yixing’s and Gauss’ interpolation, but he gave no
explanation on how Yixing derived his algorithm. As the most important
numerical tool in ancient Chinese mathematical astronomy, the method of
interpolation adopted by Liu Zhuo and Yixing was often employed by calendar-
makers after them. A systematic study of this numerical method was obviously
necessary.
In his studies on the methods of interpolations used by ancient Chinese
mathematicians, Li Yan collected many cases of the use of interpolation in
ancient Chinese calendar-making systems. He demonstrated that Liu Zhuo’s
interpolation is equivalent to the so-called Newtonian Interpolation formula.
Based on the Linde shujie     (Explanations on the Art of the Linde
[Calendar]) of Li Shanlan   , Li Yan offered a geometric explanation for
the derivation of Liu Zhuo’s interpolation method.4
Yan Dunjie wrote a number of articles on the history of mathematical
astronomy in ancient China. Among them, a paper concerning coordinate
systems exchange between the equator and ecliptic by calculating the difference
of right ascension and polar-longitude is the most impressive piece.5 In this
paper, he worked out a special kind of function that was widely used by
calendar-makers in the Tang and Song dynasties. From his study, we know that
interpolation was not the only numerical method that was used in ancient
Chinese mathematical astronomy.
In the past three decades, an increasing number of Chinese scholars have
devoted themselves to the field of the history of mathematical astronomy.
Foremost among them are Chen Meidong and Liu Jinyi, both of whom made
great contributions to this field. Their research covered many subjects that had
been more or less neglected by Yabuuti, such as planetary theory. Sadly, Liu's
                                                
4 Li Yan  , Zhongsuanjia de neichafa yanjiu          (Studies
on the Methods of Interpolation of Ancient Chinese Mathematicians; Beijing: Kexue
chubanshe, 1957).
5 Yan Dunjie   , "Zhongguo gudai de huang chidao cha jisuanfa"    
        (Algorithms for Calculating the Difference between Right
Ascension and Polar-longitude in Ancient China), Kexueshi jikan       1
(1958), pp. 47-58.
23 In Memory of Prof. Yabuuti Kiyosi
contributions were cut short by his death in middle age, but Chen has continued
his work in this field until the present day. Chen’s results include the description
of algorithms for calculating solar shadow, declination of the sun and polar-
latitude of the moon (jihuangwei    in Chinese), and many other items.
His papers have been collected for publication under the title Guli xintan (New
Explorations on the Old Calendar-making System).6 Through his detailed
studies, Chen Meidong came to the conclusion that there existed a
formularization movement in and after the eighth century. This movement was
typical of traditional mathematical astronomy after the Tang dynasty. In the
1990s, when some young historians of mathematics also turned their attention to
this field, most of the algorithms invented by the ancient Chinese calendar-
makers were converted into modern form.
It is well known that mathematical astronomy and mathematics in ancient
China were closely related to each other so as almost to form one inseparable
subject. This is quite contrary to today, when people consider them to be
separate modern scientific disciplines. Thus, when modern mathematicians look
at a calendar-making system, they are interested in which formula is similar to a
modern algorithm. When astronomers look at them, they are interested in how
precise the old system was. The concerns of astronomers and mathematicians
differ.
The younger generation of historians of exact sciences is coming to realize
that such differentiation is not useful for a better understanding of the history of
Chinese mathematical astronomy. Therefore, they increasingly approach
traditional mathematical astronomy as one whole system in their research. What
they are especially interested in is to clarify how these algorithms and systems
were constructed in the traditional way. Starting from this viewpoint, they have
found that there are numerous problems to be solved in this field, like, for
instance: How were these formulas constructed? Can we suppose the existence
of any geometric model that was used for constructing the algorithms? What is
the difference between mathematical astronomical thought in ancient China and
that of other civilizations?7
This is a never-ending story in which the actors have been replaced many
times. When we look back on it, however, we cannot forget those who played
such an important and influential role on its stage.
That is why we assemble here in memory of a great scholar: Professor
Yabuuti Kiyosi.
                                                
6 Chen Meidong   , Guli xintan      (Shenyang: Liaoning jiaoyu chu-
banshe, 1995).
7 Qu Anjing   , Ji Zhigang   , and Wang Rongbin   , Zhongguo
gudai shuli tianwenxue tanxi            (Explorations on
Mathematical Astronomy in Ancient China; Xian: Xibei daxue chubanshe, 1994).


Responses to Prof. Yabuuti's Work: Studies on Mathematical Astronomy in Ancient China

Wagner, Donald B.

Blast Furnaces in Song-Yuan China

Rogaski, Ruth

126 EASTM 18 (2001)
Paul U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: Historical Artifacts and Images. Munich,
London, and New York: Prestel, 2000. 220 pp. with 140 full color and 171
black and white illustrations.
Ruth Rogaski
[Ruth Rogaski teaches in the departments of History and East Asian Studies at
Princeton University. Her research is in the history of medicine, public health,
and science in nineteenth and twentieth-century China.]
Professor Unschuld's latest work on medicine in China is a gorgeous volume. It
is large, handsomely produced, and contains a multitude of vivid photographs
and illustrations. The book also includes informative, wide-ranging essays on the
theoretical, social, and cultural contexts of medicine in China. Laymen seeking
an introduction to Chinese healing history will be well served by this volume. It
is the sort of work that one could enthusiastically recommend (with the addition
of only one or two caveats) for the enlightenment of colleagues in Western
medical history. Specialists in the history of Chinese healing traditions will also
find this an extremely valuable work, primarily delightful and only mildly disap-
pointing on a few points.
The first one hundred pages of the book contain six essays written by Profes-
sor Unschuld and nicely translated into English by Sabine Wilms. The essays
provide overviews of 1) Chinese medical theory and history; 2) the high and low
textual traditions; 3) drugs and pharmacies; 4) physicians, patients, and the
social context of healing; 5) healing, magic, and popular religion; and 6)
medicine in art and literature. Professor Unschuld has written on many of these
topics before, but even those familiar with his work will appreciate the compact
comprehen-siveness of these essays. Particularly useful are sections on folk
healing and religious healing, which include extensive excerpts translated from
diverse sources. Here the reader will find engrossing passages such as speaking
points from an itinerant doctor's dialogue book on how to convince patients to
part with their money, or personal dedications to Sun Simiao that have been
written on slips of paper and tucked in the back of statues of the Medicine King.
There will be disagreement on the terms used in the translations (a point dis-
cussed in the essays). The lack of notes to the translations may also make some
passages sound like so much balderdash to those unfamiliar with Chinese medi-
cal theory. Nevertheless, on the whole, both specialist and layman alike will find
the essays quite useful ⎯ as long as the layman supplements this book with
other works on the terminology of Chinese medicine.
The value of the essay section is enhanced by the presence of numerous
medically themed black and white images, ranging from unreconstructed
Mawangdui yoga illustrations to stills from the 1922 Shanghai film, A Laborer's
Love. Portraits of itinerant doctors, photographs of pharmacies, scenes from
127 Reviews
illustrated fiction, and reproductions of cheaply printed pharmacy handbills give
an excellent sense of the social context of healing in late imperial China. The
sequence of images and text are nicely coordinated. Readers will also be de-
lighted to find that almost all of the Chinese text contained within the images, or
images of texts themselves (handwritten manuscripts, talismans, etc) are trans-
lated into English. This is a rare and tremendously helpful addition which makes
these images a unique resource for the teaching of Chinese medical history.
The overall utility of the work (particularly for the lay reader) could be im-
proved with the addition of guidance on how to look at specific images. Tradi-
tional Chinese images do not speak to the modern viewer in a directly compre-
hensible 'language,' or rather, the modern (not just Western) viewer brings an
entirely different set of expectations to illustrations than those possessed by the
viewer of late imperial China. This is particularly the case with images of the
body and representations of the body's functions. To the modern viewer, Chinese
illustrations of bodies appear asymmetrical and overly schematic, devoid of
muscles or organs. Diagrams representing the pulses appear as so many incom-
prehensible dashes and dots. Particularly for readers in the field of western
medical history, these images will simply confirm long-held suspicions that the
Chinese resisted standardization, could not see the obvious, and 'just didn't get it'
about anatomy. Here insights from recent work by Shigehisa Kuriyama would be
instructive. Pulse illustrations can be seen as important advances in the thorny
problem of how to standardize tactile sensations. The acupuncturist was more
interested in the relative distances between key points than the symmetry or
'accuracy' of the overall representation of the human figure. Chinese physicians
were very keen observers of the body, but they looked for different things, such
as surface colors or hues that would revealed the workings of invisible processes
below the skin. As for muscles, it is the modern eye that has been tutored to
expect them in 'realistic' illustrations of the body ⎯ when in reality they are, for
the most part, invisible. Without any such attempt to guide the modern eye, it is
possible that some images here will be seen primarily as exotic representations
of the inferiority of Chinese medicine.
The last one hundred pages of the book are marvelous plates, mostly color,
of Chinese medical artifacts. In a move that may surprise lay-readers, the most
frequently represented artifact in the book is not the acupuncture needle or the
acupuncture chart, but the lowly 'pharmacy delivery bottle,' the tiny porcelain
containers that held the healing pills and powders of Chinese medicine in pre-
revolutionary China. Indeed, the jacket cover depicts forty-six little vials, each
bearing the name of the issuing pharmacy or the name of the medicine contained
within. Because of the marked presence of these vials ⎯ and other modest arti-
facts such as mortal and pestles, scales, nose-pickers, and tongue-scrapers ⎯ the
book gives us a marvelous sense of the everyday material culture of Chinese
medicine as experienced by consumers, artisans, and peddlers on the street, not
just in the hushed studios of the Confucian doctor. For those of us who spend far
too much time pouring over the often austere texts of Chinese medical theory,
128 EASTM 18 (2001)
these artifacts are a welcome reminder that the Chinese healing experience was
full of things.
Indeed, these vials ⎯ and to a certain degree, the medicines within them ⎯
remind us of Lothar Ledderose's "ten thousand things," mass-produced and yet at
the same time slightly customized for both aesthetic appeal and maximum
marketability. Painted with decorative scenes, bearing removable labels boasting
of their medicine's effectiveness, vials came in collect-them-all sets and could be
recycled by loyal customers for use as snuff-bottles, flower-vases, or tea-tins.
Many of the artifacts displayed here demonstrate that healing was an integral
part of the larger matrix of lively commercial exchanges that constituted late
imperial society. Indeed, if one also considers the numerous examples of com-
mercially printed medical manuals, advertisements, and charms pictured here,
together with the commodified dried herbs, horns, roots, bones, pills, and pow-
ders that made up Chinese pharmacy (curiously not pictured within), then one
might conclude that medicine itself constituted an impressive portion of the late
imperial marketplace. As Sherman Cochran's recent work reminds us, medicine
in China was big business. Medicine in China: Historical Images and Artifacts
makes this important point tremendously apparent.
Historians will find it curious that many of the objects are pictured without
dates, and that among those artifacts bearing dates, there is a preponderance of
things from the late-nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries. Some discussion of
the problems of dating medical artifacts and the nature of the collections from
which the artifacts came would be helpful. While Professor Unschuld's essays
masterfully summarize the question of change within continuity in Chinese
medical theory, the presentation of images seems to suggest a timeless tradition
of practice. To what extent did the material culture of healing in China change
over time? This is a question that remains to be puzzled through.
With its sumptuous design and art-history catalogue quality, Medicine in
China: Historical Artifacts and Images is certainly destined to grace the coffee
tables of numerous M.D.s who wish to demonstrate their cosmopolitan curiosity
about oriental medicine. But the work here is too important to be relegated to the
display cabinet. Specialists in East Asian science and medicine should use this
book. It will not only be a boon to teaching, but will also inspire further research
on many long-neglected but essential topics in Chinese medical history.


Medicine in China: Historical Artifacts and Images

East Asian
Science, Technology,
and Medicine
Number 19
2002
A journal dedicated to the study of traditional and modern
East Asian science, technology, and medicine.
Editor:
Hans Ulrich Vogel
Seminar für Sinologie und Koreanistik
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Wilhelmstr. 133
72074 Tübingen / Germany
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E-Mail: eastm@uni-tuebingen.de
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Local Advisory Board:
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Dieter Eikemeier, Seminar für Sinologie und Koreanistik, Tübingen
Viktoria Eschbach-Szabo, Seminar für Japanologie, Tübingen
Hermann Kogelschatz, Seminar für Sinologie und Koreanistik, Tübingen
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Bridie Andrews, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University
Francesca Bray, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa
Barbara
Christopher Cullen, Department of History, SOAS, University of London
Benjamin A. Elman, Center for Chinese Studies, University of California, Los
Angeles
Charlotte Furth, Department of  History, University of Southern California, Los
Angeles
Keizô Hashimoto, Faculty of Sociology, Kansai University, Osaka
Yi-Long Huang, Institute of History, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu
Sang-Woon Jeon, Cultural Properties Committee Korea, Seoul
Catherine Jami, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris
Yung Sik Kim, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University
Dieter Kuhn, Institut für Kulturwissenschaften Ost- und Südasiens - Sinologie,
Universität Würzburg
Angela Ki Che Leung, Sun Yat-Sen Institute for Social Sciences and Philosophy,
Academia Sinica, Taipei
Bing Liu, Institute of  Science, Technology and Society, Tsinghua University,
Beijing
Dun Liu, Institute for the History of Natural Science, Academia Sinica, Beijing
Morris Low, Department of Asian Languages and Studies, University of
Queensland, Brisbane
Georges Métailié, Centre Alexandre Koyré, CNRS-EHESS-MNHN, Paris
Yunli Shi, Department of the History of  Science and Scientific Archaeology,
University  of  Science and Technology of China, Hefei
Nathan Sivin, Department of the History and Sociology of Science, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
C. Michele Thompson, Department of History, Southern Connecticut State
University, New Haven
Togo Tsukahara, History and Philosophy of  Science, Technology and Medicine,
Kobe University
Paul U. Unschuld, Institut für Geschichte der Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-
Universität München
Donald B. Wagner, Department of Asian Studies, University of Copenhagen
Tadashi Yoshida, Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai
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Editorial

Suttmeier, Richard P.

119 Reviews
Q.Y. Yu, The Implementation of China’s Science and Technology Policy. West-
port, Connecticut: Quorum Books, 1999. xv, 233 pp.
Richard P. Suttmeier
[Richard P. Suttmeier is currently professor of political science at the University
of Oregon. He has published widely on Chinese scientific and technological
development and is currently engaged in a study of the Chinese scientific com-
munity.]
Since China’s 1978 National Science Conference, the development of science
and technology has been a high priority objective of the Chinese government. In
the early post-Mao years, the focus of policy was on re-establishing a system
which had been severely disrupted by the Cultural Revolution. By the middle of
the 1980s, there was a recognition that the mere reestablishment of the pre-Cul-
tural Revolution system would not serve China’s national objectives, especially
in light of the economic reforms which were also being implemented. As a re-
sult, national policy came to focus on the reform of China’s system of institu-
tions for science and technology. By the mid-1990s, reforms had had major
impacts on this system, China had significantly increased its national wealth,
and, as a result, it began to increase its expenditures on research and develop-
ment through the support major national programs.
In The Implementation of China’s Science and Technology Policy, Q.Y. Yu
reviews the major points in this evolution of policy. He begins with a useful
overview of Chinese scientific and technological development in the 1949 to
1978 period, but most of the book deals with the major developments during the
1980s and on up into the first half of the 1990s. Yu’s approach is to identify the
main problems with the system and then to introduce the main policy instru-
ments used to address those problems. In his discussion of the 1980s, he includes
chapters on reform of the management system, on changes in the funding of
science and in personnel policies affecting scientists and engineers, and on the
introduction of "technology markets" intended to encourage flows of technical
knowledge by allowing commercial values to be placed on ideas. Also included
are chapters on the acquisition of foreign technology and on efforts to encourage
technological capabilities in Chinese enterprises.
The second half of the book focuses on developments up through the middle
of the 1990s, including a discussion of key national programs which had their
origins in the late 1980s such as the "Spark Program," the "863 Program" for
high technology research, and the "Torch Program" for the encouragement of
high-tech industrialization. This second half of the book also includes chapters
on agriculture and on industrial policy as it pertains to industries relevant to
infrastructure development (energy, transportation, and telecommunications) and
"mainstay industries" (machinery, electronics, petrochemicals, automobiles, and
120 EASTM 18 (2001)
construction). Yu concludes with a discussion of nongovernmental "science and
technology enterprises," and of the challenges of sustainable development.
The author is a seasoned observer of the evolution of China’s science and
technology policy in the reform period, and is in a position to offer informed
analysis of these policies. The book is somewhat disappointing, however, in
failing to deliver on this analysis. Its strengths are in providing a fairly compre-
hensive description of what the key policies have been. In this, it relies quite
heavily on the logic and phrasing of the key policy statements themselves, and at
times the reader has the sense that he is reading an official document. When the
author departs from this heavy reliance on the language of the documents, he
often provides keen insights into such phenomena as the assimilation of foreign
technology and the ingredients for success in developing corporate technology
strategies in Chinese companies. There seems to be a reluctance, however, to
develop such insights into an independent critical position for assessing what
these two decades of policy development had actually achieved. Thus, despite its
title, the book says considerably less about the actual implementation and conse-
quences of the policies than we might have expected and hoped for. And, in the
treatment of some topics, there is more attention to the problems than to the poli-
cies intended to address them. In the discussion of sustainable development, for
instance, we are given a well known account of China’s severe environmental
problems without getting into the difficult issues of how science and technology
should be linked to sustainable development objectives.
In writing the book, Yu relies primarily on his own understanding of the
story he is telling and on official policy pronouncements, as noted above. Foot-
notes are few, and there is very little evidence that he has probed the extant lit-
erature – in both Chinese and foreign languages – which tries to assess and
evaluate the policies Yu describes. Yu thus fails to convey the sense found in the
work of other observers that these policies have been uneven in their success and
have also been the subject of considerable debate within China. As a result, we
don’t get much of a sense of the conflicts and contradictions which have swirled
around science and technology policy over the past twenty years, conflicts
which, in part, have reflected genuine philosophical and ideological differences
and, in part, concern for the protection of institutional interests affected by pol-
icy innovation. Some of the significant issues in China’s policy discourse are
either ignored or understated in this study. These include debates over the degree
of China’s reliance on foreign technology (vs. domestic R[esearch] & D[evel-
opment]) for meeting technological needs, the efficacy of high profile national
programs such as "863," the appropriate level of funding for R&D, the
management of – and level of support for – basic research, etc.
By the end of the 1990s, China’s science and technology system was chang-
ing rapidly. Expenditures were increasing, basic research was getting better
established, R&D in industrial enterprises was growing, international coopera-
tion had become well-established, and there was a vibrant commercialism to
much of the activities of the technical community. The Implementation of
121 Reviews
China’s Science and Technology Policy is not a terribly good guide to this rap-
idly changing scene. On the other hand, if the new energy seen in China’s sci-
ence and technology at the turn-of-the-century is a product of past policies, Yu’s
study – as a reference for policies and policy objectives during the first two
decades of the post-Mao era – will help us understand how the system got to
where it is today.


Q. Y. Yu, The Implementation of China's Science and Technology Policy

Scholz, Erhard

Andrea Bréard, Re-Kreation eines mathematischen Konzeptes im chinesischen Diskurs. "Reihen" vom 1. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert

Tsukahara, Togo

Scientific Discourse and National/Cultural Identity within the Boundary of Chinese Civilisation: Yabuuti's View on the Dialogue between the Civilisations of China, Korea, and Japan

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Changing Standards: Tracing Changes in Acu-moxa Therapy During the Transition from the Tang to the Song Dynasties

Contents

Responses to Prof. Yabuuti's Work: Studies on Mathematical Astronomy in Ancient China

Blast Furnaces in Song-Yuan China

Medicine in China: Historical Artifacts and Images

Editorial

Q. Y. Yu, The Implementation of China's Science and Technology Policy

Andrea Bréard, Re-Kreation eines mathematischen Konzeptes im chinesischen Diskurs. "Reihen" vom 1. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert

Scientific Discourse and National/Cultural Identity within the Boundary of Chinese Civilisation: Yabuuti's View on the Dialogue between the Civilisations of China, Korea, and Japan

Yabuuti Kiyosi as a Historian of Exact Sciences

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