Mathematics Department & Descartes Centre
The Appropriation of Western Science in China during the Late Qing Dynasty
Remco de Boer MSc Student History and Philosophy of Science
Conference on the History of Science: Islam, Europe and China Institute for the History of Science University of Tehran, 26 April 2016 Rise of China Science in China 19th Century China
Age of Humiliation (1839–1949) 19th Century China Mathematics Department Descartes Centre Qing Dynasty Programme Reform & Modernisation Missionaries
Confrontation Science & Education
RANSITION T
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 The Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
The Qing Dynasty
• Manchu: Northern Jurchen tribes • 1644: Defeat of the Ming (last Han Chinese dynasty) • 18th century: Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors extend the Empire • 19th century: Decline and Restauration o 1839 First Opium War o 1851 Taiping Rebellion o 1860s Self-Strengthening Movement o 1894 Sino-Japanese War • 1911: End of the Dynasty
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 The Qing Empire Manchu (1644–1911) homeland Modern border
Former Ming Empire (1644)
Tributary states Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
The West in the 19th Century
Imperialism & Globalisation Monopoly of the British Empire
Japanese cartoon of the World (1914) Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
The West in the 19th Century Charles Darwin Charles Imperialism & Globalisation DmitriMendeleev Monopoly of the British Empire Science & Technology Industrial Revolution and
science as a profession Nikola Tesla Nikola
Bernhard Riemann Global telegraph network Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre Canton System (1757–1842) All sea trade confined to Guangzhou (Canton)
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Macartney Embassy 1793 Macartney Embassy 1793 British request “The great hope of commercial intercourse is to improve human knowledge and to bring it to the greatest possible perfection.” Qing Response “[T]here is nothing we lack, as your principal envoys and others have themselves observed. We have never set much store on strange or ingenious objects, nor do we need any more of your country’s manufacturers.” Wright (2006), Translating Science, p. 20 British Trade Deficit
Silver in exchange for tea Deficit 1710–1759: £26 million
Hanes, Sanello (2002), The Opium Wars, p. 20 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
Solution for Trade Deficit: Opium
• British increasingly frustrated with Canton System
• Qing wish to ban opium trade
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 1839: First Opium War 1839: First Opium War
The Nemesis, first iron warship in history 1842: Treaty of Nanjing
Canton System abolished 1842: Treaty of Nanjing
Stages of Reform Recognition Interpretation Implementation Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
1840s: Recognition of Western knowledge
On military superiority (Wei Yuan, 1842) “The superior techniques of the barbarians are three: (1) warships, (2) firearms, and (3) methods of maintaining and training soldiers.” Acceptance of Western geography and history (Xu Jiyu, 1848) “The population of England is dense and the food insufficient. It is necessary for them to import from other countries. […] Their commercial ships are in the four seas and there is no spot which they do not reach.” Traditional framework of conciliation: 以夷制夷 ‘Using the barbarians to control the barbarians’ Teng & Fairbank (1979), China’s Response to the West, pp. 34, 42
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
China opened up again: Jesuits 17th Century Christian Missionaries Matteo Ricci 1807: Robert Morrison 1850: W.A.P. Martin 1861: John Fryer
Mathematics and astronomy First protestant missionary Education Aim: Spread Christianity by promoting Western knowledge Translations
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 1857–60: Second Opium War and the Treaty of Tianjin
China entirely open to missionaries Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864)
Consequences Hong Xiuquan 1. Qing decentralisation (1814–1864) “Younger brother 2. Alliance with the West of Jesus Christ” 3. Military modernisation Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
1860s: Self-Strengthening Movement Interpretation: need for mediators Learning Western languages (Feng Guifen, 1860) “If today we wish to select and use Western knowledge, we should establish official translation Feng Guifen offices at Guangzhou and Shanghai.” (1809–1874) Train interpreters (Li Hongzhang, 1863) “Whenever we have a discussion between Chinese and foreign high officials, we depend entirely upon foreign interpreters to transmit the ideas.”
Li Hongzhang Teng & Fairbank (1979), China’s Response to the West, pp. 51 & 74–5 (1823–1901) Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
1860s: Self-Strengthening Movement Foundation of three institutions
Jiangnan Arsenal (1865) Zongli Yamen (1861) for military manufacturing for handling foreign affairs and training
Tongwen Guan (1862) for teaching Western languages
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
1860s: Self-Strengthening Movement Urge to understand Western science Extend learning to science (Prince Gong, 1866) “The machinery of the West, its steamers, its firearms, and its military tactics, all have their source in mathematical science. […] If we are able to master the mysteries of mathematical calculation, physical investigation, and astronomical observation […] this will assure a steady growth of the empire.” Prince Gong (1833–1898)
Teng & Fairbank (1979), China’s Response to the West, p. 75
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
John Fryer (1839–1928) 1860s: Self-Strengthening Movement Implementing science
Translator
1868
Jiangnan Arsenal (1865)
) 1916 – English professor
(1827 1869 W.A.P. Martin W.A.P. Tongwen Guan (1862)
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
Some scientific translations ordered by Chinese authorities John Fryer 1874 Sound by John Tyndall 1879 Elements of Arithmetic by De Morgan 1880 Treatise on Meteorological Instruments by Negretti & Zambra 1881 Quantitative Chemical Analysis by Frensenius 1885 Vocabulary of Mineralogical Terms in J.D. Dana’s manual 1895 Botany by Balfour etc… W.A.P. Martin (self-compiled textbooks) 1866 Gewu rumen (natural philosophy) 1885 Mathematical physics
Bennet (1967), John Fryer, pp. 112–35
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
Translations of the Jiangnan Arsenal (1865–1905)
66
38 35
Natural science Military technology Engineering Chemistry 9
Physics 14
Geology 17
Astronomy 26 Reardon-Anderson (1991), The Study of Change, p. 36
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
Courses at the Tongwen Guan (1862–1902)
Languages (~60% registration) English, French, Russian, German, and Japanese (from 1898) Natural sciences (~40% registration) Mathematics, mathematical physics, astronomy, chemistry, physics (from 1893), and physiology Other courses International law
Biggerstaff (1967), The Earliest Modern Government Schools in China, p. 129
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
Consequences Peculiarities of science in Late Qing China Low status of science education • First government schools all related to national defence • Not considered part of the traditional education system Lu Xun (1881–1936): “Only the truly desperate stooped to studying
Western Sciences.” Lovell (1980), The Opium War, p. 293 ‘History’ as a way to justify: 西學中源 “Western studies, Chinese origins”—Study the West to retrieve our past Reverence of science Chen Duxiu in New Youth, 1915: Replace “Mr. Confucius” by “Mr. Science” and “Mr. Democracy” Teng & Fairbank (1979), China’s Response to the West, p. 245
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016 2003 1980 Science in China
2010s 1950s Mathematics Department Descartes Centre
List of recommended literature in order of accessibility
• Jonathan Spence (2002), To Change China: Western Advisers in China • Benjamin A. Elman (2006), A Cultural History of Modern Science in China • Ssu-yü Teng & John K. Fairbank (1982), China’s Response to the West. A Documentary Survey, 1839–1923 • David Wright (2000), Translating Science: The Transmission of Western Chemistry into Late Imperial China, 1840–1900 • Knight Biggerstaff (1961), The Earliest Modern Government Schools in China • James Reardon-Anderson (1991), The Study of Change. Chemistry in China, 1840–1949 • Generally for research in Chinese history: the very affordable and expansive Endymion Wilkinson (2013), Chinese History: A New Manual
Conference on the History of Science | University of Tehran 26 April 2016