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Bedrock of China Xu Xing Applauds a Study Tracing the Links Between Chinese Nationalism and Geology

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Bedrock of China Xu Xing Applauds a Study Tracing the Links Between Chinese Nationalism and Geology COMMENT BOOKS & ARTS GEOLOGY Bedrock of China Xu Xing applauds a study tracing the links between Chinese nationalism and geology. hinese science has long been tightly igneous formations of Unearthing the Chinese geologists persisted in fostering entangled with nationalism. An illu- Belgium for his thesis Nation: Modern an independent discipline, even in 1927–37, minating case study is the develop­ at the University of Geology and when frequent conflicts flared between the Cment of geology during the Republican era Louvain. These pio- Nationalism in government in Nanjing and local warlords, Republican China (1911–49). This followed an unusual pattern, neers, Shen says, saw GRACE YEN SHEN and within the ruling party. Weng and oth- striking a balance between the interests of sci- fieldwork as helping University of Chicago ers recognized that their field could help to ence, the nationalist movement, the state and China to “understand Press: 2014. satisfy practical needs of the state such as scientists in difficult, unstable circumstances. its own territory”: sci- the search for fossil fuels, and could build Science historian Grace Yen Shen chronicles ence thus became a means of nation-building. national pride. A platform came in 1936 the field’s evolution in Unearthing the Nation. Yet for years, Chinese geology remained with the GSC’s Chinese-language journal Shen begins with an account of foreign internationally collaborative in terms of Dizhi Lunping (Geological Review). And exploration in Chinese territory from the practitioners, fieldwork, institutions and the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937–45 mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth publications. In the 1920s, China was pri- was a watershed: the drive to find natural centuries, such as US geologist Raphael marily agrarian and lacked the financial and resources for the war effort led to achieve- Pumpelly’s investigations of the coalfields intellectual resources to cultivate science. ments such as the discovery of China’s first near the Yangtze River in the 1860s, and Ger- The Geological Society of China (GSC), oil fields. Towards the end of the Republican man geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen’s established in 1922, was the first scientific era, a truly Chinese geological community field trips across China not long after. Richt­ association initiated by Chinese investiga- had come together. hofen went on to publish milestone works tors. It listed among the 78 members in its Shen’s chronicle reveals a broader trend such as the five-volume China: The Results first year 23 foreigners — including Swed- in Chinese science. In the 1930s, Weng and of My Travels and the Studies Based Thereon ish geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson, who several other foundational Chinese geologists (1877–1912). In the early twentieth century, contributed to the discovery of the Peking became high-level govern­ment officials. The Chinese researchers, including the German- Man Homo erectus fossils. The Bulletin of desire of Chinese intellectuals to build a great trained Gu Lang and Zhou Shuren, pub- the Geological Society of China, launched in nation has often led outstanding researchers lished on geology themselves. 1922 and one of the first technical journals into administration and politics, a tradition Zhou (who under his pen name Lu Xun is a dedicated to Chinese geology, was published reflected in the saying ‘Xue er you ze shi’ (Offi- giant of Chinese fiction) was the first Chinese mainly in Western languages, including Eng- cialdom is the natural destination for good person to write on the field, in Brief Outline lish. US geologist Amadeus Grabau (1870– scholars’). The trend persists; in the long run of Chinese Geology (1903). But as Shen notes, 1946), who spent most of his academic life in I feel that it will harm Chinese science. it was the investigations of Zhang Hongzhao, China, made huge contributions to Chinese Unearthing the Nation is more than a scien- Ding Wenjiang, Weng Wenhao, Li Siguang palaeontology and stratigraphy, and the New tific history. Shen’s in-depth analysis reveals and others around this time that marked York-based Rockefeller Foundation spon- that national, political and cultural loyalties the first stirrings of a homegrown discipline. sored organizations such as the Cenozoic had a key role in the development of Chi- Weng became the first Chinese geologist Research Laboratory in Beijing, established nese geology, and she seamlessly integrates to earn a doctorate, after investigating the in 1928 to investigate the Peking Man fossils. this into her narrative on the discoveries and evolution of the field. Shen includes Chinese characters in the text, which makes the book more congenial for those who can read Chi- nese, and adds colour for those who cannot. I would have loved to see more infor- mation on specific scientific discoveries, and Shen’s tendency to focus on a limited number of key geologists and organizations sometimes obscures the larger picture. Nev- ertheless, this is an important book: it pre- ART ARCHIVE MARC CHARMET/THE sents a comprehensive history of Chinese geology while demonstrating the discipline’s unique pattern of development. Implicit in it is the significance of openness to interna- tional community, even in the develop­ment of a national scientific discipline. ■ Xu Xing is a professor in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. Chinese geology students on a field trip in about 1950. e-mail: [email protected] 32 | NATURE | VOL 506 | 6 FEBRUARY 2014 © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
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