Chinese traditional science and technology

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From the emergence of the Chinese civilization onwards, Chinese traditional science and technology took the lead in the world for a long, consecutive period of 1,000 years, fromthe 3rd century to the 16th centuries. Afterthat, the traditional science and technology started to decline and only the traditional Chinese medicine was left and could continue to develop. On the contrary, the West ushered in the first scientific revolution together with the rise of the industrial society during the period from the 16th century when Nicolaus Copernicus put forth his heliocentric theory to the 17th century upon discovery of the Newtonian mechanics, when its science and technology entered the modern stage and the time of analytical science. Then, from the end of the 18th century to the 19th century, there appeared the second scientific revolution, when the Baconian theory, the law of conservation of energy, evolutionism and the three major scientific discoveries of the 19th century, among many others, came into being. The next century witnessed the third scientific revolution represented by quantum mechanics, the theory of relativity, DNA double helix, etc, marking the entry of the sciences and technologies into thelater modern stage. Fostered by those scientific revolutions, technological revolutions, such as the industrial revolution from 1750 to 1850 and the information revolution after 1946, took place successively in the West.

In contrast, the Chinese developed agricultural society did not spawn an industrial society, nor could it have entailed a series of scientific revolutions. As a result, Chinese traditional science and technology failed to develop further into modern or contemporary sciences. Rather, the country’s sciences and technologies of the modern and early contemporary times were all introduced from the West and consequently lagged behind the West for some hundred years.

After the 1960-70s, the world’s sciences and technologies shifted from analytical to integrative ones, that is, from small to greater ones, and from simple to more complicated ones. In such a context, the Chinese traditional science and technology, which is characterized by priority given to integration and its emphasis on integrity and its generative theory, could rejuvenate the nation. Moreover, many of the theories, values, methodologies and technical genes of the Chinese traditional science and technology as well as large quantities of systematic literature of the natural history, started to play their respective roles in the country’s scientific and technological modernization. Sufficient facts have so far proved that Chinese traditional science and technology can be still utilized as a key source for scientific and technological innovations amongcontemporary Chinese scientists and technologists. Only by such innovations and leap-forward development will China be able to catch up with and overtake its partners and competitors in the West.

Therefore, to carry forth and explore Chinese traditional science and technology, as a great historic mission, remains an urgent key project to fulfll China’s goal toward scientific and technological modernization with specific Chinese characteristics in the 21st century.