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Science and Civilisation In China, Volume 5 Chemistry And Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology, The Gunpowder Epic

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Book page imageTHE PICTURE OF THE TAOIST GENII PRINTED ON THE COVER of this book is part of a painted temple scroll, recent but traditional, given to Mr Brian Harland in Szechuan province (1946). Concerning these four divinities, of respectable rank in the Taoist bureaucracy, the following particulars have been handed down. The title of the first of the four signifies ‘Heavenly Prince’, that of the other three ‘ Mysterious Commander ’.At the top, on the left, is Liu Thiett Chun, Comptroller-General of Crops and Weather. Before his deification (so it was said) he was a rain-making magician and weather forecaster named Liu Chiin, bom in the Chin dynasty about + 340. Among his attributes may be seen the sun and moon, and a measuring-rod or carpenter’s square. The two great luminaries imply the making of the calendar, so important for a primarily agricultural society, the efforts, ever renewed, to reconcile celestial periodicities. The carpenter’s square is no ordinary tool, but the gnomon for measuring the lengths of the sun’s solstitial shadows. The Comptroller-General also carries a bell because in ancient and medieval times there was thought to be a close connection between calendrical calculations and the arithmetical acoustics of bells and pitch-pipes.At the top, on the right, is WSn Yuan Shuai , Intendant of the Spiritual Officials of the Sacred Mountain, Thai Shan. He was taken to be an incarnation of one of the Hour-Presidents (Chia Shen ), i.e. tutelary deities of the twelve cyclical characters (see p. 297). During his earthly pilgrimage his name was Huan Tzu-Yii and he was a scholar and astronomer in the Later Han (b. + 142). He is seen holding an armillary ring.Below, on the left, is Kou Yuan Shuai , Assistant Secretary of State in the Ministry of Thunder. He is therefore a late emanation of a very ancient god, Lei Kung. Before he became deified he was Hsin Hsing, a poor woodcutter, but no doubt an incarnation of the spirit of the constellation Kou-Chhen (the Angular Arranger), part of the group of stars which we know as Ursa Minor. He is equipped with hammer and chisel.Below, on the right, is Pi Yuan Shuai, Commander of the Lightning, with his flashing sword, a deity with distinct alchemical and cosmological interests. According to tradition, in his early life he was a countryman whose name was Thien Hua. Together with the colleague on his right, he controlled the Spirits of the Five Directions.Such is the legendary folklore of common men canonised by popular acclamation. An interesting scroll, of no great artistic merit, destined to decorate a temple wall, to be looked upon by humble people, it symbolises something which this book has to say. Chinese art and literature have been so profuse, Chinese mythological imagery so fertile, that the West has often missed other aspects, perhaps more important, of Chinese civilisation. Here the graduated scale of Liu Chun, at first sight unexpected in this setting, reminds us of the ever-present theme of quanti¬ tative measurement in Chinese culture; there were rain-gauges already in the Sung (+i2th century) and sliding calipers in the Han (+ist). The armillary ring of Huan Tzu-Yii bears witness that Naburiannu and Hipparchus, al-Naqqash and Tycho, had worthy counterparts in China. The tools of Hsin Hsing symbolise that great empirical tradition which informed the work of Chinese artisans and technicians all through the ages.
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Book page imageSCIENCE AND CIVILISATION IN CHINAThe Chymists are a strange Class of Mortals, impelled by an incompre¬ hensible Impulse to take their Pleasure amid Smoke and Vapour, Fume and Flame, Poisons and Poverty—yet among all these Evils, I seem to live so sweetly that may I die if I would change places with the Persian King!Johann Beecher Physica Subterranea , 1703Quasi nimirum in Fads esset, Sal hoc admirabile non minus in philosophia quam beilo strepitus aderet, omniaque sonitu suo implere. (As if ordained by Fate, Nitre, that admirable salt, hath made as much noise in Philosophy as in War, all the world being filled with its thunder).John MayowTractatus Quinque Medico-Physici, 1674For it is now certainly known that the great Kings of the uttermost East, have had the use of the canon many hundreds of years since, and even since their first civilitie and greatnesse, which was long before Alexander’s time. But Alexander pierc’d not so far into the East.Sir Walter Raleigh History of the World , 1614Dr John Bell of Antermony asked the Khang-Hsi Emperor’s Tartar General of Artillery: ‘How long the Chinese had known the use of gunpowder? He replied, above 2000 years, in fire-works, according to their records; but that it’s application to the purposes of war, was only a late introduction. As the veracity and candour of this gentleman were well known, there was no room to question the truth of what he advanced on the subject.’John Bell’s 1 Jan. 1721Travels from St. Petersburg in Russia to Diverse Patts of Asia, 1763And though it be very true that man is but the Minister of Nature, and can but duely apply Agents to Patients (the rest of the Work being done by the applyed Bodies themselves), yet by his skill in making these Applications, he is able to perform such things as do not only give him a Power to master Creatures otherwise much stronger than himselfe; but may enable one man to do such wonders, as another man shall think he cannot sufficiently admire. As the poor Indians lookt upon the Spaniards as more than Men, because the Knowledg they had of the Properties of Nitre, Suplphur and Charcoal duely mixt, enabled them to Thunder and Lighten so fatally, when they pleas’d.Robert BoyleSome Considerations touching the Useful- nesse of Experimental Philosophy , propos 'd in a Familiar Discourse to a Friend , by way of Invitation to the Study of it, 1663
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Science and Civilisation In China, Volume 5 Chemistry And Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology, The Gunpowder Epic

by
Joseph Needham

Publication date
Topics
Chinese history, History of China, History of Yuan dynasty, History of Ming dynasty, History of Qing dynasty, History of Song dynasty
Collection
opensource
Language
English
The Gunpowder Epic is one of three planned publications on military
technology within Dr Needham's immense undertaking. The discovery of
gunpowder in China by the 9th century AD was followed by its rapid
applications. It is now clear that the whole development from bombs and
grenades to the invention of the metal-barrel hand gun took place in the
Chinese culture area before Europeans had any knowledge of the mixture
itself. Uses in civil engineering and mechanical engineering were
equally important, before the knowledge of gunpowder spread to Europe in
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Dr Needham's new work
continues to demonstrate the major importance of Chinese science and
technology to world history and maintains the tradition of one of the
great scholarly works of the twentieth century.
Addeddate
2020-10-04 15:56:26
Identifier
science-and-civilisation-in-china-volume-5-chemistry-and-chemical-technology-par
Identifier-ark
ark:/13960/t3426dx2v
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ABBYY FineReader 11.0 (Extended OCR)
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300
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Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.4
Year
1986

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