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Science And Civilisation In China Volume 5, Chemistry And Chemical Technology Part 1 - 6

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Book page imageTHE PICTURE OF THE TAOIST GENIL 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 Thien Chiin, 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, born in the Chin dynasty about + 349. 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 Wén 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-c. tutelary deities of the twelve cyclical characters (see Vol. 4, pt. 2, p. 440). During his earthly pilgrimage his name was Huan Tzu-Yo 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 carly 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 Chin, 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 (+12th century) and sliding calipers in the Han (+ 1st). 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 tech- nicians all through the ages.
Book page imageSCIENCE AND CIVILISATION IN CHINAA certain knowledge of Eastern religions and philosophies aids one's intellect and intuition in understanding the ideas (of inner alchemy), partly at least, just as one can fathom the paradoxes of primitive beliefs in terms of ‘ethnology’ or of the ‘comparative history of religion’. But this is the Western way of hiding one’s own heart under the cloak of so-called scientific understanding. We do it partly because of the ‘misérable vanité des savants’, which fears and rejects with horror any sign of living sympathy, and partly because an understanding that reaches the feelings might allow contact with the foreign spirit to become a serious experience. . .. Science only works harm when taken as an end in itself. Scientific method must serve; it errs when it usurps a throne. C. G, Jung, in the introduction to his commentary on Richard Wilhelm’s translation of Thai I Chin Hua Tsung ChihEntwiichsest du dir selbst und aller Kreatur So wird dir eingeimpft die géttliche Natur. Angelus Silesius (Joh. Scheffler, +1624 to +1677). Cherubinische Wandersmann, I‘The mystic does not deny the body, but uses it as a necessary instrument of salvation. G. Tucci, in Theory and Practice of the MandalaThe essence of all things is in our bodies. When thou shalt know thine own body, thy own foundation will be firm. Amrita-ratnavaliEver keep Ithaca in your mind, Your return thither is your goal. But do not hasten at all your voyage, Better that it last for many years. All full of years at length you anchor at your isle, Rich with all you gained upon the way, Do not expect Ithaca to give you riches. Ithaca gave you your fair voyage Without her you would not have ventured on the way. But she has no more to give you. And if you find Ithaca a poor place She has not mocked you. You have become so wise, so full of experience ‘That you should understand already what ‘These Ithacas mean. C. V. Cavafy, ‘Ithaca’‘Turn back, O Man, forswear thy foolish ways,Old now is Earth, and none may count her days,Yet thou, her child, whose head is crowned with flame,Still wilt not hear thine inner god proclaim —“Turn back, O Man, forswear thy foolish ways’. Clifford Bax
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Science And Civilisation In China Volume 5, Chemistry And Chemical Technology Part 1 - 6

by
Joseph Needham, others

Usage
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 InternationalCreative Commons Licensebyncnd
Topics
Chemistry, Chemical Technology, History of China, Joseph Needham
Collection
opensource
Language
English
Part one of the fifth volume of Joseph Needham's great enterprise is written by one of the project's collaborators. Professor Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin, working in regular consultation with Dr Needham, has written the most comprehensive account of every aspect of paper and printing in China to be published in the West. From a close study of the vast mass of source material, Professor Tsien brings order and illumination to an area of technology which has been of profound importance in the spread of civilisation. The main body of the book is a detailed study of the invention, technology and aesthetic development of printing in China. From the growth and ultimate refinements of early woodcut printing to the spread of printing from movable type and the development of book-binding, Professor Tsien carries the story forward to the beginning of the nineteenth century when 'more printed pages existed in Chinese than in all other languages put together'.
Addeddate
2021-09-27 15:04:18
Identifier
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