Technical Arts in the Han Histories

Editors: 

Mark Csikszentmihalyi & Michael Nylan

Publisher:
SUNY Press

Publication date:
November 2021

Abstract:
While cultural literacy in early China was grounded in learning the Classics, basic competence in official life was generally predicated on acquiring several forms of technical knowledge. Recent archaeological finds have brought renewed attention to the use of technical manuals and mantic techniques within a huge range of discrete contexts, pushing historians to move beyond the generalities offered by past scholarship. To explore these uses, Technical Arts in the Han Histories delves deeply into the rarely studied “Treatises” and “Tables” compiled for the first two standard histories, the Shiji (Historical Records) and Hanshu (History of Han), important supplements to the better-known biographical chapters, and models for the inclusion of technical subjects in the twenty-three later “Standard Histories” of imperial China. Indeed, for a great many aspects of life in early imperial society, they constitute our best primary sources for understanding complex realities and perceptions. The essays in this volume seek to explain how different social groups thought of, disseminated, and withheld technical knowledge relating to the body, body politic, and cosmos, in the process of detailing the preoccupations of successive courts from Qin through Eastern Han in administering the localities, the frontier zones, and their numerous subjects (at the time, roughly one-quarter of the world’s population).

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Michael Nylan 戴梅可 and Mark Csikszentmihalyi 齊思敏

1. Land Tenure and the Decline of Imperial Government in Eastern Han
Michael Loewe 魯惟一

2. Water Control and Policy-Making in the Shiji and Hanshu
Luke Habberstad 何祿凱

3. The Hanshu Geographic Treatise on the Eastern Capital
Lee Chi-hsiang 李紀祥

4. Celestial Signs in Three Historical Treatises
Jesse J. Chapman 柴傑思

5. On Hanshu "Wuxing zhi" 五行志 and Ban Gu's Project
Michael Nylan 戴梅可

6. Western Han Sacrifices to Taiyi
Tian Tian 田天

7. Writing Abstractly in Mathematical Texts from Early Imperial China
Karine Chemla 林力娜

8. Commentarial Episodes in Early Chinese Medicine: An Experiment in Decentering the Standard Histories
Miranda Brown 董慕達

9. Narratives of Decline and Fragmentation, and the Hanshu Bibliographic Taxonomies of Technical Arts
Mark Csikszentmihalyi 齊思敏 and Zheng Yifan 鄭伊凡

Kao Gong Ji: The World’s Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies

Translators & Commentators: 
Zengjian Guan and Konrad Herrmann

Publication Date: 
09 Dec 2019

Publisher:
Brill

Abstract:
In Kao Gong Ji: The World’s Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies, Guan Zengjian and Konrad Herrmann offer an English translation and commentary of the first technological encyclopaedia in China. This work came into being around the 5th century C.E. and contains descriptions of thirty technologies used at the time. Most prominent are bronze casting, the manufacture of carriages and weapons, a metrological standard, the making of musical instruments, and the planning of cities. The technologies, including the manufacturing process and quality assurance, are based on standardization and modularization. In several commentaries, the editors show to which degree the descriptions of Kao Gong Ji correspond to archaeological findings.

Table of Contents:
Preface
Foreword
Introduction
The Text
  卷上 (Part One)
  卷下 (Part Two)
Analysis – Commentaries

Monographs in Tang Official Historiography: Perspectives from the Technical Treatises of the History of Sui (Sui Shu)

Editors:
Daniel Patrick Morgan, Damien Chaussende

Publication date:
09/09/2019

Publisher:
Springer International Publishing

Abstract:

This book examines the role of medieval authors in writing the history of ancient science. It features essays that explore the content, structure, and ideas behind technical writings on medieval Chinese state history. In particular, it looks at the Ten Treatises of the current History of Sui 隋書, which provide insights into the writing on the history of such fields as astronomy, astrology, omenology, economics, law, geography, metrology, and library science. Three treatises are known to have been written by Li Chunfeng 李淳風, one of the most important mathematicians, astronomers, and astrologers in Chinese history.

The book not only opens a new window on the figure of Li Chunfeng by exploring what his writings as a historian of science tell us about him as a scientist and vice versa, it also discusses how and on what basis the individual treatises were written.

The essays address such themes as (1) the recycling of sources and the question of reliability and objectivity in premodern history-writing; (2) the tug of war between conservatism and innovation; (3) the imposition of the author’s voice, worldview, and personal and professional history in writing a history of a field of technical expertise in a state history; (4) the degree to which modern historians are compelled to speak to their own milieu and ideological beliefs.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: Prologue (Daniel P. Morgan and Damien Chaussende)


PART I: THE WORK OF LI CHUNFENG


Chapter 2: The Life and Intellectual Work of Li Chunfeng (602–670) (Howard L. Goodman)


Chapter 3: Numbers with Histories: Li Chunfeng on Harmonics and Astronomy (Daniel P. Morgan and Howard L. Goodman)


Chapter 4: Scholarship and Politics in Seventh Century China from the Viewpoint of Li Chunfeng’s Writing on Histories (Zhu Yiwen)


Chapter 5: The Compilation of the Astronomical Portion of the ‘Treatise on Harmono-Metrology and Mathematical Astronomy’ and its Impact (Li Liang)

Chapter 6: Heavenly Patterns (Daniel P. Morgan)


Chapter 7: The ‘Treatise on the Wuxing’ (Wuxing zhi) (Michael Nylan)


PART II: THE ANONYMOUS TREATISES


Chapter 8: The Treatise on Economics and Its Influences (Béatrice L'Haridon)


Chapter 9: The Treatise on Law (Frédéric Constant)


Chapter 10: Intertextuality, Customs and Regionalism in the ‘Geographical Treatise’ (Alexis Lycas)


Chapter 11: The Art of Producing a Catalogue: the Meaning of ‘Compilations’ for the Organisation of Ancient Knowledge in Tang Times (Pablo Ariel Blitstein)


Chapter 12: Epilogue: Treatises According to Tang Historian Liu Zhiji (Damien Chaussende)

張衡の天文学思想

Author:
髙橋 あやの

Publication date:
December 2018

Publisher:
汲古書院

Table of Contents:

序章　本書の立場
　　　 一　中国における天文学と天の思想　　二　科学と術数　　　　　三　張衡について
　　　　　四　中国古代の宇宙論　　　　　　　　五　本書の構成と目的　　（参考）張衡年譜

第一章　「渾」の用法に見る渾天説の原義
　　　一　上古音から見る「渾」の類型　　　二　「渾天」の用例
　　　三　古代の文献に見られる「渾」　　　四　揚雄における「渾」の用法
　　　五　張衡における「渾」の用法
  おわりに――渾天説の原義

第二章　『霊憲』と『渾天儀』の比較
   一　『霊憲』と『渾天儀』の比較　　　　二　『渾天儀』は張衡の作か
   三　『霊憲』と『渾天儀』の扱いの相違の要因
   （参考）『渾天儀』の張衡著作部分と後世の注釈部分について

第三章　渾天説の天文理論
　　　一　張衡の渾天説――張衡は地球概念をもっていたか
　　　二　天文理論の継承と発展

第四章　渾天説と尚水思想
　　　一　尚水思想の系譜　　　　　　　　　二　渾天説における尚水思想
  三　張衡と尚水思想と崑崙山　　　　　四　天・地・水の思想

第五章　張衡「思玄賦」の世界観
　　　一　張衡と「思玄賦」　　　　　　　　二　「思玄賦」の内容と構成
　　　三　崑崙と黄帝、西王母の位置　　　　四　天上世界の描写
  おわりに――「思玄賦」と張衡 

第六章　張衡と占術
  一　「思玄賦」の占術表現　　　　　　二　『霊憲』の占術表現
　　　三　讖緯に対する態度

第七章　張衡佚文の考察
　　　一　張衡の星・星座・惑星の知識　　　二　張衡の佚文
　　　三　張衡佚文と『晋志』、『史記正義』　四　張衡佚文の検討
  （附表）張衡の佚文対照表

第八章　『海中占』関連文献に関する基礎的考察
　　　一　目録中の「海中」諸文献　　　　　二　「海中」諸文献の「海中」に対する認識
　　　三　『海中星占』、『海中占』の佚文　　四　『海中占』の占辞の特徴
　　　五　「海中」の検討　　　　　　　　　附　『海中占』の輯佚

終章　本書のまとめ

[Dissertation] The Rhetoric and Ritual of Celestial Signs in Early Imperial China

Author:
Jesse Chapman

School:
University of California, Berkeley

Defended:
2015

Abstract:

The Rhetoric and Ritual of Celestial Signs in Early Imperial China investigates the circulation of signs such as planets in retrograde motion, comets, oddly-shaped clouds, inclement weather, and rainbows in the Western Han (206 BCE–8 CE) and Eastern Han (25–220 CE) dynasties. Building on scholarship in the history of science and previous historical studies of omenology, the present work focuses on the rhetorical and ritual dimensions of celestial signs within broader political, literary, and technical networks. It examines technical treatises in the standard histories, manuscripts on astro-omenology from the tombs of the ruling family of Dai at Mawangdui 馬王堆 (terminus ad quem 168 BCE), memorials to the throne, liturgical repertoires, poetic celestial journeys, and early exegetical works to illuminate how celestial signs both created discursive possibilities and were themselves shaped by generic contexts and performative goals. The dissertation argues that celestial signs became meaningful always in relation to surrounding contexts, as they were read against the constellations in which they appeared, historical circumstances, present conditions in the empire, and through the voices of the deities, supplicants, rulers, and ministers that invoked them. By examining a broad range of contexts in which celestial signs appeared, this dissertation contributes to a fuller and more balanced appreciation of the variegated roles celestial signs played in the shifting culture of early imperial China.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction: Celestial Signs, Culture, and the Cosmos

Chapter 2: Celestial Signs at the Local Court of Dai: The Mawangdui Manuscripts

Chapter 3: Celestial Signs in the Writing of History

Chapter 4: Etiology, Contingency, and Textual Authority: The Suasive Power of Celestial Signs

Chapter 5: Celestial Signs, Ritual, and the Performance of Voice

Chapter 6: Conclusion and Supplement: “Cloudy River” and the Problem of Ritual Failed

The Continuation of Ancient Mathematics: Wang Xiaotong’s Jigu suanjing, Algebra and Geometry in 7th- Century China

Authors:
Lim, Tina Su-lyn 林淑鈴
Wagner, Donald B

Publication Date:
June 2017

Publisher:
Copenhagen K, Denmark: NIAS Press

Abstract:

After the collapse of Roman civilization, knowledge of mathematics dwindled in Europe. In the Arab world, however, the works of ancient mathematicians like Euclid were preserved and built upon by new thinkers like al-Khwarizmi, who became instrumental in spreading Indian mathematics and numerals to the West. Little known to Western historians, a parallel development of mathematical knowledge was happening in China. A rare glimpse of this world is offered via a translation and elaboration of one of the canons of classical Chinese mathematical education. Wang Xiaotong’s 王孝通 Continuation of ancient mathematics 緝古算經 shows us a stage in the development from the 1st to the 14th century CE of the Chinese traditional algebra of polynomials. Here in the 7th century, columns of numbers used in root-extraction procedures are recognized as equations that can be solved numerically, but these equations cannot yet be manipulated. Wang Xiaotong arrives at numerically solvable polynomials through a variety of ad hoc techniques, including geometric constructions and rhetorical algebra. In the 18th century, it would be shown that all of his problems could be solved by straightforward algebraic manipulation of polynomials using 14th-century Chinese methods. Lim and Wagner’s in-depth study of the Continuation brings this work to an audience unfamiliar with the history and particulars of Chinese mathematical knowledge. Their worked examples also illuminate the text and invite comparison with the work of medieval mathematicians in the Middle East and Europe. The work will appeal to historians of mathematics especially but anyone interested in the evolution of Chinese science and technology will also find this very informative.

[Dissertation] Dynamic Flows of Copper and Copper Alloys across the Prehistoric Eurasian Steppe from 2000 to 300 BCE

Author:
Yiu-Kang Hsu

Advisor:
Mark Pollard, Jessica Rawson

School:
University of Oxford

Defended:
2016

Abstract:

The study of ancient Eurasian metallurgy has been suffering from (or preoccupied by) two conventional perspectives. One is that of the diffusion model emphasising the importance of the settled empires of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, of south-eastern Europe and of China (Shennan 1986, 1993; Kristiansen 1984). The supremacy of these 'cradles' of early civilisation is marked not only by social hierarchies, but also by technological inventions such as metal production. This view sees the mobile populations of the Eurasian steppe as occupying the "hinterland" of these early settled states in the south, believing that the emergence of metal technologies in the Steppe was the result of the expansions of "advanced" civilisations. The second perspective is rooted in the provenance study which traces metal objects back to their geological sources (Pernicka 2014). It assumes that chemical and isotopic composition of metal is static and only reflects a simple linear relationship between artefacts and specific ore deposits.

Drawing from a legacy database of approximately 9,000 chemical analyses of copper-based artefacts, this thesis rejects the simplicity of both the diffusion and the provenance models. While admitting that the use of metal might have originated from western Asia, the development of metallurgy in the Eurasian steppe should be understood on its own terms. It is constantly re-shaped by vigorous circulation of metal artefacts across mobile communities on a regional or inter-regional scale. This observation is based on the application of a new innovative framework to interpret the patterns of compositional data (Bray et al. 2015). This novel method argues that metal can flow, quite literally, from one object to another as it is re-melted, re-mixed and re-cast in different shapes and colours, depending on different social contexts. Thermodynamic modelling and modern experiments have shown that during the copper melt, some volatile elements in copper alloys (e.g. arsenic, antimony, and zinc) are preferentially removed through oxidative loss. Instead, some elements, such as silver, nickel, and gold, tend to be preserved in metals. These predictable patterns of elemental losses provide valuable information to trace the directional flow of metal units between regions/cultures, if we combine chemical data of metal artefacts properly with archaeological context, landscape and chronology.
By using this new methodology, several routes of copper supplies have been identified in the Steppe during different periods. They feature the exchange of metals within regional networks, fuelled by local copper sources. The Urals, central Kazakhstan, the Altai, and the Minusinsk-Tuva regions were the primary copper production centres that developed distinct trace-element chemistry and artefact typology. By contrast, alloying techniques employed by steppe peoples, generally demonstrate the long-distance connections based on two major metallurgical practices: arsenical copper in the western steppe and tin-bronze in the eastern steppe. Copper-arsenic production was concentrated in the Caucasus but the recycling of its arsenical copper became more apparent further away towards the Urals. On the other hand, the invention of tin-bronze metallurgy was triggered by the formation of the Seima-Turbino phenomenon (c. 2100- 1800/1700 BC) in the Altai, and this alloying tradition was amplified by the emergence of the Andronovo culture (c. 1700-1400 BC) in the Ural-Kazakh steppe. Tin-bronze ornaments, in particular, were exchanged between eastern and western mobile communities over a considerable distance, through the mechanism of pastoral seasonal movements.

In conclusion, traditional views of diffusion and provenance theories cannot be uncritically applied to the inception of ancient metallurgy in the Eurasian steppe. Mobile pastoralists developed multi-regional production hubs based on the accessibility of ore resources and the variations in subsistence strategies. Although steppe metalwork revealed some technological borrowings from settled communities, steppe peoples had transformed them into locally adapted products that could fit into their socio-economic systems. That is, when dealing with the issues of Eurasian metallurgy, we should acknowledge the complexity of human engagement with metal and look into subtler differences in cultural context, landscape, and ideology.

Recent Advances in the Scientific Research on Ancient Glass and Glaze

Editors:
Qinghui Li, Julian Henderson

Publisher:
Hackensack, N.J.: World Century

Publishing Date:
April, 2016

Abstract:

The aim of the book is to report the recent research development of ancient glass and glazing technology and the historical–cultural exchange of the East and West along the Silk and Steppe Roads. The contents of this book are dedicated to promote the exchanges between researchers in both social and scientific fields.

The scope of this book includes the new archaeological findings of ancient glass and faience in the world, the relationship of glassmaking with glazing technology, the development and application of modern techniques used for the characterization of ancient glass and glaze, compound colorants/opacifiers among ancient glass, the early exchanges of culture and techniques used between China and elsewhere along the Silk and Steppe Roads, and so on.


Contents:

The Ancient Glass Road: The Cultural and Technical Exchange of Chinese Glass and Faience with Outside China before the Han Dynasty (200 B.C.) (Fuxi Gan)

Glass Provenance along the Silk Road: The Use of Trace Element Analysis (J Henderson, S Chenery, J Kröger and E W Faber)

Travels of Glass Vessels along the Maritime Silk Road (Brigitte Borell)

Chemical Composition of Glass Beads Excavated from Kofun (ca. AD 2nd to 7th c.) in Western Japan by Portable XRF Showing Glass Trade among Asian Countries (Izumi Nakai and Junko Shirataki)

Potash Glass: A View from South and Southeast Asia (Laure Dussubieux)

Archaeological and Technical Study of Western Han Dynasty Lead Barium Glass Chimes (Bian Qing) Unearthed from the Jiangdu King's Mausoleum (Qinghui Li, Zebin Li and Donghong Gu)

Study of Byodoin Temple Glass: Discoveries in Japan of Small, Free-Blown Glass Vessels with Lids from the Byodoin Temple and Other Sites from the Heian Period (794–1192) (Akiko Inoue, Junko Shirataki and Izumi Nakai)

Chemical Analysis of Tang Dynasty Glass Vessels Unearthed from the Underground Palace of the Famen Temple Using a Portable XRF Spectrometer (Qinghui Li, Jie Jiang, Xinling Li, Song Liu, Donghong Gu, Julian Henderson and Junqing Dong)

Chemical and Lead Isotope Analysis of Glass Wares Found in Lijiaba Site, Yunyang County, Chongqing City (Jianfeng Cui, Deyun Zhao, Wei Huang and Yuanhong He)

Scientific Analysis of a Glass Vessel and an Eye Bead from the Zhagunluke and the Shanpula Sites from the Overland Southern Line of the Silk Road (Qian Cheng, Jinlong Guo, Bo Wang and Jianfeng Cui)

Early Byzantine Glass Supply and Consumption: The Case of Dichin, Bulgaria (Thomas Smith, Julian Henderson and Edward W Faber)

Glass Corrosion: Issues and Approaches for Archaeological Science (Nikolaos Zacharias and Eleni Palamara)

Raman Identification of Glassy Matrices in Ancient Glasses from China (Hongxia Zhao and Qinghui Li)

Scientific Analysis of Ancient Glass: Answering the Questions and Questioning the Answers (J W Lankton, B Gratuze, K Tantrakarn, Q H Li and S Liu)

Scientific Research on the Earliest Chinese Glazed Pottery (Junqing Dong, Fuxi Gan, Xiaowei Xia, Qinghui Li, Song Liu and Donghong Gu)

A Study of the Diverse Origins and Primary Development of Chinese High Temperature Porcelain Glazes (Juan Wu, Maolin Zhang, Junming Wu, Qijiang Li, Jiazhi Li and Zequn Deng)

Tracing the Origin and Evolution of White Porcelain in Ancient China (Weidong Li, Xiaoke Lu,, Hongjie Luo, Zhiwen Zhao and Xinmin Sun)

A New Method of Identifying the Flux in Ancient Chinese High Fired Glaze — Sr Isotopic Composition Analysis (Hongjiao Ma, Julian Henderson and Jane Evans)

Research on Glaze-Coloring Mechanism of the Light Sky-blue Series of Ancient Jun Guan Porcelains using Modern Analysis Techniques (Guoxia Li, H W Sun, R W Li, X L Zhang, W J Zhao, W J Zhao, Y Yang, W Li and M M Cai)

Preliminary Studies Based on the Chemical Analysis of Colorful Glazed Pottery Unearthed from Tombs of Yue State at Hongshan Site (Xiaowei Xia, Qing Wang, Qinghui Li, Song Liu and Donghong Gu)

Characterization of the Ancient Glaze Used in Different Types of Ceramics from the Huangye Kiln Site in Gongyi County Using OCT Technique (Junqing Dong, Xin Yan, Qinghui Li, Musen Guo and Yongqing Hu)

Chemical Analysis of Ceramics Unearthed from the Huangye Kiln Site in Henan Province Using a Portable XRF Spectrometer (Song Liu, Yongqing Hu, Musen Guo, Dong Junqing and Qinghui Li)

Microstructure and Composition of Ancient Chinese Octagonal Sticks from the Warring States Period (475–221 B.C.) (Qinglin Ma, Zhiguo Zhang, David A Scott, Heinz Berke and Detlef Günther)

Chinese Blue and Chinese Purple in Copper Tinted Lead Barium Glass Produced During Firing Experiments (Ying Qin, Shicai Li, Xi Chen and Huang Huang)

A Study of Simulation of the Production Technology of Ancient Chinese Blue and Purple Faience During the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties (Mo Li, Julin Wang and Qinglin Ma)

Production Technology of Faience Beads from Peng State Cemetery, 
Shanxi Province, China (Zhou Gu, Jian Zhu, Yaoting Xie, Tiqiao Xiao, Changsui Wang and Yimin Yang)


Scientific Analysis of Natural Glasses (Fuxi Gan Hongxia Zhao and Zhenqi Xu)

Astronomy and Calendars - The Other Chinese Mathematics: 104 BC - AD 1644

Authors:
Martzloff, Jean-Claude

Publication Date:
September 2, 2016

Publisher:
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Abstract:

Presented from the viewpoint of the history of mathematics, this book explores both epistemological aspects of Chinese traditional mathematical astronomy and lunisolar calendrical calculations. The following issues are addressed: (1) connections with non-Chinese cultural areas; (2) the possibility or impossibility of using mathematics to predict astronomical phenomena, a question that was constantly raised by the Chinese from antiquity through medieval times; (3) the modes of representation of numbers, and in particular the zero, found in the context of Chinese calendrical calculations; and (4) a detailed analysis of lunisolar calendrical calculations. Fully worked-out examples and comparisons between the results of calculations and the content of Chinese historical calendars from various periods are provided.

Traditional Chinese calendrical and mathematical astronomy consists of permanently reformed mathematical procedures designed to predict, but not explain, phenomena pertaining to astronomy and related areas. Yet, despite appearances, models of the mathematical techniques hidden behind this voluminous corpus reveal that they depend on a limited number of clear-cut mathematical structures. Although only a small fraction of these techniques have been fully studied, what is known surprisingly broadens our knowledge of the history of Chinese mathematics.

Sinologists interested in the history of Chinese science, and anyone interested in the history of Chinese mathematics, the Chinese calendar, and the history of Chinese mathematical astronomy from its origin (104 BC) to its European reform (AD 1644) will find this book very useful. The present English language edition is a fully revised and updated version of the French original. Even though this is a research monograph in sinology, no particular sinological background is required, although a basic understanding of ‘concrete mathematics’ is needed.

Table of contents:

Part I Chinese Astronomical Canons and Calendars
      II Calculations
      III Examples of Calculations
Appendix
Bibliography

Ancient Chinese Encyclopedia of Technology: Translation and Annotation of Kaogong ji (the Artificers' Record) 考工記

Author:
Jun Wenren

Publication Year:
2012

Publisher:
Routledge

Abstract:

This book presents the first translation into English of the full text of the Kaogong ji. This classic work, described by the great scholar of the history of Chinese science and technology Joseph Needham as "the most important document for the study of ancient Chinese technology", dates from the fifth century BC and forms part of the Zhouli (The Rites of the Zhou Dynasty), one of the great Confucian classics. The text itself describes the techniques of working and the technologies used by over twenty different kinds of craftsmen and artificers, such as metal workers, chariot makers, weapon makers, music instrument makers, potters and master builders. This edition, besides providing the full text in English, also provides a substantial introduction and other supporting explanatory material, over one hundred illustrations of ancient Chinese artefacts, and the original Chinese text itself.

Table of Contents:

PART I --

1. Opening paragraphs --
2. Wheelwrights (lunren) --
3. Chariot-basket makers (yuren) --
4. Pole makers (zhouren) --
5. Metal workers (gong jin zhi gong) --
6. Forging founders (zhushi), smelting founders (yeshi), and sword smiths      (taoshi) --
7. Bell founders (fushi) --
8. Measure makers (lishi), plough makers (duanshi) (lost) --
9. Cuirass makers (hanren) --
10. Skinners (baoren) --
11. Drum makers (yunren), tanners (weishi) (lost), and furriers (qiushi) (lost) --
12. Painters (huaren), embroiderers (huiren) --
13. Feather dyers (zhongshi), silk printers (kuangren) (lost) --
14. Silk cleaners (huangshi) --

PART II --

15. Jade makers (yuren), comb makers (jieren) (lost), and carvers (diaoren) (lost) --
16. Stone-chime makers (qingshi) --
17. Arrow makers (shiren) --
18. Potters (taoren), proto-porcelain makers (fangren) --
19. Cabinet makers (ziren) --
20. Weapon-handle makers (luren) --
21. Master-builders, builders, and carpenters (jiangren) --
22. Cartwrights (cheren) --
23. Bow makers (gongren).

Picturing Technology in China: From Earliest Times to the Nineteenth Century

Author: 
Peter J. Golas

Publisher: 
HKU Press

Publication Date:
2015. 1

Abstract:
Although the history of technological and scientific illustrations is a well-established field in the West, scholarship on the much longer Chinese experience is still undeveloped. This work by Peter Golas is a short, illustrated overview tracing the subject to pre-Han inscriptions but focusing mainly on the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. His main theme is that technological drawings developed in a different way in China from in the West largely because they were made by artists rather than by specialist illustrators or practitioners of technology. He examines the techniques of these artists, their use of painting, woodblock prints and the book, and what their drawings reveal about changing technology in agriculture, industry, architecture, astronomical, military, and other spheres.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction

1.  Early Graphics in China
- Pictorial Writing
- Geometrical Designs
- From Ornament to Narrative: Warring States and Han Illustrations
- Early Farming Paintings

2.  Han to Tang: Realism on the Rise
- Aesthetics and Realism to the Fore
- Scale Drawing and Perspective
- The Dominance of Brush and Line
- Models, Automata, and Technological Drawing
- The Advent of Woodblock Printing

3.  Song and Yuan: A Golden Age
- Ruled-line Painting and Its Critics
- Government, Printing, and Technological Representations
- The Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques (Wujing zongyao)
- The New Armillary Sphere and Celestial Globe System Essentials (Xinyixiang fayao)
- The Building Standards (Yingzao fashi)
- The Pictures of Tilling and Weaving (Geng zhi tu)
- The Agricultural Treatise (Nongshu) of Wang Zhen

4.  The New Confucian Paradigm
- Realism in Retreat
- Elite Dominance of Painting
- "Historical" Painting
- Philosophic Contributions to the New Painting Aesthetic
- Painting and Calligraphy

5.  Late Ming and The Exploitation of the Works of Nature
- The Exploitation of the Works of Nature: A Culmination of Sorts
- Song Yingxing and His World
- Book Illustration in the Late Ming
- Why This Work?
- Assessing the Illustrations
- Production Challenges
- The Later History of the Illustrations

6.  Qing Developments: Roads Not Taken
- The Seventeenth-Century Transition
- The Jesuit Contribution and Its Limited Impact
- A Qualified Last Hurrah for Realism: Architectural Painting in the Qing

Closing Comments
- Non-technological Aims in Portrayals of Technology
- Pre-eminence of Agriculture and Human Inputs
- Underrepresented Technologies
- The Absence of Standards for Technical Drawing
- The Role of Government Workshops
- Maturity or Stagnation?

Bibliography
Index