Remembering Our Grand Tradition: The Historical Memory of the Scientific Exchanges between China and Europe,1600–1800

Latour Bruno , Science in action (Cambridge, 1987), 1–17.

This is particularly true in textbook history of science see: Kuhn Thomas , The structure of scientific revolutions (Chicago, 1957), 137–8.

By no means do I claim that this is the only form for writing the history of science. For instance, the writings of the history of astronomy operated in a very different milieu before Kepler, so different that Jardine has called them “prefatory histories” of astronomy, see: Jardine N. , The birth of history and philosophy of science: Kepler's defence of Tycho against Ursus with essays on its provenance and significance (Cambridge, 1984), 258–86. The dominance of Whiggish history of science has something to do both with the fact that science has come to be a dominant cultural form, and with the dominance of scientists as a social group in modern society.

Chourenzhuan was probably published in 1810, see: Zuohua Fu , “Chourenzhuan yanjiu” (“On Chourenzhuan“) in Rongzhao Mei (ed.), Ming-Qing shuxueshi lunwenji (Nanjing, 1990), 219–60. For an earlier study of the Chourenzhuan see Porter Jonathan , “The scientific community in early modern China”, Isis, lxxiii (1982), 529–44.

Tai Tan , “Chourenjie” (“An explication of the meaning of chouren“) in Yuan Ruan , Chourenzhuan (Taipei, 1982), 1–4.

Pingyi Chu , “Scientific dispute in the imperial court: The 1664 calendar case”, Chinese science, xiv (1997), 7–34; Yi-Long Huang , “Court divination and Christianity in the K'ang-hsi era”, transl. by Sivin Nathan , Chinese science, x (1991), 1–20; Shuangcheng An , 'Tang rouwang an shimo” (“The Adam Schall case”), Lishi dang'an, iii (1992), 79–87.

Ruan , Chourenzhuan (ref. 5), 586.

Ibid., 568.

Ibid., “Preface”, 1–2.

Ibid., “Preface”, 1–2.

Ibid. , “General guideline”, 1. What Ruan had failed to acknowledge is the Jesuits' participation and contributions in the Shuli Jingyu whose contents were mainly Western mathematics and astronomy.

Ibid., 1–2.

Ibid. Ever since Adam Schall had taken over the Bureau of Astronomy in 1644, the missionaries had basically transformed the Bureau into a church. After the missionaries were vindicated in 1669, nothing could stop this trend. See: Qi Han , “The role of the Directorate of Astronomy in the Catholic mission during the Qing period”, in Golvers Noël (ed.), The Christian mission in China in the Verbiest era: Some aspects of the missionary approach (Leuven, 1999), 85–95.

Li refers to the ultimate truth that governs natural and moral phenomenon. After the eleventh century, li had become the core concept in Neo-Confucianism.

Ruan , “General guideline”, Chourenzhuan (ref. 5), 1–2.

Ibid., 553.

Ibid., 554. Sivin Nathan , “Copernicus in China”, Studia Copernicana, vi (1973), 63–103.

“Evidential studies” (kaozheng) refers to the textual scholarship that emerged after the mid-seventeenth century, aiming at deciphering the true meaning of Confucian classics and other classical texts by collecting and generating evidence from all kinds of available textual analytical knowledge, such as phonology, etymology, and philology.

Elman Benjamin , From philosophy to philology (Cambridge, 1984), 172–98, 203–7.

Shih-Lin Lo , Xu choujenchuan (Sequel of choujenchuan), in Yuan Ruan , Chourenzhuan (ref. 5), 646.

Daxin Qian , Qianyantangji (Collected essays from the hall of concentrated study) (Shanghai, 1989), 197–231.

Daxin Qian , “Pa (Afterword)”, to Budeyi (I can not do otherwise) by Yang Guangxian, in Xiangxiang Wu (ed.), Tianzhujiao dongchuan wenxian xubian (Supplement to the documents of Christianity coming to the East), iii (Taipei, 1965), 1301.

Ruan , Chourenzhuan (ref. 5), 521.

Ibid., 483.

Qian , Qianyantangji (ref. 21), 320.

Keizō Hashimoto , “Bai Buntei no rekisangaku” (“Mei Wending's Calendrical Studies”), Tōhōgaku hō, xli (1970), 514–16.

Wending Mei , Jixuetang wenchao (Collected poems and essays from the hall of accumulating learning) (woodblock printing, 1752), 2: 3b–6b.

Wending Mei , Jixuetang wenchao (ref. 27), 5: 5a.

Wending Mei , “Lixue yiwenbu” (“Supplement to the questions on calendrical learning”), in Lisuan quanshu (Complete works on mathematics and astronomy), Siku quanshu (Complete collection of the four treasuries), dccxciv (Taipei, 1983–86), 78.

Wending Mei , Jixuetang wenchao (ref. 27), ii, 1a–7b; “Lixue dawen” (“Questions and answers on the calendrical learning”), in Siku quanshu , dccxciv (ref. 29), 91–93; Yungtang Zhang , Mingmo qingchu lixue yu koxue guanxi zailun (“Reinvestigating the relationship between lixue and science in late Ming and Early Qing”) (Taipei, 1994), 265–73.

Yungtang Zhang , Mingmo qingchu lixue yu koxue guanxi zailun (ref. 30), 272–3.

Elman , From philosophy to philology (ref. 19), 27–29.

Wending Mei , “Lixue yiwenbu” (ref. 29), 55–56.

For an introduction to these two theories see: Needham Joseph Ling Wang , Science and civilization in China, iii: Mathematics and the science of heaven and earth (Cambridge, 1959), 210–19.

Wending Mei , “Lixue yiwenbu” (ref. 29), 56, 59–62. Using the astrolabe as the instrument of the gaitian theory was Li Chizao's idea. Mei cited many passages of Li's preface to the Hunhai tongxian tushuo (“On plotting the coordinates of the celestial sphere and vault”).

Xiaoyuan Jiang , “Shilun Qingdai xixuezhongyuan shuo” (“On the theory of the Chinese origins of Western learning”), Ziran kexueshi yanjiu, vii (1988), 101–8.

Wending Mei , “Lixue yiwenbu” (ref. 29), 565–7. In Mei's preface to his Bisuan (Pen calculation), written in 1693, he had already expressed the idea that Western mathematics had originated from Chinese sages. This idea can be found scattered throughout his other works but not until he wrote Lixue yiwenbu did he “figure” out the details of the transmission.

Wending Mei , “Lixue yiwenbu” (ref. 29), 67–69.

Ibid., 63.

Wending Mei , “Lixue pianzhi” (“Superfluousness of the calendrical learning”), in Siku quanshu, dccxciv (ref. 29), 537. Many scholars considered the first Emperor of the Qin as the culprit responsible for the discontinuity of Chinese astronomy and mathematics during the end of the Ming and early Qing.

Wending Mei , Jixuetang wenchao (ref. 27), 2: 22b–24a; 3: 36a.

Wending Mei , “Lixue yiwenbu” (ref. 29), 6.

Wending Mei , “Lixue pianzhi” (ref. 40), 6–7.

Ever since the Western missionaries entered China in the mid-sixteenth century, the nature of the Chinese rites of ancestor veneration and the worship of Confucius had been subjected to vehement debates among different groups of Catholic missions. The controversy over Chinese ritual practices reached its climax when a Pope's Legate arrived in China in 1705 to see that the Pope's prohibition of Chinese rites was being followed. On learning the Legate's mission, the Kangxi emperor was furious, deported the Legate, and asked the missionaries to affirm their loyalty. In 1717, Kangxi further prohibited proselytism. Jenkins Robert , The Jesuits in China and the legation of Cardinal de Tournon (London, 1894).

Jami Catherine , “The Yu zhi shu li jing yun and mathematics during the Kangxi Reign”, in Ts'ui-Hua Yang Yi-Long Huang (eds), Qindai Zhongguo kejishilunji (Science and technology in modern China) (Taipei, 1991), 160–2.

Henderson John , “Ch'ing scholars' views of Western astronomy”, Harvard journal of Asian studies, xlvi (1986), 121–48; Xiaoyuan Jiang , “Shilun Qingdai xixuezhongyuan shuo” (ref. 36), 101–2; and Dun Liu , “Qingchu minzu suchao de shanbian ji qi dui Qingdai tianwen shuxue de yingxiang” (“Impacts of ethnic discourse upon astronomy and mathematics in the Early Qing”), Ziran Bianzhengfa tongxun, xiii/3 (1991), 42–48.

Xiaoyuan Jiang , “Shilun Qingdai xixuezhongyuan shuo” (ref. 36), 101.

Ibid., 102–3.

Yue Xuan , “Sanjiaoxing tuisuanfa lun” (“Discourse upon the method of triangular calculation”), Kangxiti yuzhi wenji (Collected essays of the Kangxi emperor), iii (Taipei, 1966), 1623–5.

Schall Adam , “Lifa xichuan” (“Western astronomical legacy”), in Siku quanshu, dcclxxxix, 768–69.

Changchi Xu (ed.), Shengchao poxieji (Collected essays of rebutting the evil teachings in our august dynasty) (Kyoto, 1972), xiv, 11479–86.

Guangqi Xu , “Preface”, to Tongwen suanzhi (Mathematical essentials east and west), in Ni Liu (ed.), Tianxue jijie (Collective interpretations to the learning from heaven) (manuscript), 7: 51a–53a.

In addition to Xu Guangqi, Li Zhicao also expressed the same opinion.

Guangqi Xu , “Preface”, to the Elements, in Ni Liu (ed.), Tianxue jijie (ref. 52), 7: 37b–38a; Tingyun Yang , “Preface” to Tongwen suanzhi, ibid., 48b–49a.

Zhengshi Kuo , “Preface” to Tianwen lue, ibid., 8a–9a.

Ming-Ke Wang , “Lishi wenxian de jiyi canyu penzhi yu yili yenjiu: Yige kaoguxue de yinyu” (“Remains of memory as the nature of historical documents and the studies of anomaly: A metaphor from archeology”), in Zhonghua Minguoshi zhuanti lenyuji disijie taolunhui (Taipei, 1998), 27–50.

For the situation in the Astronomical Bureau in the early Qing, see Huang Yi-Long , “Qingchu tianzhujiao yu huijiao tianwenjia de zhengdou” (“The struggle between Christian and Muslim astronomers in the early Qing”), Chiu-chou hsüeh-k'an, v/3 (1993), 47–69.