The Crafting of the 10,000 Things

by Schafer, Dagmar

• ISBN13: 9780226735849
• ISBN10: 0226735842
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

The last decades of the Ming dynasty, though plagued by chaos and destruction, saw major advances in knowledge and technology. Among the numerous guides and reference books that appeared during this period was a series of texts by Song Yingxing (15871666?), a minor local official living in southern China. HisTiangong kaiwu, the longest and most prominent of these works, documents the extraction and processing of raw materials, and the manufacture of goods essential to everyday life, from pearls and wine to boats, carts, and firearms. InThe Crafting of the 10,000 ThingsDagmar Schafer probes this fascinating text and the legacy of its author to shed new light on the development of scientific thinking in China, the purpose of technical writing, and its role in and effects on Chinese history. Meticulously unfolding the layers of Song's personal and cultural life, Schafer places theTiangong kaiwusquarely in its original milieuboth practically and theoreticallyand thus develops a new understanding of scientific and technological thinking. Even as she vividly sets the Chinese scene, Schafer offers incisive comparisons between seventeenth-century China and Europe. Sinologists and historians of science alike will be engrossed by this book, the first to place Song's writing in a broader context.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Knowing ôThings and Affairsö in Premodern China	p. 9
Nature, Crafts, and Knowing	p. 13
Private Affairs	p. 20
The Ming Dynasty and the Song Family	p. 24
Childhood and Education	p. 27
Driving Forces - The Appointment of Chen Qixin	p. 39
Song's Writing Campaign	p. 43
Affairs of Honor	p. 50
Knowledge in Terms of Qi: Universal Rulings and Rationality	p. 55
The Truth in Heaven and the Order of Qi	p. 70
The Power of Heaven - Omens and Eclipses	p. 76
Systems of Value: The Sage-Kings, the Authority of the Past, and Man's Role	p. 80
The Knowledge in Crafts	p. 87
Public Affairs	p. 90
Crafts and the Ming State	p. 94
Man's Nature (Xing) and Talents	p. 108
Abilities and Education	p. 115
Social Permeability and the Commercialization of Society: The Merchant	p. 120
Customs and Habits	p. 123
Written Affairs	p. 127
Rhetoric of Knowledge Inquiry: Texts and Experience	p. 132
Images, Technology, and Argument	p. 138
Observing the Nature of Qi: Theory and Practice in Knowledge Construction	p. 156
The Complexity of Qi Transformations - Composites and Compositions of Qi	p. 167
Formulating the Transformation	p. 175
Reading the Signature of Yin-Yang Qi in Gas, Salt, Wind, and Rain	p. 177
Growth and Decay: Wood, Corpses, and the Proportional Relation of Yin and Yang	p. 187
Glitches in the Matrix of Qi: The Concepts of Ashes and Particles	p. 193
Acoustics	p. 203
An Anatomy of Sound	p. 206
The Human Voice	p. 212
Volume and Velocity	p. 216
Resonance and Harmony	p. 222
Conclusion. Leaving the Theater	p. 230
Epilogue. The Aftermath	p. 241
By Virtue of Friendship: Literary Sponsorship	p. 243
By Virtue of Position: Outside and Opposition	p. 250
By Virtue of Loyalty: Moral Obligations	p. 253
An Artifact in Transmission: The Editions of the Works of Heaven	p. 258
Writing about Practical Knowledge in the Chinese Literati World	p. 262
Acknowledgments	p. 267
Chinese Dynasties and Various Rulers	p. 271
Song Yingxing Curriculum Vitae	p. 273
Editions of the Tiangong kaiwu	p. 274
Notes	p. 277
Bibliography	p. 307
Index	p. 327
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