Treccani History of Science
Science in China
B3 – Ming (1368-1644): Towards an international community
Edited by Karine Chemla, Francesca Bray, George Métailié
Introduction
The Ming dynasty: General aspects
• 1. History, politics and institutions
• 2. Economy, demography and society
• 3. Ming China and the outside world
The intellectual context
• 1. Intellectual trends
• 2. The example of Zhu Zaiyu
The milieux of scientific activity in Ming China
• 1. Sites of intellectual activity
• 2. The Court
• 3. The Yamen
• 4. The study society and the academy
• 5. The household
• 6. The workshop
Education, society and examinations
• 1. Educational ideals in Ming China
• 2. The transition from Song to Ming
• 3. The Ming civil service examinations
• 4. Political and social reproduction
• 5. Cultural reproduction
Production, circulation and management of writings
• 1. New types of books
• 2. Illustration and layout
• 3. Public and private edition
• 4. Private libraries and publishing
Mathematics and astronomy
• 1. Loss of knowledge of mathematics and astronomy
• 2. A work for the popularization of mathematics: Cheng Dawei’s General origins of mathematical methods
• 3. Abacus
• 4. Introduction of Western mathematics in China in the 17th Century
• 5. First reactions to the Western astronomy
Mapping China
• 1. Map consciousness in Ming China
• 2. Private property maps and State property maps
• 3. Geomantic maps
• 4. County maps
• 5. Route maps and defence maps
• 6. National maps
Agriculture
• 1. Agricultural involution?
• 2. Raising output
• 3. State, market and knowledge
• 4. Local and practical knowledges
Medicine
• 1. Medicine in Ming society
• 2. Publishing and currents of thought in Ming medicine
• 3. Late Imperial perspectives on medical cosmology and the body
Some views on the natural world
• 1. Observation of things and search for their principle
• 2. Use to survive or heal oneself
• 3. Encyclopaedic, anecdotal and technical writings
• 4. Monographs
Views on technology
• 1. Firearms
• 2. Sugar
China and its neighbourgs
• 1. Japan
• 2. Korea: a survey
• 3. Vietnam