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The Man Who Loved China

Page 30

by Simon Winchester


  Ginning machine, hand-cranked, and treadle

  17th century AD

  Gluten from wheat

  AD 530

  Gold, purple sheen

  200 BC

  Grafting

  AD 806

  Gravimetry

  AD 712

  Great Wall of China

  3rd century BC

  Grid technique, quantitative, used in cartography

  AD 130

  Guan xien system

  240 BC

  Gunpowder, formula for

  9th century AD

  Gunpowder, firecracker and fireworks

  12th century AD

  Gunpowder, government’s department and monopoly on

  14th century AD

  Gunpowder, used in mining

  Ming

  Handcarts

  681 BC

  Handgun

  AD 1128

  Harness, breast strap

  250 BC

  Harness, collar

  AD 477

  Helicopter top

  AD 320

  High temperatures, firing of clay at

  2nd millennium BC

  Hodometer

  110 BC

  Holing-irons

  AD 584

  “Hot streak” test

  AD 1596

  Hygrometer

  120 BC

  Indeterminate analysis

  4th century AD

  Interconversion of longitudinal and rotary motion

  AD 31

  Kite

  4th century BC

  Knife, rotary disk, for cutting jade

  12th century AD

  Lacquer

  13th century BC

  Ladders, extendable

  4th century BC

  Leeboards and centerboards

  AD 751

  Lodestone, south-pointing ladle

  AD 83

  Magic mirrors

  5th century AD

  Magic squares

  AD 190

  Magnetic declination noted

  AD 1040

  Magnetic thermoremanence and induction

  AD 1044

  Magnetic variation observed

  AD 1436

  Magnetism, used in medicine

  AD 970

  Malt sugar, production of

  1st millennium BC

  Mangonel

  4th century BC

  Maps, relief

  AD 1086

  Maps, topographical

  3rd century BC

  Masts, multiple

  3rd century AD

  Matches (nonstriking)

  AD 577

  Melodic composition

  AD 475

  Metal amalgams used to fill cavities

  AD 659

  Metals, to oxides, burning of

  5th century BC

  Metals, densities of

  3rd century AD

  Mill, wagon

  AD 340

  Mills, edge-runner

  200 BC

  Mills, edge-runner, water-power applied

  4th century AD

  Mining, square sets for

  5th century BC

  Mining, differential pressure ventilation

  5th century BC

  Mirror with “light penetration surface”

  11th century BC

  Mold board

  2nd century BC

  Mountings, vertical and horizontal

  1st century AD

  Mouth-organs

  9th century BC

  Moxibustion

  3rd century BC

  Multiple-spindle silk-twisting frame

  AD 1313

  Negative numbers, operations using

  1st century AD

  Noodles (filamentous) including bread

  AD 100

  Nova, recorded observation of

  13th century BC

  Numerical equations of higher order, solution of

  13th century AD

  Oil lamps, economic

  9th century AD

  Paktong (cupronickel)

  AD 230

  Paper (invention of)

  300 BC

  Paper, money

  9th century AD

  Paper, toilet

  AD 589

  Paper, wall

  16th century AD

  Paper, wrapping

  2nd century BC

  Parachute principle

  8th century AD

  “Pascal” triangle of binomial coefficients

  AD 1100

  Pasteurization of wine

  AD 1117

  Pearl fishing conservancy

  2nd century AD

  Pearls in oysters, artificial induction of

  AD 1086

  “Pi,” accurate estimation of

  3rd century AD

  Piece molding for casting bronze

  2nd millenium BC

  Place-value number system

  13th century BC

  Placenta used as source of estrogen

  AD 725

  Planispheres

  AD 940

  Plant protection, biological

  AD 304

  Planting in rows

  3rd century BC

  Playing cards

  AD 969

  Polar-equatorial coordinates

  1st century BC

  Polar-equatorial mounting of astronomical instruments

  AD 1270

  Porcelain

  3rd century BC

  Potassium, flame-test used in identifying

  3rd century AD

  Pound-lock canal gates

  AD 984

  Preservation of corpses

  166 BC

  Printing, bronze type

  AD 1403

  Printing, movable earthenware type on paper

  11th century AD

  Printing, multicolor

  12th century AD

  Printing, with woodblocks

  7th century AD

  Propeller oar, self-feathering

  AD 100

  Prospecting, biogeochemical

  6th century AD

  Prospecting, geological

  4th century BC

  Qin and sezither

  Recording of sun halves, parhelic specters, and Lowitz arcs

  AD 635

  Reel on fishing rod

  3rd century AD

  Refraction

  4th century BC

  Rocket arrow

  13th century AD

  Rocket arrow launchers

  AD 1367

  Rocket arrows, winged

  AD 1360

  Rockets, two-stage

  AD 1360

  Roller-harrows

  AD 880

  Rotary ballista

  AD 240

  Rotary fan

  1st century BC

  Sailing carriage

  16th century AD

  Sails, mat and batten

  1st century AD

  Salvage, underwater

  AD 1064

  Seawalls

  AD 80

  Seed, pretreatment of

  1st century BC

  Seed drill, multiple-tube

  AD 155

  “Seedling horse”

  11th century AD

  Seismograph

  AD 132

  Ships, construction principle of

  1st century BC

  Ships, paddle-wheel

  5th century AD

  Silk, earliest spinning of

  2850 BC

  Silk reeling machine

  AD 1090

  Silk warp doubling and throwing frame

  10th century AD

  Sluices

  3rd century BC

  Sluices, riffles added to

  11th century AD

  Smallpox, inoculation against

  10th century AD

  Smokescreens

  AD 178

  Snow crystals, six-sided symmetry of
r />   135 BC

  Soil science (ecology)

  5th century BC

  South-pointing carriage

  AD 120

  Soybean, fermented

  200 BC

  Sprouts, for medicinal and nutritional purposes

  2nd century BC

  Spindle wheel

  5th century BC

  Spindle wheel, multiple spindle

  11th century AD

  Spindle wheel, treadle-operated

  1st century AD

  Spooling frame

  AD 1313

  Square pallet chain pump

  AD 186

  Stalactites and stalagmites, records of

  4th century BC

  Stars, proper motion of

  AD 725

  Steamers, pottery

  5th millenium BC

  Steel production, cofusion method of

  6th century AD

  Sterilization by steaming

  AD 980

  Steroids, urinary

  AD 1025

  Still, Chinese-type

  7th century AD

  Stirrup

  AD 300

  Stringed instruments

  9th century BC

  Tea, as drink

  2nd century BC

  Thyroid treatment

  1st century BC

  Tian yuan algebraic notation

  AD 1248

  Tilt-hammer, water-powered spoon

  AD 1145

  Toothbrush

  9th century AD

  Trebuchet (simple)

  4th century BC

  Trip hammers

  2nd century BC

  Trip hammers, water-powered

  AD 20

  Vinegar

  2nd century BC

  Water mills, geared

  3rd century AD

  Waterwheel, horizontal

  AD 31

  Weather vane

  120 BC

  Wet copper method

  11th century AD

  Wheelbarrow, centrally mounted

  30 BC

  Wheelbarrow, with sails

  6th century AD

  Windlass, well

  120 BC

  Windows, revolving

  5th century BC

  Winnowing machine

  1st century BC

  Wu tong black palatinated copper

  15th century AD

  Zoetrope

  AD 180

  Appendix II: States, Kingdoms, and Dynasties of China (Principal Unified States in Capitals)

  Xia Kingdom

  2000–1520 BC

  Shang Kingdom

  1520–1027 BC

  Western Zhou

  1027–771 BC

  Eastern Zhou

  771–221 BC

  FIRST UNIFICATION

  QIN

  221–207 BC

  WESTERN HAN

  206 BC–AD 9

  Xin interregnum

  AD 9–25

  EASTERN HAN

  AD 25–220

  First partition

  Three Kingdoms

  AD 220–265

  SECOND UNIFICATION

  WESTERN JIN

  AD 265–316

  EASTERN JIN

  AD 317–420

  Second partition

  Southern Song

  AD 420–478

  Southern Qi

  AD 479–501

  Southern Liang

  AD 502–556

  Southern Chen

  AD 557–588

  Northern Wei

  AD 386–553

  Eastern Wei

  AD 534–549

  Western Wei

  AD 535–557

  Northern Qi

  AD 550–577

  Northern Zhou

  AD 577–588

  THIRD UNIFICATION

  SUI

  AD 580–618

  TANG

  AD 618–907

  Third partition

  Five Dynasties

  AD 907–960

  Ten Kingdoms

  AD 907–979

  FOURTH UNIFICATION

  SONG

  AD 960–1279

  LIAO

  AD 916–1125

  WESTERN XIA

  AD 1038–1227

  JIN (Tartar)

  AD 1115–1234

  YUAN (Mongol)

  AD 1279–1368

  MING

  AD 1368–1644

  QING

  AD 1644–1911

  REPUBLIC OF CHINA

  AD 1911–1949

  PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC

  AD 1949–PRESENT

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  My first thanks must go to Mike McCabe of Salisbury, Connecticut, who in 1995 sold me my first book from the Science and Civilisation in China series. It was a secondhand copy of Volume IV, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics; and the fact that his Lion’s Head Books—a store now long defunct and still greatly missed—had the book in stock and priced very nearly affordably allowed me to snap it up on impulse, to read it outside in the store’s parking lot, and to be rendered instantly enthralled by the sweep and scope of the mind behind it—the extraordinary mind of Joseph Needham.

  The Needham Research Institute in Cambridge—where the ashes of Joseph, Dophi, and Gwei-djen, now commingled by time, lie beneath a tree in the gardens—is the present-day keeper of the flame, and I owe the very greatest of thanks to its director, Professor Christopher Cullen, who made me most welcome and allowed me full access to all those papers and artifacts that did not happen to be held in the immense collection of Needham documents across Grange Road in the Cambridge University Library. John Moffett, the NRI’s librarian, was also tirelessly helpful; both he and Dr. Cullen read the first draft of the typescript and each made many valuable suggestions. I hope that what appears now meets with their approval; should any errors of fact or judgment either remain or have crept in, they are my responsibility alone.

  I wish to record my thanks also to the institute’s longtime administrator, Sue Bennett, as well as to archivist Joanne Meek; former director Ho Peng Yoke; and Sir Geoffrey Lloyd, scholar-in-residence and onetime chairman of the East Asian History of Science Trust, which generally oversees the institute. Lady Pamela Youde, who is the widow of the fondly remembered governor of Hong Kong, Sir Edward Youde, and who succeeded Sir Geoffrey as chairman of the trustees, was also extremely supportive.

  At Caius College, Cambridge, I wish to record my thanks to the Master—and former British ambassador to China—Sir Christopher Hum; to Yao Ling, the college president; to Iain Macpherson, a fellow of Caius, a longtime friend of Needham’s and executor of his estate; the distinguished fellows Mikulas Teich, Anthony Edwards, John Robson, and Jimmy Altham; the historian and archivist Christopher Brooke; and the college librarian Mark Statham. While I worked in Cambridge, the Master of Darwin College, Professor William Brown, placed rooms, as well as dining and research facilities, at my disposal, for which I am most grateful.

  I should like to thank the unfailingly helpful staff of the Documents Room at the University Library, Cambridge; I was also ably assisted here by Helen Scales, a marine scientist and expert on seahorses, who took time out from her own work and very kindly sought out some much-needed Needham papers for me; and by my son Rupert, who helped as he so often does with my book projects, in this case by sedulously transcribing scores of pages from Needham’s China diaries.

  Staff at the China offices of the British Council were perhaps naturally predisposed to help a visitor who was researching the life and work of their most distinguished predecessor, who happened to be first-ever council officer based in the Middle Kingdom: So I was assisted generally by Michael O’Sullivan and Robin Rickard in the Beijing headquarters, and later and more especially, by David Foster and his delightful wife, Connie Lau, in Chongqing. The British consul-general at Chongqing, Tim Summers, together with his wife, Lucy Chan, proved the most hospitable of guides. Peter Bloor in the council’s
London offices also looked up some valuable archival material for me.

 

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