The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist

by Simon Winchester

  Professor Gregory Blue, who teaches world history at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, served as Joseph Needham’s personal assistant in Cambridge through most of the 1980s; the advice and assistance he offered to me was quite invaluable, as was his hospitality when I traveled to Victoria.

  H. T. Huang, who was Needham’s secretary and long-suffering travel companion during most of his wartime years in China, offered much help and advice from his present home in Alexandria, Virginia. His own long life—with its interludes as escapee, refugee, distinguished scholar, and science policy maker—could well be the subject of a fascinating book. I greatly enjoyed meeting him in Washington and listening to his reminiscences.

  Red Chan, who teaches at the Centre for Translation Studies at the University of Warwick, accompanied me on all my journeys throughout China, acting most ably as translator and general fixer. I am greatly indebted to her.

  I should also like to record my gratitude to the following, who had specific knowledge of aspects of Needham’s life, or of China, and who were happy to share their knowledge or advice: Paul Aiello (Hong Kong), Robert Bickers (Bristol), Anne-Marie Brady (Canterbury, New Zealand), Francesca Bray (Edinburgh), Tom Buchanan (Oxford), Daniel Burton-Rose (Berkeley), Eric Danielson (Shanghai), Alan Donald (London), Ryan Dunch (Alberta), Gisele Edwards (London), Stephen Endicott (Toronto), Daniel Fertig (Hong Kong), Stephen Forge (Oundle), Edward Hammond (The Sunshine Project, Austin, Texas), May Holdsworth (London), Elisabeth Hsu (Oxford), John Israel (Kunming), Ron Knapp (New Paltz, NY), William Mackay (Hong Kong), Martin Merz (Hong Kong), George Ngu (Fuzhou), Peter Nolan (Cambridge), Michael Ravnitzky (New York), Priscilla Roberts (Hong Kong), Donald Saari (Irvine, California), Elinor Shaffer (London), Michael Sharp (Cambridge), Nathan Sivin (Philadelphia), Martha Smalley (Yale), Neil Smith (Dulwich School), Rob Stallard (SACU), Michael Sullivan (Oxford), Tony Sweeting (Hong Kong), Michael Szonyi (Harvard), David Tang (Hong Kong), Robert Temple (London), Dan Waters (Hong Kong), Jocelyn Wilk (Columbia U.), George Wilson (Bloomington, Indiana), Frances Wood (British Library), Lilian Wu (Hong Kong).

  My agents—especially Suzanne Gluck of the William Morris Agency in New York, with the able assistance of Georgia Cool and Sarah Ceglarski, and together with the help of Eugenie Furniss of the William Morris office in London, championed this book from the moment they first saw it, and did much to keep my spirits high through any trying times during the writing and editing process. Sophie Purdy kindly read the first rough draft of the manuscript and identified the more egregious of the longueurs, arguing forcefully for their excision or distillation.

  In Henry Ferris I am fortunate to have one of the most robust and scrupulous editors in New York, and he managed, with just the right mix of courtesy and firmness, the delicate business of trimming and adjusting the manuscript that I first submitted. His enduring assistant, associate editor Peter Hubbard, helped also with the task of acquiring illustrations and maps: between the two of them the text was whipped into something infinitely more fit for publication than when it first arrived. Mary Mount also added the very considerable benefit of her perspective from London, and made countless suggestions for improving the text, almost all of which I was eventually very content to accept. The book drew great benefit from the work that these three performed upon it; my gratitude to them is boundless.

  SW

  SUGGESTED FURTHER READING

  The bulk of Joseph Needham’s personal papers are held at the University Library, Cambridge, where all have been cataloged and most are available for inspection. A few personal files remain closed at the discretion of the librarian until 2045. A small number of documents relating specifically to college business are held in the archives of Gonville and Caius College. Documents relating to Needham’s involvement in the Korean War are held in the library of the Imperial War Museum, London. Papers relating to the creation of the series Science and Civilisation in China are held at the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge. Cataloging was completed in July 2007. Dorothy Needham’s personal papers are held by Girton College, Cambridge.

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  ———. Science and Civilisation in China. 24 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954–2004.

  ———. The Grand Titration: Science and Society in East and West. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1969.

  ———. Within the Four Seas: The Dialogue of East and West. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1969.

  Needham, Joseph, and Dorothy Needham, eds. Science Outpost: Papers of the Sino-British Science Co-Operation Office (British Council Scientific Office in China) 1942–1946. London: Pilot, 1948.

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