ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Science, Knowledge, and Technology in Modern China: Vernacularization and Global Diffusion

Session Submission Type: Organized Session

English Abstract

The science introduced to China in the mid-19th century had a great impact on China, but China did not play a completely passive role in the process of accepting European science but adjusted the science to make it localized. Yibing Qian’ s research focuses on the compromise of science when it is introduced into China. Taking the Shanghai Museum (R.A.S.) as an example, she reveals how scientific knowledge constantly adjusts its role to meet the conditions of survival in China. Both Ming Chen’ s and Xudong Liu’ s research focuses on describing the tension between science and China’ s traditional knowledge. Ming Chen’ s research centers on the knowledge sources of Xiyao Dacheng, focuses on the translation and introduction of Western pharmaceutical knowledge in China, and argues that this process exemplifies the intricate nature of pharmaceutical knowledge production and cross-cultural exchange during a period of significant transition. Xudong Liu uses the debate over “Making Chinese Medicine Scientific” as an example to illustrate how “science” is understood and explained differently among groups with different claims. While European science entered China, China’ s science and technology also spread abroad, becoming a part of the globalization of science. Shujian Zhang’ s research examines the dissemination and application of acupuncture across- cultural contexts. Using Jules Cloquet’ s practice in French hospitals as a case study, he traces the spread of acupuncture throughout France during 19th-century. Liang Wan’ s research discusses the role of acupuncture in China’ s medical aid to Tanzania during the 1960s-1980s, providing a typical case for understanding the spread of acupuncture in Africa and its political role. These reports will show that localization and globalization are two indispensable perspectives to study the history of science. Its can enrich the details of our study of the history of science.

Sub Unit

• Organized Session

Chair

• Bridie Andrews, Bentley University

Commentator

• Xi Gao, Fudan University

Individual Presentations

• Science, Commerce, and Education: The Transformation of the Shanghai Museum (R.A.S.), 1874–1948 - Yibing Qian, Zhejiang Normal University

• The Transmission of Modern Eurasian Materia Medica Knowledge: A Focus on the Xiyao Dacheng - Ming CHEN, The School of Foreign Languages, Peking University

• What is “science”? The differing interpretations of “Making Chinese Medicine Scientific” in Republican China(1911-1949) - Xudong Liu, Fudan University

• Acupuncture Practices in 19th-Century French Hospitals - Shujian Zhang, Acupuncture Institute, CACMS

• Rural Health, Self-Reliance, and Its Limit: The History of Acupuncture as “Socialist Medicine” in Tanzania 1960s–1980s - Liang Wan, University of Vienna

Session Organizer

• Xudong Liu, Fudan University