The Jesuits played an important role in the transmission of Western science and technology to China during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,though their impact on water technology has received scant attention ...The Jesuits played an important role in the transmission of Western science and technology to China during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,though their impact on water technology has received scant attention thus far.As a case in point,Sabatino de Ursis,Society of Jesus熊三拔,in collaboration with the Chinese official Xu Guangqi徐光啟,published in 1612 Hydraulic Methods of the Far West(Taixi shuifa泰西水法),the earliest book in China on Western water-lifting devices,which contained a detailed description of the Archimedean screw pump.While the impact of the Archimedean screw pump in China and Korea remained rather limited,the screw pump was used to drain water from gold mines in the Japanese Sado Island from as early as 1637.This fact became known in the West only in the very late 1800s when hand-colored picture scrolls about the Japanese gold mining process became available.These scrolls show various applications of Archimedean screw,which apparently were made according to the manufacturing instructions in Hydraulic Methods of the Far West.展开更多
This study aims to investigate the role played by Xu Guangqi (1562-1633), minister of the Ming Dynasty, in the development of European scientific and technical knowledge in China between the 16th and 17th centuries ...This study aims to investigate the role played by Xu Guangqi (1562-1633), minister of the Ming Dynasty, in the development of European scientific and technical knowledge in China between the 16th and 17th centuries by analyzing a book of Western technology that he wrote, namely, Taixi Shuifa (On Western Hydraulics). Several Western books related to machine knowledge are searched to trace the source of the illustrations in Taixi Shuifa. We found that Archimedes' screw and Ctesibius' machine, which are included in Vitruvius' De Architectura volumes, also appear in the work of Xu Guangqi.展开更多
文摘The Jesuits played an important role in the transmission of Western science and technology to China during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,though their impact on water technology has received scant attention thus far.As a case in point,Sabatino de Ursis,Society of Jesus熊三拔,in collaboration with the Chinese official Xu Guangqi徐光啟,published in 1612 Hydraulic Methods of the Far West(Taixi shuifa泰西水法),the earliest book in China on Western water-lifting devices,which contained a detailed description of the Archimedean screw pump.While the impact of the Archimedean screw pump in China and Korea remained rather limited,the screw pump was used to drain water from gold mines in the Japanese Sado Island from as early as 1637.This fact became known in the West only in the very late 1800s when hand-colored picture scrolls about the Japanese gold mining process became available.These scrolls show various applications of Archimedean screw,which apparently were made according to the manufacturing instructions in Hydraulic Methods of the Far West.
文摘This study aims to investigate the role played by Xu Guangqi (1562-1633), minister of the Ming Dynasty, in the development of European scientific and technical knowledge in China between the 16th and 17th centuries by analyzing a book of Western technology that he wrote, namely, Taixi Shuifa (On Western Hydraulics). Several Western books related to machine knowledge are searched to trace the source of the illustrations in Taixi Shuifa. We found that Archimedes' screw and Ctesibius' machine, which are included in Vitruvius' De Architectura volumes, also appear in the work of Xu Guangqi.