I ordered this to burn some credits and to take to the book truck in the lobby of the VA Hospital as there often are two hundred fiction on offer and only three or so non-fiction books on offer. As to be expected from this author, it is well researched and well written. The protagonist, Mr. Needham was in country often enough to become an 'old China hand' and the book gives justice to his partner Lu Gwen-djen. Although written in a very readable style, readers without a considerable interest in acamedicians of China likely will pass on this detailed biography.
Professor Needham gained a room at Cambridge University that he occupied for decades, but he had arrived in China in 1943 as a diplomat. As such, he was able to obtain admittance to the Dunhuang caves in Turkestan. Wang Yuanlu, a Daoist monk, found a sealed grotto stuffed with well preserved documents and Sir Aurel Stein (knighted in 1912 for his services to Archaeology), who was collecting for the British Museum, bought 500 cubic feet of material for 220 pounds Sterling in 1907. This remote locale was once on the Silk Road and visited by traveling monks who often left a scroll or two. Thus it might be determined when Buddhism reached China and in fact it was here proved that China invented printing long before the West.
Much of the book shares that Needham had excellent aid in his work, detailing his personal relations. Sample: Before the Turkestan Winter set in, he sent his assistant, Huang Hsing-tsung, home to Chunking after making sure Needham would be rescued. "He was to ride the donkeys across the desert to a road where he might catch a bus, find his way by road to Lanzhou, then somehow find a an airplane bound for the capital, and once there go to Needham's office and restart the work that the boss was having to ignore--supplying universities with their various needs and ordering these goods from India." This was at a time when the Japanese occupied much of China--there was a war on.
He intended to publish a masterwork on Science and Civilisation in China. "It will be addressed, not to sinologists, nor to the general public, but to all educated people, whether themselves scientists or not, who are interested in the history of science, scientific thought, and technology, in realtion to the general history of civilisation, and especially the comparative development of Asia and Europe." It remains a work in progress, with 24 volumes published thus far.
Endnotes, some illustrations, Suggestions for Further Reading, Index.
Professor Needham gained a room at Cambridge University that he occupied for decades, but he had arrived in China in 1943 as a diplomat. As such, he was able to obtain admittance to the Dunhuang caves in Turkestan. Wang Yuanlu, a Daoist monk, found a sealed grotto stuffed with well preserved documents and Sir Aurel Stein (knighted in 1912 for his services to Archaeology), who was collecting for the British Museum, bought 500 cubic feet of material for 220 pounds Sterling in 1907. This remote locale was once on the Silk Road and visited by traveling monks who often left a scroll or two. Thus it might be determined when Buddhism reached China and in fact it was here proved that China invented printing long before the West.
Much of the book shares that Needham had excellent aid in his work, detailing his personal relations. Sample: Before the Turkestan Winter set in, he sent his assistant, Huang Hsing-tsung, home to Chunking after making sure Needham would be rescued. "He was to ride the donkeys across the desert to a road where he might catch a bus, find his way by road to Lanzhou, then somehow find a an airplane bound for the capital, and once there go to Needham's office and restart the work that the boss was having to ignore--supplying universities with their various needs and ordering these goods from India." This was at a time when the Japanese occupied much of China--there was a war on.
He intended to publish a masterwork on Science and Civilisation in China. "It will be addressed, not to sinologists, nor to the general public, but to all educated people, whether themselves scientists or not, who are interested in the history of science, scientific thought, and technology, in realtion to the general history of civilisation, and especially the comparative development of Asia and Europe." It remains a work in progress, with 24 volumes published thus far.
Endnotes, some illustrations, Suggestions for Further Reading, Index.
