Golas, Peter J.: "Picturing Technology in China: From Earliest Times to the Nineteenth Century."(Book review)

AuthorEdwards, Ronald A.

Golas, Peter J. Picturing Technology in China: From Earliest Times to the Nineteenth Century. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2015.

Readers with an interest in the history of Chinese science and technology will find Peter J. Golas' Picturing Technology in China: From Earliest Times to the Nineteenth Century a must read. Golas, a world-renowned expert on the history of the Song Dynasty, is a Professor of History at the University of Denver. Given his extensive knowledge of China's technological development, he is arguably the most knowledgeable author to write on the history of Chinese technological illustration. While many studies have dealt with European technical illustration, this is the first major systematic treatment for the case of China and is a welcome addition to the body of knowledge. For lack of evidence, Golas only briefly considers technological illustration during the pre-Song period in the first two chapters. More printed material gradually appeared with the appearance of wood block printing in the 7th century, thus allowing the author to devote greater attention to the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties in subsequent chapters.

According to Golas, the Song period is widely considered China's Golden Age in the visual portrayal of technology. In contrast, during subsequent dynasties, technological illustrations and innovations to improve their precision witnessed a decline. A major question addressed by this book is "why illustrations of technology displayed so little further development in the post-Song" period (p. xxiv). Golas suggests some plausible explanations for this decline. The Song Dynasty was also China's Golden Age in terms of technological innovation and China was the world's technological leader at that time. The Ming-Qing period witnessed very little new technological innovation. Golas notes that the decline of technological innovation likely played a role in the lack of improvement in technological illustration. He emphasizes that Neo-Confucian philosophy, which was officially adopted by the government as state ideology during the Ming Dynasty and continued throughout the Qing Dynasty, suppressed innovation.

In China, the government played a large role in the illustration of technology. Chinese government officials, who were trained to draw or paint, created the illustrations of technology. By contrast, in Europe, practitioners were the ones who created such illustrations. The Chinese government...

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