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SCIENCE continued 5. Nautical matters and Ship building It is not generally known that from at least the 12th century through to the mid 15th century China was a great maritime power with its vessels known to have reached the Kamchatka peninsula in the North East and Madagascar to the South West by the 12th century at the latest; evidence of its seaborne trade during these centuries is abundant. Indeed quantities of its ceramic exports are found in sites as early as the 8th century AD, though at that early period it is thought that the carrying vessels were Arabian traders. Nevertheless China did have a substantial fleet of vessels from at least the 1st century BC, as a model of a galley-type vessel with 16 oars has been found in a Han tomb of 49BC, and reference is made in the Chinese histories of 1000 ships of all types, including castled ships, being involved in the destruction of a bridge and boom in Hupei in 33AD and a great expedition to Tongkin (Vietnam) in 43AD involved 2000 castled vessels. A number of subsequent battles with the Kingdom of Champa. (Southern Vietnam) are also recorded. Pan Ku writing the history of the later Han about 90AD speaks of trading voyages by the Chinese taking just over a year's duration. This is thought to refer to voyages during the 1st century BC. Archaeology seems to confirm that it is likely such missions reached the Western boundaries of the Indian Ocean at that time. The Chinese were expert builders of ships, using bulkheads and watertight compartments, which were fundamental to Chinese ship-building from an early period (derived it has plausibly been suggested from the segmented sections of the giant bamboo used in the remote past as river rafts), and fenestrated rudders, which certainly were in use by the Chinese at the latest by the-13th century. Fenestration of rudders involves having windows in the rudder to let the water through thereby reducing the resistance on the rudder, making it easier to turn the tiller and greatly increasing its efficiency. The efficiency of fenestrated rudders was probably noted by a Taoist sailor, who was fully content to follow the Daoist principle of wu wei (no action contrary to nature). It is the same principle you see in practice to-day with the anti-stalling slots in the wings of aircraft. It is known for certain that the Chinese principle of watertight compartments was adopted by the naval architect Sir Samuel Bentham in 1795 for his designs for a new type of naval vessels. He acknowledged that he had got the idea from seeing large Chinese vessels in Siberia in 1782. The ships built by the Chinese included many multiple-masted vessels, included in Admiral Zhenghe's fleet, which left on 7 voyages between 1405 and 1433. Two of these expeditions, those of 1405 and 1433, each involved over 300 vessels and more that 27,000 crew members, including doctors and artisans, and carrying supplies of all kinds. The largest ship involved is recorded as having nine staggered masts, a length, now thought to be equivalent to between 390 and 408 feet, a width of between 160 and 166 feet and carried 24 large cast bronze cannon and a large crew. To put the size of the largest vessel in perspective these measurements would make this ship the largest vessel in the world built before the large ocean liners, such as the Queen Mary, built in the 20th century. Indeed multiple-masted ships were unknown in Europe before the late 14th century. Finally, you may ask why I have chosen the mid-15th century as the cut off date for examination of China's scientific achievements. Before answering that question I think I should say a few words about the basic philosophies, which had governed State affairs and attitudes in China for centuries. The philosophies of Confucius who lived from 522 to 475BC and his immediate followers, such as Mencius, were from the Han Dynasty on the guiding principles on which the affairs of State were conducted. Confucius's attitudes to foreign travel, foreigners and trade in general, stated briefly, were that he thought foreign travel interfered with important familial obligations and believed trade was inherently mean and debasing; he also laid down that there was nothing to be gained from contact with foreigners or strange things. He wrote in the Analects : "Whilst his parent is alive the son may not take a distant voyage abroad;. if he has to take such a voyage the destination must be known. The mind of a superior man dwells on righteousness; the mind of a little man dwells on profit". However whilst despising trade and the wealth it brought, the Chinese sought its benefits and, from at least the Han dynasty, some foreign trade took place though this took the form of the presentation of tribute to the emperor, who reciprocated by giving gifts deemed similar in value, such as silk, to the foreign tribute bearers. Besides the Confucian mandarins there were also many Daoists, who studied nature deeply and were the group chiefly responsible for China's scientific progress; Their rivalry with the Confucians was notorious for centuries and this rivalry stimulated scientific discoveries of all kinds. Whilst several succeeding dynasties were more receptive to trade and foreign influences, in particular the Tang and Yuan dynasties, other dynasties became even more restrictive, The impoverished emperors of the Southern Song actively encouraged foreign trade as a means of replenishing their treasury, and justification for such trade was found in the concepts of Neo-Confucianism, which developed at that time. The neo-Confucians absorbed many of the ideas and philosophies of the Daoists and whilst Daoism continued to exist much of its driving force and practically all its dynamism passed to the Neo-Confucians. Their concepts viewed trade and profits in a much more favourable light than the Confucianism of former times. Emperor Gao Zong (1127-1162) expressed the new attitude towards commerce :"profits from maritime commerce are At the same time the Southern Song, with the help of the merchants thus encouraged to trade, started to build up the Chinese navy as this was important too in the Southern Song's fight to keep at bay the Jin dynasty to the north of the Yangz River border. This increased activity led to a vast increase in ship building and great strides in scientific progress. The succeeding Yuan Dynasty with its vast empire also encouraged trade and the further development of the navy and because of the vastness of their empire it became possible to travel safely from China right into Europe. The first emperor of Ming however reversed this open policy and actively discouraged trade, justifying this reversal as a return to old Confucian concepts.. The third Ming emperor Yongle, who had usurped the throne from his nephew, reversed the first Ming emperor's closed-door policy and sent out with the Moslem eunuch Admiral Zhenghe the huge armada of vessels already referred to. But after the death of Zhenghe on his last voyage in 1432 the Confucian mandarins, gained the upper hand at court and persuaded the emperor Xuande to reverse the open policy previously followed. Thereafter China turned in on itself and further expeditions of treasure ships were suspended, and under the succeeding Ming emperor Zhengtong (1436-1449) restrictions on trade with foreigners started to be introduced. In the succeeding century their entire navy fell apart declining from 400 major multiple-masted vessels, the largest of which was of the type already described, to 40 such vessels in 1503 with destruction of those multiple-masted ships that remained being ordered in 1525. Trade was almost equated with trading with the enemy in 1551 and it was closed down completely. Fortunately at that time Macau became established and trade with foreigners via that base and later via Canton became sanctioned but it was in foreign vessels that virtually all trade with Europe took place thereafter. The virtual closing of China to outside influences and foreigners in the century following Zhenghe's fall from power, when added to the decline of the Daoist elite following the rise of neo-Confucianism, resulted, in my opinion, in complete stagnation of China's scientific development. The only achievements thereafter were the publication of encyclopaedias on Pharmacology, first published in 1596 entitled "Pen Tshao Kung Mu" by Li Shih Chen.and on other scientific subjects These merely set forth the knowledge in the particular field covered, but no new inventions or discoveries were included in such books. In Europe meanwhile the contrast is significant with constant wars, cultural and religious clashes,very active trade and travel and the Renaissance. The influx of Arabic and Greek texts with the fall of Constantinople and conquest of the Moors in Spain stimulated European scientific research and started Europe's climb to scientific stardom. As has been said many times "War is the mother of invention" . There were few European visitors to China during the period from 1450-1700 and they had little impact on the Chinese. Nevertheless it took the West from 1450 to 1700 to even match the scientific level that China had achieved by the mid 15th century and it has only been since 1800 that science in the West has overtaken China in all areas of scientific knowledge. Europeans are not generally aware of China's contributions to scientific knowledge and I have attempted in this talk to correct this. As to China's art, China's contributions in this area also are considerable but that is not the subject of to-day's talk. Representative examples can however be viewed in Bath's Museum of East Asian Art, just off the Circus which I founded in 1993. Brian McElney Appendix Transmission of mechanical and other techniques from China to the West ApproximateTime lag in centuries 1. Square pallett chain pump 15 2. Edge-runner mill 13 3. Edge-runner with application of water power 9 4. Rotary fan and rotary winnowing machine 14 5. Piston Bellows c.14 6. Draw loom 4 7. Silk handling machinery 3-13 8. Wheelbarrow 9-10 9. Wagon mill 12 10. Kite c.12 11. Deep hole boring 11 12. Iron casting 10-12 13. Cardan suspension 8-9 14. Clockwork escapement 6 15. Segmental arch bridge 7 16. Iron-chain suspension bridge 10-13 17. Canal Pound lock 7-17 18. Nautical construction principles 10 19. Axial rudder c.10 20. Gunpowder 4 21. Firearms 4 22. Magnetic compass 11 23. Magnetic compass with needle 4 24. Magnetic compass used for navigation 2 25. Paper 12 26. Printing block 6 27. Printing moveable type 4 29. Porcelain 11-13 30. Cross-bow as an individual arm 13-15 31. Efficient harness for draught animals Breast strap position 8 32. Efficient harness for draught animals Collar position 6
1. Screw 14 2. Force-pumps for liquids 18 3. Crankshaft 3
The illustrations are from: Needham,J "Science & Civilisation of China" Cambridge University Press, and are copyright CUP. |
