CHINESE TRADITION AND GLOBALIZATION 2
SESSION TWO: ‘THE NEEDHAM QUESTION’
Initially we will be guided by the following questions:
1. How should we understand the formation of Chinese identity?
2. Why does China appear to show a different approach to and history of technology?
3. How do we reconcile the ‘Needham question’ concerning China and technology from an historical perspective in light of contemporary China?
4. Are there differences between East and West in terms of the use of technology?
READING
Mackerass, “Global History, the Role of Scientific Discovery and the ‘Needham Question’: Europe and China in the Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries”, in Garcia and Sousa, eds., Global History and New Polycentric Approaches, Palgrave, Macmillan, 2018, 21-35 (see attached).
SESSION TWO: ‘THE NEEDHAM QUESTION’
Initially we will be guided by the following questions:
1. How should we understand the formation of Chinese identity?
2. Why does China appear to show a different approach to and history of technology?
3. How do we reconcile the ‘Needham question’ concerning China and technology from an historical perspective in light of contemporary China?
4. Are there differences between East and West in terms of the use of technology?
READING
Mackerass, “Global History, the Role of Scientific Discovery and the ‘Needham Question’: Europe and China in the Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries”, in Garcia and Sousa, eds., Global History and New Polycentric Approaches, Palgrave, Macmillan, 2018, 21-35 (see attached).