A Representative Work in the Academic Context of Twentieth-Century China on the History of Sino-Foreign Scientific and Technological Exchanges: A Review of Pan Jixing’s On the History of Scientific and Technological Exchange between China and Foreign Countries1

Abstract

t is widely acknowledged that Science and Civilisation in China by Joseph Needham is characterized by frequent comparisons of scientific and technological knowledge between pre-modern China and other civilizations, and attempts to demonstrate the trans-civilization transmission of knowledge. In contrast, it is unfortunate that the twenty-six volume Zhongguo kexue jishu shi 中国科学技术史 (History of science and technology in pre-modern China), edited by Lu Jiaxi 卢嘉锡 and organized by the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences (IHNS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, lacks a special volume on Sino-foreign scientific and technological interactions. Nonetheless, another treatise, found alongside Zhongguo kexue jishu shi in the library at the IHNS, one that bears a different appearance and far exceeds the average length of the book series, can largely compensate for this omission. This is Zhongwai kexue jishu jiaoliushi lun 中外科学技术交流史论 (On the History of Scientific and Technological Exchange between China and Foreign Countries) written by Pan Jixing (1931–) and published in 2012.