Technician, Naturalist or Humanist? The European Engineering Culture in China

Abstract

<p>This paper bridges the gap between engineering history and the legacy of Joseph Needham (1900-95) in the historiography of Chinese science. I argue that the Western engineering practice in modern China (1840-1949) shaped and presaged the ways Chinese science was written in the Needham tomes entitled Science and Civilisation in China (SCC, 1954-). In the SCC-3, SCC-4-3 and SCC-5-5,* for instance, Needham has repeatedly referred to the pioneering writings on Chinese astronomy by Herbert Chatley (1885-1955) who worked in China from 1909 to 1937, and about Chinese bridges by Danish hydraulic engineer Helge Fugl-Meyer (1894-1975) who worked in China from 1919 to 1929. Prof. Catherine Jami (Jan 2024) has lately demonstrated the personal correspondence between Chatley and Needham in the period 1948-54. Based on these evidences, the present study investigated further into primary sources from the engineers with a focus on their professional network and firsthand experiences.</p><p><br></p><p>The European engineers’ technical experience in modern China turned out to be also a cultural and philosophical one. Through extensive fieldwork and projects such as railway, dredging and hydraulic works, the European engineers acquired a new understanding of traditional Chinese science but also added new meanings to the modern Western concept of “engineering”. They criticized the then writings of history of science and re-defined “science”. This paper will discuss the unspoken roles the engineers have played regarding the issue of reciprocal relationship between Chinese and Western knowledge. It seeks to advance the discussion on epistemological significance of engineering.</p>