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The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention Paperback – November 1, 2007

by Robert Temple (Author), Joseph Needham (Foreword)

64

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Revised, full-color illustrated edition of the multi-award-winning, international bestseller that charts the unparalleled and astounding achievement of ancient China

• Brings to life one hundred Chinese “firsts” in the fields of agriculture, astronomy, engineering, mathematics, medicine, music, technology, and warfare

• Based on the definitive work of the world’s most famous Sinologist, Joseph Needham (1900-1995), author of Science and Civilisation in China

• Organized by field, invention, and discovery for ease of reference

Undisputed masters of invention and discovery for 3,000 years, the ancient Chinese were the first to discover the solar wind and the circulation of the blood and even to isolate sex hormones. From the suspension bridge and the seismograph to deep drilling for natural gas, the iron plough, and the parachute, ancient China’s contributions in the fields of engineering, medicine, technology, mathematics, science, transportation, warfare, and music helped inspire the European agricultural and industrial revolutions.

Since its original publication, The Genius of China has won five literary awards in America and been translated into 43 languages. Its Chinese edition, The Spirit of Chinese Invention, was approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education for use in connection with the national secondary curriculum in China. Based on the immense, authoritative scholarship of the late Joseph Needham, the world’s foremost scholar of Chinese science, and including a foreword by him, this revised full-color illustrated edition brings to life the spirit and excitement of the unparalleled achievements of ancient China.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Inner Traditions
Publication date

November 1, 2007
Dimensions

7.63 x 0.8 x 10.25 inches
ISBN-10

1594772177
ISBN-13

978-1594772177
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Editorial Reviews

Review

" . . . richly illustrative narrative utilizing facsimiles of historical script and beautifully done photography. . . . a rigorous, but pleasurable intellectual endeavor without the trappings of tedious academic script. Fully referenced and loaded with facts . . . " ― Robert Figler, Ph.D., Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Vol. 17, No. 3

"These days, we Americans would do well to understand the Chinese as thoroughly as we can; this book is a good starting point in beginning to understand that before 'we discovered' the Orient, it was doing fine without us and our primitive technologies." ― Curled Up with a Good Book, Dec 2007

" . . . a must-have for history buffs and anyone who is interested in the rich and diverse contributions of ancient China to the modern world." ― Vision Magazine, Feb 2008

" . . . a top pick for any college-level collection strong in Chinese history and culture, offering a revised full-color edition that brings to life elements of ancient Chinese history." ― The Midwest Book Review, Mar 2008

From the Back Cover

SCIENCE / CHINA

Many of the world s greatest inventions have their foundation in ancient China. This book shows the true origins of:

the decimal system printing paper money the compass
the wheelbarrow the crossbow the science of immunology
porcelain matches the rudder the game of chess
the umbrella brandy and whiskey the mechanical clock
playing cards and more . . .

Undisputed masters of invention and discovery for 3,000 years, the ancient Chinese were the first to discover the solar wind and the circulation of the blood and even isolate sex hormones. From the suspension bridge and the seismograph to deep drilling for natural gas, the iron plough, and the parachute, ancient China s contributions in the fields of engineering, medicine, technology, mathematics, science, transportation, warfare, and music helped inspire the European agricultural and industrial revolutions.

Since its original publication, The Genius of China has won five literary awards in America and been translated into forty-three languages. Its Chinese edition, The Spirit of Chinese Invention, was approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education for use in connection with the national secondary curriculum in China. Based on the immense, authoritative scholarship of the late Joseph Needham, the world s foremost scholar of Chinese science, and including a foreword by him, this revised full-color illustrated edition brings to life the spirit and excitement of the unparalleled achievements of ancient China.

ROBERT TEMPLE is a visiting professor of the history and philosophy of science at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He also is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society; member of the Egypt Exploration Society, Royal Historical Society, Institute of Classical Studies, and the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies; and visiting research fellow of the University of the Aegean in Greece. He is the author of ten books, including The Sirius Mystery and Oracles of the Dead, and lives in England with his wife, Olivia.

About the Author

Robert Temple is visiting professor of the history and philosophy of science at Tsinghua University in Beijing; fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society; member of the Egypt Exploration Society, Royal Historical Society, Institute of Classical Studies, and the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies; and visiting research fellow of the University of the Aegean in Greece. He is the author of 12 books, including The Sphinx Mystery, The Sirius Mystery, Oracles of the Dead, and The Genius of China. He wrote, produced, and presented the documentary film Descent into Hell, based upon his book, Oracles of the Dead, for National Geographic Channel. His translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh was staged at the Royal National Theatre in London in 1993. He resides in England with his wife, Olivia. They are joint translators of Aesop: The Complete Fables.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

from Part 3

The Suspension Bridge
First Century A.D.

Few structures seem more typical of the modern world and its engineering achievements than the suspension bridge. And yet, the sophisticated form of the suspension bridge, with a flat roadway suspended from cables, was unquestionably invented in China. And it is highly likely that the two more primitive forms of suspension bridge also originated there, the simple rope bridge and the catenary bridge (where the walkway or roadway is not flat but follows the curve of the cables).

The simplest form of ‘suspension’ bridge--if we can even call it that--is simply a rope thrown across a gorge. Probably from the very beginning, the technique used for getting the rope across was that still used later for elaborate suspension bridges--shooting it across, tied to an arrow. After the Chinese invention of the crossbow greater power would have been available for heavier cables over longer distances.

Climbing or scrambling along a single rope above a gorge can be dangerous, and is hard on the hands. An ingenious solution is still in use in some areas, such as the Tibetan-Chinese border. The rope is threaded through a hollow piece of bamboo before being attached, and the person merely hugs the bamboo and slides along the rope without burning his hands or straining himself unduly. A more sophisticated method is by a cradle attached to the bamboo tube. Cable bridges of liana vines are known in the Andes mountains of Peru, dating back to at least 1290, and Needham suspects that this may be one of the many Chinese ideas to have spread to the New World across the Pacific.

Bridges of ropes and cables in China and Tibet evolved into multiple-cable bridges of various types. Sometimes three ropes or cables are stretched across together so that the person crossing can walk with his feet on two of them and hold a third above his head for balance. Or a woven walkway of matting is incorporated between the two bottom ropes or cables, to make the going easier. Another variation is to have a series of hanging straps by which the user pulls himself forward. All these and other variations occur in the area between China and Tibet, in the high mountains. A reference in the Chinese dynastic history for 90 A.D. appears to mention a suspension bridge which has planking and, hence, a proper platform upon which to cross:

There the gorges and ravines allow of no connecting road, but ropes and cables are stretched across from side to side and by means of these a passage is effected.

Th is reference is rather vague. The same dynastic history for 25 B.C. describes a harrowing Himalayan suspension bridge:

Then comes the road through the San-ch’ihp’an gorge, thirty li long, where the path is only 16 or 17 inches wide, on the edge of unfathomable precipices. Travellers go step by step here, clasping each other for safety, and rope suspension bridges are stretched across the chasms from side to side. After 20 li one reaches the Hsien-tu mountain pass. . . . Verily the difficulties and dangers of the road are indescribable.

Fa-Hsien, the first Chinese Buddhist pilgrim to India, crossed this very bridge in 399 A.D. and left this account of his experience:

Keeping on through the valleys and passes of the Ts’ung-ling mountain range, we travelled south-westwards for fifteen days. The road is difficult and broken, with steep crags and precipices in the way. The mountain-sides are simply stone walls standing straight up 8000 feet high. To look down makes one dizzy, and when one wants to move forward one is not sure of one’s foothold. Below flows the Hsin-t’ou Ho. Men of former times bored through the rocks here to make a way, and fixed ladders at the sides of the cliffs, seven hundred of which one has to negotiate. Then one passes fearfully across a bridge of suspended cables to cross the river, the sides of which are here rather less than 80 paces [400 feet] apart.

Cable bridges in China were most efficient when made of bamboo. The cables were made with a centre formed of the core of the bamboo surrounded by plaited bamboo strips made of the outer layers of the wood. The plaiting was done so that the higher the tension, the more tightly the outer strips gripped the inner core. This led to the safety factor that it is the inner strands of a cable which snap first, rather than the outer strips which would otherwise unravel very fast. An ordinary 2-inch hemp rope can stand stresses of only about 8000 pounds per square inch, but bamboo cables can stand a stress of 26,000 pounds per square inch. Ordinary steel cables will only take twice as much stress (56,000 pounds), so bamboo is remarkably strong. (Modern steel alloys such as used in the Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco can take stresses of 256,000 pounds per square inch.)

The most famous Chinese suspension bridge is a catenary bridge (which has a roadway following the curves of the cables rather than hanging flat): the An-Lan Bridge at Kuanhsien in Szechuan. It has a total length of 1050 feet, composed of eight successive spans, and there is not a single piece of metal in the entire structure. An account of a traveller crossing it in 1177 describes only five spans at that time. It has planking on which to walk, originally 12 feet wide but today only 9 feet wide, and it is believed to have been built in the third century B.C. by Li Ping.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Inner Traditions; 1st edition (November 1, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594772177
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594772177
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.63 x 0.8 x 10.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,173,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #309 in Engineering Patents & Inventions
- #2,054 in Chinese History (Books)
- #4,058 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)

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Todd Carter O'Brien

This book is overflowing with obscure historical facts about China

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2020

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The Genius of China is a real treasure trove of incredible historical facts about the high level of scientific knowledge and technology known to ancient Chinese, virtually all of these facts being completely absent in school curriculum and hard to find on the internet. Some of the most amazing facts include: The Chinese had invented seismographs in the second century AD. They practiced geo-botanical prospecting, this being how to discern what precious metals and ores lay underneath the earth by the types of plants growing above ground, as well as the characteristics of these plants, this being practiced by at least the fifth century BC. The Chinese knew about the endocrine and pituitary glands, as well as how to extract sex hormones from urine in the second century BC. They used a decimal system as early as the fourteenth century BC and they had knowledge of pi by at least the third century AD. The Chinese had the advanced metal-working know-how to create steel in the second century BC. Not only that, they made suspension bridges in the first century AD. And last but not least, the ancient Chinese built three-story derricks to drill 1,800 feet below ground to retrieve brine water and/or natural gas in the first century BC.
While the Chinese are renowned for their diligent record-keeping, it is unknown how much of their scientific knowledge goes even further back than currently believed, as many times the earliest record is referencing an even more ancient text currently lost to history. For example, this is why many Chinese “firsts” occurred in the second century BC, since many texts were burned during the previous century. Tragically, in 213BC, the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, ordered the destruction of all books, except those on the subjects of agriculture, medicine, and prophesy. (That being said, a few books were hidden away.) Nevertheless, some things that are documented in earlier centuries were lost by subsequent generations of Chinese, only to be rediscovered again, this further illustrating the ebb and flow of knowledge over lengthy periods of time.

To depart from orthodox scholarship, in my opinion, there is nothing ruling out the idea that much of the scientific knowledge stored in Chinese archives went back to the very beginning of Chinese civilization, this being inherited from a technologically-advanced Mother Civilization, this being the immortal gods and goddesses described in ancient myths around the world. That being said, for the record, Temple doesn’t believe this to be the case, but nevertheless, I am still in complete agreement with his overall premise that the ancient Chinese were one to two thousand years ahead of the rest of the world in many areas of scientific knowledge.

While the book catalogs quite a wide swath of historical information, the source material itself was truly vast. Fortunately for us, Robert Temple has combed through the renowned scholar Joseph Needham’s twenty-five volume compilation of scientific advances in China and distilled the highlights into an easy-to-read 300 page, lavishly illustrated book. This book is highly recommended, whether you are a history buff or just a casual, definitely check it out.

6 people found this helpful

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John Heron

The next step after Winchester

Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2010

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If you have read Simon Winchester's The Man Who Loved China which tells the story of Joseph Needham's discovery and passion for Chinese science, then Robert Temple's book, The Genius of China, is an excellent next step. You can see what you've been reading about. Temple has collected from Needham's multi-volume study many of the inventions which are illustrated with often excellent photos.

Perhaps it is inevitable that discovering what China had developed so very early in history would prompt comparisons with European development, but we really don't need to go there. Simply seeing what was done in China over 3000 years, which is what this book is about, is amazing.

There is evidence that Chinese got around to inventing umbrellas in the 4th century CE. It rains a lot in China. What took them so long? In contrast, in the first century BCE Chinese were drilling for brine and converting it to salt by heating it with the natural gas they found in the same drill holes. Temple takes several pages to describe the drilling process--done with bamboo cables--and the transportation of methane gas in air tight, jointed bamboo tubes for miles to towns and villages. They were not casual in the drilling. The average well depth was about 3000 feet.

Well, if a civilization has at least fifteen major discoveries each century for some 2500 years you will have time for the magnetic compass (1st c.), seimographs (130 CE), the kite (5th c. BCE), the rudder (1st c.), the flame thrower (10th c.), the iron plough (6th c. BCE), the chain drive (10th c.), playing cards (9th c.), brandy (7th c.), and the circulation of blood (6th c. BCE).

If Robert Temple's 300 pages are not serious enough for you, you can key into Amazon's search engine Colin A. Ronan's The Shorter Science & Civilization in China. Some of the used volumes are available at less than $15. And if that doesn't do it for you, try Cambridge University Press for Needham's original volumes, but heavy lifting is required here. Volume 1 is a princely £139 (that's British pounds if your computer doesn't deliver the right character) plus shipping.

Despite the heavy, glossy paper, Temple's book is beautifully bound. It lies flat as you read it. There are four pages of a chart showing invention or discovery with the dates of first use. I wish the publisher had not chosen to print the table of contents in black ink on dark red paper...even though it looks nice. And the striking illustrations are probably the reason it isn't available on the Kindle. Frankly, there are some books that I wouldn't want to read it on my Kindle. This is one of them. For eighteen bucks it's a heck of a deal.

16 people found this helpful

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James K. Hoffman

Ancient Chinese Technology

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2004

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Wow. This is an incredible book! Like many readers of popular modern science, I constantly underestimate the inventiveness and technology of ancient man. This book really highlights that. Also, it's an amazing inventory of creativity and inventiveness that the current China seems to be regaining. Imagine very modern inventions like glow-in-the-dark paint and natural gas mining being invented before the First Century AD!
I read this as a way to get familiar with the technology of one of the most inventive people and times in history so that I could use it in conworld creation. I was NOT disappointed! The idea that they had movable type and spill-proof lanterns were revelations to me. Not to mention the quality of their ceramics and lacquer.
However, you've really got to want this information to read this book. I found the author's style to be quite dry and academic. In some cases, it even seemed rather biased in favor of the Chinese, but, as my wife pointed out, that's to be expected considering the subject matter.
All in all, though, the author's writing skills are not enough to keep me from heartily recommending this book to anyone interested in the technology of the ancient world.

14 people found this helpful

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Katy

A Book Everyone Must Read !

Reviewed in Australia on August 4, 2019

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About time a book was written to explain the debt we in the Western World owe to China for inventions in science, technology, engineering, medicine, and more. In many cases they were ahead hundreds if not a thousand years. This book is a digest of the lifetime work of John Needham who was the greatest Sinologist of our modern era. The Genius of China is a must read !

Oskar

Eine gute Zusammenfassung der Erkenntnisse Needhams

Reviewed in Germany on May 6, 2013

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Joseph Needham ist der grosse Publizist über die chinesischen Wissenschaft und Zivilisation. Mittlerweile umfasst sein Werk 15 Bände "Science and Civilisation in China", erschienen bei "Cambridge University Press". Der Autor Robert Temple dieses gut illustrierten Buches hat damit eine Zusammenfassung der Erkenntnisse Needhams erstellt. Etwas marktschreierisch zwar, aber so vielleicht der heutigen Zeit besser angepasst. Für jemand der eine schnelle Übersicht über frühe chinesische Erfindungen und Leistungen will.

4 people found this helpful

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Tipplemonster

Not A Lot Of People Know That!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2011

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The modern Western World - technologically, scientifically - just owes so much to the brilliance of the Chinese. (And it's a flaming disgrace all this has been kept from us. Heads must roll!)

In clear, elegant, scholarly (temperate) prose, Robert Temple outlines an astonishing story.

A total revelation.

The secret's out.

3 people found this helpful

MAM

Fast delivery, great buy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2011

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I thought of buying a used book. It turned out to be a brand new one. Very cheap, very fast delivery. Great buy.
P.S. The book is a must if you want to approach the field of Ufology from a more solid ground.

4 people found this helpful

J V Moriarty

Like similar works

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 25, 2016

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Drawing on Needham's classic work (with an introduction by him) - a most helpful long-run survey of Chinese technological ingenuity. Like similar works, tends to drum on at length about a supposed advanced China versus backward West relationship rather than celebrating human creativity as such.

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