Sino-German Center for Research Promotion
Beijing, March 30 – April 1, 2019
Objectives of the Conference
The history of scientific, technical and medical exchange between Europe and China during the early modern period (16th to 19th centuries) is an important topic of research undertaken on a global level, but so far, much attention has been paid to special fields like astronomy, mathematics and cartography while other fields of practice and knowledge remain understudied.
This convention prominently concentrates on “hands-on” sciences, practical crafts and techniques and takes the texts produced in these fields more comprehensively into account as this has been done so far. Surprisingly, and perhaps due to the difficult technical language, only very few of the scientific, technical and medical treatises initiated or produced by the Jesuit China mission have been translated into English, nor have they been studied to substantial depth so that much work has still to be done in this respect. Therefore, translations of these Chinese texts into English, including all relevant text-critical, translational and contextual questions according to the newest global standards current in the field, are an important task for the next years.
This conference endeavours to bring together specialists in the history of exchange of scientific and technical knowledge between Europe and China. The targets of this event will be to share between colleagues mainly from China and Germany experiences obtained from relevant research and delineate fields of promising investigations. Moreover, this opportunity is used to explore possibilities of further co-operations in the framework of other conventions and workshops to be held in the future, invitations of individual scholars for research stays, or joint project applications.
Visitors are very much welcome. Those who would like to attend should send a short note to Dr. Jost (eccs.md@gmail.com) or Dr. Cao (eccs.acad@gmail.com).
Programme and Flyer
Conference Venue
Sino-German Center for Research Promotion
Shuangqing Road 83, Haidian District, Beijing, PR China
中德科学中心, 北京市海淀区双清路83号
Conference Hotel
Holiday Inn Beijing Haidian ****
Shuangqing Road 89, Haidian District, Beijing, PR China
北京海淀红杉假日酒店, 北京市海淀区双清路89号A座
Conveners
Prof. Dr. ZHANG Baichun 张柏春
Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Vogel 傅汉思
Department of Chinese Studies, Tübingen University
Organization
European Centre for Chinese Studies at Peking University (ECCS)
Dr. Alexander JOST 曹大龙, Managing Director
0086-18601241464 (German, English, Chinese)
Dr. CAO Jin 曹晋, Academic Director
0086-18614090561 (Chinese, English, German)
傳天音、譯七藝,航巨海又梯高山,華夏披星追日月;
衡金石、探四元,識新知而聞舊友,神京接地論天人。
Poem composed by Dr. Chen Zhihui 陈志辉, Institute for the History of Science and Technology,
Inner Mongolia Normal University内蒙古師範大學科學技術史研究院,
in commemoration of this event.
From March 30 to April 1, 2019, a symposium with the title "Transfer of Scientific and Technical Knowledge between Europe and China during the Early Modern period" was held in the premises of the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion in Beijing. The Conveners, Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel from the Department for Chinese Studies at Tübingen University and Prof. Zhang Baichun, Director of the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences thanked the Sino-German Center for its generous support and introduced the more than 50 participants and guests into the topic, which was inspired by the recent rediscovery of the Kunyu gezhi, a rendering of Georgius Agricola's famous Renaissance mining classic De re metallica into Chinese undertaken by Johann Adam Schall von Bell during the last years of the Ming period. Fields as various as astronomy, cosmology, mathematics, mining, metallurgy, cartography, hydraulic engineering, medicine and mechanics were covered by the participants' presentations and discussions. The meeting, which was organized by the European Centre for Chinese Studies (ECCS) at Peking University culminated at the Wenjin Building of the National Library of China in a public lecture by Prof. Zhang Baichun, with further contributions by Prof. Shi Yunli, University of Science and Technology of China, and Prof. Karel Davids from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. During the meeting, participants were also offered insights into the National Library’s precious Beitang holdings, i.e. a collection of rare Western books brought to China mainly by the Jesuits, and they visited the Zhalan Cemetery with the graves of Matteo Ricci, Schall von Bell, Ferdinand Verbiest and other missionaries as well as the Ancient Beijing Observatory. The event made both sides aware of the great potential of further intensive communication and prepared the ground for future cooperation and exchanges between Tübingen University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences as well as other scholars in Germany and China beyond these institutions.
For German and Chinese versions see Kurzbericht/简报
18 April 2019, Beijing, Macau and Tübingen
Dr. Cao Jin, Dr. Jost, Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel, and Sabine Kink