Overview
- Examines the role of medieval authors in writing the history of ancient science
- Presents the content, the structure, and the ideas behind the technical treatises of a medieval Chinese state history
- Discusses particular knowledge areas in China such as astronomy, mathematics, geography, bibliography, law and economics
Part of the book series: Why the Sciences of the Ancient World Matter (WSAWM, volume 3)
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The Work of Li Chunfeng
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Front Matter
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The Anonymous Treatises
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
- Book of Sui
- Li Chunfeng
- Historiography
- Historiography of Science
- History of Astronomy
- Omenology
- Economic History
- History of Sui
- History of Han
- Seventh Century China
- Treatise on the Wuxing
- Knowledge in Tang Times
- recycling of sources
- premodern history-writing
- Seventh Century China
- Organisation of Ancient Knowledge
- Tang Historian Liu Zhiji
- Harmonics and Astronomy
- chinese
About this book
This book examines the role of medieval authors in writing the history of ancient science. It features essays that explore the content, structure, and ideas behind technical writings on medieval Chinese state history. In particular, it looks at the Ten Treatises of the current History of Sui, which provide insights into the writing on the history of such fields as astronomy, astrology, omenology, economics, law, geography, metrology, and library science. Three treatises are known to have been written by Li Chunfeng, one of the most important mathematicians, astronomers, and astrologers in Chinese history.
The book not only opens a new window on the figure of Li Chunfeng by exploring what his writings as a historian of science tell us about him as a scientist and vice versa, it also discusses how and on what basis the individual treatises were written.
The essays address such themes as (1) the recycling of sources and the question of reliability and objectivity in premodern history-writing; (2) the tug of war between conservatism and innovation; (3) the imposition of the author’s voice, worldview, and personal and professional history in writing a history of a field of technical expertise in a state history; (4) the degree to which modern historians are compelled to speak to their own milieu and ideological beliefs.
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Damien Chaussende is a researcher in the Centre de recherche sur les civilisations de l’Asie orientale (Paris, France) at the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique. He works on the history of classical China, especially in the field of the writing of history. He publishedhis first book entitled Des Trois royaumes aux Jin : Légitimation du pouvoir impérial en Chine au IIIe siècle in 2010 (Paris, Les Belles Lettres), and translated from Chinese the inner chapters of Liu Zhiji’s Shitong (Traité de l’historien parfait. Chapitres intérieurs, texte présenté, traduit et annoté par D. Chaussende, Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2014).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Monographs in Tang Official Historiography
Book Subtitle: Perspectives from the Technical Treatises of the History of Sui (Sui shu)
Editors: Daniel Patrick Morgan, Damien Chaussende
Series Title: Why the Sciences of the Ancient World Matter
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18038-6
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-18037-9Published: 01 October 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-18040-9Published: 01 October 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-18038-6Published: 19 September 2019
Series ISSN: 2662-9933
Series E-ISSN: 2662-9941
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 371
Number of Illustrations: 33 b/w illustrations, 6 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Science, History of Mathematical Sciences, Regional and Cultural Studies, Chinese