1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910792000503321

Autore

Schäfer Dagmar

Titolo

The crafting of the 10,000 things [[electronic resource] ] : knowledge and technology in seventeenth-century China / / Dagmar Schäfer

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, 2011

ISBN

1-283-07845-7

9786613078452

0-226-73585-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (353 p.)

Disciplina

609.5/1/09032

Soggetti

Science - China - History - 17th century

Technology - China - History - 17th century

Cosmology, Chinese

Qi (Chinese philosophy)

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. Private Affairs -- 2. Affairs of Honor -- 3. Public Affairs -- 4. Written Affairs -- 5. Formulating the Transformation -- 6. Acoustics -- Conclusion. Leaving the Theater -- Epilogue. The Aftermath -- Acknowledgments -- Appendix 1. Chinese Dynasties and Various Rulers -- Appendix 2. Song Yingxing Curriculum Vitae -- Appendix 3. Editions of the Tiangong kaiwu -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

The last decades of the Ming dynasty, though plagued by chaos and destruction, saw a significant increase of publications that examined advances in knowledge and technology. Among the numerous guides and reference books that appeared during this period was a series of texts by Song Yingxing (1587-1666?), a minor local official living in southern China. His Tiangong kaiwu, the longest and most prominent of these works, documents the extraction and processing of raw materials and the manufacture of goods essential to everyday life, from yeast and wine to paper and ink to boat