Great Compendium of the History of Chinese Mathematics (Volume 5: Northern and Southern Song Dynasties)

Author: Shen Kangshen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-04-01
Features: In 1984, four experts on the history of Chinese mathematics proposed to compile a comprehensive and monumental work on the historical development of traditional Chinese mathematics, titled The Great Series of the History of Chinese Mathematics. These four professors (in order of age) are: Bai Shangshu of Beijing Normal University; Shen Kangshen of Hangzhou University; Li Di of Inner Mongolia Normal University; and Li Jimin of Northwest University. Traditional Chinese mathematics has a long and profound history, with its own unique philosophical system and developmental path. From ancient times to the Song and Yuan dynasties, it was a dominant force in the global development of mathematics for a long period. However, since the Ming Dynasty, due to various political, social, and other reasons—as Xu Guangqi pointed out at the end of the Ming Dynasty—"the Confucian scholars who focused on theory and neglected the practical realities of the world," and "the absurd and superstitious practices that falsely claimed numbers had divine significance"—traditional Chinese mathematics was on the verge of extinction. It was later completely overshadowed and dominated by the Western Euclidean tradition. Although there was a brief resurgence during the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns, it was merely limited to the excavation and interpretation of ancient texts. By the mid-20th century, Li Yan and Qian Baocong wrote specialized works on the history of Chinese mathematics, introducing its ancient calculations and ensuring that the legacy of Chinese mathematics continued, albeit tenuously.