Great Compendium of the History of Chinese Mathematics. Volume 8, Mid-Qing to Late Qing

Author: Li Zhaohua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-04-01
Features: In 1984, four experts and professors in 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: Professor Bai Shangshu of Beijing Normal University; Professor Shen Kangshen of Hangzhou University; Professor Li Di of Inner Mongolia Normal University; and Professor Li Jimin of Northwest University. Traditional Chinese mathematics has a long and profound history, with its own unique ideological 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 and social reasons, as pointed out by Xu Guangqi at the end of the Ming Dynasty, on one hand, "scholars who focus on theory and neglect the practical realities of the world," and on the other hand, "superstitious practices that falsely claim that numbers have a divine nature," traditional Chinese mathematics was on the brink of extinction. Later, it was completely overshadowed and even monopolized by the Western Euclidean tradition. Although there was a brief period of emphasis 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 to introduce it, ensuring that the ancient Chinese calculations continued to survive.