Illustrated History of Ancient Chinese Metrology

Author: Qiu Guangming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: The science of metrology originated in ancient times and expanded in modernity. For 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, metrological technology has always mutually promoted social production and commodity exchange, becoming an important foundation for the development of Chinese science and technology. The greatest characteristic of ancient Chinese metrological technology was its profound influence from Confucian rites and music systems. The ancient classic Shangshu states: "Harmonize the times, months, and days, and unify the pitch pipes, weights, and measures." The Liji says: "The Duke of Zhou held a meeting with feudal lords in the Bright Hall, established rites and music, and promulgated weights and measures, causing the world to greatly submit." For over 2,000 years, the development of weights and measures was closely linked to musical pitch pipes. Qin Shi Huang unified weights and measures, establishing a single system based on musical pitch pipes, which was compiled into writing in the Book of Han and passed down through generations, even being followed by Kangxi and Qianlong during the Qing Dynasty, and even continuing into the Republican era. At the same time, due to the constraints of ancient customs, reforms and innovations in weights and measures were difficult to accept. For example, Li Zhao, a scholar during the Song Dynasty, was ordered to create a musical scale for weights, proposing to change the 16-tael-per-jin system established since the Qin and Han dynasties to a 10-tael-per-jin system, defining a jin's weight by the volume of one liter of water. However, this more scientific system was not adopted. Despite this, China's weights and measures system continued to develop over time, ultimately forming a vast and profound scientific system that holds an important place in the history of world science and technology. This bilingual Chinese-English Illustrated History of Ancient Chinese Metrology selects the most representative artifacts from this historical treasure trove and provides concise discussions, reflecting the wisdom of the Chinese nation and its contributions to world civilization from a special perspective. It is also an excellent book for exchanging ideas with metrology history scholars from around the world.