The Infrastructure of Science Making in Early Modern China

What is it about?

This paper proposes a model for analyzing how Chinese naturalists (or rather, bowu scholars) investigated and wrote about natural phenomena in the early modern era, using Xie Zhaozhe’s work as an empirical case. The model encompasses three dimensions: these scholars’ book-learning, real-world encounters with nature, and exchange and collaboration within their discursive communities. The paper sheds light on several larger trends in Chinese natural studies and intellectual life that demonstrates China’s participation in global early modernity.

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