The Chinese Journal for the History of Science and technology  NO.3 2007 

Personal Recollections of the Division of Science Under the Propaganda Department

of the Communist Party of China Central Committee

GONG Yuzhi

（The Party School of the CPC Central Committee, Beijing100091, China）

Abstract Division of Science under the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee was an office set up for the supervision on the tasks of science in New China. It had been pivotal for carrying out CPC’s approach and policies towards science and intelligentsia, for supporting institution of CPC’s policies by evidences and analysis, and for serving as a channel between scientists and CPC leaders. This article is compiled from a speech delivered by Prof. GONG Yuzhi, one of the members of the Division, on December 21, 2005 at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. It narrates the initiatives that CPC and government laid out in the 1950—60s on the management of country’s science, history of the Division and the prominent figures involved, and the significance and value that the Division played in several major events. Compared to other memoriam, the article sorts out the Division systematically and thoroughly to the observation and analyzes the layout and mechanism that CPC leaders in place for the New China’s science. It is a full reflection of the penetrating interpretation and contemplation by a person having a personal experience of this part of history.

Key words Division of Science under the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, Gong Yuzhi, policies towards science, intelligentsia

Early History of the National Geological Survey of China Museum 

ZHANG Erping，

(National Geological Library of China，Beijing100083，China)

CAO Xiping

(Geological Museum of China，Beijing100034，China)

Abstract In the history of modern science in China, the National Geological Survey of China Museum（NGSCM）, founded in 1916 with its large geological collection, used to be the most prominent science museum. NGSCM moved its main part from Beijing to Nanjing in 1935, and since then the Museum was divided and built in the two cities. After World War II, it reopened in Nanjing, on October 10, 1948, with its well-preserved collection, which provided an excellent basis for further development. This study, for the first time, gives an overall outline of the early history of NGSCM, which is now the Geological Museum of China in Beijing, China.

Key words National Geological Survey，science museum，sample

An Investigation on the Traditionary Craft of Making Mongolian Leather Boots

GUAN Xiaowu, DONG Jie, HUANG Xing & FENG Cheng

（School for the History of Science & Scientific and Technological Administration,

Inner Mongolia Normal University, Huhhot 010022, China）

Abstract Mongolian Boots constitute the very important and characteristic parts of Mongolian dresses. And the Mongolia footgear can be divided into three categories such as felt, leather and cloth footgear according to the materials from which they are made. The leather footgear of Mongolian nations was traditionally made of some special materials and the working procedure could be separated into more than 50 steps. But most of the Mongolian leather footgear samples available nowadays in shops of Huhhot are very poor in materials and skills which cannot be compared with the traditional exquisite ones. Mr. Wu Runda, who is 63 years old now, has restarted to make traditional Mongolian leather footgear since the May of 2006 and manifested his skilled crafts. It was 42 years ago that he transferred to other kind of works from this field. Since the background on which the traditional crafts for making Mongolian leather footgear depended has changed a lot, it is indeed a question deserving to be paid much attention as to how to preserve the crafts and hand them on in the new social contexts of present-day and the future.

Key words Mongolian leather footgear, traditional crafts, Mongolian dresses

Wang Wencai on His Experiences of Botanical Exploration

HU Zonggang

(Lushan Botanic Garden Chinese Academy of Science, LushanJiangxi 332900，China)

Abstract Wang Wencai (1926— ), a famous plant taxonomist who is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, made lots of arduous botanical expeditions during his about 60-year scientific career. He once made field trips to Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi and other provinces. He was very bold in the fieldwork. He overcame the awful difficulties and reached unfrequented places so as to obtain lots of first-hand data. This narration is believed to be part of the documentary accounts of expedition experience, traveling information and rare species of plants.

Key words Wang Wencai, botanical expedition, narrative

From Ancient China to Modern West：The Explorations of Academician Xi Zezong in the History of Science

NIU Weixing

(Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200030, China)

Abstract Academician Xi’s professional experience is briefly introduced firstly. The principle of the articles to be selected into the Self-selected Works is discussed, the collected articles are classified, and an increasing academic publishing with age is also displayed. Academician Xi’s collation of historical record of ancient novae and supernovae is then expounded, and his important work of A New Catalogue of Ancient Novae is evaluated as a great achievement in the study of modern applications of ancient astronomical records. A set of papers devoted to the astronomical and calendrial material in the Dunhuang manuscripts are explicated, and these papers are considered to be the footstones and clues for a further study on, for example, the astronomical exchange between China and foreign countries. Five cases from the articles are chosen to demonstrate how Academician Xi applies ‘scientific spirit’ of being ‘fair’, ‘objective’ and ‘seeking truth from facts’, on the history of science study. Academician Xi’s study on the history of Chinese scientific thought, his unscrambling of the Needham Puzzle, and his criticizing of Emperor Kangxi’s science and technology policy, are finally observed, and it is pointed out that Academician Xi, the author of the Self-selected Works，should be taken as a real scholar, who will never be academically conservative along with his accumulation of academic achievements, his increased academic reputation, as well as his age growth.

Key words Self-selected Works of Academician Xi Zezong, A New Catalogue of Ancient Novae, astronomy in the Dunhuang manuscripts, scientific spirits in the history of science study, study on the history of chinese scientific thought

Investigating the History of Astronomy Through the Historical Development of Astromical Instruments: Approach and Practice

—Review on The History of Ancient Astronomical Instruments in China

WU Yan

(Department for the History & Philosophy of Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai200030, China)

Abstract Based on the research in The History of Ancient Astronomical Instruments in China, this article discusses a possible approach to research the history of ancient astronomy for investigating the history of astronomy through the historical development of instruments. Citing the cases in this book, the article provides the possibility and several ways to practise this approach. At the same time, it believes that the historical research on the knowledge depending upon the instruments will benefit from the approach.

Key words The History of Ancient Astronomical Instruments in China, instruments of astronomy, the history of ancient astronomy in China, tools

Hearkening Reasons for Defending Science in Rumpus

DONG Yuyu

(Dept. for the History and Philosophy of Science,Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai200030,China)

Abstract Higher Superstition：The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science，a critical book written by the biologist Paul R.Gross and mathematician Norman Levitt is used to defend science. The authors not only attack passionately the social constructivism of science and radical science studies done by postmodernists ,feminists, and ecologists, but also explain the cause of defending science rapturously.

Key words Higher Superstition：The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science，postmodernism，Science Wars

An Alternative Approach to Lunar Astronomy: Review on Kepler’s Dream

MU Yunqiu

(Department for the History & Philosophy of Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai200030, China)

Abstract Galileo’s Dialogue and Kepler’s Dream discuss the same question：Are there living creatures on the moon just like on the earth? Different from the pure thoughts of some philosophers’ about it before them, they both try hard to make logical imagination and explanation on the basis of lunar finds. Undoubtedly，the use of the telescope has played a critical role. As a particular lunar astronomy work, Kepler’s Dream was sometimes regarded as the pioneer of science fiction.

Key words Kepler’s Dream, lunar astronomy，new lunar finds， telescope，travel to the moon