The Chinese Journal for the History of Science and technology  NO.3 2010 

A Comparative Study on the Bibliographic Data of Old Medical Books Written in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam

MAYANAGI Makoto

（The College of Humanities, Ibaraki University, Mito, Japan）

Abstract　 My quantitative analysis and comparative study on the bibliographic data of old medical books in the Chinese character cultural sphere demonstrates the following. China’s three neighboring countries, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, selectively accepted Chinese medical books and then promoted their own indigenized medicine. Meanwhile, the results illustrate a common phenomenon in the three countries. They adopted a common model of the medical system constructed by physicians in southern China during the Ming dynasty. This indigenization process establishing medical systems appropriate to their own countries has hitherto not been well understood, and this paper seeks to clarify this process.

Keywords Chinese characterCultural sphere, Old medical books, Quantitative analysis, Comparative study, Promotion of indigenized medicine, Common phenomenon

A Comparative Study on Cupping and Leeching East and West

LIAO Yuqun

(Institute for the History of Natural Science，CAS, Beijing  100190，China)

Abstract　 The therapeutic techniques of cupping and leeching have been used in a number of countries, East and West, during ancient or modern times, but the contexts for their use were different. In China, because of its continued popularity, cupping is regarded as a folk medicine that has been widely used from antiquity to the present day, while leeching died out long ago and is now unknown. In the West, however, leeching is much better known than cupping. Research by Chinese medical historians about how cupping and leeching were used in the past in China has been inadequate so far, while they have not even touched on their use in foreign countries. Research by Western medical historians has also completely neglected the situation in East Asia. Thus, some new insights can be gained by investigating and comparing their use in these very different cultures. For example, though the use of the “vacuum technique” was recorded very early in Chinese medical literature, however its methods, purpose and applicability changed during subsequent periods. Leeching appeared suddenly in the Tang dynasty, while the tools to make the vacuum for cupping abruptly changed from horn to cup, and the method for heating up the tools shifted from using hot water to fire, etc. One more interesting case is why was the pronunciation of the word for the leech used for medicine in Japan very similar to the Latin? Though some Japanese scholars mentioned the question they have not come to any conclusions. This paper provides new explanations to these issues based on detailed textual research.

Key words　 Cupping，Leeching，Horn sucking，Hirudo medicinalis，Hirudo nipponica

The Early Planning of the Development of Physics in the People’s Republic of China

——Analysis of “The Draft of Long-term Planning of Physics”

SUN Hongqing，CHEN Chongbin

（University of Science and Technology of China，Hefei 230026，China）

Abstract: In 1956, some physicists mapped out“The Draft of Long-term Planning of Physics”. Through an analysis of the contents of the draft and comparing it with the official text, the early planning of the development of physics in the People’s Republic of China and the impact of the draft on the development of contemporary physics is China is discussed.

Key words twelve-year planning, planning of basic sciences, planning of physics

Chinese Engineering Educator Li Shu-Tien and Peiyang University

JIA Xiaohui

（Center for Science Technology and Society , Tianjin University，Tianjin 300072，China）

Abstract Li Shu-Tien pursued engineering education in China for over twenty years. In 1932, he returned to Peiyang University as President. During those cruel times of both international and domestic wars and social instability, he devoted his efforts to substantially improving engineering education at Peiyang, and trained the first master's degree graduate students in technology. Between 1937 and 1945, he established six national higher education colleges and universities in the provinces not directly affected by the war. Strict rules for students and faculties and efficient management were the outstanding features of his education style. He was the first to study the history of engineering education in China, and proposed guidelines for Chinese engineering education and broad-view engineering educational philosophy. He personally followed the principles he set up for the colleges, and faced up to all the challenges in managing these colleges. He was one of the best engineering educationists in China.

Key words  Dr. Li Shu-tien， Beiyang University， engineering education

An Analysis of the Debate on the Concept of “Mass-energy”

WANG Yanfeng

(Department for the History & Philosophy of Science, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, China)

Abstract  In the middle of the 20th century, scholars in the Soviet Union’s launched an attack on “physical idealism”, and similarly, Chinese scientists were involved in the campaign of “intellectuals’ ideological remodeling”. This campaign required that scientists abandoned all kinds of idealism, and approach all scientific concepts from the viewpoint of materialism. In this case, Qian Xuesen reconciled the conflict between “idealism” and “materialism” by advancing a new concept, “mass-energy”. This case also demonstrates how the philosophical thought of a particular period can permeate into a scientist’s understanding of scientific concepts.

Keyword　mass-energy, mass-energy relation, idealism

Restoration of a Bronze Yong Zhong Bell from Donghai County Museum and Discussion of the Agreement of Modern Restoration Ideas and Rraditional Restoration of Chinese Bronzes

LIU Yanqi

(The Institute for the History of Natural Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190，China)

Abstract On the basis of an understanding of appropriate ideas for the restoration of Chinese bronzes, this paper describes therestoration of a broken bronze Yong Zhong bell from Donghai County Museum. In the process of the restoration, I improved existing restoration technology, drew lessons from the casting techniques of ancient bronzes, and use new restoration materials. The paper further investigates how to achieve agreement between modern restoration ideas and traditional restoration of Chinese bronzes through the case of the restoration of this broken bronze Yong Zhong bell.

Keywords restoration of bronzes，idea of restoration, restoration craft

On the Editions of the Yuanzhuiquxian 

Zhao Zhenjiang

(Institute for the History of Natural Science，CAS, Beijing 100190，China)

 Abstract  The Yuanzhuiquxian was translated (only the part on conic sections) by J.H. Judson and Liu Weishi from American mathematician Alias Loomis’ Elements of Geometry and Conic Sections (1861).The few existing editions of the Yuanzhuiquxian are the same Chinese version.

 Key words  Yuanzhuiquxian，editions， J.H. Judson