Reviving Ancient Chinese Mathematics: Mathematics, History And Politics The Work Of Wu Wen-tsun

N eedham Research Institute Series Series Editor: Christopher Cullen Reviving Ancient Chinese M athematics Mathematics, history and politics the work o f Wu Wen-Tsun Joseph Needham’s ‘Science and Civilisation’ series began publication in the 1950s. At first it was seen as a piece of brilliant but isolated pioneering. However, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it became clear that Needham’s work had succeeded in creating a vibrant new intellectual field in the West. The books in this series cover topics that broadly relate to the practice of science, technology and medicine in East Asia, including China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The emphasis is on traditional forms of knowledge and practice, but without excluding modern studies that connect their topics with their historical and cultural context. Celestial Lancets A history and rationale of acupuncture and moxa Lu Gwei-Djen and Joseph Needham With a new introduction by Vivienne Lo A Chinese Physician Wang Ji and the Stone Mountain medical case histories Joanna Grant Chinese Mathematical Astrology Reaching out to the stars Ho Peng Yoke Explorations in Daoism Medicine and alchemy in literature Ho Peng Yoke Tibetan M edicine in the Contemporary World Global politics of medical knowledge and practice Laurent Pordie The Evolution o f Chinese Medicine Northern Song dynasty, 960-1127 A saf Goldschmidt Medieval Chinese Medicine Speaking o f Epidemics in Chinese Medicine The Dunhuang medical manuscripts Edited by Vivienne Lo and Christopher Cullen Disease and the geographic imagination in Late Imperial China Marta E. Hanson Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, 1945-1963 Reviving Ancient Chinese Mathematics Medicine of revolution Kim Taylor Jiri Hudecek Mathematics, history and politics in the work of Wu Wen-Tsun Jiri Hudecek \l Routledge Taylor & Francis Croup L O N D O N A N D N EW YORK Contents First published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X 14 4RN List o f figures List o f tables Preface and acknowledgements List o f abbreviations and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, N Y 10017 Routledge is an imprint o f the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 Jiri Hudecek The right o f Jiri Hudecek to be identified as author o f this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 o f the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 1 2 3 Typeset in Times New Roman by Out o f House Publishing 4 AF S C Paper from responsible sources FSC* C 013604 Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY 18 Mathematics and Chinese socialist construction 35 Science and politics in China, 1949-66 37 The Institute o f Mathematics, Chinese Academy o f Sciences 40 Political campaigns in the 1950s 50 Leaping from theory to practice and the post-GLF adjustment 56 The University o f Science and Technology o f China and Wu’s further work in pure mathematics 65 Conclusions 68 ISBN: 978-0-415-70296-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-79509-5 (ebk) MIX The making of a prominent Chinese mathematician Early life (1919-45) 18 Becoming a famous topologist (1945-51) 21 Topological career in China (1952-58) 27 W us search for a research direction 29 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library o f Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Hudecek, Jiri. Reviving ancient Chinese mathematics : mathematics, history, and politics in the work o f Wu Wen-Tsun / Jiri Hudecek. pages cm. - (Needham Research Institut