On The Understanding And Spreading Of Western Agricultural Science And Technology In China In The Late Qing Dynasty (1840-1911AD)

This thesis is the research work on the Chinese people understanding, translating, introducing and spreading the modern western agricultural science and technology in China during the period of time from the Opium War to the End of the Qing Dynasty, including the substance, the main measures and the activities of the spreading. The main sources of the thesis are the diaries by the diplomats to the Western countries or Japan, the modern agricultural works translated into Chinese in the late Qing Dynasty, the experiment reports from the agricultural experimental farms, the newspapers on agriculture and others published in the late Qing Dynasty, and some annals of local history.In this thesis, what the Chinese diplomats saw in the Western countries and Japan about modern agriculture is introduced, including agricultural apparatus, modern forestry, modern animal husbandry, fishery, horticulture, sericulture, meteorology, water conservancy and the technique of tea production, etc. The main content on modern western agriculture translated into Chinese in the late Qing Dynasty is analyzed in the thesis. The agricultural science and technology translated into Chinese were the theories of botany, zoology, geology, chemistry, meteorology, insectology and the technology of horticulture, sericulture, veterinary, animal husbandry and so on. The technology was based on the theories of science, which showed the feature of modem technology, instead of the traditional feature of experience. In this thesis, the activities of introducing and spreading modern agricultural science and technology were also analyzed. The main ways of the introducing and spreading were by agricultural institutes and experimental farms. The main ways of putting the theories of modern agriculture into practice were by the agricultural companies, such as the irrigation company, the fishery company, the modern farm, the silk company, the tea company and the companies for grain and oil procession.The activities of introducing and spreading modern agricultural theory and technology were done by the political background of "New Policy" and at the timewhen there rose the new tide of thought ------"Attaching Great Importance toAgriculture". The government proposed it. Though the effect was limited, the books on modern agriculture translated into Chinese, the new varieties of crops & animals introduced into China and the system of modern agricultural education, which was constructed according to the forms of the modernized countries, became the important...