The Indigenization And Reconstruction Of Scientific Concept In Modern China

The indigenization and reconstruction of scientific concepts in Modern China was based on the "Western learning spreading to the East" after more than 300 years.The scientific concept expression in public discursive space of this period had gone through the stages of dominated by the discourse of “Gezhi”,abandoning the discourse of “Gezhi”,the theory of “saving the country by science”,the theory of “universal science”,the theory of “scientific uselessness”,and the return from scientific propaganda to scientific communication.The main part of this essay consists four chapters.Firstly,I will describe the historical origin of how Western Science spreading to China and how Chinese literati and officialdom indigenizing it through the conceptual frame of “Gezhi”.Then taking the magazine “Science” as a case to analyze the re-comprehension and reconstruction of “science” during the New Cultural Movement and how the influence landed.In the end I shall summarize the course of the indigenization of “science” and its significance for present.Catholic Jesuit missionaries in the late Ming Dynasty introduced Western traditional science into China for the purpose of spreading religion and maintaining theological authority.In order to be accepted by the scholar-official class,they actively chose to combine scientific knowledge with the "gezhi" concept in Cheng Zhuxue(Neo-Confucianism).The emergence of modern Chinese newspapers led by Protestant missionaries in the late Qing Dynasty disseminated modern Western scientific knowledge in a more open way.With the "Western invasion" and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement,the scholar-class was struggling to save the Qing dynasty in crisis.Dominated by the concept of "gezhi" in a narrow sense and maintaining the central position of Confucianism,the orientation of "Jingshi-zhiyong" had been extended,and thoughts like "Chinese theory is fundamental,Western theory is secendary" was proposed.A large number of Western scientific and technological knowledge was introduced with the main purpose of studying military industry and coastal defense technology.The "material salvation of the country" proposed during the Reform Movement of 1898 and the "Industry saves the Country" advocated after the completion of the Revolution of 1911 hold a scientific concepts as the continuation of functionalization of Western science.In the early years of the Republic of China,the style of respecting ancient antiques did not fade.The New Cultural Movement took the "Democracy" and "Science" as the banner.Under the influence of social Darwinism,the dualization of the concepts of "science" and "superstition" gave birth to the "Almighty Science" like scientism thought.In order to correct the long-time demonization of "science",the journal represented by the "Science" strived to restore the original appearance of science,based on the dissemination of scientific methods,the history of science,and the spirit of science,and frees science from functionalization,which meant to reject the crown of "Almighty Science",and aimed to develop domestic scientific research undertakings to accomplish the "science to save the country" ideal.With the start of domestic scientific research and scientific education,science had gradually taken the burden of "saving the country" off.From scientific propaganda through slogan-like appeals to the paths of science communication through scientific research and the popularization of common sense education,which are also the main approaches for present.In the era of information explosion,how to face and distinguish scientific information for individuals is related to our concepts of science.The retrospect of the indigenization of science in China could help us recognize the science concepts we already have.