Design Of Time:The Revolution Of Timekeeping Function In Modern China

Focusing on the timekeeping function,this paper seeks to show that the common understanding of the clock’s timekeeping function as the precise presentation of’objective time’ is far from revealing the full extent of the function.This paper therefore begins with a philosophical approach to technology,reconstructing the cultural context in which the timekeeping function was situated in ancient China and analyzing how it came to be what it was.Then,with the same idea,combined with the historical writing method of material culture,it presents how the new clocks and watches were used and accepted in a concrete way in modern China,thus replacing traditional timekeeping and leading to the revolution in the function of timekeeping.This is followed by a comparative analysis of the differences in technical design and use between ancient and modern timekeeping methods,how these differences led to changes in timekeeping functions and perceptions of time,and the impact of these changes on people.It is thus shown that objective time in today’s popular view of time is fundamentally a product of the clock’s timekeeping function,which on the one hand transformed time from an internal experience of human action into an external framework of the world;on the other hand,it transformed the formerly uniform royal control of time into an internal self-monitoring,in response to changes in social circumstances and the technical design of the clock.It has created a modern discipline of time and has become part of the technological system in capitalism,which in turn controls the planning of individual lives.On the one hand,this paper seeks to regain an original reflection of time from a review of traditional notions of time and the function of timekeeping,and to reflect on the notion of time in modernity in contrast to modern timekeeping.On the other hand,it aims to uncover the real meaning of the function of timekeeping after the modern revolution.And through the case study of the function of timekeeping,to explore a way of writing the history of the function of design,in order to enable a deeper study of the function and thus a more comprehensive understanding of the meaning of design.