| BOOK TALK by Y.N. Yiu (January 2010) The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester This is a story of the extraordinary life of Joseph Needham (1900-1995). In China he is known as 李約瑟 (Li Yue-se). He was a brilliant scientist who made his name at Cambridge early in his life but spent his last 50 years writing Science and Civilization in China which eventually ran up to 18 volumes at the time of death. This project makes him the greatest historian of Chinese science and technology. He accredited China with hundreds of innovations. The well-known four inventions – paper, printing, compass and gunpowder - he confirmed to the world without the slightest doubt. There were many unheard of inventions in ancient China such as suspension bridges, fermented beverage (7000), natural gas as fuel (4th century BC) toilet paper (6th century AD), to mention just a few. Even the Chinese themselves would be surprised to know that fork made of bone (2400- 1900 BC) was in use long before the chopstick. Needham showed the world that China was very advanced in science and technology when Europe was in the dark Ages. However, he was intrigued by the fact that China’s development stopped at the middle of the 15th century. His famous question “why not develop?” which he scribbled in his notebook, did not get a satisfactory answer even at the end of his life. Simon Winchester , author of a number of bestsellers, portraits the fantastic life and achievements of Needham with great skills and fluency. He brings to life Needham’s long career as a scientist and historian and his great love for a Chinese woman that aroused his love for China. Needham was happily married at the time when he fell in love at first sight with a Chinese woman when she visited his laboratory in the course of her research at Cambridge in 1937. The woman was Lu Gwei-djen (魯桂珍), a biochemist, who became his mistress for the rest of his long life. When his wife, Dorothy Needham, also a chemist at Cambridge, died in 1987, he married Lu soon afterwards. They were both in their eighties then. Dorothy Needham knew their affair and accepted it gracefully. The two women maintained their good friendship throughout their long lives. They lived within walking distance in Cambridge and the three often met for tea and had other activities together. Lu taught Needham Chinese and encouraged him to visit China when an opportunity arrived. He started his hazardous journey to China in early 1943 at the time when China was invaded by the Japanese and the Chinese government had retreated westward and established its new capital in Chongqing. Needham went to China as a member of the British diplomatic corps and he used this privilege to travel to all over the regions not occupied by the Japanese, including the most remote sites and treacherous frontiers. Conditions in free China were appalling. The whole country was in chaos, overcrowding with millions of refugees, grossly lack of food and accommodation; transport and communication were mostly broken down; people’s lives were continuously threaten by Japanese bombing. Needham was deeply impressed by the resilience of the Chinese in coping with the horrendous situation. Professors and teachers and students escaped with their libraries and other educational equipment and set up their universities and schools in whatever accommodation they could find– temples, ancestral halls, playgrounds even bomb shelters to continue the education of the young to maintain the lifeline of China’s great civilization. During his visits to China he dug deep and wide into the history of ancient Chinese science and civilization . He met , interviewed and befriended many Chinese and old China hands from abroad and took massive detailed notes. He collected loads of precious books, manuscripts, documents and other artifacts which became the main source of his grand project. It ran up to 18 volumes when he died in 1995. Some of the subjects were co-authored with Lu Gwei-djen and other Chinese researchers. The publication has become the pride of Cambridge University Press. It reveals to the world China’s long history of scientific and technological inventions hitherto unknown to or conveniently ignored by the West. Needham was strongly pro-communist and befriended Zhao Enlai and met Mao Zedong while he was in Chongqing during the War. During the Korean War he was invited to head a commission of international scientists to investigate the Chinese allegation that US forces had spread germs in northeast China. Needham was led to believe the allegation on the evidence given by his Chinese scientist friends whom he had known in China during WW2. The commission confirmed to the world China’s allegation. His report was condemned by the United States and severely criticized by allied countries. He was declared persona non grata by the United States and banned from travelling to the country. He was shunned in England. The episode nearly cost him his prestigious status in Cambridge and the survival of his project. Despite this setback he almost single-handedly continued his project. His circumstances improved a few years later and the project was able to move forward more smoothly. The Author begins the Epilogue with a quotation from Votaire: Four thousand years ago, when we couldn’t even read, the Chinese knew all the absolutely useful things we boast about today. He then gives a brief description of Chongqing to-day in stark contrast to its war time days. It is now the largest city in China with massive development. He also points to modern China’s technological development, particularly in space science to indicate that China has woken up after sleeping for five centuries to continue to develop and that Needham must have been pleased to see that. The book is informative and entertaining. It is recommended to those who are interested in China. Any Chinese who reads it will feel even more proud of his/her heritage. |
photo of Lu Gwei-djen
| Below is a response to the Book Review from John H. Crook, Ph.D. D.Sc. He is the first European Dharma Heir of the Venerable Master Sheng-yen (聖嚴法師的傳法弟 子), the Teacher of the Western Chan Fellowship, and author of World Crisis and Buddhist Humanism. It gives a first hand impression of Joseph Needham.Ed. It is a very good summary although I have not seen this book . I have several volumes of Needham 's famous great work . When I "went up" to Cambridge after my military service in Hong Kong I got to know Joseph Needham . He was an outstanding scholar both in biochemistry and in his Chinese research , extremely intelligent with a great grasp of many matters. He was beginning his work on China while I was in Cambridge . When we first met, he was so enthusiastic that he thought I knew Chinese and he wanted me to study Zoology as found in Chinese literature and contribute to his great work . I wished I did know Chinese because working with him would have been inspirational . He showed me around his study . The room was absolutely full of shelves full of Chinese books .I met his "assistant" there without knowing she was his mistress - a very nice person I remember. Needham was a generous man , devoted to idealistic Communism. He always refused to believe anything bad about China but he may also have realised that his frequent return there and access to places and people depended on his influential support of Chinese politics. His support may not always have been completely genuine, but he was prepared to suffer for his stated views. Cambridge had many communists or communist sympathisers at that time, so he did not suffer too badly except in the newspapers. Certainly his support of Chinese allegations against the Americans caused a furor but in Cambridge it soon died down. Cambridge could support any possible opinion with a degree of tolerance. He was politely interested in Buddhism but discussed it in a scientific, neutral way. He preferred Taoism and respected Confucianism . He was not very interested in psychology. In public debates he was skilled in argument but generous in his way of addressing an opponent. I was very influenced by him as I mentioned in my recent book. This was because he demonstrated so well how a scientist could expand his studies to broad international themes. Of course, Chinese Communism, even in its present capitalistic form, is not very wise in science. I understand that the great dam on the Yangtse River is now beginning to reveal all the horrors that had been predicted -- ie steady silting up and huge pollution from the sewers and factories of Chong King. The environmental problems in China are extremely severe - so I understand. Jan 2010 |