Kao Gong Ji The Worlds Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies (Technology and Change in History)

https://brill.com/view/title/56282 In Kao Gong Ji: The World’s Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies, Guan Zengjian and Konrad Herrmann offer an English translation and commentary of the first technological encyclopaedia in China. This work came into being around the 5th century C.E. and contains descriptions of thirty technologies used at the time. Most prominent are bronze casting, the manufacture of carriages and weapons, a metrological standard, the making of musical instruments, and the planning of cities. The technologies, including the manufacturing process and quality assurance, are based on standardization and modularization. In several commentaries, the editors show to which degree the descriptions of Kao Gong Ji correspond to archaeological findings. Revised and updated translation from the Chinese edition:《考工记: 翻译与评注》(ISBN: 978-7-313-12133-2) by Guan Zengjian, © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2014. Published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press. Among the civilisations of the world, China is so far unequaled, since it is the only civilisation that can look back on a continuous tradition of 5,000 years. It has, accordingly, acquired a rich body of written culture, much of which remains untranslated and therefore unknown in the West. The "Kao Gong Ji" is the oldest book on technology known in China. Excerpts with technological content appeared only later in philosophical, mathematical or historiographic works. Because its largest part probably originated in the era between the Chunqiu (770-476 BCE) and the Zhanguo period (475-221 BCE) about 2,500 years ago, "Kao Gong Ji" is also the oldest surviving technological work in the world. Written sources on science and technology that are roughly comparable include the works, from a later moment in time, of the Greek mathematician, physicist and engineer Archimedes (287-212 BCE). Due to "Kao Gong Ji's" pre-eminent significance for the technologies developed in China, we have decided to present this book to a worldwide audience of readers interested in the history of science and technology, and to offer three translations: modern Chinese and, for the first time, English and German. Contents Abbreviations and Conventions Illustrations Tables Preface Foreword Introduction 1 On Historical Editions and Commenting of “Kao Gong Ji” 2 Historical Background of “Kao Gong Ji” 3 Location and Period of Origin of “Kao Gong Ji” Part 1 The Text 卷上 (Part One) Part 1: Introduction Manufacture of Chariots 1. The Wheelmaker 2. The Carriage Carpenter 3. The Pole Carpenter 4. The Bronze Caster 5. Bronze Weapons 6. Bronze Bells 7. Measuring Standards 8. Agricultural Tools (Missing) 9. Leather 10. The Tanner 11. The Drum Maker 12. Tailor of Mourning Garments (Missing) 13. Furrier (Missing) 14. Paints 15. Dyer of Feathers 16. Dyer of Clothes and Silks (Missing) 17. Dyer of Silk 卷下 (Part Two) Part 2: 18. The Jade Polisher 19. Comb Maker (Missing) 20. Bone Carver (Missing) 21. The Manufacturer of Chimes 22. The Arrow Tip Manufacturer 23. The Potter 24. The Carpenter Ziren 25. The Weapon Carpenter 26. Construction Workers 27. The Carriage Manufacturer 28. The Bow Manufacturer Part 2 Analysis – Commentaries 1 Manufacture of Carriages 2 Astronomy 3 Bronze Technology 4 Bronze Objects – Vessels, Weapons, Mirrors 5 Metrology 6 Musical Instruments 7 Jade 8 Ceramics and Porcelain 9 Civil Engineering 10 Manufacture of Bows Bibliography Index of Personal and Geographical Names Index of Subjects Kao Gong Ji: The World's Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies by Guan Zengjian and Konrad Herrmann offers an English translation of China's first technological encyclopaedia. Commentaries show the extent to which the descriptions of the technologies correspond to archaeological findings.