Hudecek - Reviving ancient Chinese mathematics: mathematics, history and politics in the work of Wu Wen-Tsun

Reviving Ancient Chinese Mathematics

Twentieth-century China has been caught between a desire to increase its wealth and power in line with other advanced nations, which, by implication, means copying their institutions, practices and values, whilst simultaneously seeking to preserve Chinas independence and historically formed identity. Over time, Chinese philosophers, writers, artists and politicians have all sought to reconcile these goals; this book shows how this search for a Chinese way penetrated even the most central, least contested area of modernity: science.

Reviving Ancient Chinese Mathematics is a study of the life of one of modern Chinas most admired scientific figures, the mathematician Wu Wen-Tsun. Negotiating the conflict between progress and tradition, he found a path that not only ensured his political and personal survival, but which also brought him renown as a mathematician of international status who claimed that he stood outside the dominant western tradition of mathematics. Wu Wen-Tsuns story highlights crucial developments and contradictions in twentieth-century China, the significance of which extends far beyond the field of mathematics. On one hand lies the appeal of radical scientific modernity, mechanization in all its forms, and competitiveness within the international scientific community. On the other is an anxiety to preserve national traditions and make them part of the modernization project. Moreover, Wus intellectual development also reflects the complex relationship between science and Maoist ideology, because his turn to history was powered by his internalization of certain aspects of Maoist ideology, including its utilitarian philosophy of science.

This book traces how Wu managed to combine political success and international scientific eminence, a story that has wider implications for a new century of increasing Chinese activity in the sciences. As such, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of Chinese history, the history of science and the history and philosophy of mathematics.

Jiri Hudecek is a Researcher at Charles University, Czech Republic.

Needham Research Institute Series

Series Editor: Christopher Cullen

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Reviving Ancient Chinese Mathematics

Mathematics, history and politics in the work of Wu Wen-Tsun

Jiri Hudecek

Reviving Ancient Chinese Mathematics

Mathematics, history and politics in the work of Wu Wen-Tsun

Jiri Hudecek

First published 2014
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2014 Jiri Hudecek

The right of Jiri Hudecek to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Hudecek, Jir.

Reviving ancient Chinese mathematics : mathematics, history, and politics in the work of Wu Wen-Tsun / Jiri Hudecek.

pages cm. (Needham Research Institute series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Wu, Wen-tsn. 2. MathematiciansChinaBiography. 3. Mathematics, ChineseHistory20th century. I. Title.

QA29.W82H83 2014

510.92dc23

2014001682

ISBN: 978-0-415-70296-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-79509-5 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Out of House Publishing

Contents

This is a book about mathematics in twentieth-century China. It is focused on a single mathematician, Wu Wen-Tsun (Wu Wenjun), in whose story we can see much of the overall development of twentieth-century Chinese mathematics. This story is more than a familiar tale of struggle, hard work and eventual achievement: it unites the individual career with the vicissitudes of politics and the power of tradition and history. Wu Wen-Tsun promotes the study of ancient Chinese mathematics and claims to revive its spirit in his work a claim which calls both for a critical scrutiny and contextual explanation. Why would Wu Wen-Tsun make use of ancient Chinese mathematics? Is it true that his method of mathematics mechanization uses ancient Chinese techniques? In what convoluted ways did twentieth-century ideologies enter mathematics and give respectability to historical enquiry even for an active mathematician? These are some of the questions that will run through the book.

This book is based on my dissertation You Fight Your Way, I Fight My Way: Wu Wen-Tsun and traditional Chinese mathematics, written at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science of the University of Cambridge and defended in February 2012. The PhD project was supported by the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge European Trust, and a Domestic Research Studentship of the University of Cambridge. Since 2012, I have been working on a project for the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic, Deconstruction and construction of national traditions and science in China, which gave me the necessary peace of mind to revise the dissertation for publication. I would like to express my gratitude to all these institutions and their generosity.