There was quite a buzz in the Postgraduate Hub yesterday - no wonder why! The Research Lounge began once more, and with a fairly good turnout.
This time, Charles Beichen Lin attempted to answer the "Needham Question", one of the puzzles about Chinese economic growth. The question itself is why modern science has not developed in China, despite its earlier phenomenal growth? It was posed by Joseph Needham, a popular scientist, historian and sinologist.
The question can be divided into two parts - why did China overtake the western countries in the past, and why did this change after the industrial revolution? Both of them have essentially the same answer, which will follow in further paragraphs.
At this point, Charles asked the best question possible - "How do I know about Chinese history?" The answer was even better - "I don't. In school, I was forced to memorise the facts". Weren't we all, Charles :P
In the past, China did have very good technology - this was in the 1300s. However, it lost this advantage following the Industrial Revolution. An economic analysis of the Needham question yielded two views. Needham himself felt that culture (Confucianism and Taoism) played an important role in this transition.Another view was that of Mark Elvin, who proposed the concept of "high level equilibrium trap" - Just before the Industrial Revolution, China had reached the saturation point of its growth, and hence did not have any profit motive.
These hypotheses had criticisms (obviously), and more hypotheses such as China's high initial population growth rate and innovation system followed. Charles ended his presentation with ample time for a question-answer session, in which Justus, Katharina, Lukas and Frank participated actively.
In the drinks and snacks session that followed, there was some speculation about who would be the next to deliver a talk. Lukas dropped a hint - "It may be a woman this time". That narrowed it down, Lukas. Thanks for that tip :P
Until the next time, adieu, folks!
This time, Charles Beichen Lin attempted to answer the "Needham Question", one of the puzzles about Chinese economic growth. The question itself is why modern science has not developed in China, despite its earlier phenomenal growth? It was posed by Joseph Needham, a popular scientist, historian and sinologist.
The question can be divided into two parts - why did China overtake the western countries in the past, and why did this change after the industrial revolution? Both of them have essentially the same answer, which will follow in further paragraphs.
At this point, Charles asked the best question possible - "How do I know about Chinese history?" The answer was even better - "I don't. In school, I was forced to memorise the facts". Weren't we all, Charles :P
In the past, China did have very good technology - this was in the 1300s. However, it lost this advantage following the Industrial Revolution. An economic analysis of the Needham question yielded two views. Needham himself felt that culture (Confucianism and Taoism) played an important role in this transition.Another view was that of Mark Elvin, who proposed the concept of "high level equilibrium trap" - Just before the Industrial Revolution, China had reached the saturation point of its growth, and hence did not have any profit motive.
These hypotheses had criticisms (obviously), and more hypotheses such as China's high initial population growth rate and innovation system followed. Charles ended his presentation with ample time for a question-answer session, in which Justus, Katharina, Lukas and Frank participated actively.
In the drinks and snacks session that followed, there was some speculation about who would be the next to deliver a talk. Lukas dropped a hint - "It may be a woman this time". That narrowed it down, Lukas. Thanks for that tip :P
Until the next time, adieu, folks!
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