British Naturalists in Qing China

Fa-ti Fan is Assistant Professor of History at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

出版者:Harvard University Press

作者:Fa-ti Fan

页数:268

出版时间:2004-2-17

价格:USD 79.00

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780674011434

图书标签:历史范发迪博物学科学史清朝中国鸟兽鱼藻艺术史

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Western scientific interest in China focused primarily on natural history. Prominent scholars in Europe as well as Westerners in China, including missionaries, merchants, consular officers, and visiting plant hunters, eagerly investigated the flora and fauna of China. Yet despite the importance and extent of this scientific activity, it has been entirely neglected by historians of science.

This book is the first comprehensive study on this topic. In a series of vivid chapters, Fa-ti Fan examines the research of British naturalists in China in relation to the history of natural history, of empire, and of Sino-Western relations. The author gives a panoramic view of how the British naturalists and the Chinese explored, studied, and represented China’s natural world in the social and cultural environment of Qing China.

Using the example of British naturalists in China, the author argues for reinterpreting the history of natural history, by including neglected historical actors, intellectual traditions, and cultural practices. His approach moves beyond viewing the history of science and empire within European history and considers the exchange of ideas, aesthetic tastes, material culture, and plants and animals in local and global contexts. This compelling book provides an innovative framework for understanding the formation of scientific practice and knowledge in cultural encounters.

读后感

新史學十六卷三期 二○○五年九月 評介Fa-ti Fan, British Naturalists in Qing China: Science, Empire and Cultural Encounter Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004, xi+238pp. 祝平一 中央研究院歷史語言研究所副研究員 范發迪(Fa-ti Fan)的近著探討十九世...  

2011年11月13日上海《东方早报》文章 王洪波 　　 　　提到“科学”二字，一般人首先想到的必定是物理、化学之类，“博物学”一词很难跳进脑海里。这准确反映了博物学已经衰落的现实。近年来一直有人为博物学鸣不平，刘华杰就是其中有代表性的一位。最近，由他主编的《好的归...  

Reviewed work(s): Fa‐ti Fan. British Naturalists in Qing China: Science, Empire, and Cultural Encounter. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2004. Pp. xi, 238. $49.95. Robert Bickers University of Bristol The normalization of the history of China's encou...  

“文化遭遇”的内在可能 1936年，周作人写作《螟蛉与萤火》，开首便说到中国人拙于观察自然，往往喜欢把自然和人事联系在一起，或使之儒教化，将自然的现象加以伦理的解说，如慈乌反哺，羊羔跪乳一类；或使之道教化，如桑虫化为果蠃，腐草化为萤虫。“自然科学在中国向不发达...  

这本书被《南方都市报》10月31日的“新书快睇”专门推介了，希望能更多地激起我们对博物学的关注。 爱博物学，实际上也是低碳生活的一种体现~~~ 爱博物学，实际上也是低碳生活的一种体现~~~ 爱博物学，实际上也是低碳生活的一种体现~~~ 爱博物学，实际上也是低碳生活的一...

用户评价

it tells us exactly what its title says: no more, no less.

考察了英帝国博物学家的在华活动——关注博物学家们如何在中外机构、人员形成的网络中寻找物种、制作记录/标本、生产知识。博物学家大多是业余，其活动受商业利益（比如著名的茶叶大盗Fortune的故事）等动机驱使。好些章节基于殖民档案/书写的材料提供了细致的历史细节：广州的出口绘画业中华人画师和英国博物学家合作绘制物种图录（第二章）、19世纪在欧洲职业化的汉学同博物学的交涉（第四章）、田野工作中情感经验和文化接触（第五章）。

it tells us exactly what its title says: no more, no less.

關於native agency和最後一章fieldwork 的討論很漂亮。理論的使用似乎有點過了？另外，學力和閱讀能力所限，我還是不太清楚，對近代中國“的”科學發展而言，對聯繫和比較英帝國科學在其他殖民地的發展經驗而言，這段英國博物學者在華的遭遇故事，是不是能提供更多的啟示？

一本难得的好书