A Comparative Study On The Introduction Of The Measurement From The Western In China And Japan

Measurement science deals with the shape and volume of the earth as well as the figure and location of objects on its surface. This science is of significant influence on military, economics, politics and so forth.Measurement science starts its development from the beginning of the 17th century. About one hundred years later, it develops into a mature science and separates from mathematics. It is during this period (equivalent as from the last of Ming Dynasty to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty in China or the former part of Jiang Hu time in Japan) that western measurement technology is introduced into China and Japan systematically.From the beginning of the 16^th century to the beginning of the 17^th century, China and Japan both belong to the Chinese-character-culture circle and are affected by western science and technology simultaneously. They are both in social evolution and of the same type when absorbing western science and technology.Japan has been influenced by Chinese advanced measurement technology before the introduction of western knowledge. Comparisons of the materials on measurement science receiving from western countries in China and Japan indicate that Japan turns to accept western advanced measurement technology and raises its level in this fields by absorbing and digesting western knowledge, which makes Japan catch up with China gradually and even exceed it in some aspects. On the other hand, Chinese introduction of western advanced technology is not so universe as it is in Japan.The comparative study of the different processes of introducing western measurement technology between China and Japan belongs to the subject of the two countries' modernization. The levels of measurement technology in the two countries are influenced greatly by such differences.Researches on the subject of studying comparatively the introduction of western measurement technology are comparatively few up to the date. On basis of studying carefully the original documents that China and Japan introduced from western measurement technology, this paper gains some new viewpoints:1. It studies and reorganizes systematically the measurement documents during the period from the beginning of the 17^th century to the beginning of the 18^th century in China and Japan by means of chronology and finds their inherit relationship.2. It reveals the important influences that the differences of the history, the cultural, national systems and policies in China and Japan stress on the introduction of western measurement technology in the two countries.3. It re-estimates the historical importance and signification of the books on measurement technology finished by Chinese and Japanese scholars during the period from the 17^th century to the 18th century, especially the book "Vessels for Measuring Height and Distance".4. Based on original documents, it introduces in detail the contemporary measurement vessels used in the two countries, which represent the level of the technology. Despites, it analyzes andcompares the level of measurement technology as well as the usages and applications in China and Japan.5. It discovers that the documents on measurement technology in Japan appears mostly in form of books, which is of important significance to the development of measurement technology and marks its separation from other subjects.