The Spread And Manufacture Of Western Clockwork In China At The Turn Of The Ming And Qing Dynasties

Western Clockwork came into china in company with Jesuit Missionaries in the Middle of 16^th century.It was first introduced into Macao, and then was dispersed in Chinese inland.It played an important role during the spread of Catholicism in China and improved the mutual understanding between the West and East. A few skilled Chinese living in beijing and Souheast China had tried to make striking clocks(self-sounding bells)modeled on European products since their appearance . There were a number of workshops for manufacturing mechanical clocks and watches in shanghai, nanjing, suzhou, hangzhou, zhangzhou , Guangzhou and other cities. After the late 17th century, there were European clock-making in the imperial palace where nearly a hundred person involved into the manufacture. Western clockwork played an vital role between China and Europe even more. And Guangzhou became the most important channel of western Clockwork and China trade gradually owing to the especial system of commerce in the early Qing Dynasty and its predominant location.Though there are lots of studies on this field both in China and in other countries,it deserves our deeper research .And a great deal of materials both in Chinese and in other languages haven' t been used yet. Based on previous studies, this paper try to recount the process of the spread , manufacture and trade of Western Clockwork and discuss the influence which it brought to China.