Early Years Taiyan And Western Natural Science,

Zhang Taiyan is one of the most famous scholars and revolutionist in modern China. Obviously,he played great role in the development of both 1912 Revolutionary and Academic. In particular, in Zhang Taiyan's early years, he made helpful approach to the transformation period of Chinese academic, mainly standing out in his understanding and application of western scientific knowledge of nature. This paper is going to take Zhang Taiyan's understanding and application of western scientific knowledge of nature as a case, all before 1900, to explore the influence of western scientific knowledge of nature and also its function and significance during the transformation period when Chinese traditional Academic pattern changing to modern's.Through study, the paper consider that all the books of western scientific knowledge of nature Zhang Taiyan had read in his early years mainly came from official and private agency of translation and also some writing arriving from western missionaries and Chinese scholars at the end of Ming Dynasty. Zhang Taiyan had been able to accept and learn the western scientific knowledge of nature in his early years mainly due to the social and academic environment and also the influence of his friends and his teachers. The notes of Gaolan Room and some of his political essays were Zhang Taiyan's basic results coming from the period when he were learning western scientific knowledge of nature and looking for a new way of Chinese traditional Academic. Zhang Taiyan has read many books, including western geography, biology, physics, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, and so on. Through learning of Western scientific knowledge of nature, Zhang Taiyan advocated one kind of comprehensive way on studying the Western knowledge, acknowledged the value of Western scientific knowledge of nature, made a helpful approach in combinating Chinese traditional academic with western scientific knowledge of nature in his early years. Then he surpassed the traditional "view of China-centre" and criticized the traditional "view of T'ian Tao". He established his early philosophical theory based on evolutionism and materialism at the same time.