Science, civilization, and the origins of European sinology

《科学、文明和欧洲汉学的起源》通过一场关于“受难日蚀”的争论，考察了欧洲关于中国科学和文明的学术研究的出现。根据对观福音书的说法，这场争论产生于阴影之中，直到耶稣临终前，阴影一直笼罩着大地。大约17个世纪后，一位耶稣会传教士令人震惊地提出，中国的异教徒可能会对基督教信仰的核心事件有所启示，因为他们的历史记录显示，耶稣被钉在十字架上的同一年同月发生了一次日食，与星星的自然运行规律相反。作为回应，早期现代文坛的公民逐渐通过计算和猜测，对中国的科学传统进行了越来越复杂的评估。该项目将利用中国的激情日食争议作为一个窗口，了解早期现代欧洲学者如何面对中国的自然知识。绘制《中国激情月蚀》争议中心参与者的通信网络，将为现代早期欧洲汉学社区的形成提供一个新的视角，该社区强调智力社交的动态，而不是忏悔分歧或新生的东方主义。该项目还建立在最近对阅读、收集和科学实践的研究基础上，以研究这些学者如何应用各种解释工具来剖析有关中国科学的古老历史，并构建关于其停滞不前的叙述。在超越亲华和仇华标签的过程中，该项目通过借鉴最近的手稿和印刷文化工作，将文本作为有形的复杂的知识生产和接受历史的物质制品来分析，从而推进了一种细致入微的方法来研究科学史中的文化交流过程。更广泛的影响该项目将为研究人员、教育工作者、学生和广大读者提供一种方法上和教学上的创新模式，用于跨文化科学交流的历史研究。传播项目成果的计划包括出版一本面向专家和普通读者的专著，并向美国历史协会出版系列刊物投稿，使中学和中学以上各级的学生和教育工作者能够了解世界历史问题。

Summary Science, civilization, and the origins of European sinology examines the emergence of European scholarship on Chinese science and civilization through the prism of a controversy over the Passion Eclipse, a debate born in the shadows that, according to the synoptic gospels, covered the land until Jesus spoke his last words. Some seventeen centuries later, a Jesuit missionary shockingly suggested that the pagan Chinese might shed light on an event at the very heart of Christian belief, for their historical records for the same year and month as the crucifixion told of a solar eclipse that had occurred against the natural course of the stars. In response, citizens of the early modern Republic of Letters gradually computed and conjectured their way to increasingly sophisticated evaluations of China's scientific traditions. The project will use the Chinese Passion Eclipse controversy as a window into the ways in which early modern European scholars confronted Chinese natural knowledge.Intellectual meritMapping the correspondence networks of the central participants in the Chinese Passion Eclipse controversy will provide a fresh perspective into the formation of sinological communities in early modern Europe, one that emphasizes dynamics of intellectual sociability over confessional divides or a nascent orientalism. The project also builds on recent studies of reading, collecting, and scientific practices to examine how these scholars applied a variety of interpretive tools to dissect claims concerning Chinese science's venerable antiquity and to construct narratives about its perceived stagnation. And in moving beyond sinophilic and sinophobic labels, the project advances a fine-grained approach to processes of cultural exchange in the history of science by drawing on recent work in manuscript and print culture to analyze texts as material artifacts that make tangible complex histories of knowledge production and reception.Broader impactsThe project will provide researchers, educators, students, and broad readerships with a methodologically and pedagogically innovative model for historical studies of cross-cultural scientific exchange. Plans for disseminating the project's results include a monograph addressed to specialist and general audiences and a contribution to an American Historical Association publication series that makes issues in world history accessible to students and educators at the secondary and post-secondary levels.