"'Strong Liquid' from the Western Ocean: Introduction, Manufacture, and Applications of Nitric Acid in Ming-Qing China (1620s-1780s)"/ Cao Jin 曹晉

https://www.sciengine.com/CAHST/doi/10.3724/SP.J.1461.2024.02049

This article belongs to volume 8, issue 2 of the Chinese Annals of History of Science and Technology, 2024

Local access dig.pdf [Cao-"Strong Liquid" from the Western Ocean.pdf]

Abstract:

Nitric acid or qiangshui 强水 (“strong liquid,” from lat. aqua fortis) was introduced to China multiple times by European missionaries during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Xu Guangqi 徐光啟 (1562–1633) was the first Chinese to record related knowledge from his communication with Johann Schreck (1576–1630). Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1591–1666), Joachim Bouvet (1656–1730), and Matteo Ripa (1682–1746) independently described the substance to the Chinese in their writings, explaining production methods together with different applications such as separating and assaying of gold and silver, etching of iron or copperplates, and manufacturing of thermometers. This paper focuses on newly discovered Chinese materials, mainly from the Investigations of the Earth’s Interior (Kunyu gezhi 坤輿格致, 1640) by Schall von Bell and his Chinese collaborators, but also from the Record of Essentials of Inception and Completion (Kaicheng jiyao 開成紀要) by Xu Guangqi. It analyzes different aspects of knowledge transmission processes including the identification of useful knowledge, the purpose of transmission, the sources of European knowledge, and the applied methods of translation and explanation. From these analyses we can better understand the reasons of their failure or success.

Scholars and their marginalia in late imperial China / by Yinzong Wei.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Intro -- Contents -- Figures and Tables -- Conventions -- Chart of Historical Periods -- Chapter 1 Introduction -- Chapter 2 Chinese Interpretive Texts: Annotations, Commentaries and Marginalia -- 1 Contents and Features -- 1.1 Zhushu/Annotations: Proposing Meanings from the Classics -- 1.2 Pingdian/Commentaries: In-Depth Understanding of LiteraryFeatures -- 1.3 Pijiao/Marginalia: Hand-Written Reading Responses -- 2 Forms and Circulation -- 2.1 Annotations: From Oral Transmission to Writing on Paper -- from Separation to Combination -- 2.2 Commentaries: Reshaping Chinese Books -- 2.3 Marginalia: Anywhere, Any Color -- Chapter 3 The "Reading Seed": He Zhuo and His Marginalia -- 1 He Zhuo: The "Reading Seed" -- 2 He Zhuo's Scholarly Transition -- 3 A Pioneer of Textual Criticism -- 4 Reading He Zhuo's Historical Comments -- 5 The Stigmatization of a Scholar -- Chapter 4 Scholarly Communities and the Transcription of Marginalia -- 1 He Zhuo and His Students: Transcription of the Teacher's Marginalia -- 2 Scholarly Communities and the Transcription of Marginalia -- 3 Booksellers and Scribes and Their Role in the Marginalia Culture -- 4 Shaping the Text of the Classics -- 5 Marginalia Culture -- Chapter 5 The Writing of Scholarly Lives in Marginalia -- 1 Temporal and Spatial Records in Marginalia -- 2 The Artistic Lives of Scholars -- 3 The Mental World of Scholars -- Chapter 6 Edited Reading: The Printing of Marginalia in the Qing Dynasty -- 1 The Printing of the Yimen dushu ji -- 1.1 From Notation Book to Marginalia -- 1.2 The Compilation of the Yimen dushu ji -- 1.3 The Selection and Omission of Marginalia: The Hou Hanshu as Example -- 2 Printing Marginalia alongside the Main Text -- 3 The Printing of Collation Notes -- 4 The Flourishing of Collation Biji -- 5 The Merits of Printing -- Chapter 7 Epilogue -- 1 Marginalia and the Evidential Research -- 2 Invisible Scholars and the Intellectual History of the Qing -- Appendix Books Containing He Zhuo's Marginalia and Their Transcriptions -- Bibliography -- Index

"Marginalia are a variety of writings and symbols written by readers in book margins. This study focuses on marginalia and explores the reading practices and the scholarly culture of late Imperial China. Beginning in the late Ming and early Qing, more scholars devoted themselves to reading and collating ancient texts. They developed the habit of writing marginalia while reading, of transcribing other readers' marginalia, and of printing marginalia, all of which formed a particular scholarly culture. This book explores how this culture developed, gained momentum, and shaped the styles, lives, thoughts, and mind states of scholars in the Qing dynasty"-- Provided by publisher.

Local access dig.pdf. [Wei-Scholars marginalia.pdf]

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