"Adam Schall von Bell's Investigations of the Earth's Interior (Kunyu gezhi 坤與格致, 1639-1640): Recent Achievements and Future Prospects"/Hans Ulrich Vogel and Cao Jin曹晉

https://www.sciengine.com/CAHST/doi/10.3724/SP.J.1461.2024.02001

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

Local access dig.pdf [Vogel and Cao-Adam Schall von Bell's Investigations.pdf]

Abstract:

This article explores Adam Schall von Bell’s Investigations of the Earth’s Interior (Kunyu gezhi 坤輿格致, 1639–1640), a significant Jesuit work aimed at reforming the Chinese mining and smelting industry by introducing relevant European technologies during the late Ming period. After being lost for centuries, the recent rediscovery of a partial manuscript housed in the Nanjing Library has reinvigorated scholarly interest in this treatise. The authors present findings on the manuscript’s origins, dating, and its reliance on Georgius Agricola’s De re metallica alongside other Renaissance works, such as those by Lazarus Ercker or Vannoccio Biringuccio. They challenge claims that the Investigations of the Earth’s Interior introduced the Western concept of “minerals” (kuangwu 礦物) to China, arguing that the term retained its traditional meaning of “ores and materials.” Additionally, the article presents new historical documents revealing attempts to implement the treatise’s methods and the bureaucratic challenges that prevented its widespread adoption. These topics shed light on the Investigations of the Earth’s Interior’s role in early global knowledge transmission and its potential impact on China’s mining and metallurgical practices during the Ming-Qing transition.

Life, Thought and Image of Wang Zheng, a Confucian-Christian in Late Ming China / Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn vorgelegt von Ruizhong Ding aus Qishan, VR. China.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Faculty of Philosphy, Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, 2019.

Includes bibliographical references (p.269-291)

Table of Wang Zheng’s Works p. 256.

Abstract

Ding Zhilin 丁志麟, Yang Qiyuan chaoxing shiji 楊淇園超性事跡 (ca. 1628)--pref.

034R ZKW 540.4 (Xu 431) *strip [c] [B 161]
Giulio Aleni and Ding Zhilin 丁 志 麟 , Yang Qiyuan chaoxing shiji 楊淇園超性事跡 (ca. 1628); biography of Yang Tingyun 楊廷荺 ; no title-page; 11 ff. (10/22), ff. 1-8, printed text (slnd., punctuated); ff. 9-11, ms. (not punctuated) -- Cf. Adrian Dudink, "The Zikawei Collection" (Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal XVIII (1996)), p. 17.

In volume 1 of: Xujiahui cangshulou Ming-Qing Tianzhujiao wenxian 徐家匯藏書樓明清天主教文獻
For a description of all 37 texts, see the catalog of the Fujen Zikawei collection in Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal XVIII (1996), or search individual records.