Civilizational Canons · LC9

Sciences

Counting rods establishing algebra, seismographs remote-detecting the earth: how the classical Orient deduced the laws of nature using pure physics and physical computational hardware.

6works

4dynasties

6authors

Sciences explores classical Chinese writing on the natural world, observation, and practical knowledge. From Qu Yuan's Questions to Heaven, Liu Zongyuan's Heaven Answered, and Xunzi's Discourse on Nature to Li Shizhen's preface to the Compendium of Materia Medica, these works show inquiry through observation, reasoning, and accumulated experience.

Song

3 works

960–1279

  1. Record of Stone Bell MountainSu Shi · Travel WritingGreat rocks stood sideways a thousand feet high, like fierce beasts and strange ghosts, looming as if to pounce on us.
  2. Turning Pale at the Mention of a TigerCheng Hao and Cheng Yi · Satirical ParablesOnly knowledge gained through experience is true, deeply felt knowledge.
  3. Brush Talks from Dream BrookShen Kuo · NotebooksA commoner named Bi Sheng went further and made movable type. His method was to carve characters in sticky clay, each as thin as the rim of a coin.