Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology, Part 3, Agro-Industries and Forestry

Volume 6. Part III of Science and Civilisation in China contains two separate works. The first, by Christian Daniels, is a comprehensive history of Chinese sugar cane technology from ancient times to the early twentieth century. The second, by Nicholas K. Menzies, is a history of forestry in China.

Joseph Needham (Author), Christian Daniels (Author), Nicholas K. Menzies (Author)

9780521419994, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 June 1996

770 pages, 6 maps
25.4 x 19.6 x 4.6 cm, 1.612 kg

'Needham's foresight continues to amaze us with his ability to discover in the ocean of datable Chinese literature so many facets of scientific knowledge.' Irish Astronomical Journal

Volume 6. Part III of Science and Civilisation in China contains two separate works. The first, by Christian Daniels, is a comprehensive history of Chinese sugar cane technology from ancient times to the early twentieth century. Dr Daniels includes an account of the contribution of Chinese techniques and machinery to the development of world sugar technology in the pre-modern period, devoting special attention to the transfer of this technology to the countries of South-East and East Asia in the period after the sixteenth century. The second, by Nicholas K. Menzies, is a history of forestry in China. Dr Menzies identifies a tradition of forest management that can be traced to the earliest Chinese written records, and describes methods of silviculture and the major timber species used in Chinese forestry. A final section compares China's history of deforestation with the cases of Europe and Japan.

Foreword Joseph Needham
Section 42a: Agro-Industries: Sugar Cane Technology: (a) Introduction: general characteristics of agro-industries in China
(b) Sugar cane and sugar: consumption and production in China
(c) Sugar cane clones, species and origins
(d) Sugar cane agriculture
(e) Cane sugar manufacture
(f) Transfer of Chinese sugar-making technology to East and South-East Asia
(g) Epilogue and overview
Bibliographies. Section 42b: Forestry: (a) Introduction
(b) Taxonomy and identification of major forestry species
(c) Silviculture and forest management
(d) Harvesting and transport
(e) Premonitions of ecology
(f) Forestry in Chinese society
Bibliography
General index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]