Hello,
I've lately been reading "the Great Divergence" by Kenneth Pomeranz,
and one of his central arguments is that the only reason Britain
developed the steam engine and China didn't is because Britain had coal
close to industry and needed to pump water from mines, whereas China
didnt. He asserts that in other respects China was just as likely to
develop steam power. Among his assertions is that "steam engines of a
sort" were found in many non-western societies, including China; that
the Chinese understood the necesarry "principle of atmospheric
pressure", and that Jesuits in 1600s China built steam-powered toys
influenced by Chinese examples.
I've looked in numerous sources, including the ones he cites (ie
Needham), and the only steam-powered device outside modern Europe I can
find is Heron's from ancient Alexandria. Nor do I find evidence that
the Chinese had anything but the practical knowledge that air exerts
pressure that lies behind bellows or sails. So far as I know they did
not have the knowledge developed by 17th century European scientists,
understanding vacuum and the variability of air pressure, and the fact
that this can be done by turning water to gas. And the Jesuit devices,
so far as I could find out, seemed to have no Chinese influences.
Meanwhile European dabbling in this seems to go back to the 1500s, and
of course earlier to Heron.
Does anyone here know anything about this? Is this guy's argument based
on anything at all?
|
