Science and Civilisation in China, Part 9, Textile Technology: Spinning and Reeling by Joseph Needham

Science and Civilisation in China, Part 9, Textile Technology: Spinning and Reeling by Joseph Needham

This study, the first of two parts, gives a comprehensive account of Chinese textiles and textile technology and deals with the evolution of bast fibre spinning and silk-reeling in the history of China. These operations are the basic techniques in the production of yarn and thread, pre-requisite to weaving, and any study of Chinese textile technology must start with the raw material obtained from fibre plants such as hemp, ramie, jute, cotton, etc, and silk reeled off from cocoons of the domestic silkworm. The time-span covered runs from the neolithic to the nineteenth century. Archaeological and pictoral evidence, the bulk of it hitherto unpublished in the West, is brought together with Chinese textual sources (which are extensively translated and interpreted) to illustrate Chinese achievements in this field. Professor Kuhn's study reveals the way in which Chinese textile-technological inventiveness has influenced textile production in other regions of the world and in medieval Europe. It explains how textile technology reached its high point between the tenth and thirteenth centuries and attempts to indicate the reasons for its subsequent relative decline. The development of the textile industry in Europe was a key factor in the rise of capitalism. In the case of China after Sung times, textile technology and the organisation of textile labour may help indicate why such a development did not take place in China.

"This volume is a solid addition to the Science and Civilization in China series" Technology and Culture
"His accomplishment is immense." Science
"[An] astonishing and enduring study...[Needham brings] depth of emotion and technical finesse to his task." Jonathan Spence, New York Review of Books
"Perhaps the greatest single act of historical synthesis and intercultural communication ever attempted by one man." Laurence Picken, Cambridge University

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521320214
ISBN 10	0521320216
Title	Science and Civilisation in China, Part 9, Textile Technology: Spinning and Reeling
Author	Joseph Needham
Series	Science And Civilisation In China
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	1988-06-09
Number of pages	556
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.