Week 5 Discussions: East Asian History of Science in Antiquity

This week, our way of discussion is different. This week, we do not have any to present. Instead, we have different readings that were given to all of us. So we only need to focus on our readings and we have to come out with question. The reading that was "The Textual of Knowledge". To be honest, I didn't manage to finish all of the readings. I only did my readings in class. That is why I could not manifest the question before the class. I did my very very best in doing so. Forgive me. Hahahahahahaha..

So like I've said, my title was The Textual of Knowledge. The article itself was quite long but quite easy to understand. Way easier than what I've read previously. It was so surprisingly easier to understand and surprisingly long. Hahahahaha.. Alright. So here are some question that my group and I have came up to. There are a few so bear with me. It is somehow related to what I've discussed last week.

1. Why manuscripts were created and why is it so important?
I think why manuscripts were created is that the people last time wanted to pass on their daily activity to their children. All the experiences and all the knowledge that they gained everyday, recorded in the form of words or during the Palaeolithic times, drawings on the stones, gave the generation later a better view of what they have. If they do not record things down, will we have all the knowledge that we have today? Here's a fun fact. We have 24 hours a day and we used up 8 hours for sleep. 16 hours left to do whatever we wanted to do. Minus off the chores and things, we still have so much time left. What do they do having so much time left? Well, they have nothing to do not like what we have today, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and everything. What they have is trees and rocks. So they spend their free time to record down all that we have now. Hahahahahahaha..

2. Since when and how manuscript were found?
In the reading itself, manuscript were founded in a cave in china. But in my mind, there are so many different dynasty in China. Did they only found the manuscripts in that cave or did they manage to find some more later? This is a question in my mind. How were they founded is like how normal people find things. They go all around the world looking for the things that could help them improve what they already have now. So I think that it is the same way of how they found them. They might have left a map when the first found the manuscript and they got all the locations for the manuscripts now. Who know right?

3. How did the ideas of writing on bamboo and silks came by?
I guess that people last time when they live in caves and riverbanks, they move all around. When there is a shortage of food in their area, they will move around and find more food. Then they will stay there and when there are no more food, they move again. So when they move place to place, their recordings couldn't be moved. So it is inconvenient for people that time. That is when they started to think of recording stuff on silks and bamboos. It is so much easier to move around. Which later, the creation of books come by.

4. What were recorded in Manuscripts?
There are so many things to be recorded in manuscript. Like for example, how to hunt, or how to be a seller. All these things that were recorded in the manuscript were just like drafts. People combined all these drafts that were passed down generation to generation and it became so many types of books that we have nowadays. Before books and papers were created, they used the to record stuff on scraps so that those things would not be lost. So when they knew about something like how to train a pet, they write it down in a manuscript.

5. Is there a proof that all the things written on the manuscripts were true?
I don't really know about that. Centuries passed. It depend on you whether you wanna believe that things written on it or not. It's just like how we are now. When you read an article, you think it is untrue and what they wrote is not what it is. So you write another article to correct what the people had written. I think that it is the same last time. When they have written the manuscript, it is most probably their own experience on the matter. And then, it was passed down to another generation. So when the people get it and found out they have better way to do things, they will make correction on the manuscript. That is how it works, isn't it?

6. Who decides on which part of the manuscript is important?
As I've said in the previous 5 questions, books were created out of the so many manuscripts created. When people are compiling the manuscripts, they will pick which is important and which is not. So when they think that it is related to what they are writing, they will choose that. So when you have so many manuscripts, not every one of them is useful. You will need to pick up things that are useful to what you wanted to do with.

7. Did the manuscript been destroyed or just went missing?
During the transition of a dynasty to the other dynasty, people might think that it is very important to keep their knowledge as a secret. They would not want their secrets and knowledges to be robbed by other parties. So some of the scholars and emperors will think that it is better to burn all the manuscript. That is one of the way. Secondly, the emperor might think that his time is almost up and he will try to keep those manuscripts in a well hidden cave or something. This is how they found the manuscripts in the caves in later days. Or third, like the Qing Emperor, he did not want his people to know of his cruelty and stuff, he just decided to burn and destroy everything so that his people would not be able to gain any knowledge.

About the missing part. When they are moving things into the cave or anything, they might have made some pieces fallen while carrying it another place. So it just went missing like this. Or people might have not been able to discover the pieces and so, they determined that it is missing.

So there you have it. All the questions of my group member and the answer that I manifested in my mind. This post took too many days and I'm so sorry for it. I was having my holiday at the beginning of the week and the mood is still with me until today that I need to do it. So sorry about it.

Thanks for reading and if you have any question or responds or anything, please do not hesitate to leave a comment on my blog. Thanks a lot~

Cheerios.
YiXin

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