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The introduction and development of continental drift theory and plate tectonics in China: a case study in the transference of scientific ideas from west to east

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Pages 21-43 | Received 20 May 1988, Published online: 23 Aug 2006

References

  • For example: Marvin Ursula B. Continental Drift: The Evolution of a Concept Washington 1973 Anthony Hallam, A Revolution in the Earth Sciences: From Continental Drift to Plate Tectonics (Oxford, 1973); Walter Sullivan, Continents in Motion—The New Earth Debate (New York, 1974); David B. Kitts, ‘Continental Drift and Scientific Revolution’, in The Structure of Geology, edited by D. B. Kitts (Dallas, 1977), pp. 115–27; Seiya Uyeda, The New View of the Earth: Moving Continents and Moving Oceans (San Francisco, 1978); ‘Philosophical Consequences of the Recent Revolution in Geology’, in PSA 1978: Proceedings of the 1978 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, edited by P. D. Asquith and I. Hacking (East Lancing, 1981), pp. 197–273 (papers by Henry Frankel, David Kitts, Rachel Laudan, and Michael Ruse); Henry Frankel, ‘The Reception and Acceptance of Continental Drift Theory as a Rational Episode in the History of Science’, in The Reception of Unconventional Science, edited by Seymour H. Mauskopf (Boulder, 1979), pp. 51–90; Henry Frankel, ‘The Career of Continental Drift Theory: An Application of Imre Lakatos' Analysis of Scientific Growth to the Rise of Continental Drift Theory’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 10 (1979), 21–66; Henry Frankel, ‘Hess's development of his seafloor spreading hypothesis’, in Scientific Discovery: Case Studies, edited by Thomas Nickles (Dordrecht, 1980), pp. 51–90; Henry Frankel, ‘The Importance of Anticipating Problem Solutions in Theory Choice’, Journal of Scientific and Industrial Choice, 39 (1980), 57–68; Henry Frankel, ‘The Development of the Vine-Matthews-Morley Hypothesis’, Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences, 13 (1982), 1–39; William Glen, The Road to Jaramillo: Critical Years of Revolution in Earth Science (Stanford, 1982); Albert V. Carozzi, ‘The Reaction in Continental Europe to Wegener's Theory of Continental Drift’, Earth Sciences History: Journal of the History of the Earth Sciences Society, 4 (1985), 122–37; Robert M. Wood, The Dark Side of the Earth (London, 1985); Homer E. Le Grand, ‘Steady as a Rock: Methodology and Moving Continents’, in The Politics and Rhetoric of Scientific Method: Historical Studies, edited by John A. Schuster and Richard R. Yeo (Dordrecht, 1986), pp. 97–138; I. Bernard Cohen, ‘Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics: a Revolution in Earth Science’, in Alfred Wegener: The Father of Continental Drift … [with] an Assessment of the Earth Science Revolution … edited by Martin Schwarzbach (Madison and Berlin, 1986), pp. 169–99; H. William Menard, The Ocean of Truth: A Personal History of Global Tectonics (Princeton, 1986); John A. Stewart, ‘Drifting Continents and Colliding Interests: a Quantitative Application of the Interests Perspective’, Social Studies of Science, 17 (1986), 261–79; R. Laudan, ‘Drifting Interests and Colliding Continents: a Response to Stewart’, Social Studies of Science, 17 (1986), 317–21; John A. Stewart, ‘Drifting or Colliding Interests? A Reply to Laudan with Some New Results’, Social Studies of Science, 17 (1987), 321–31; Peter Messeri, ‘Age Differences in the Reception of New Scientific Theories: the Case of Plate Tectonics Theory’, Social Studies of Science, 18 (1988), 91–112.
  • But see, for example Buck Peter Western Science in Republican China: Ideology and Institution Building Science and Values: Patterns of Change Thackray Arnold Mendelsohn Everett New York 1974 159 184 Shigeru Nakayama, Academic and Scientific Traditions in China, Japan and the West (Tokyo, 1984). For the early history of Chinese geology, see Lee Tsui-Hua Yang, ‘Geological sciences in Republican China, 1912–1937’, Ph.D. dissertation, University of New York at Buffalo, 1985.
  • Pusey , James R. 1983 . China and Charles Darwin Cambridge, London, Mass.
  • Pumpelly , Raphael . 1866 . Geological Researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan . Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge , 15 ( 202 ) My Reminiscences, 2 vols (New York, 1918).
  • Von Richthofen , Ferdinand P.W. 1877–1912 . China: Ergebnisse eigener Reisen und darauf gegrundeter Studien Berlin 3 vols Letters on China (Shanghai, 1900).
  • Suess Eduard The Face of the Earth (Das Antilitz der Erde) et al. Oxford 1904–1924 II translated by H. B. C. Sollas, 5 vols Part 3, Ch. 3; III, Part 4, Chs 5 and 6 and passim.
  • Basalla , George . 1967 . The Spread of Western Science . Science , 156 : 611 – 622 . Basalla, it will be recalled, proposed three partly overlapping stages for the development of Western science in a country: (1) ‘Nonscientific society’; (2) ‘Colonial science’; (3) ‘Independent scientific tradition’. In the first of these phases, the given country merely provides a source of information to European science; the investigators are trained in Europe and the information they acquire is transmitted back to Europe for evaluation and publication, adding to the stock of Western scientific knowledge. In the second phase, the scientists are trained in Europe and their ‘problematics’ are set by the European scientific community. The scientists take up residence in the hitherto non-scientific society, but they regard their European colleagues as their essential peer group, and they attempt to publish in European journals. In the third phase, the scientists are trained in the (non-European) country concerned and scientific institutions are established there; the scientists find their own peer group in their own country and may publish there, while belonging also to the wider scientific community. (For the present purposes, we may obviously regard America—and to some extent Japan and Russia—as part of the ‘European’ scientific community.)
  • For example, in 1860, the scholar Feng Kuei Fen (1809–1874) urged a ‘self-strengthening’ of the Chinese people to meet the threat of foreign incursions, and suggested as a first step the translation of Western scientific and mathematical books. He remarked that ‘those which expound the doctrine of Jesus are generally vulgar, not worth mentioning’ Source Materials in Chinese History Meyer Charles Allen Ian London and New York 1970 67 70 Earlier, Chinese scholars such as Wei Yuan had put forward similar ideas.
  • It was, when first opened, named Jing Shi Da Xu Tang literally ‘Peking Big School’
  • Geological Map of Zhi Li Province [i.e. Peking region] Journal of Earth Science 1909 1 [in Chinese].
  • Qing , Huang Ji . 1984 . The Main Achievements in Geological Science in China . Historical Materials in Chinese Science and Technology , 5 : 40 – 40 . [in Chinese].
  • In preparing these notes, we have drawn on: Xiang Wang Zi Li Wang Heng Short Biographies of Geologists Beijing 1981 [in Chinese, mimeographed].
  • We are indebted to Mrs G. H. McFarlane and Mrs. L. M. Richmond of the University of Glasgow Library for this information. For an account of Ting, see Barbour G.B. Dr. V. K. Ting (Ting Ven-Kiang) Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 1936 92 xcv xciv and C. Furth, Ting Wen-Chiang: Science and China's New Culture (Cambridge, Mass., 1970).
  • Gregory , John W. The Making of the Earth London and New York n.d.
  • Éloge académique de Monsieur le Chanoine Henry de Dorlodot, Professeur à la Faculté des Sciences, prononcé en la Salle des Promotions, le 12 Mars 1929 par M. le Professeur Kaisin . Université Catholique de Louvain[;] Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven: Annuaire[;] Jaarboek 1930–1933 , xvi – xliii .
  • See Bertrand Marcel A. Rapports de structure des Alpes de Glaris et du bassin houiller du nord Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 1883–1884 12 318 330 3rd series
  • See Argand Émile Tectonics of Asia Carozzi Albert V. New York and London 1977 183 183
  • Lee , J.S. 1939 . The Geology of China London Li lectured on the geology of his country in British Universities in 1934/5, showing that he had put into effect his plan, formulated while a student at Birmingham, to carry out a broad survey of Chinese geology. (His book was based on these lectures.)
  • Yin , Tsan-hsun . 1931 . Étude de la Faure du Tithonique Coralligène du Gard et de l'Hérault Lyon We are indebted to Mme M. Hugueney of the Department of Earth Sciences Library at the Université Claude-Bernard Lyon I for information on Yin.
  • Huang , Te-Kan . 1935 . Étude Geólogique de la Région Weissmies—Portjengrat (Valais) Neuchâtel
  • It may be noted that of 44 important Chinese geologists reported as going abroad to study for higher degrees in the period between the end of World War I and the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, 20 went to America, eight each to Germany and Britain, two each to Austria, Switzerland and France and one each to Japan and Sweden. See Xiang Wang Zi Li Wang Heng Short Biographies of Geologists Beijing 1981 [in Chinese, mimeographed].
  • For further information on Grabau, see Yi Yang Jing Short Biography of Amadeus William Grabau (1870–1946) Studies in the History of Natural Science 1984 3 83 89 [in Chinese].
  • Lee , J.S. 1926 . The Fundamental Cause of Evolution of the Earth's Surface Features . Bulletin of the Geological Society of China , 5 : 209 – 262 .
  • Taylor , Frank B. 1910 . Bearing of the Tertiary Mountain Belt on the Origin of the Earth's Plan . Bulletin of the Geological Society of America , 21 : 179 – 226 . (Li mentioned that it was ‘mere chance’ that he came across Taylor's paper in ‘our limited library’. Some Chinese historians hold that Li developed his theory of the Earth independently in China. Others contend that his ideas were stimulated in the first instance by his reading of Taylor.)
  • referred , Li . 211 – 211 . to the ‘famous theory of “Continental Drift” formulated by Dr Wegener’. Li apparently used the second German edition of Wegener's book, published in 1920.
  • Joly , John . 1909 . Radioactivity and Geology London The Surface History of the Earth (Oxford, 1925).
  • Grabau , Amadeus W. 1924 . Migration of Geosynclines . Bulletin of the Geological Society of China , 3 : 207 – 349 .
  • Lee , J.S. 1929 . Some Characteristic Structural Types in Eastern Asia and Their Bearing Upon the Problem of Continental Movements . Geological Magazine , 66 : 358 – 375 . 413–31; 457–73; 501–22. (Li's paper was presented by his former Birmingham supervisor, William S. Boulton.)
  • Lee , J.S. 1939 . The Geology of China 352 – 355 . London
  • Lee , J.S. 1939 . Continental Drift . Geological Magazine , 76 : 289 – 293 .
  • Du Toit , Alexander L. 1937 . Our Wandering Continents: An Hypothesis of Continental Drifting Edinburgh
  • Wong , Hao Wen . 1925 . Wegener's Continental Drift . Science , 10 : 280 – 293 . [in Chinese]. See also Section 3.3.
  • Wegener , Alfred . 1937 . Continental Drift Peking translated by Mu Shao Ling, [in Chinese]. (The translation was made from a Japanese edition.)
  • Ying , Ma Ting . 1937 . The Relationship Between the Growth Rate of Reef Corals and the Water Temperature of the Sea . Bulletin of the Geological Society of China , 16 : 1 – 7 . [in Chinese].
  • Sun , G. Rong . 1984 . Outline of the History of Geoscience 104 – 104 . Beijing and 306 [in Chinese].
  • Sun , Rong G. 1984 . Outline of the History of Geoscience 216 – 217 . Beijing See also Section 3.1.
  • Huang , Qing Ji . 1945 . Main Geological Structural Units in China Beijing [in Chinese].
  • Huang , Qing Ji . 1945 . Main Geological Structural Units in China Beijing [in Chinese]
  • Huang , Qing Ji . September 1987 . personal communication September , 10 We are most grateful to Professor Huang for his information on this point.
  • Wegener , Alfred . 1964 . The Origin of Continents and Oceans Beijing and Shanghai translated by Li Xu Dan, [in Chinese].
  • Wang , Xian Zi and Wang , Li Heng . 1985 . A Short History of the Development of Geology 257 – 258 . He Nan [in Chinese].
  • Oldham , C.H.G. 1968 . China Today: Science . Journal of the Royal Society of Arts , 116 : 666 – 682 .
  • Lee , J.S. 1973 . Crustal Structure and Crustal Movement . Scientia Sinica , 16 : 519 – 559 .
  • D.D. A Chinese View of Tectonics Nature 1974 248 379 379
  • Wilson , J. Tuzo . 1972 . Mao's Almanac: 3000 Years of Killer Earthquakes . Saturday Review , February : 60 – 64 . 19 [See also J. Tuzo Wilson, One Chinese Moon (Toronto, 1959), and Unglazed China (New York, 1973).] It should be noted that Yin Zan Xun was also lecturing on plate theory in 1971, before his paper was published in 1973. (See footnote 55.)
  • The paper was issued in mimeographed form in 1972 and was formally published the following year under the title Comments on Plate Tectonics Scientia Geologica Sinica 1973 1 56 87 [in Chinese].
  • Yin , Xun Zan . 1978 . Emergence and Development of Plate Tectonics . Scientia Geologica Sinica , 2 : 99 – 112 . (p. 111) [in Chinese].
  • 1972 . {cxBeijing} [in Chinese]
  • Tarling's . Continental Drift Wilson's Continental Drift; Takenchi et al.'s Hypothesis of Crustal Movement; and Wyllie's Dynamics of the Earth.
  • Li , Chunyu . 1975 . Preliminary Analysis of the Development of Structures in Some Parts of China, According to Plate Tectonics . Acta Geophysica Sinica , 18 : 52 – 72 . [in Chinese].
  • Chunyu , Li . 1975 . Preliminary Analysis of the Development of Structures in Some Parts of China, According to Plate Tectonics . Acta Geophysica Sinica , 18 : 70 – 70 .
  • Chunyu , Li . 1975 . Preliminary Analysis of the Development of Structures in Some Parts of China, According to Plate Tectonics . Acta Geophysica Sinica , 18 : 71 – 71 .
  • Zhi Mu En et al. Stratigraphy of the Mount Jolmo Lungma Region in Southern Tibet, China Scientia Geologica Sinica 1973 1 13 36 [in Chinese]
  • Gansser , Augusto . 1966 . The Indian Ocean and the Himalayas: A Geological Interpretation . Eclogae Geologicae Helviticae , 59 : 831 – 848 . In his book on the geology of the Himalayas [Geology of the Himalayas (London, New York and Sydney, 1964), p. 243], Gansser did not show the extension of the Indus suture much beyond the extension of the Indus in Ladakh. He pointed out (p. 254) that the eastern continuation of the Indus Suture line was not known at the time. This would have been due to the inaccessibility of the region to Western geologists at that time, for political reasons.
  • Argand , Emile . 1977 . Tectonics of Asia Edited by: Carozzi , Albert V. 183 – 183 . New York and London translated and edited by (Figure 13) and passim. The work was first published as ‘La Tectonique de l'Asie’, Proceedings of the XIIIth International Geological Congress, Vol. 1, Part 5 (1924), 171–372, following a major address at the Congress at Brussels in 1922. Carozzi describes the work as ‘a unique synthesis of global tectonics in the light of Wegener's hypothesis of continental drift’.
  • Chang , Fa Chen and Zhen , Lan Xi . 1973 . The Structural Features of the Jolmo Lungma Region in the Southern Part of Tibet, China . Scientia Geologica Sinica , 1 : 1 – 12 . [in Chinese].
  • Chunyu , Li . September 1987 . personal communication September , 2 We are grateful to Professor Li for this information.
  • 1977 . General Proceedings of the 25th International Geological Congress sponsored by the Australian Academy of Science, the Geological Society of Australia and the International Union of Geological Science 126 – 126 . Canberra
  • We are indebted to Professor Guo for this information personal communication 1988 February 2
  • Stille , Hans . 1941 . Einführung in den Bau Amerikas Berlin
  • Chunyu , Li . 1979 . Plate Tectonics and Polycyclic Orogenesis . Acta Geologica Sinica , 4 : 305 – 315 . [in Chinese]
  • Huang , Qing Ji . 1979 . On Some of the Tectonic Characteristics of China with Special Consideration of the Polycyclic Development of Geosynclinal Fold Belts . Acta Geologica Sinica , 2 : 99 – 111 . [in Chinese]
  • et al. Architectonic Map of China (1: 4000 000), and Architectonics of China and its Evolution Beijing 1980 being a memoir accompanying the Map [in Chinese].
  • You , Zhang Wen . 1961 . Science News , 11 : 1 – 5 . [in Chinese]
  • The concept of fault blocks was proposed by Hobbs William H. Repeating Patterns in the Relief and in the structure of the Land Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 1911 22 123 176 Zhang's theory appears to be a continuation of the ideas first expressed by Hobbs.
  • Zhang , You Wen , Ye , Hong and Zhong , You Jia . 1979 . On “Fault Blocks” and “Plates” . Scientia Sinica , 12 : 1406 – 1429 .
  • Zhang , You Wen , Ye , Hong and Zhong , You Jia . 1979 . On “Fault Blocks” and “Plates” . Scientia Sinica , 12 : 1426 – 1426 .
  • Da , Chen Guo . 1980 . The Theory of Geodepression: A Theory of Crustal Evolution . Journal of Nature , 3 : 897 – 901 . (pp. 897–8) [in Chinese]
  • Da , Chen Guo . 1956 . Examples of Activation of Platforms in China, with Particular Consideration of the “Sino Ancient Continent” . Acta Geologica Sinica , 36 : 239 – 272 . [in Chinese]
  • Some synonyms are: activated region, activated platform, post-platform orogenic region, region of autonomous activation, basin and range province, uplift-depression (collapse basin), block zone, rejuvenated mountain range, epigon, protodiwa, etc. First International Symposium on Tectonics and Metallogeny of Diwa (Geodepression) Regions, …) November 1–3, 1988, Circular No. 1 Changsa, n.d. 1 1
  • For one of Chen's later statements of his theory, with diagrammatic representation of the ‘spiral’ notion, see Chen Da Guo The Theory of Geodepression: A Theory of Crustal Evolution Journal of Nature 1980 3 897 901 (pp. 897–8) [in Chinese]
  • Zhang , Sheng Be . 1962 . The Mosaic Structure of the Crust . Acta Geologica Sinica , 42 : 275 – 288 . [in Chinese]
  • Gregory , John W. The Making of the Earth London and New York Some geologists adopting the theory in the nineteenth century were de Lapparent, Bertrand, and Michel-Lévy.
  • Wang , Xian Zi and Wang , Li Heng . 1984 . The Main Achievements in Geological Science in China . Historical Materials in Chinese Science and Technology , 5 : 257 – 257 .
  • Haarmann , Erich . 1930 . Die Oszillationstheorie: eine Erklärung der Krustenbewegungen von Erde und Mond Stuttgart
  • Weeks , Lewis G. 1948 . Principles of Basin Development, Sedimentation, and Oil Occurrence: Geological Research Project, Basin and Oil Occurrence Studies New York
  • van Bemmelen , R.W. 1954 . Mountain Building, A Study Primarily Based on the Indonesia Region of the World's Most Active Crustal Deformations The Hague
  • Zhang , Sheng Be . September 1987 . personal communication September , 18 We are indebted to Professor Zhang for expressing his present views to us.
  • Xie , Zhe Ji . 1982 . “ Geological Structure of the Sea Floor is but one Aspect of Contemporary Global Tectonics ” . In Developments in Structural Geology Edited by: Geological Society of China . 134 – 144 . Beijing [in Chinese].
  • Nakayama , Shigeru . 1984 . Academic and Scientific Traditions in China, Japan and the West 220 – 224 . Tokyo and passim.
  • Nakayama , Shigeru . 1984 . Academic and Scientific Traditions in China, Japan and the West 224 – 224 . Tokyo
  • Nakayama , Shigeru . 1984 . Academic and Scientific Traditions in China, Japan and the West 212 – 215 . Tokyo (This point was earlier made by the Chinese geologist, Zhang Hong Zhao, in 1935.)

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