RCCHC "Science, Technology, Culture and Society" Talk Series #6: Beyond Translation: Multilingual Practices in the Transmission of Islamicate Astral Sciences in Ming China

RCCHC Science Technology Society and Culture Talk Series 05 3

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Date

05 Oct 2023
Organiser

Research Centre for Chinese History and Culture
Time

15:00 - 16:30
Venue

Online via Zoom

Speaker

Dr Qiao YANG

Enquiry

Miss Alison Wong 34008979 rcchc@polyu.edu.hk

Summary

Translation features prominently in the historiography of the cross-cultural transmission of science. In this lecture, I challenge the centrality of translation in cross-cultural exchanges by introducing a case study from Ming China. In 1382, the Ming Hongwu emperor ordered the translation of Islamicate astral texts into Chinese. Modern scholars generally agree that the translation provided Chinese scholars with access to Persian and Arabic knowledge, thereby opening up a new era of engagement with Islamicate astral sciences.I argue, however, that the role of translation has been largely overemphasized. It was other multilingual textual and non-textual practices that played an indispensable role in introducing Islamicate astral knowledge to Chinese astronomers and scholars.

Keynote Speaker

Dr Qiao YANG

Research Scholar

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Germany

Qiao Yang is a research scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. She researches the history of science in premodern and early modern China and the Muslim world, focusing on astral sciences, divination and knowledge of langauges. She is completing a manuscript on the relationship between astral sciences and empire in Mongol Eurasia (13th-14th centuries). At MPIWG, she leads the working group Ability and Authority, which studies expertise in China from 1200-1600 beyond state and literati preoccupations.