Engineering and Development in Modern China: Challenges and Responses

Abstract

Over the past several thousand years, China has made extensive and unique contributions to engineering and technological fields such as agriculture, food, textiles, architecture, metallurgy, ceramics, and medicine. In doing so, it has added significantly to the development of Chinese culture and all of human civilization. The Four Great Inventions of ancient Chinese people—papermaking, typography, gunpowder, and compass—are applied throughout the world. It is estimated that in 1820, China accounted for up to 30% of the world’s GDP. However, for various reasons, Chinese engineering and technology stalled as China entered modern times and fell far behind developing Western countries. After being defeated by Western powers with their warships and cannons in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the secluded feudal Qing Dynasty began using some science and technology transferred from the West. These methods and machines provided a foundation for modern Chinese industry. But due to political corruption and recurring invasions by imperialist countries, China remained very weak in engineering, technology, and industry, falling behind developed countries in Europe and North America. This chapter analyzes the relationships between engineering and the development of modern Chinese society from the perspective of historical development. Based on a “challenge-response” model approach to theorizing the codeveloping processes of engineering and modern Chinese society, key engineering projects and representative engineers are selected for detailed analysis.