Reviving ancient Chinese mathematics: mathematics, history and politics in the work of Wu Wen-Tsun

Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Table of Contents......Page 6
List of figures......Page 8
List of tables......Page 9
Preface and acknowledgements......Page 10
List of abbreviations......Page 12
1 Introduction......Page 14
 ‘You fight your way and I fight my way’......Page 15
 Wu Wen-Tsun as a historian of mathematics......Page 19
 Wu Wen-Tsun as the subject of history writing......Page 22
 A note on transcriptions and Chinese characters......Page 27
 Early life (1919–45)......Page 31
 Becoming a famous topologist (1945–51)......Page 34
 Topological career in China (1952–58)......Page 40
 Wu’s search for a research direction......Page 42
3 Mathematics and Chinese socialist construction......Page 48
 Science and politics in China, 1949–66......Page 50
 The Institute of Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences......Page 53
 Political campaigns in the 1950s......Page 63
 Leaping from theory to practice and the post-GLF adjustment......Page 69
 The University of Science and Technology of China and Wu’s further work in pure mathematics......Page 78
 Conclusions......Page 81
4 The transformative effect of the Cultural Revolution......Page 86
 Writing about the Cultural Revolution – methodological questions......Page 87
 Cultural Revolution in the Institute of Mathematics, 1966–69......Page 89
 Years under military rule, 1969–71......Page 95
 The late CR period, 1971–78......Page 99
 World mathematicians in China in the 1970s......Page 107
 Wu Wen-Tsun’s turn to history in the Anti-Lin Anti-Confucius campaign......Page 112
5 Wu Wen-Tsun’s construction of traditional Chinese mathematics......Page 118
 ‘Making the past serve the present’......Page 119
 Wu Wen-Tsun’s philosophy of mathematics and mathematical style......Page 122
 Wu Wen-Tsun’s reaction to Western historiography......Page 127
 Chinese priorities and mathematical style......Page 134
 Chinese mathematicians’ use of the history of mathematics......Page 139
 Construction of traditional Chinese mathematics......Page 142
 Wu Wen-Tsun’s modernization of mental labour......Page 146
 From mechanization to equation-solving......Page 148
 Wu’s method – brief description......Page 153
 Wu’s method – an example......Page 156
 Wu’s elimination and traditional Chinese mathematics......Page 159
 J.F. Ritt’s theory and constructive mathematics......Page 164
 Wu’s method and the limitations of Euclidean proof......Page 167
7 Saving the nation with mathematics and its history......Page 169
 Wu Wen-Tsun’s research and international recognition......Page 170
 Nationalism as a creative and disturbing reaction......Page 174
 Nationalism and universalism in modern mathematics......Page 178
 Wu Wen-Tsun’s social rise since 1978 and his legacy......Page 180
Bibliography......Page 184
Index......Page 219