January 25, 2002

Lack of Perspective

By RICHARD MONASTERSKY

Using art to explain why Chinese science stalled hundreds of years ago

The question lures scientists like a siren song. In surprising numbers, they wander from their steady course of research, from their narrow specialties, and veer off into the unfamiliar waters of Chinese history.

What attracts them is an apparent paradox. For much of China's history, its thinkers raced far ahead of those in the West in terms of technological prowess, inventing the compass, the printing press,

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