Transforming the Narrative of the History of Chinese Technology: East and West in Bertrand Gille’s Histoire des Techniques

Abstract

In his magisterial The History of Techniques, the French historian of technology Bertrand Gille (1920–1980) constructs a Western-centric world history of technology based on a technical systems approach. In doing so, he is forced to deal with the tension between Western-centric approaches and the conventional narrative of the history of Chinese technology. In order to avoid internal contradictions within his world history framework, Gille reconfigures the historical narrative about ancient China’s great inventions, arguing against unidirectional technology transfer and introducing the alternative notions of technological concomitant evolution and technological exchange. While Gille integrates ancient China into the general technological development of the world, he treats China as a blocked technical system and as “the other” in the West’s technological self-perception.

Keywords

• ancient China
• Bertrand Gille
• blocked civilization
• East-West relations
• historical narrative
• The History of Techniques