MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Event

Sep 8, 2025
Reframing the Needham Question

This talk is based on an ongoing book project by Prof. Yasheng Huang and his collaborators, which explores the history of Chinese technology through two datasets they compiled on historical Chinese inventions dating back to fifth century BCE. The goal of the project is to revisit the famous question posed by Joseph Needham, “Why did China fail to launch its own Industrial Revolution despite its early lead in technology?” The datasets enabled the authors to pin down the trajectory of Chinese technological development more precisely than previous work. They show that Chinese technology began to experience a substantial decline as early as late as sixth century rather than the much later timeline that is commonly asserted in the literature, sixteenth or seventeenth century. They argue that a milestone development of the Chinese exam system—the Keju institution—played an important role in this initial decline of Chinese technology.

Biography

  • The portrait of Yasheng Huang
    Yasheng Huang

    Yasheng Huang holds the Epoch Foundation professorship of global economics and management at MIT Sloan School of Management. From 2013 to 2017, he served as an associate dean in charge of MIT Sloan’s global partnership programs and its action learning initiatives. He is the author of seven books in English, another six in Chinese and of many academic papers, on topics such as regulatory transparency, historical autocracy, statistical falsifications, tax, financing, sectoral and regulatory biases, history of reforms and strategy, political economy of controls, etc. His book, The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to its Decline, published by Yale University Press in 2023, was selected as a Best Book of the Year in 2023 by Foreign Affairs magazine. His 2008 book, Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics, was selected as a Best Book of the Year in 2008 by the Economist magazine.

Organizer(s)
Address
Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Room
219/Online
Contact and Registration

We welcome both internal and external guests. For registration, please contact Dr. Franziska Fröhlich.

2025-09-08T14:00:00SAVE IN I-CAL 2025-09-08 14:00:00 2025-09-08 15:30:00 Reframing the Needham Question This talk is based on an ongoing book project by Prof. Yasheng Huang and his collaborators, which explores the history of Chinese technology through two datasets they compiled on historical Chinese inventions dating back to fifth century BCE. The goal of the project is to revisit the famous question posed by Joseph Needham, “Why did China fail to launch its own Industrial Revolution despite its early lead in technology?” The datasets enabled the authors to pin down the trajectory of Chinese technological development more precisely than previous work. They show that Chinese technology began to experience a substantial decline as early as late as sixth century rather than the much later timeline that is commonly asserted in the literature, sixteenth or seventeenth century. They argue that a milestone development of the Chinese exam system—the Keju institution—played an important role in this initial decline of Chinese technology. Biography Yasheng Huang Yasheng Huang holds the Epoch Foundation professorship of global economics and management at MIT Sloan School of Management. From 2013 to 2017, he served as an associate dean in charge of MIT Sloan’s global partnership programs and its action learning initiatives. He is the author of seven books in English, another six in Chinese and of many academic papers, on topics such as regulatory transparency, historical autocracy, statistical falsifications, tax, financing, sectoral and regulatory biases, history of reforms and strategy, political economy of controls, etc. His book, The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to its Decline, published by Yale University Press in 2023, was selected as a Best Book of the Year in 2023 by Foreign Affairs magazine. His 2008 book, Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics, was selected as a Best Book of the Year in 2008 by the Economist magazine. Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany 219/Online Franziska Marliese FröhlichDieu Linh Bui Dao Franziska Marliese FröhlichDieu Linh Bui Dao Europe/Berlin public