Simon Winchester Talks About The Man Who Loved China

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Partner:: Asia Society
Location:: Asia Society
New York, NY
Event Date:: 05.20.08
Speakers:: John Major,; Simon Winchester
Tags:: china; Chinese politics

Summary: With his new book, The Man Who Loved China, author Simon Winchester traces the explorations (and romances) of Joseph Needham (1900-1995), a British scientist who eventually became the Western world's preeminent Chinese scholar.

At the Asia Society, Winchester talked with China scholar John Major about his book's subject�an eccentric genius, adventurer, nudist, and giant of China studies.

In Winchester's view, Needham's life demonstrates that to truly understand a country, you have to love it. Needham fell in love with China, Chinese culture, Chinese politics, and the heritage of an ancient civilization.

He also fell in love with a young student, Lu Gwei-djen, who was to become his lifelong collaborator on his masterpiece, Science and Civilization in China.

Central to much of Needham's work is a puzzle historians identify as "Needham's question": Why was it that the nation that invented so much -- the compass, bureaucracy, printing, explosives, even the stirrup -- and had enjoyed 5,000 years of continuous civilization, had failed to prosper?

Needham came to believe that China, weakened in the recent past by invasions, warlords, and corruption, would eventually rise again to world prominence. Critics would ask whether his research supported this conclusion, but, according to Winchester, no one can deny today the significance of Needham's basic endeavor - Asia Society

Bio

John Major

John Major is the author of The Land and People of China (a Notable 1989 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies, NCSS/CBC) and The Land and People of Maylaysia & Brunei (a 1992 Books for the Teen Age, NY Public Library). He lives in New York, NY.

Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester studied geology at Oxford and has written for Conde Nast Traveler, Smithsonian, and National Geographic. Winchester was named an honorary fellow at St. Catherine's College, Oxford in October, 2009 and received an honorary degree from Dalhousie University in October 2010

He is the author of A Crack in the Edge of the World, Krakatoa, The Map That Changed the World, The Professor and the Madman, The Fracture Zone, Outposts, Korea, among many other titles. He lives in Massachusetts and in the Western Isles of Scotland.

Chapters

: Watch Full Program

01 hr 05 min 42 sec

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01.: Asia Society Introduction

04 min 49 sec

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02.: Eccentric Englishmen

01 min 10 sec

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03.: Discovering Needham

02 min 08 sec

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04.: Writing on Joseph Needham

02 min 05 sec

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05.: Needham's Eccentricities: Humanity and Nudism

03 min 42 sec

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06.: Needham: A Man of Contradictions

02 min 03 sec

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07.: Lu Gwei-Djen

05 min 20 sec

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08.: Needham: The Ambassador

03 min 58 sec

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09.: Discovery of Chinese Invention

03 min 59 sec

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10.: The Needham Question

04 min 18 sec

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11.: Needham's Project

04 min 22 sec

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12.: Needham: The Amateur

03 min 05 sec

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13.: NaivetÃ© in Politics

04 min 05 sec

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14.: The Needham Legacy for China

01 min 08 sec

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15.: Q & A

00 min 30 sec

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16.: Q1: Chinese Physics

04 min 36 sec

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17.: China Conquering the World

01 min 59 sec

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18.: Q2: Western Distortion

04 min 12 sec

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19.: Q3: Researching Lu Gwei-Djen

02 min 08 sec

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20.: Q4: Math & Culture

04 min 04 sec

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21.: Q5: The Lifted U.S. Ban

01 min 41 sec

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: Watch Full Program

01 hr 05 min 42 sec

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Simon Winchester on Lu Gwei-Djen, Needham's Assistant

05 min 47 sec

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Simon Winchester on Joseph Needham's Epic Project

04 min 49 sec

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Simon Winchester on Joesph Needham's Political Naivete

04 min 31 sec

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Watch Full Program

01 hr 05 min 42 sec

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