The Fifth International Conference on the History of Taoism and Science Held in Chengdu

The Fifth International Conference on the History of Daoism and Science was held on Dec. 4-7, 2015 at Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. Along with the conference, a workshop was done for the national major project “Daoism and Science &Technology in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties” funded by China’s National Social Sciences Funddation. About 60 scholars from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, United States, Japan and Spain attended the conference and the workshop.

The conference and the workshop were hosted by the project with the fund support from the Daoist Chenghuang miao, Shanghai, and undertaken by Center for Culture, Science and Technology of Sichuan University. Three aims were set up for the conference: the cultural basis of ancient Chinese science and technology discussed in different cultural contexts between the East and the West, the possible local cultural basis of the future scientific creativity in China, and the compilation of the third volume of The History of Science and Technology in Taoism. 

Dozens of specialized presentations with comments and discussions were done in the conference and the workshop. There were topics on the methodology of scientific research at the age of big data, science explorers’ groups and Daoist culture, Daoism and medicine, health preservation, physics, geography, architecture, alchemy and chemistry, et al., during Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties.