Co-authored by Wang Zheng (1571-1644) and Johann Terrenz Schreck (1576-1603), Diagrams and Explanations of Wonderful Machines of the West, known in Chinese as Yuan xi qi qi tu shuo lu zui, is an outstanding document in the history of Chinese science and its interaction with western science. It is, in fact, the first monograph on Western mechanics that was ever compiled in Chinese.

In order to introduce this science to China, Wang and Schreck jointly worked on a Chinese presentation of western knowledge and machines from Archimedian time (around the time of the Greek mathematician Archimedes, who died in 212BC) to the early 17th century, thereby merging the traditions of the two cultures.

The book was orally interpreted by Schreck, and was written and diagramed by Wang Zheng. Since its publication in 1627, translations of other engineering works from the West increased steadily year by year. By the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), there were some professional organizations that were engaged in translating western technological works, greatly propelling the dissemination of science and technology in China.

Author: Jeff

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