Dui yu lishi, kexuejia you hua shuo: 20 shiji Zhongguo kexuejie de ren yu shi 对于历史,科学家有话 说:20世纪中国科学界的人与事 [Scientists Have Something to Say about History: The People and Issues of Twentieth-Century China’s Scientific World] by Xiong Weimin熊卫民 (review)

People in our profession frequently need to explain why we think historians have something to say about science. In this rich collection of oral histories, historian Xiong Weimin seeks to demonstrate the converse: that scientists have important things to say about history. Every scholar interested in Mao-era science will want a copy of this book; it would also be very suitable in the (Sinophone) classroom and has already received a very positive reception among more general audiences in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The bulk of the book comprises interviews with sixteen people, including research scientists spanning the physical, biological, and engineering sciences; a prominent philosopher and historian of science; administrators in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); and editors of major scientific publications. In addition, Xiong provides an introduction to the collection titled “Between Science and Politics,” and he closes with his essay “How to Improve the Reliability of Oral History.” Most of the material in the volume has been previously published, but it is brought together here for the first time and gains much depth through the resulting juxtaposition—and of course in book form the material has become accessible to audiences beyond those who usually read scholarly journals.

Xiong’s work supports important trends in both popular culture and academia. The book is one of three so far in a Dongfang Press series called Private Histories (私历史), reflecting an expanding popular interest in history as it has been experienced by regular people (including family history, local history, public history, etc.). Its content also strongly resonates with the traveling Exhibition of Modern Chinese Scientists (中国现 代科学家主题展), curated by historian of science Zhang Li and others, which has attracted large audiences across China (Zhang and Zhang 2014). Xiong’s focus on oral history as source material also coincides with a growing interest among scholars of PRC history in sources beyond the archives—a trend arising not only from discouragement about the state of archival access but also from a desire to move past the state’s frameworks to capture the experiences of people at the “grassroots.”

When I first saw the book’s title, I assumed the author intended to argue that scientists qua scientists—that is, as cosmopolitan intellectuals dedicated to the pursuit of objective truth—have special insights to offer about history. This may be an underlying expectation for Xiong and his readers, but if so it is not explicitly emphasized in the book. Rather, Xiong begins from the more concrete and easier-to-defend premise that the sheer number of Chinese scientists (representing the majority of China’s intellectuals) and their underrepresentation in historical testimony to date requires an effort on the part of historians to collect and propagate their stories. Moreover, as Xiong repeatedly highlights, science and politics were closely intertwined during the Mao era, and so scientists participated directly in political campaigns and were present at events of national significance. It is thus less their insights into the meaning of history, and more their witnessing of specific historical episodes, that constitute what scientists “have to say about history” in this book.

Physicist Zheng Zhemin, metallurgist Fu Junzhao, and cellular biologist Shi Lüji all discuss their experiences studying in the United States and then returning to China: these testimonies, along with much other material—including physicist Li Yuchang’s discussion of the experiences of several colleagues who returned to China from overseas and polymer chemist Hu Yadong’s recollections of scientific delegations to Western Europe, the United States, and Taiwan between 1977 and 1982—provide very valuable evidence for studying the transnational history of Chinese science. As just one example of the precious anecdotes to...