Science_and_Civilization_Vol_05_Chemistry_n_Chemical Technology_Part06_Review.pdf

508 REVIEWS Moreover, on the issue of sinicization, we see that the Tanguts, whose Chinese population must have been scarce, borrowed Chinese civil institutions on a scale not inferior to that of the Mongols, who ruled over many millions of Han subjects. The choice must have been dictated by needs other than to rule the Chinese. The most likely reason, following the stress placed by Dunnell on the vulnerability of the state and on the repeated ef- forts by various rulers to strengthen the central authority, was the search for solutions to that very vulnerability and to the tribal aris- tocracys centrifugal pull. It is unnecessary to belabor the point further. In producing a sum- ma of available scholarship, the studies presented in this volume have also, consciously and unconsciously, raised questions which need to be further explored. The history of the conquest dynas- ties above all shows that the linear approach to Chinese history is inadequate, and that notions of acculturation need to be reconsid- ered. Given that the CambridgeHistory of China is addressed to a general readership, the level of scholarship expressed in this volume is very high. It is to the credit of the editors and each contributor that we can now say that the stage is set for a new understanding of this period of Chinese history. Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 5: Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 6, Military Technology: Missiles and Sieges by Joseph Needham and Robin Yates. Cambridge: Cam- bridge University Press, 1994. Pp. 601. $130.00. Paul C. Forage, Universityof Michigan Explorations of the military and military t