The Language in Chinese Mathematical Texts Before AD 1300: A Case for Logical Abstraction

While there seems to be a general consensus that literacy should include the ability to deal with basic reading, writing, and arithmetic, a view is growing that literacy is in fact more than equipping learners with sets of essential skills (Wells, 1981; Schoenfeld, 1985; Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987; Cumming, 1990; Wells & Chang-Wells, 1992). Olson (1994) reviews in his book The World on Paper a large number of studies in the field of psychology, sociology, history, and linguistics and concludes that modern literacy in the West is characterized by a new way of looking at written texts and the representation the texts project. In the contemporary East, while many countries including China are striving for economic development and modernization, the question of why science and modernity did not first develop in some oriental cultures such as China, which used to be the most advanced, remains interesting but unanswered. In the light of Olson's discussion regarding literacy and Western modernity, this paper adopts a cognitive-linguistic perspective and examines the social conditions in which ancient Chinese mathematics struggled to develop. Examples and experiences in ancient Chinese mathematical texts are presented to reveal the close relationship between modernity, literacy, and written language. In response to a new interest in a context-rich approach to mathematics teaching, the paper also discusses its implications for the mathematics curriculum.