十八世纪中西方武器装备的比较研究

18世纪,西方已处于初步发展的火器时代.中国处于冷兵器与火器并用时期,弓箭、刀、矛大量地装备清朝军队.清军使用的火绳枪,虽有燧发枪而未装备于部队.西方军队主要使用的是燧发枪,滑膛枪的设计制造技术已经成熟.18世纪中西方火枪技术模式和机制原理上大体相同,中国的铸炮工艺较粗糙.18世纪中国军事科学技术发展缓慢的主要原因是:没有西方那样的科学理论、实验、技术这三者之间的循环加速的内在机制.

A Comparison between Chinese and West Weaponry in the 18th Century

In the 18 th century,the West has already made preliminary progress in the firearm production,whereas China lags behind,arming its troops with a combination of cold casting weaponry and few firearms,mainly consisting of bows,arrows,spears,and matchlocks. The West troops are mainly equipped with flintlocks while China has some but has not yet distributed them to its troops. And the Westerners have achieved mature technology in designing and producing smoothbore guns. Although China's technological level in weaponry production is low,China and the West share similar technical models and producing systems. The main reason why China is left behind in military science and technology in the 18 th century is that China has not established an inner mechanism to accelerate the circulation of scientific theory,experiment and technology.