Elements
Chinese Zhusuan, knowledge and practices of mathematical calculation through the abacus
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Manage No, Sortation, Country, Writer ,Date, Copyright Manage No EE00000234 Country China ICH Domain Knowledge and practices about nature and the universe Address Chinese Zhusuan has been widely spread over mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Regions, and is most keenly practiced among communities living in Beijing Municipality, Nantong City of Jiangsu Province, Huangshan City of Anhui Province, Fenyang City of Shanxi Province, and Linhai City of Zhejiang Province, and so on.
| Description | With the abacus as a tool, mathematical algorithms as a theoretical facility, Chinese Zhusuan is figure-based knowledge and practices through moving beads on an abacus according to the defined formulas. The abacus is made of bamboo or wood in the shape of a rectangle, divided horizontally into two decks with a string of five beads (one in the upper deck and four in the lower) or a string of seven beads (two in the upper deck and five in the lower). Each bead in the upper deck has a value of 5 while each in the lower has a value of 1. Atypical abacus has 13 to 19 rods connecting the beads. Zhusuan practitioners can perform mathematical calculations including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponential multiplication, root, equations of higher degree, thus demonstrating the wonderful wisdom and creativity of the Chinese people. This time-honoured tradition has played a vital role in giving impetus to mathematical studies, promoting algorithmic practices, and nourishing intelligence. Zhusuan oral formulas have easy-to-learn rhymes that represent the specific calculation rules and summarize the arithmetic operations. Beginners can make quick calculations after moderate trainings, while proficient practitioners usually develop an agile mind. Through oral teaching and bodily practice, Chinese has maintained and transmitted Zhusuan for generations. With a scientific theoretical system and a simple operation method, Zhusuan has long been popular in various aspects of Chinese living and production. As an important legacy of mathematics and cultural tradition, Zhusuan has become a national symbol of cultural identity. |
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| Social and cultural significance | Zhusuan has been considered as an important symbol of traditional Chinese culture and is constantly recreated by abacus practitioners and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history that provide a high sense of cultural identity among common Chinese masses and folks. The Chinese used to use Zhusuan to do calculation and number cognition, and an abacus was a necessity in almost every household. Its essential value lies in ancient Chinese ideology telling the harmony between man and nature that represents their ancestors’ cosmology. Today, it serves multiform social cultural functions in the advancement of calculating technique, cognitive schema, educational psychology, and intellectual development. Zhusuan has a far-reaching influence over various fields of Chinese civilization and cultural creativity, such as folk custom, language, literature, sculpture, architecture, etc., expanding the practical application of the abacus toward a Zhusuan-related cultural phenomenon. For example, referring to someone who keen at calculation and keeps strict budgeting, ‘an iron abacus’ in vernacular comes up to a compliment for ‘a good accountant;’ ‘Plus three equals plus five and minus two [+3=+5-2],’ means the job was finished in neat and quick ; in terms of folkways, “zhuazhou,” a long-standing rite of passages prevails throughout China and circulates among the Han and many other ethnic groups, telling a child’s fortune by placing various objects before him and letting him choose one on his one-year-old birthday, amongst others the abacus is the top necessary one, embodying wisdom and fortune. |
| Transmission method | Mainly based on traditional models of oral teaching and self-fashioned learning, Zhusuan has been primarily handed down from generations to generations. So far, it has become common practice to use an abacus to improve intelligence and cultivate agile mentality all over the country; in particular, the abacus-based mental arithmetic boasts the great achievements of this element. Celebrating the distinguished revival of the element, abacus-based mental arithmetic is not only a representation of knowledge and practices of Zhusuan, but also facilitates an educational function for developing children’s intelligence growth. Some training in abacus-based mental arithmetic can dramatically improve a child’s attention span, memory, and mental capability. At present, more and more people become aware of the cultural creativity and social function of Zhusuan, and recognize the fact that though the calculating tool of Zhusuan can be replaced, its connotation as a cultural symbol together with its function of educational enlightenment are still of high social value, thus capturing people’s attention to carry it out in practice. Abacus associations at all levels and some relevant organizations offer training courses in primary school and kindergarten to popularize figure-based skills and abacus-based mental arithmetic knowledge, thereby enrich and reinforce the framework of modern education. There are still diverse ways of performing calculating processes by the means of Chinese Zhusuan, reflecting its vitality generated from dynamics of cultural inheritance. |
| Community | CHINESE ABACUS AND MENTAL ARITHMETIC ASSOCIATION (CAMAA) WITH 32 REGISTERED GROUP MEMBERS IN HEILONGJIANG, NINGXIA, SHANGHAI AND OTHER PROVINCES, AUTONOMOUS REGIONS, AND MUNICIPALITIES, ALONG WITH MORE THAN 300 REGISTERED INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS. CHINA ABACUS MUSEUM, CHENG DAWEI ZHUSUAN MUSEUM IN ANHUI PROVINCE, WANG WENSU MEMORIAL HALL IN SHANXI PROVINCE, AND GUOHUA ZHUSUAN MUSEUM IN LINHAI CITY OF ZHEJIANG PROVINCE. INDIVIDUAL REPRESENTATIVE INHERITORS TO THE HERITAGE ARE ZHANG DEHE, WANG WEIDA, CHEN RANRAN, AND ZHU QINGYING, ETC. * Cheng Dawei and Wang Wensu, known as the celebrated mathematician and Great Zhusuan Master, both of them lived in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) in China. As a professional and non-profit union of abacus societies and Zhusuan experts all over the China, the Chinese Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association (CAMAA), together with many other abacus societies, mental arithmetic associations, abacus museums, centers of abacus expertise throughout China, as well as their active members and talented professionals, are composed of the key bearers of the element. On the other hand, common users of the abacus, such as merchants, salespersons, traders and clerks, along with students and trainees, arithmetic enthusiasts, scholars in Chinese traditional mathematics also demonstrate the diverse practitioners of Zhusuan. CAMAA is responsible for formulating and implementing transmitting plans and programme aiming at strengthening the viability and continuity of the element. Abacus and mental arithmetic associations at all levels take charge of conducting inventory-building based on general surveys and on-the-site investigations, carrying out academic research, public competition, pedagogic training, cultural exchanges and other activities. Abacus museums located in different places step up to their own responsibilities for enhancing the recognition of Zhusuan knowledge and practices through collection, collation, conservation, and exhibition of historical relics, ancient literatures, cultural objects, as well as the living traditional craftsmanship of the variety of hand-made abacuses. Individual representative bearers and inheritors always make good use of their traditional methods and profound expertise to disseminate Zhusuan knowledge to the public mass and transmit practical skills to kids and teenagers by means of offering training courses, instructing apprentices, cultivating talents, sharing experiences, peer review, delivering seminars, rating appraisals of contests, and so forth. |
| Type of UNESCO List | Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity |
| Incribed year in UNESCO List | 2013 |