--this kind of question seems unavoidably anachronistic today, largely thanks to Joseph Needham and his collaborators who have spent more than half a century looking at all the evidence concerned. Now, no matter whether in East or West, most people can understand the scientific achievements of ancient and medieval China and how far China was ahead of the West.
這樣的問題，在今天看來不免揣陋，因為經過李約瑟和他的助手們超過半世紀以上的引經據典，爬梳古籍，現在無論東西方多能理解到古代和中古中國的科技成就，和當時遠遠領先西方的事實。