Unfortunately the results of this movement were not taken seriously internationally and even failed to draw much Chinese attention. That was until Joseph Needham applied his scientific fame and superhuman determination to his massive-scale research into a comparison of Eastern and Western science. Only then did people pay attention and the history of Chinese science and technology came to achieve international recognition and formal status as an academic discipline.
可惜這些成果並不能引起國際、甚至灰心喪志的國人注意；直到李約瑟以他在科學界原有的聲望和過人的毅力，從事最大規模的、全面的東西科技文化比較研究，才引起矚目，中國科技史也深獲國際肯定，正式成為一門新學問。