Thought process

While British sinologist Joseph Needham attributed significant weight to the impact of Confucianism and Taoism on the pace of Chinese scientific discovery, Chu Yu believes the impact of Confucianism is not the major stimulus.

In his Criticism of the Chinese People's Thinking, published by People's Press, Chu argues that Confucianism also profoundly influenced Japan and South Korea, and both continued to make progress in science and technology.

Instead, he suggests that the Chinese way of thinking - vague, random and lacking logic, which he says is still dominant today - is the true culprit.