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In Alexandria? Bugger off, Cleopatra is my toy! Yeeaah, lets play. -D And I consider JN as sinocentric when he writes that the Chinese were the greatest sailors of all time (sic) and had dominated science and technology for full 1500 years (1-1500 AD (sic)). IMO he sails under a false flag pretending to be for international understanding, but actually psuhing heavily his sinocentric agenda. Even his inofficial 'biographer' Robert Finley said that he was (quote) ""always eager to inflate Chinese achievements"". I just returned from a three week trip to China last Sunday and bought some Chinese books which rely on his works. If you like I can quote sometime from them....""the modern world is a creation of China and the West""...""China lead the world for most of history"" and sick stuff like that. Maybe I am a bit unjust to Needham as I have received much of his work through his stout sinocentric adlatus R. Temple, but you will agree with me at least that none of Needham's many diffusionist thesises (rudder, 'escapement mechanism', etc.) have been since accepted by mainstream historians - all Chinese transmission which are now largely accepted (gunpowder, paper anyway, etc.) have been already before recognized by a substantial part of Western scholars. That is food for thought. Have fun tonight. -) Regards  "