Qian taught physics at
Zhejiang University from 1959 to 1980. During the
Cultural Revolution, he was branded an "ideological counter-revolutionary." In 1980, the
government of the People's Republic of China sent Qian to the United States to continue his studies while his wife and daughter remained in China. In 1983, he graduated from
Northwestern University with a
Master of Arts in history. The work was framed as a challenge to
Joseph Needham's
Science and Civilisation in China, He believed that political conditions, particularly the
imperial examination system, stymied the development of modern science in dynastic China. Qian saw the neglect of formal logic and rigorous proof as a central cause in the failure to develop modern science. At the time, Qian's thesis was considered controversial among
sinologists.
Victor H. Mair called
The Great Inertia an "arching cry of a thoughtful critic from within the Chinese tradition addressed to the enthusiastic advocate from without." In 1988, Qian graduated from the
University of Michigan with a doctorate in history and began teaching history at
Blackburn College the same year. From 1992 to 2002, he taught history at
MacMurray College. Qian died in 2003 in
Jacksonville, Illinois. == Works ==