Ming and Qing dynasties, this period is the end of the development of medieval science and technology. At the end of feudal society, various contradictions intensified, capitalism sprouted and developed, and western science and technology entered China. The conservatism of the feudal class did not have a positive impact on the development of science and technology in China. At the same time, land annexation is serious, class struggle is sharp, and the development of science and technology is slow, but at the same time, handicraft production has developed.
Kangxi was very interested in western science and technology and invited western missionaries to teach him western learning, including astronomy, mathematics, geography, zoology, anatomy, music and even philosophy. There are more than 65,438,000 books on astronomy alone.
But the problem is that although some people were interested in western learning and learned a lot at that time, they didn't make this knowledge play any role in China's economic and social development. Most people just sit and talk about it.
1708, the Qing government organized missionaries to draw a map of China, and then it took 10 to draw an unprecedented scientific map of the Forbidden City, which was at the forefront of the world.
However, such an important achievement has been kept in the palace as a secret document for a long time, which is simply invisible in society and has not played any role in economic and social development. On the contrary, the western missionaries who participated in surveying and mapping brought the information back to the West for publication, which made the West know more about the geography of China than China people for a long time.
This shows that science and technology must be combined with social development. No matter how much you learn, it is just a curiosity, an elegance, and even as a strange skill, it is impossible to have an effect on the real society.
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From the fact that Emperor Kangxi personally led these two major projects, especially the compilation of "The Origin and Calendar of Statues", we can get a glimpse of the nature of his name "Imperial System" as an imperial science.
First, it is the ideological pursuit of serving the real politics of the imperial dynasty.
Being punctual is a symbol of imperial power, which is related to the legitimacy and sanctity of imperial power, so it is highly valued.
Since Li Xiang Kao Cheng and Mathematical Essentials are imperial classics, they are required to be "beneficial to all countries in the world and spread for hundreds of millions of generations", and they must be politically consistent with the established policy of "respecting Confucianism and attaching importance to Taoism" at that time. In guiding ideology, this requires taking China's traditional astronomical mathematics as the criterion and only absorbing western algorithms and skills.
Therefore, the calendar experts in Emperor Kangxi's Imperial Palace took the attached copy of Hutuluo as the "mathematical origin" and the so-called Zhou Pian Shu Jing produced by Duke Zhou as the "origin of western learning". Although its intention also has the positive significance of absorbing western learning, it not only runs counter to the scientific spirit of seeking truth, but also leads the science of Qing Dynasty to the narrow road of "connecting China and the West".
Second, equally important, imperial science must be mastered, controlled and monopolized by the royal family.
Emperor Kangxi strictly controlled the academic activities of Jesuits, and once the activities of missionaries were beyond his permission, he strictly prohibited them. Therefore, the scientific activities of Jesuits were confined to a corner of the court to a considerable extent and failed to get the necessary dissemination. As for the Panorama of the Forbidden City and the later revised Gan Long Neifu Map, they are all hidden indoors, and no one is allowed to get their hands on them.
However, the panoramic view of the imperial land had already been sent back to France by missionaries and made public by Europeans, but the Qing court regarded it as a treasure and kept it secret. This is really a great irony to the autocratic and ignorant policies of Qing rulers such as Emperor Kangxi.
Third, imperial science pursues practicality and authority, not innovation.
The emperor's "grand ceremonies of the first generation", such as textual research on calendar images and mathematical essentials, are practical manuals for astronomy, mathematics and calendar calculation, which serve the calendar compilation and astronomical observation of Qin and other institutions. Both of these books are brief introductions to astronomy and mathematical theory. Compared with some translated works in the late Ming Dynasty, it is backward in system and theoretical depth.
The authority of the origin of the calendar is beyond doubt. Although the calculated results of the method in Li Xiang Kao in Yongzheng and Qianlong years are different from the measured results, they have to be revised, but the original style and model are still used.
Therefore, although this scientific classic made by Emperor Kangxi has certain progressive significance in the history of science in the Qing Dynasty, it is insignificant in the world science forest from 17 to 18 centuries.
Fourth, closely related to the authority of imperial science is its conservatism.
The officials of Siku Library summed up the official western learning policy of Qing Dynasty very incisively, and used their technology to prohibit them from spreading academic knowledge. This policy originated from Emperor Kangxi, which hindered China people's understanding of the West and learning from the West.
Under the influence of Emperor Kangxi, although Qin hired Jesuits and adopted western methods, his tasks and work followed the old track, without seeking novelty and change, and the Qing Dynasty did not establish any new scientific research institutions, which eventually led to the prosperity of Kanggan, frequent exchanges between China and the West, and Chinese people had no perception of modern science.
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