Wang Zheng, also known as Kuixin and Liangfu, named himself a Taoist or a son, Zhisou, and his Christian name was Philippe. A native of Jingyang, Xi'an Prefecture (now Jingyang County, Shaanxi Province) in the Ming Dynasty, he was born in the fifth year of Longqing reign of Mu Zong of the Ming Dynasty (1571). In the 22nd year of Wanli reign of Shenzong (1594), he was awarded the title of Jiawu Juren, and in the second year of Emperor Xizong's Tianqi reign (1622), he was awarded the Jinshi title of Renwu Branch. He successively served as a promotion official in Guangping Prefecture of Zhili Province (now part of Hebei Province) and Yangzhou Prefecture of Nanzhili Province (now part of Jiangsu Province). In the fourth year of Chongzhen reign of Emperor Yizong (1631), he was recommended by Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai and a firearms expert, and was appointed as the Shandong Inspector General, responsible for the affairs of the Liao Navy. Not long after, Wuqiao rebelled, Dengzhou city fell, and he was imprisoned. He was soon pardoned and released back to his hometown. In the 16th year of Chongzhen (1643), Li Zicheng's peasant uprising army captured Xi'an and established the Dashun regime. He sent people to recruit Wang Zheng, but Wang Zheng refused to die. The following year (1644), after hearing that the rebel army had captured Beijing and that Chongzhen was dead, he went on a hunger strike at home for seven days and died.
Wang Zheng’s life was mainly dedicated to the cause of science and technology. Before he became an official, in his hometown, he “eat vegetables and wrote books and gave lectures.” Because he lived in the countryside for a long time, he had a deep understanding of farmers. We understand the hardships of life and hard work. When he lived in his hometown in his early years, he devoted himself to research, improved and invented a variety of agricultural tools and daily utensils based on the needs of local agricultural production. According to records, the main ones include: siphon, crane drinker, wheel pot, contract farming, rotating mill, bicycle, etc. etc. His scientific achievements during this period were later included in his book "Pictures of Newly Made Various Instruments". In the third year of the Apocalypse (1623), Wang Zheng
read the book "Zhi Fang Wai Ji" written by the Italian missionary Ai Julius. He was deeply affected and inspired, became interested in Western technology, and decided to study and the determination to introduce Western "wonders". In the fifth year of Apocalypse (1625), he met the legendary priest Jinnige and studied Latin with him. The following year, he went to Beijing to meet missionaries such as Long Huamin, Deng Yuhan, Tang Ruowang, and Pang Diwo. They communicated with each other, discussed academic matters, and actively engaged in the introduction of Western science and technology. His main achievement was to co-translate mechanical engineering with Swiss missionary Deng Yuhan. The scientific work "Illustrated Description of Strange Weapons of the Far West". After returning to his hometown in his later years, he continued to engage in the research and invention of various machines. Wang Zheng, a versatile and learned man, wrote a lot in his life. During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Zheng's seventh grandson Wang Jie compiled the book "Baotian Tang Wang Family Collection", which included Wang Zheng's works. There are 42 kinds of translation. These works cover many aspects such as the wars of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Catholicism, Confucianism, mechanical manufacturing, phonology, poetry, and experiences in invention and creation. There are mainly four volumes of "Pictures of Strange Instruments", four volumes of "Liang Li Lue", one volume of "Shi Yue", "Xue Yong Shu Jie", "Western Confucians' Ear and Eyes", "Fearing Heaven and Loving People" "Ji Lun" one volume, "Western Confucianism", "Western Music Jue", etc. Of these works, only "Illustrated Notes on Strange Weapons of the Far West" and the accompanying "Illustrated Notes on Newly Made Various Weapons" have been published several times and have been widely circulated. Most of the other works have not been published in the world. First, because the content mostly involves the Ming Dynasty and the Hou Jin Dynasty, that is, the later Qing Dynasty's war to compete for the Northeast. Wang Zheng also hated and even despised the Hou Jin Dynasty from the standpoint of the Ming government. Naturally, he did not It was welcomed by the Qing government; secondly, the spread of some works about Catholicism was affected by the Qing government's repeated ban on Catholicism. The descendants of the Wang family were always worried about Wang Zheng as they had already engraved books on him, fearing that something might happen to him, and they did not dare to show the books to others before they had engraved them. As time went on, many of them were lost. According to the information about Wang Zheng that we have seen so far, there should be at least 19 kinds of writings extant.
2 Wang Zheng’s mechanical engineering translation "Illustrated Description of Strange Instruments"
2. 1 Main mechanical engineering works
Wang Zheng, as a Chinese scholar in the late Ming Dynasty There are creators in the field of mechanical engineering who not only improved and invented many machines, but more importantly, left works on mechanical engineering. According to the records in Wang Jie of the Qing Dynasty's "Catalog of Historical Collections of Baotian Hall", there are mainly five types of mechanical engineering works written and translated by Wang Zheng that can be tested.
① The three volumes of "The Most Illustrated Description of Strange Weapons of the Far West" were dictated by Deng Yuhan, a Western Jesuit missionary who came to China in the Ming Dynasty, and translated by Wang Zhenghui. This book is a physics book, also known as "Pictures of Strange Weapons", divided into three volumes. This book talks about the concepts of gravity, center of gravity, specific gravity, etc., explains the principles of levers, pulleys, axles, and inclined planes, etc., and illustrates the application principles and the usage of machinery such as lifting and lifting. It is an early monograph introducing Western mechanics in my country. This book is often published together with Wang Zheng's self-written mechanical engineering treatise "Pictures of Various Instruments".
It was first published in Yangzhou in the seventh year of Emperor Xizong's Tianqi reign in the Ming Dynasty (1627). There are also other editions published in the first year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1628), the Qing Dynasty edition in the Ming Dynasty, the Sikuquanshu edition, the reprinted edition in the Ming edition in the first year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1801), and the Ming edition in the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. Reprinted version, published in the 21st year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1816), "Shoushan Pavilion Series" version, reprinted version in Lailutang in the 10th year of Daoguang reign in the Qing Dynasty (1830), Daoguang movable type version of the Qing Dynasty, "Three Essentials of Chinese Arithmetic Collection", " The series of books is compiled into the first edition, which is widely circulated.
②One volume of "Pictures of Newly Made Various Utensils" written by Wang Zheng. This book is the earliest mechanical engineering monograph in China. The whole book is about 4,000 words, with a small preface from the first year of Ming Dynasty (1621) at the front of the volume. The main text records some of the instruments designed, invented and improved by Wang Zheng, including pictures and explanatory texts of more than ten kinds of instruments for irrigation, grain processing, transportation, farming, etc., and is accompanied by words of praise. This book is often published together with "Illustrated Notes on Strange Weapons of the Far West" and has been widely circulated. This book has a engraved edition in the seventh year of tomorrow's Qi Dynasty (1627), one volume.
③"Illustrated Notes on Various Utensils Made in Erajiya" is not divided into volumes. It is written by Wang Zheng of the Ming Dynasty and is the manuscript. This book is a sequel to the author's "Pictures of Various Instruments". The book introduces 24 kinds of instruments, with pictures and detailed explanations. Today, only the autobiography and postscript remain, which are included in Volume 9, Issue 7, of Northwest Lunheng.
④Volume "Short Draft of Illustrations of Various Utensils" written by Wang Zheng, copy. This book is a monograph introducing instruments, probably Wang Zheng's "Illustrated Notes on the Various Utensils Made in Erajiya", originally stored in the Tianshui County Library of Gansu Province.
⑤ One volume of "Small Draft of Illustrated Notes on Tibetan Utensils" was written by King Zheng of the Ming Dynasty. The manuscript is lost today. This book is a mechanical monograph that introduces many machines designed by himself, especially agricultural machinery and water conservancy machinery. Among the above five mechanical engineering works, the one with the greatest achievement, the most important and the widest circulation is "Pictures of Strange Weapons" co-translated by Wang Zheng and Swiss missionary Deng Yuhan.
2. 2 Mechanical Engineering Translation "Pictures of Strange Weapons"
In the late Ming Dynasty, Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen dynasties, that is, from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, some Chinese scholar-bureaucrats He has a great spirit of accepting Western science, and tries his best to translate pure sciences, such as astronomy and mathematics, and applied sciences, such as water conservancy, surveying, machinery, etc. At that time, most of the methods of translating books were taught by Westerners orally and written by Chinese, except for self-translation by Westerners. Regarding Wang Zheng's motivation and process for translating "Pictures of Strange Instruments", he said in "The Preface to the Pictures of Strange Instruments": "I even read one or two of the strange people and strange things recorded in "Zifang Waiji" 6?8?6?8 The strange weapons are definitely beyond what I have seen and heard here." So he made up his mind to study and introduce the "wonderful weapons" of the West. In his early years, he learned Latin from the French missionary Ginnigue, and learned mathematics and measurement knowledge from the Swiss missionary Deng Yuhan. In the sixth year of Tianqi (1626), Wang Zheng met with Long Huamin, Deng Yuhan, and Tang Ruowang in Beijing. He asked them about the Western artifacts contained in "Zifang Waiji" and read about Western artifacts from them. There are many books on mechanics and mechanics, and Deng Yuhan and others introduced to him "there are more than a thousand pictures of strange weapons." These foreign tidbits opened Wang Zheng's horizons and made him "heart happy". From this, Wang Zheng learned the overview of the European book "Zhuqi Tushuo Quangui", so Deng Yuhan dictated it and Wang Zheng wrote it. He also consulted other books and chose "Concern for the People's Daily Use" and "National Development". "The author translated it into a three-volume book called "Illustrated Notes on Strange Weapons of the Far West", together with a volume of "Illustrated Notes on Newly Made Various Weapons" written by Wang Zheng, and was printed and published in Yangzhou in the seventh year of Tianqi (1627). Later this book was often called "Illustrations of Strange Weapons".
Wang Zheng’s "Illustrated Description of Strange Weapons", first of all, looking at the content of the book, the arrangement is very scientific. It first talks about the principles and then the applications, systematically introducing the achievements of the West in mechanical engineering, which has important historical document value. Secondly, from the perspective of the translation of "Illustrated Description of Qiqi", it is not just a mechanical translation based on Deng Yuhan's dictation, he also paid attention to analyzing and refining his own opinions. For example, starting from the analysis of scientific historical materials, it summarizes five types of causes why scientists can achieve inventions.
Thirdly, this book uses Latin letters as serial symbols. It is the first book to use Latin alphabet symbols among ancient Chinese science and technology books (later versions were changed to Chinese serial numbers such as A, B, C, D, etc.). Finally, it should be pointed out that in some discussions and calculations, Wang Zheng also paid attention to highlighting national characteristics. For example, when calculating the radius of the earth in the third article of Volume 1, he used the Chinese Describe the place name.
Another example is to use translations of some special terms that are more in line with Chinese habits, especially some titles. This is not only vivid and accurate, but also easier to be understood by Chinese people. However, the book still has some shortcomings in terms of catalog organization and proofreading. The first is that the number of volumes does not match. At the front there is "The First Volume of the Illustrated Description of the Strange Weapons of the Far West", which is equivalent to the introduction, but immediately followed by the "The First Volume of the Illustrated Description of the Two Strange Weapons of the Far West". Next is "The Second Volume of Illustrated Notes on Strange Weapons of the Far West", which is rather confusingly organized. At the end of the first volume of the first volume, it is said: "It is listed as four volumes." Volume One, Re-explanation; Volume Two, Instrument Interpretation; Volume Three, Force Interpretation; Volume Four, Dynamic Interpretation. But the actual content is only three volumes, and there is no way to decipher one volume. The force solution mentioned by Wang Zheng refers to the various forces used in mechanical movement, such as human power, animal power, wind power, water conservancy, gravity, etc. In fact, the force solution can also be said to be included in the third volume of the "Illustration of the Complete Machine". Secondly, the symbols on the pictures do not match the description. The third is that the order of the catalog is not completely consistent with the content. There is also a kind of "picture explanation of human flying
", which is proposed in the catalog, but there are no pictures or explanations in the content. When Wang Zheng translated this work, it was already after Leonardo da Vinci. The books introduced by Western missionaries at that time may also have records about flying men. Perhaps because this invention is too amazing, it is not suitable for people's birthday. It does not matter much in terms of use, and it is possible to delete it at the moment of engraving, but it is saved in the catalogs of various versions. These are shortcomings in organization and proofreading.
The blueprint on which Wang Zheng's translation of "Illustrated Notes on Strange Instruments" was based was verified by Mr. Hui Zelin, the former director of the Beitang (i.e. Xishiku Catholic Church in Beijing) library. There are four main sources. There are a few sentences in the introduction to "Illustrated Notes on Strange Weapons": "Among the clever people nowadays who are best able to understand the reason why all kinds of weapons are the way they are, there are Wei Duo, Ximen, the painter and engraver, and the "Plowing the field" is a person who teaches Li Moli, and Hui Zelin believes: "The so-called Weiduo should be the abbreviation of Witruvius: Ximen should refer to Simon Stephen." Asimon stevin); Plowing should be the literal translation of the Latin word Farmer Agricola; Sanmoli should be the antiphone of the Italian Ramell. "Vedovius was a Roman architect in the first century BC and the author of "Architecture". "Shu" in ten volumes, the last volume of which is devoted to machinery. At the same time as Simon Stephen and Deng Yuhan, Geng Tian or Agricola was a famous German doctor, and San Moli was an Italian engineer and mechanic. The first and second volumes translated by Wang Zheng are mostly based on the second volume of Simon Stephen's "Hypomnemata" and Chapter 10 of "Architecture" by Medowius. The instruments described in them are equivalent to those of Wang Zheng. Volume 2 translated by Zheng Zheng. As for the illustrations in Volume Three, most of them were taken from the books written by Ci Moli, but the books written by Geng Tian were rarely used. Wang Zheng's translation of "Illustrations of Strange Weapons" and his own "Illustrations of Newly Made Various Weapons" have always been published together. Therefore, regarding the version of "Illustrated Notes on Strange Instruments", we must discuss it together with "Illustrated Notes on Newly Made Various Instruments".
The next five versions are worth mentioning.
① Tomorrow Qi Seventh Year (1627) Edition This version is the earliest version of "Illustrated Notes on Strange Weapons" currently available. At the front of the book is the "Preface to the Illustrated Description of Strange Weapons" written by Xiao Ziren Wu Wei Zhong, followed by Wang Zheng's "Preface to the Illustrated Description of Strange Weapons". On the fourth page of the preface, there are the words "Awaiting the decree to revise the calendar", with the word "zhi" in the header and starting on a new line. Other versions are not like this, which proves that it is a Ming Dynasty edition. There are nine lines on each side, and two crosses on each line. There are also the following three lines before each volume of "Illustrated Notes on Strange Weapons":
dictated by Deng Yuhan, a Jesuit from the West Sea
translated and painted by Wang Zheng, a later Nestorian scholar in Kansai
Lieutenant Colonel Zi of Jinling Hou School, Wu Wei
Before "Illustrated Notes on Newly Made Various Weapons", there was "Small Preface to Illustrated Notes on Newly Made Various Weapons" written by Wu Weizhong, which was written by Wang Zheng himself. There are the following two lines in front of the text:
Written by Wang Zheng of Kansai
Lieutenant Colonel Zi of Jinling Military Position
"Illustrated Notes on Strange Weapons" published in the seventh year of tomorrow's Qi Dynasty , in the 21st year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1816), Wang Zheng's seventh grandson Wang Jie added the "Preface to the Complete Collection of Famous Confucian Scholars of the Ming Dynasty" and the biography of Wang Zheng in the General Annals of Shaanxi Province
Engraved, but the rest is original.
②The 1830 edition of Daoguang Dynasty in the Qing Dynasty. The font and paper of this edition are relatively poor. There is no preface by Wang Jie, but a preface by the publisher, Mr. Zhang Peng, is added.
In Wang Zheng's "Preface to the Illustrated Notes on Strange Weapons", the word ", purpose" does not appear. The first line of each volume is compared with the 7th edition of Tomorrow Qi. The third line is changed to:
Lt. Colonel Ankang Zhang Pengzi, a postgraduate student of Jinling.
The front part of "Illustrated Description of Newly Made Various Weapons" has also been changed to:
Written by Wang Zheng of Guanxi
Lieutenant Colonel of Jinling Military Position
Ankang Zhang Pengzi
The cover has the four characters "Illustrated Description of Strange Instruments" in seal script and the words "Daoguang Gengyin (1830) Zhongchun Yue Zhongengeng", as well as "Lailutang Collection" and other words, the rest are the same.
③ "Shoushan Pavilion Series" edition In the "Shou Shan Pavilion Series" edition, Wang Zheng's "Pictures of Strange Weapons" is listed as a sub-part of the series. The differences from the first two versions are:
a. The article "Summary of the Complete Collection of Four Treasures" is added to the front of the book;
b. Except for Wang Zheng's own preface, all other prefaces have been deleted. ;
c. Unlike the first two versions, which use Latin letters for signs on each picture and in the description,
In this version, all signs are changed to A, B, and C. , D and other Chinese character serial numbers; d. The drawings of this version are more refined and seem to be drawn based on the "Sikuquanshu";
e. The front of each volume of "Illustrated Notes on Strange Instruments" is changed to: Mingxiyang It was dictated by Deng Yuhan, translated and illustrated by Wang Zheng of Guanxi, and edited by Qian Xi and Zuoxi of Jinshan. In addition to retaining Wang Zheng's preface in "Newly Made Various Utensils Illustrated Notes", the front part is also changed to read: Written by Wang Zheng of Ming Dynasty, edited by Qian Xizuoxi of Jinshan:
f. At the end of the book, the work of Qian Xizuoxi is added. The article "Pictures and Postscripts of Strange Weapons".
④Tsinghua University Library manuscript Tsinghua University Library
The manuscript of Wang Zheng's "Illustrated Description of Strange Weapons" is stored, but there is no description of the person who copied it and the time of writing it. Because the labels on the pictures in "Illustrated Notes on Strange Instruments" have all been changed from Latin letters to Chinese character numbers such as A, B, C, D, etc., the explanation seems to be after the "Shou Shan Pavilion Series". This kind of "Illustrated Description of Strange Weapons" has only a preface by Wang Yingkui and no other prefaces except for the preface in the military position. There is also a line in Wang's Xu: "I traveled to Guangling and was awarded by the county manager, the Duke of Guanzhong, to write a book about the rare artifacts of Deng Yupu, a Western Confucian scholar." This seems to have been copied from a Ming Dynasty engraving. These are the three acts before each volume of the book:
dictation by Deng Yuhan, a Jesuit in the West Sea
translated and painted by Wang Zheng, a postgraduate of the Nestorian Church in Kansai
Xin'an post Learn from the ancient school of Wu Huai
The preface of "Illustrated Notes on Newly Made Various Utensils" has been removed from Wang Zheng's preface and changed to:
Written by Wang Zheng of Guanxi
After Xin'an Learn from Wu Huai's ancient school
The front cover of this type of manuscript, in addition to the four characters "Qi Qi Tu Shuo" in seal script, also has the words "Zheng Hu's literary inspection and proofreading", "Shiji Shanfang's original book collection", etc. The calligraphy and paintings copied are good.
⑤The third edition of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1877). The title of "Pictures on Strange Instruments" in the third edition of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty was changed to "Pictures on Machines" and "Pictures on Newly Made Various Instruments" was mentioned in the front. Perhaps because during the Guangxu period, the term "machine" was widely used by ordinary people, the publisher changed the word "odd weapon" to "machine" for the sake of promoting sales. At the same time, it may be that in order to express the importance of the Chinese people's own works and to despise the translation work, Wang Zheng's "Illustrations of Newly Made Various Utensils" was placed before the translated "Illustrations of Qiqi", but this has little practical significance. What's even more ridiculous is that only the title and the name in the preface were changed, but the inside of the book was not changed. The rest is no different from the Daoguang tenth year (1830) edition. Moreover, the Latin letters marked on the pictures in the book have not been changed to Chinese serial numbers such as A, B, C, and D.
Wang Zheng made great contributions to mechanics, including his own inventions and his introduction to "Western learning". "Illustrated Description of Strange Weapons of the Far West" is a monograph that introduces Western science and technology with pictures and texts. It introduces in more detail some basic knowledge, various laws and principles of Western mechanics at that time, and also introduces some very advanced and complex Western mechanics. The construction, production and use of practical machinery, with accurate and detailed illustrations. In the preface of the book, Wang Zheng "extremely praised the wonders of his method" and "that he can move big things with small force" and "the skill of making tools is truly unparalleled in ancient and modern times", which reflects the enlightened scholars at that time's view of "Western learning" yearn for. What is particularly valuable is that he not only admired Western technology in terms of craftsmanship, but was also able to further delve into its theoretical foundations and realize that mathematics, geometry, mechanics, etc. "all complement each other" to achieve such progress. This was really insightful at the time. Argument.
Therefore, his book "Illustrations of Strange Weapons" (the combined edition of "Illustrations of Strange Weapons of the Far West" and "Illustrations of Newly Made Various Weapons") is not just a compilation of experience, but a systematic mechanics - Monographs on Mechanics. In ancient China, there were many outstanding inventors and scientists who made significant contributions to the development of mechanical technology, but there was no systematic work to record and summarize these achievements. The publication of "Pictures of Strange Weapons" made up for this shortcoming, created a glorious example in the history of science and technology in our country, and made an important contribution to the development of mechanical engineering in our country. It is known as "China's first systematic mechanics." and Mechanical Engineering" monograph. Unprecedented in the history of science and technology in my country, this is the first mechanical engineering translation that introduced Western classical mechanical principles into my country for the first time. It has an important influence on the dissemination of Western classical mechanical principles in our country. .