How to objectively evaluate the scientific and technological level of the Ming Dynasty

1, the arms industry has its own views.

A major military event in the late Ming Dynasty was the introduction of imitation European firearms.

The Ming army introduced advanced artillery from Portugal, the Netherlands and other countries, and made a lot of modifications, resulting in varieties such as "Folangji" and "Hongyibao". In the eyes of Europeans, what is the lethality of these China modified firearms?

Rada, who belittled astronomy and praised handicrafts in the Ming Dynasty, was also very disdainful of the level of munitions in the Ming Dynasty. When he was in Fujian, he saw the cannons stationed in the Ming Dynasty. He thought that these cannons were crude and outdated, and many of them could only shoot stones.

Large-scale Buddha Lang Machine of Hongyi Cannon in Ming Dynasty

But some Spanish officers who really fought with the Ming army didn't see it that way. According to Captain Atreida's letter to the King of Spain, the elite troops and artillery of the Ming army performed extremely well. Spanish historian Mendoza once boarded a warship of the Ming Dynasty and saw the Franco plane on the warship of the Ming Army. The evaluation is also very pertinent: "Better and more powerful than ours."

2. Printing has its own advantages.

At the end of Ming Dynasty, China was introduced by many Europeans, and it was one of the "four great inventions": printing.

Although there were papermaking and printing in Europe at that time, Europeans also recognized the exclusive advantage of the Ming Dynasty.

According to Matteo Ricci, printing in China is at least 500 years earlier than that in Europe, and its technology is more sophisticated, mistakes can be easily corrected and its speed is faster. A piece of wood can print more than 1500 copies a day. If you look at the printing in China, you will know why there are so many books in China, and the prices are much cheaper than those in Europe.

However, such a powerful technology also makes Europeans find fault: China's paper is not as durable as Europe's and cannot be printed on both sides. What hit Europeans particularly hard was that at first, the Ming people firmly believed that Europeans could print, and angry Europeans sent a lot of printed bibles-look at what we printed.

Wang Kentang, a scholar of The End of Lighting, praised that the European Bible has words on both sides and is waterproof, which is really "different".

3. Agriculture is the most admirable.

Compared with printing, which made Europeans find fault, agriculture in the Ming Dynasty made European missionaries enter the Grand View Garden like Granny Liu, and everything was fresh. The overall agricultural level was summarized by Matteo Ricci as "much richer than Europe".

Matteo Ricci and China Scholar-officials

The production scenes of some farmers have opened the eyes of Europeans. Rice is cooked three times a year, and fish are raised in rice fields to prevent malaria. Mendoza's History of the Great Chinese Empire also records in detail that in the Ming Dynasty, farmers wrapped duck eggs in bamboo and heated them with straw, but they could hatch eggs in severe winter.

Europeans are even more surprised by many common farm tools: Fujian's large waterwheel, which can irrigate hillsides, has been praised by LADA of Spain. What really caused a craze in Europe was the food fan truck, which was widely used in southeast rural areas.

Rotary grain-supporting fan car

This old-fashioned farm tool appeared in the Western Han Dynasty and developed into the Ming Dynasty. The technology has been very mature: it is closed and equipped with axles and cranks, so that two people can operate it quickly and shell it easily.

Strong production efficiency attracted the plunder of Europeans: Dutch and Swedish sailors bought and smuggled them to Europe many times, and sold them at high prices every time, which also attracted imitations. In the 18th century, various improved versions appeared in rural Europe, ending the history that coolies could only rely on dustpans.

According to some European scholars, this agricultural tool from the East can be regarded as the originator of centrifugal compressor.

4. Chinese medicine has caused a great upsurge.

Europeans began to pay attention to Chinese medicine after reading Matteo Ricci's works. Matteo Ricci told Europeans that Chinese medicine can not only treat many diseases, but also that it is more convenient and cheaper to see a doctor in China than in Europe, and there are many hospitals. "In China, a dime needs six to seven times as many gold bars as in Europe." .

Matteo Ricci portrait

Since then, many TCM classics have been translated into Europe, and different countries have different versions. For example, Wang Shuhe's Pulse Classic in Jin Dynasty, the Polish version is called synopsis of the golden chamber of traditional Chinese medicine, and the Dutch version is called clinical Chinese medicine. 17 and 18 centuries were very popular in Europe. Medical classics such as Compendium of Materia Medica can be translated in Europe.

It had a great influence in Europe, and there were mature inoculation techniques to prevent smallpox in Ming Dynasty. Known in Europe as "smallpox vaccine", it first spread to Turkey in the Ming Dynasty, cured the wife of the British ambassador to Turkey, and has been widely circulated since then. This remarkable achievement was praised by Voltaire: "This example, which is regarded as the most intelligent and civilized nation in the world, is a great precedent."

5. Astronomical work is too chaotic.

What kind of science did Europeans despise most in Ming Dynasty? It's astronomy

Portuguese Cruz once mocked China for his lack of astronomical knowledge. Rada, a Spaniard who praised the high-tech agricultural tools of the Ming Dynasty, complained that the Ming people had poor geometric knowledge and poor calculation level, which was terrible.

China's traditional astronomical equipment has been trampled even more. Ferdinand Ferdinand verbiest, a Belgian missionary in Kangxi period, criticized astronomical instruments handed down from Yuan and Ming dynasties in another way: they were simply "clumsy muses", that is, they could only be used as decorations.

An, a missionary who also worked for Qin in the Qing Dynasty, simply suggested to the Qing government that astronomical instruments left over from the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, including simple instruments developed by Guo Shoujing, a scientist in the Yuan Dynasty, should be treated as scrap metal.

It was Matteo Ricci who said "good things" about this: In fact, the astronomical equipment in the Ming Dynasty was very strong, but the intellectuals in the Ming Dynasty took advantage of the imperial examination and few people studied it. So in astronomy, "their work is a bit confusing."

The simple instrument cast in Ming Dynasty, whose technology is still unknown, is the largest astronomical instrument in China.

6. Made in China is very powerful.

But Europeans who laughed at the astronomical level of the Ming Dynasty, especially Cruz, were convinced of the handicraft level of the Ming Dynasty. He lived in Guangzhou for two months, saw all the handicrafts in Guangzhou and gave the highest evaluation: "exquisite craftsmanship and wonderful craftsmanship."

Guangzhou in the Ming Dynasty, commonly known as "Guangzhou craftsman", is a recognized handicraft power, with tin ware, iron ware and pottery, and is known as "the best in the world". Guangzhou craftsmen are even more famous, and some people have traveled across the ocean to develop in Nanyang. It is not surprising that Cruz can have such a shock.

Two stunts of Daming handicraft industry: silk and porcelain. More sought after in Europe, Europeans have learned to imitate China silk, but the upper class still only recognizes China brand. For example, in France, anyone who wears French silk-like clothes in the aristocratic circle will be laughed at.

Europeans do everything possible to inquire about the manufacturing technology of China porcelain. According to some missionaries, if you want to break the soil, just mix it with water and burn it. This method spread to Europe, and many people learned to make it, but they all made fragile defective products. Until the Kangxi period, the Frenchman Yin smuggled Jingdezhen kaolin back to China. After 50 years of research, hard porcelain was finally fired.

China porcelain from the British Museum.

Stanislav Julien, a French sinologist, praised Tien Gong Kai Wu, a masterpiece of handicraft industry in Song Dynasty, as a "technical encyclopedia", although it was not included in Sikuquanshu in Qing Dynasty, but it was collected by the Royal Library of Paris in18th century. Many technologies in the book, such as making paper from wild bark, making ink, making copper, piston bellows and jacquard machine, were far superior to those in Europe at that time.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was also a small single-wheel sail car that attracted the interest of Europeans.

This small sail car is equipped with sails, which can be transported by wind and used in rural fields. Very convenient and quick. The scene of China farmers' easy manipulation also surprised Europeans. So that when Europe introduces China's map album, it will inevitably draw this small sail car.

From then on, this kind of China car was once popular in Europe, and many Europeans used their brains to try to modify and invent it. 1600, the Dutch scholar Steven successfully modified the sail carriage and named it "China sail carriage". The speed measured with the downwind is as high as 40 miles. Since then, sailing competition has once become the favorite game of young European aristocrats.

Even in the famous European book Paradise Lost, there is a saying related to this small sail car: China people use sails to drive rattan light cars.

7. The shipbuilding industry is not backward.

The shipbuilding industry of the Ming Dynasty has always been famous and powerful, but when Portuguese colonists first came to China, the warships of the Ming Dynasty were the most disdainful. According to Pires, commander of the Portuguese Eastern Fleet during Zheng De's reign, a Portuguese warship can destroy at least 20 German ships.

So disdainful, just because he came "unfortunately": this is the time when the coastal defense of the Ming Dynasty was abandoned. For example, in Guangdong, there were more than 700 ships during the Hongwu period, and only 100 was left at that time.

However, after the middle period of Jiajing, after the Ming Dynasty tried its best to rebuild the navy in order to destroy the enemy, Europeans' views were different. Mendoza's book records the style and performance of Ming warships in detail and praises the durability of Ming warships: "One of them is equivalent to two of ours."

After the mid-Wanli period, the Ming dynasty became increasingly short of money, and it was not long before the navy was strengthened, and it was also disarmed every year. For example, the six major water towns in Guangdong were abandoned by 90% during the Apocalypse, and the famous South Australia water town only had eight boats left during the Chongzhen period. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Dutch colonists ran rampant in the southeast, and the rise of pirates such as Zheng Zhilong was the fundamental reason.

But Europe, especially the Spanish, has always been keen to learn about shipbuilding in the Ming Dynasty. In particular, the Spanish Governor-General in the Philippines has been in charge of the construction of China ships for many years.

8. The construction industry is extremely shocking.

There is a plot in Jin Yong's novel Duke of Lushan: After the jaxa War, the Russian Regent Queen was defeated, and additional conditions were negotiated: please ask the Qing Dynasty to send craftsmen to Russia to teach Russians how to build bridges.

This gap is really not boasted by Teacher Jin.

Mendoza introduced the bridge-building technology of the Ming Dynasty to Europeans: the bridge built of granite in Quanzhou is not only beautiful in appearance, but also made of giant long boards. It is hard to imagine how to get it up by manpower. Until the Qing Dynasty, Peter the Great of Russia sent a special mission to Beijing for advice on bridge-building technology.

In addition to praising the construction of the bridge, Mendoza also praised the roads of the Ming Dynasty: the roads in the city are neat and smooth, and the post roads extend in all directions, which is simply "the first road in the world". Mendoza also likes the arch architecture unique to the Ming Dynasty, and thinks it is a masterpiece comparable to the Arc de Triomphe in ancient Rome.

Mendoza concluded: "There are great architects everywhere in this kingdom (Ming Dynasty). They can build the best buildings in the world."

The words of Sir Chambers, the architect of the King of England, reflect the European worship of China's architectural art: "Europeans can't compare with the brilliant achievements of the East in art, but just try to absorb its brilliance like the sun."