30. Mei Wending, the world's master of mathematics and a native of Xuancheng
Xing Shaoshan
We in Xuancheng once produced a world-class mathematical master, in order to commemorate him and their Mei family, Xuancheng City People's Government, specially built a park for this purpose, called "Meixi Park". In the central square of the park, a bronze statue of Mei Wending is erected, and the giant wall behind him is inscribed with the Kangxi Emperor's imperial approval of the article "Performance and Learning". Performance, the accumulation of deep knowledge; refer to the subtle, comprehend the subtle meaning. This is the Kangxi Emperor's evaluation of Mei Wending, which contains a detailed explanation: "Mei Wending, zi dingjiu, Xuancheng people, Gongsheng." Liberal arts is well-known, especially fine almanac, both through the study of Chinese and Western, self-made day calculation instruments, all of which are unique and innovative, with eighty-eight kinds of calendar calculations, which have not been issued by previous generations. Li Guangdi of the Kangxi Dynasty presented three volumes of his history and doubts. The Holy Lord summoned him, and the four words of the Imperial Book, 'Achievements and Learning', were given to him. Life is economical, practical and good, old and good. (The Great Qing Dynasty Unification Chronicle, Vol. 81)
In addition, before this, the Xuancheng County People's Government also built a Mei Wending Memorial Hall in the urban area, which stored relevant materials and physical objects of Mei Wending. On the occasion of the 355th anniversary of his birth, the relevant state departments held the Mei Wending International Academic Symposium in Xuanzhou City. At that time, more than 120 scholars at home and abroad participated, and the grand event was unprecedented.
Mei Wending (1633-1721), born on March 16, the sixth year of Ming Chongzhen (1633), since childhood, intelligent, as a child with his father and master Luo Wangbin looked up at the heavens, can understand the general idea of luck, 9 years old familiar with the Five Classics, general history, has the reputation of "prodigy", entered the county school at the age of 14, 15 years old to make up for the doctoral disciple (Zhongxiucai), and then repeatedly failed to pass the township exam. Married at the age of 20, and then his grandfather and father died one after another, he had to raise children at home and abide by filial piety, at this time, Mei Wending did not have time to be busy with his career. In the seventeenth year of Qing Shunzhi (1660), the 27-year-old Mei Wending studied the almanac "Jiaoshi Tongji" from Tongli Niguan Lake, discovered the reason for the legislation in the book, and filled in the gaps for it, and wrote 2 volumes of "Almanac Skills", which was later increased to 4 volumes. Master Ni "sighed" and thought that Mei Wending was "too wise to be a teacher". Since then, Mei Wending has firmly established his ambition to study the study of almanac. In the first year of the Qing Dynasty (1662), he began to learn from Ni Zheng the "Law of Counting and Feeding in the Great Unified Calendar" and corrected its errors. He became an astronomer and mathematician in the early Qing Dynasty, the "first master of calendar calculation" and "the ancestor of the founding mountain" in the Qing Dynasty, and was praised by the world science and technology history as the "three world science giants" with the same name as Newton in the United Kingdom and Guan Xiaohe in Japan. Mei Wending devoted his life to reviving traditional Chinese astronomy and arithmetic, and promoting the integration of Chinese and Western astronomy. In his writings, Mei Wending once again clarified the ancient calendar that has been lost, and for many methods in traditional astronomy, he wrote books such as "Jiaojiao", "Seven Politics", and "Five Star Pipe View" to introduce Tycho-style Western astronomy. In another work, "Questions about Almanacs", Mei Wending discussed the similarities and differences between the Chinese and Western calendars, and incorporated much of the Western astronomical knowledge into the ancient Chinese academic system, for example, he called the "five belts of cold and warmth on the earth" of Western studies, that is, the "Seven Balances and Six Sayings" in the Zhou Hip Arithmetic Classic. His self-written Bibliography of the Bei'an Calendar has more than seventy kinds of astronomical and mathematical works, including more than twenty kinds of mathematical works. Sixty volumes of the Meishi Series, including thirteen mathematical works in forty volumes. Mei Wending devoted himself to the study of astronomical mathematics, he systematically examined the ancient and modern Chinese and foreign calendars, and introduced European mathematics, comprehensive research on Western almanac, Mei Wending played an important role in the development of mathematical knowledge from the West, and had a great influence on future generations.
His first mathematical work was The Theory of Equations, written in the eleventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1672). At that time, shortly after Yang Guangxian's "litigate" failure and death (1669), Western priests stood on their toes and despised traditional Chinese culture. Mei Wending grasped the essence of traditional Chinese mathematics, which is "not owned by Western law", to show the pride of Chinese mathematics and is a mathematician with patriotic feelings. He revealed this idea in a letter to the mathematician Fang Zhongtong, a mathematician and Tongcheng native after the book was completed. He said: "The foolish Xiru (referring to the missionary) is arithmetic, and the Theory of Equations is said to be incomparable. However, he can adopt a correct attitude towards Western calculations, advocating "going to the Chinese and Western views and observing the reasoning with a calm mind." While excavating and sorting out ancient Chinese arithmetic, he immersed himself in reading Western arithmetic books such as "Geometric Origins", and strived to understand Chinese and Western algorithms. He put his proposition into practice by naming the 26 mathematical books he had written, "The Study of Chinese and Western Arithmetic" (Chinese and Western Arithmetic). Among them, 7 volumes of "Calculation" (referring to Sonabel's Calculation), 5 volumes of "Pen Calculation", 2 volumes of "Explanation of Degree Calculation", 5 volumes of "Outline of the Flat Triangle Method", 5 volumes of "Arc Triangle Lifting", 5 volumes of "Ring Ruler", 2 volumes of "Measurement of Blockage", 2 volumes of "Square Circle Power Product", 5 volumes of "Geometric Supplement", together with 6 volumes of "Equation Theory", have been compiled by the "Four Libraries Complete Book".
Throughout his life, Mei Wending took reading and writing books as his business, taking teaching as his profession, and combining study and preaching and teaching into one. He traveled extensively, from the south to Fujian, the north to Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, on the one hand set up a museum to teach apprentices, on the other hand to find teachers and visit friends, and there were exchanges and exchanges with the early Qing Dynasty and foreign friends. He asked others for advice, and he was humble, and when he answered questions and problems for others, he followed the rules and temptations and taught people tirelessly. In his writings, he expounds on matters in a simple and simple way, "often in plain language, the method of solving extreme difficulties", "so that the reader does not need to be asked for details, but the righteousness can be understood", which is enough to guide scholars to lead the way. Between the eighth and sixteenth years of the Kangxi Dynasty, Mei Wending and Fang Zhongtong met four times in Jinling (Nanjing) and had a deep friendship, each time discussing difficult Chinese and Western mathematical problems; later, there were many letters. Mei Wending wrote the preface to Fang Zhongtong's arithmetic book "Numerical Degrees of Yan"; Fang wrote the preface to Mei Zhongtong's "Chinese and Western Arithmetic". Other scholars who participated in the discussion of the Theory of Equations and wrote the preface to it were Pan Lai, Kong Xingtai, and Yuan Shilong. In the 28th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, at the summons of the Ming Dynasty, Mei Wending arrived in Beijing, and made friends with scholars and celebrities such as Xu Ganxue of Kunshan, Liu Jizhuang of Daxing, Yang Daosheng of Wujin, Wan Sitong of Yinxian County, Yan Ruoxuan of Taiyuan, and Li Guangdi of Anxi. Mei Wending's grand theory of the calendar, "The history of the bureau obeys its essence", and his reputation was greatly enhanced for a while, "so all the princes wanted to see Mr. Li, or the disciples to learn from, and the book was also slightly circulated and forbidden." Mei Wending had 5 years before and after Beijing and Tianjin (1693 Nan huan), and wrote 3 volumes of the "Draft Of the Ming History Chronicle". However, due to the "jealousy" of Taiwan officials, he was also plain and idyllic, and never entered the "Historical Bureau", but only set up a museum to teach apprentices and study in Li Guangdi's home and Tianjin. In the forty-first year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor toured south to Dezhou, and the Fuchen Li Guangdi entered the 3 volumes of Mei Wending's "Questions about Almanacs", which Kangxi was very appreciative and brought back to the palace for careful reading. In the spring of the following year, Kangxi sent back to Li Guangdi the book he had read in the imperial pen and said, "There is no flaw, only the algorithm is not prepared." It was Nian Mei Wending who once again responded to Li Guangdi's request, taking his younger brother Ersu, his son Yiyan and grandson Yancheng to Baoding to stay in Li Guangdi's official office, on the one hand, teaching Li's children and young scholars, on the other hand, editing the books such as "Arc Triangle Highlights" and preparing to engrave them. In the leap month of the 44th lunar calendar of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor summoned Mei Wending three times in the Texas Canal Boat on his southern tour, "calmly asking questions, as for moving the time". In the sixtieth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1721), Mei Wending died in his homeland at the age of 89, and the Kangxi Emperor specially ordered Jiang Ning to weave Cao to cure the funeral and build a cemetery. The tomb is now in Dacun (commonly known as Lotus Pond) outside the Baifeng Pass.
The next afternoon, visit Mei Wending's former residence and cemetery. The car from the city to the countryside, all the way to the picturesque scenery, everyone admired the land of Xuancheng.
The car walked to Longtou Mountain, turned south, and soon arrived at Sanjiadu Village. Got out of the car and came to Mei Wending's former residence. At present, there is still one entrance to the house of the former residence, the hall of the Lin Tianfu in the village is still preserved, and there are four ancient gates at the head of the village: namely, the East Marriage Gate, the West Life Gate, the South Yingbin Gate, and the North Funeral Gate, and the ruins are still there. The village has 9 ponds and 13 wells, which are still the same. The Mei Clan Ancestral Hall and the Wu Dynasty Gate in the east of the village were once destroyed, when the inner pillars of the ancestral hall were engraved with golden couplets, and the hall also hung a large horizontal plaque donated by the Qing Kangxi Emperor. In his later years, Mei Wending also tirelessly sorted out and edited various books written in his hometown for printing, so the Kangxi Emperor said that he was "old and old". After seeing Mei Wending's former residence, everyone rushed to Mei Wending's cemetery again. The car drove on the vast field, the green wheat seedlings, the spring wind blowing, the earth like a green ribbon undulating. Looking around, the villages in the distance seem to be embedded in pictures. Rushing to the lotus pond at the Baifeng Pass, people strolled along a field path. After walking for a few hundred meters, I turned left into a small path, and finally came to the tomb of Mei Wending. Mei Wending Tomb, which is an oval earth tomb with a berm surrounded by bricks, is about two meters high and has a diameter of more than ten meters, sitting west to east. In front of the tomb stands a stele with the words "Emperor Qingyi gave Guanglu Doctor Zuo Yushi, Lady Yipin's great-grandfather Kaomei Gongwending, and Yumeimen Chen's Tomb". The tombstone also indicates that this was created by the 60th year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1721) by the Ministry of Internal Works Jiangning Weaving Cao Cheng. In the left front of the tomb is a stone stele erected by the People's Government of Anhui Province, which reads "Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit of the Province".
History blows like a spring breeze through empty fields, leaving people with warm, glorious memories, just as I mentioned above. He lived all his life, but he never served as an official for a day, but Li Guangdi, who was a scholar of Wenyuange University and an official Shangshu, became a close friend with him. Liang Qichao said: "The most brilliant science in China is only astronomical algorithms. To the Qing Dynasty and especially prosperous, where the rulers of the scriptures are many and passed, the ancestor of its founding mountain, then Xuancheng Mei Wendingye. "That's what I said, Xuancheng has produced a world-class mathematical master." For the feelings of the master At this time, people are infinitely attached, and people are watching Mei Wending's tomb, looking at it stupidly, thinking. People are all so admired, religious, and admired. However, it must be known that this man, who was indifferent to fame and fortune, was still alone and waiting for the person who met him. Although his multicolored aura shines like a spring sun shining in the sky of history, he still only talks to every visitor with the indifference of a scientist: a thousand years of time and space are omitted within a few feet. Visiting the tomb of Mei Wending, what do we really want to get, although the air is soaked in the smoke and dust of traffic, red lights and green wine, but here we feel the cold at the same time, full of a calm, fresh, natural, glorious and return. In the eyes of this master, resting on his homeland is a kind of happiness and comfort. If you don't believe it, read the poems of the descendants of the Mei family: "A hundred miles of juju is a homeland, and a thousand years are also neighbors." May the words of Pei Shide, did not dare to chant the restoration. When I left Mei Wending's tomb, I looked out into the distance, and on the back of it was the beautiful Baifeng Mountain; Walking out of the cemetery, in front of it is a clear lotus pond. It is a place of beautiful scenery, full of life, quiet and peaceful.
Ah, it looks up at the glory of the green mountains, and down to the spirit of the clear water. "At this time, when you wear your hands through the clouds, you should remember the heavens and return to one side." (Mei Wending's "Qingming Sees Wicker Has a Feeling") When I left, although I took Mei Wending's lonely soul, I had a bitter mood. But this time, I was also comforted, nourished and baptized. Ah, "A barren mound in the wilderness of the mountain country, and the breeze and grass seedlings accompany the giants." "With such a world-class master!