Looking for the Song Dynasty Jiangnan | the Dream Creek Garden, and entering the former residence of the Song Dynasty scientist Shen Kuo

To what extent can a person "slash"? Knowing astronomy and geography, building water conservancy projects, opening up good recipes for the world, being able to lead soldiers to fight wars and go out to the border, and also studying music theory and the art of calligraphy and painting, mathematical physics is quite profound, and the study of the world is not bad for others, this amazing "slash" big guy is countless in ancient and modern China and abroad, and Shen Kuo is one of them. In his later years, Shen Kuo lived in seclusion in Zhenjiang and wrote the legendary work "Mengxi Pen Talk", and Zhang Bingju, director of the Zhenjiang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, was interviewed by reporters to talk about Shen Kuo's former residence, Mengxi Garden.

"The most outstanding figure in the entire history of science in China"

Shen Kuo Song Renzong Tiansheng was born in the ninth year (1031) to Song Shaosheng's second year (1095) died of illness at the age of sixty-five, and it is difficult to summarize Shen Kuo's extremely magnificent life in simple words. Shen Kuo was born into a family of officials and eunuchs, and since childhood he was intelligent and studious, he traveled with his father to many places and had a wide range of knowledge. The books he read in his childhood have paved the way for the future.

When he first entered his career, Shen Kuozhi became a water conservancy expert, and he recorded the earliest surviving methods and processes of horizontal height measurement. He has traveled to many places in North China and Hebei, and then turned into a geographer, investigated the fossils of the Taihang Mountains and the formation of the alluvial plains of North China, created the "Bird Map" cartography, greatly promoted the accuracy of China's map production, and also made the earliest recorded three-dimensional map model in China.

Shen Kuo's road to politics was very bumpy, Wang Anshi changed the law and the Wutai poetry case, he was involved, he was valued and reviled, he went as far as the Liao state for diplomacy, and also led troops to defend Western Xia. The ups and downs of politics have also made him regret his career. Shen Kuo's brilliant achievements in science overshadowed his political achievements, mathematical circle technique, gap accumulation, physical artificial magnetization, lensing lens, string resonance, chemical petroleum ink, wet copper smelting, astronomical armillary sphere, true sun day, calendar change, medical magnetic therapy, medicinal minerals, economic trade surplus, music Tang music research, musical instrument research... Needham commented: "Shen Kuo is the most outstanding figure in the entire history of science in China. "Mengxi Pen Talk" is the coordinates of the history of Chinese science. Zhang Bingju introduced: "We have another beautiful story about Mengxi Garden, Shen Kuo's residence in his later years. ”

Dream Creek Garden, a garden that arises from dreams

Shen Kuo used to have a dream, in which there was a beautiful garden, and in the garden there was a hill, and the mountain was covered with flowers and plants. There are also springs in the garden, trees, and bamboo around the living room. This garden in the dream later became the prototype of Shen Kuo when he came to Zhenjiang to build the Dream Creek Garden. Zhang Bingju said. According to records, Shen Kuo spent 300,000 taels of silver to buy land, "originally he planned to go to Lushan for the elderly, and then came to Runzhou, which is now Zhenjiang, so he decided to grow old here and gave up the plan to go to Lushan." However, Shen Kuo's plan for the end of the old age of Zhenjiang was not smooth. The gap of ten years between the purchase of the residential land and his return to the hidden Zhenjiang river is the so-called creation of people. It was not until the age of 58 that Shen Kuo finally moved to Zhenjiang and lived in Mengxi Garden. It was here that he wrote "Mengxi Pen Talk". ”

In the self-prologue of "Mengxi Pen Talk", Shen Kuo writes: "To retreat to the forest, to live deep in the absolute obedience, to think about the day and the guest speaker, the time and the time, and the matter is in the pen, then if there is a meeting, Xiao Ran moves the day, and the talker with him is only the pen, which is called the "Pen Talk". This passage is simply shen kuo talking about his retirement from the ups and downs of the official eunuch, usually recording and writing conversations with people, and now the only thing that can talk to me is pen yan, so this book is called "Pen Talk". The Mengxi in "Mengxi Pen Talk" refers to the Mengxi Garden, a beautiful garden with a stream in Shen Kuo's dream. "Today's Mengxi Garden has actually been renovated." Zhang Bingju recalled the ups and downs of Mengxi Garden over the past hundred years. After Shen Kuo's death, he was buried in his birthplace of Hangzhou, and his family still lived in the Zhenjiang area, but with the passage of time, Mengxi Garden gradually became deserted. When Xin was the prefect of Zhenjiang, he repaired the Mengxi Garden once, and later changed hands many times, constantly repairing and repairing. By 1985, the nearly deserted Mengxi Garden was reopened after being rebuilt by the Zhenjiang Municipal Government. "Dream Creek Garden is at No. 21 Dream Creek Garden Lane, and the current Dream Creek Garden is only one-fifth of the past, and two buildings are composed. The front building is a hard hilltop bungalow built in the Qing Dynasty, sitting east and facing west, with the main entrance into the garden, and the marble banner of "Mengxi Garden" inscribed with Mao Yisheng is embedded above the door. The back building is a Qing-style hall, facing north and south, mainly used as a small pavilion to show Shen Kuo's achievements. ”

In honor of Shen Kuo, Mengxi Garden is not only a former residence

Today's Mengxi Garden has greater commemorative significance than its significance as a site of the old place. In 2013, Mengxi Park was upgraded and re-arranged, "We added a multimedia exhibition hall to use multimedia technology to visually show visitors the scientific and technological principle of long siphon water absorption." "Mengxi Garden is one of the cultural landmarks of Zhenjiang, and the bustling street not far from Mengxi Garden is named Mengxi Square, where a statue of Shen Kuo has also been placed.

Mengxi Garden is like an illusion, we can only imagine it in "Zizhi" when it was deep and quiet, how Song Shi Shen Kuo modified this garden in his dreams, perhaps only in his dreams can be pursued.

Yangzi Evening News | Purple Cow News reporter Shen Zhao