The famous French writer Victor Hugo once said: "What mankind needs is enlightening nourishment." And reading is exactly that nourishment. "No matter what era you are in, knowledge is always the soul that determines productivity. Reading books allows people to acquire more wisdom and ideas, so that their thoughts are active. Every book is a vital asset for the world.
But in the long river of history, there has been a disaster of books. When words are imprisoned, it is the talents and ideas that are directly damaged. From the beginning of feudal history in 221 BC, a book burning pit Confucianism took the lead in the persecution of knowledge. The Confucian scriptures, from the prison of words, to the so-called "forbidden books", are all disasters given to books by the rulers of the feudal dynasty.
However, in the literary ocean of our country, there are 2 books that should not be banned. They contain a wealth of knowledge and advanced ideas, and are definitely epoch-making works. But eventually, under the laws of the Qing Dynasty, they became spurned members. Unexpectedly, in the end, the Western countries and Japan gradually became stronger by relying on them, and the Qing Dynasty collapsed.
I. "Heavenly Works"
In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, in that era of decay in the imperial court, various schools of scholarship began to advocate their own. And they all believe, without exception, that the "eight-stranded warrior" examination is a complete failure. Under this general trend, more and more people have chosen to abandon scientific research and instead began to change their lives with practical labor.
Song Yingxing is such a very innovative figure, he was born in 1587 and has an extremely outstanding talent. He was also obsessed with scientific research, but in his spare time, he still studied knowledge in various other fields, and was a talented person in all aspects. However, it is a pity that in his life, his career was very unsuccessful, and he finally chose to travel the world, and in his later years he wrote the work "Heavenly Work and Open Things".
The content of this book was compiled by Song Yingxing from the knowledge collected by the people of various places, mainly aimed at agriculture and handicrafts. He advocated innovation, not limited to the original pattern and ideas, combined with the rapid development of commerce and industry at that time, which caused great repercussions. At the same time, "Tiangong Kaiwu" was also transmitted to Japan and the West and other countries, and the scientific system and technical knowledge described in it immediately attracted their attention.
In 1771, the book was distributed on a large scale in Japan, and in 1830 it was regarded as a treasure by France, translated into many languages and transmitted to the world. Many Western countries agree that it was the initiator of the "Industrial Revolution." But what no one could have imagined was that this masterpiece was listed as a banned book during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty because of the words "Beiyu" and other words contained in it.
II. Chart of the Sea Country
This work originated from a kind of grief at the incompetence of the late Qing Dynasty. The author, Wei Yuan, was filled with indignation in the face of repeated defeats in the war, and did not hesitate to come to the front line. Here, he used his erudition accumulated over the years and combined with his actual understanding of overseas to write this "Atlas of the Sea Country". He vigorously described the knowledge of Science and Geography in the West, introduced the culture that we did not understand in an all-round way, and put forward the idea of "mastering the art of mastery and skill to control the yi".
This work can be described as a stone stirring up thousands of waves, which not only caused a sensation in China, but also promoted the emergence of the follow-up "foreign affairs movement". It spread to the world, directly touching the creation of the Meiji Restoration in 1854, and today it is regarded by the Japanese as "enough to change everything". However, such an outstanding masterpiece was directly banned because the description of the West blew the face of the Qing Dynasty.
Until the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the two masterpieces of "Heavenly Works" and "Chart of the Sea Country" were not recognized. But they caused an uproar in the world, with the powerful Industrial Revolution in the West and the Meiji Restoration that brought Japan up. However, in contrast, the Qing Dynasty immediately collapsed without knowledge. Books are always priceless, and knowledge should not be imprisoned. The lessons left by history are already tragic enough that people in the future will surely pay more attention to them and regard them as treasures.