In the early history of mankind, science and literature have always been inseparable, but with the passage of time, science and literature have gradually begun to split, and with this division, human society has gradually begun to differentiate the liberal arts disciplines, and this kind of education is actually a single and incomplete. Throughout the world, the early Greeks and Renaissances had encyclopedic figures, and they were a continuation of the series of productions that were balanced and quite comprehensive in science and literature.
But such talents are available in the West, but not in China? For a long time, What China has advocated is "everything is inferior, only the reading is high", so many technologies have been criticized as "strange and obscene skills", which cannot be put on the table, so many people feel that ancient China almost did not have encyclopedic characters like the West, and lowered the West. But in fact, even if it is limited by the times, ancient China still has that kind of talent, that is, Zhang Heng.
<h1 class= "ql-align-justify" > many people know Zhang Heng, most of them because of his ground motion instrument and his research on astronomy, after all, he has many achievements in science, Zhang Heng really has too much right to speak in this regard, and even some scholars have compared Zhang Heng with the Western Ptolemy, which shows his status, so let's first look at his actions at the level of scientific astronomy. </h1>
In the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng says: "Heng is skillful and skillful, especially thinking about astronomy, yin and yang, and almanac... Push its circumference two instruments".
Through the above historical materials, we can more fully and officially understand Zhang Heng as a ghost talent - his most prominent achievement is astronomy. In fact, China has a long process of exploration of astronomy, as early as the pre-Qin period, China's ancestors have been pursuing the origin of the universe, to observe comets, to record earthquakes, especially since Emperor Wu of Han and Dong Zhongshu preached the induction of heaven and man, exploration is more frequent. But the people at that time were different from now, and without technology, they could only explore these natural phenomena in their own way.
First, the theoretical level
Before the Han Dynasty, everyone unanimously agreed that the "Gaitian Theory", but with the development of the times, this theory exposed more and more problems, so in the Han Dynasty, the "HunTian Theory" began to develop gradually, the Huntian Theory believed that the sky was a round ball, the sun, moon and stars moved with it on this ball, and the sunrise and the surface of the earth were daylight, and vice versa was night. This statement seems to us to be a bit funny, but in China at that time, it was already very remarkable, which shows that China's research on the space of the earth and the universe has changed from a plane to a three-dimensional level.
And Zhang Heng's book "Lingxian" is a monograph that constructs a very complete set of Hun Tian theory, the book "Lingxian" is not divorced from Taoist doctrine, Zhang Heng believes that the formation of the universe is a process from scratch, this theory is also reasonable in the current research, is in line with the development law of the material world.
Here is a digression, if you have read the book "Lingxian", in fact, we can know that the record of pi is not only Zu Chongzhi, in the "Lingxian" book, we can clearly see that Zhang Heng also calculated pi. Now look at pi is only 3.1415926... Even in some calculations that require less precision, it will be directly simplified to 3, but in ancient times, when productivity was backward and calculations could only rely on calculations, it was very difficult to calculate the circumference.
Astronomical theory is not only conceivable by his own meditation, although the astronomy and astrology of the Han Dynasty are still inseparable, and even Zhang Heng's own research on astronomy is inseparable from astrology, but Zhang Heng himself also has observations of celestial bodies, which can be seen that he has excellent scientific thinking.
Second, scientific achievements
In addition to scientific theories, Zhang Heng is also a hands-on "master", that is to say, he is a doer, not only likes empty talk. As mentioned in the opening chapter, the ancients felt that only reading was the best way out, and the scholars and doctors thought so even more - in this social environment that despised skill, the development of science and technology in the Han Dynasty was relatively slow, and Zhang Heng, as a member of the scholar-doctor class, did not think that it was a shameful thing to do, he challenged the world's concepts with his own actions, devoted himself to the study of science and technology, and made a lot of practical scientific instruments, such as the armillary sphere that is closely related to his astronomical theory, and the earth motion instrument that is well known to everyone.
The level of productivity in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties was relatively high, especially in terms of iron smelting, in addition to alloy cast iron, modern cast iron varieties can be found in the Han Dynasty, not to mention architecture, geography, etc., and it is this kind of scientific and technological development that can provide sufficient conditions for Zhang Heng's instrument manufacturing. Therefore, in fact, Zhang Heng was able to achieve all-round development, perhaps thanks to the era at that time, although that era also had limitations that limited its development.
In addition to the famous armillary and ground motion instruments, Zhang Heng actually made a lot of other scientific machinery, such as self-flying wood carvings, etc., and even guide cars - in ancient Chinese mythology, there are guide cars, it is said that the Yellow Emperor invented, but the guide car was later lost, the Book of Song said that Zhang Heng later created one by himself, many people think that the principle of the guide car and the compass is the same, it is the use of geomagnetism to make the people on the car point to the south, But in fact, this kind of guide car has nothing to do with geomagnetic forces, but uses the differential speed of the gear to manufacture, no matter which direction the car is headed, the hands of the people on the car are pointing to the south. This kind of guide car seems to be simple in principle, but it is not easy to make, and it requires very exquisite design and full patience.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > although Zhang Heng has so many achievements in science, and the results include scientific theories and actual inventions, it is a big mistake to think that this is all of Zhang Heng. As mentioned earlier, Zhang Heng is a comprehensive talent, leaving aside the form of existence of scientists, in fact, his achievements in literature should not be underestimated. </h1>
In the Han Dynasty, which was dominated by endowment at that time, his endowment was quite outstanding - he also contributed to the big endowment and the small endowment, on the one hand, he created the "extreme track of the great endowment", and on the other hand, he opened the "precedent of lyrical small endowment". In addition to his contributions to Han Fu, Zhang Heng also created a new style of seven-character poetry, and his achievements in literature can be described as extremely high.
As one of the four masters of Han Fu, his works also have their distinct artistic characteristics, with his personal charm, so that countless people have praised his literary talents, such as the Famous Scholar of the Three Kingdoms You Heng once wrote a "Hanging Zhang Heng Fu", which commented on Zhang Heng's endowment: "Under the pen embroidery" and "Raise your hand and fly in the clouds", which is a high evaluation, and many later literary commentators also have a high evaluation of it.
Zhang Heng's literary endowment inherits Lao Zhuang's thought, but his writings also contain typical traces of Confucianism, which makes his literary style give people a different feeling on the one hand, and on the other hand, he also creates a new writing style, that is, "qinggao elegance", and this writing style also affects the later literary style, especially Wei and Jin literature.
Qinggao and elegant works generally like to moan without illness, but his works are not so, but have a high degree of philosophy, on the one hand, he was influenced by Confucianism and chased after the entry of Confucianism, on the other hand, he was also influenced by Taoist doctrine, pursuing spiritual freedom and liberation, he looked forward to personality independence, so he was carrying his own thoughts and his own feelings, so Mr. Liu Zhouyang once said that he was "the earliest literati in ancient China to perfectly apply the complementary theory of Confucianism and Taoism to the practice of life." ”
< h1 class="ql-align-justify" > summary</h1>
In addition, in fact, he also has high achievements in painting and history. It can be said that Zhang Heng perfectly integrates the two aspects of humanities and science and technology, and in his body, he can see both the shining point of the humanities and the shining of the light of science and technology. And Zhang Heng's profound humanistic and artistic qualities are destined to affect his scientific and technological thinking, and his scientific and technological thinking can certainly not be single. Throughout ancient and modern China, the only person who can do this may be Zhang Heng, so that even Guo Moruo has praised his comprehensiveness.
In fact, it is also true that the encyclopedic figures of ancient Greece have preserved very little written information, most of which are word of mouth, and many aspects are unverifiable, but Zhang Heng is different, and all aspects of him can be verified.
It is precisely because Zhang Heng has a high attainment in both humanities and science and technology, under the influence of these two different ideas, Zhang Heng's personal feelings are also complex, on the one hand, he is worried about the country and the people, which makes many of his scientific and technological achievements serve the people, not just show off, and on the other hand, his literary endowment also carries rational thinking, is to express clear words, which is more readable and inheritable than many of the literary talents of the same era that are just piled up words, and his scientific works also carry the nature of literature. It is more readable than many simple disciplinary works.