Years after graduation, how many textbooks do you remember?
For example, this person, do you still have an impression?
Have you already returned all the knowledge you have learned to the teacher?
But it doesn't matter, when it comes to his name, you will definitely be familiar with it.
He was a scientist in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng.
Speaking of Zhang Heng's achievements, the most prominent of them is undoubtedly the weather wind and ground moving instrument.
Weather and ground motion instrument in the textbook Image source: West China Metropolis Daily
"Cast in fine bronze, with a diameter of eight feet, the lid is raised, shaped like a wine lord, decorated with the shape of a turtle, bird and beast on the Seal Mountain." There are capital pillars, eight roads, and Shi Guan hair machine..."
In the "Later Han Shu Zhang Heng Lie Biography", although there are only sporadic written records that have survived, until now, together with the manufacturer Zhang Heng, he is still regarded as a model of the great scientific and technological inventions of ancient China, and has entered the textbook and become the collective memory of generations of Chinese.
The "Zhang Heng Ground Motion Instrument" stamp issued by China in 1953. Image source: West China Metropolis Daily
history:
How did the ground motion instrument in the textbook come about?
However, according to historical records, the weather wind ground movement instrument disappeared as early as around 200 AD. So, how did the "ground motion instrument" that is printed in modern Chinese textbooks and let us imagine it come from?
In fact, the ground motion instrument displayed in the history textbook is a conceptual model reconstructed by an ancient historian of science and technology named Wang Zhenduo in the 1950s based on historical records.
As early as 1936, Wang Zhenduo drew the first set of self-restored geokinetic model drawings, and adopted the structural principle of "overhang pendulum". That is, a pendulum hangs down from the upper part of the ground motion instrument to determine the direction of the earthquake and control the corresponding organs.
In 1949, after the founding of new China, Wang Zhenduo was appointed director of the museum department of the former Cultural Relics Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, and in that era, he received a special task: to restore a number of artifacts representing ancient civilizations for display and propaganda purposes, including the weather wind and ground movement instrument.
Wang Zhenduo restored the principle of the ground motion instrument model. Image source: West China Metropolis Daily
After a year, Wang Zhenduo gave up the "hanging pendulum" principle he wanted to follow in 1936, but adopted the "upright pole principle" of inverted standing, and designed and restored a 1:10 scale wooden "ZhangHeng Ground Motion Instrument" model in 1951.
As soon as the news came out, it received unprecedented attention, and the "Zhang Heng Ground Motion Instrument" restored by Wang Zhenduo was also compiled into the national primary and secondary school textbooks, and the China Earthquake Administration also used this restoration model as a symbol.
Screenshot of the official website of the China Earthquake Administration
controversy:
Are the models in the textbook scientific?
But this model of the ground motion instrument, which has been selected for history textbooks, has been controversial.
In the view of some scholars, due to errors in principle, this restoration model cannot really be monitored seismically.
In the eyes of many scholars, the "upright pole principle" adopted by Wang Zhenduo cannot be established.
In addition, some people even think that it does not exist at all. Among the voices of doubt, the Austrian Lei Libai's view is the sharpest, he once wrote "Zhang Heng: Religion and Science", believing that the Chinese's emotions about Zhang Heng's ground motion instrument is a religious worship, in his view, the ground motion instrument is lost, it means that it is unscientific, impractical, and there is no reason not to lose it.
But more scholars believe that ground motion instruments really existed. Chen Tianjia, a teacher at the School of Humanities of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with the media that the ZhangHeng ground motion instrument exists and has the function of seismic monitoring, but the restoration work has not yet been completed.
Infographic: History textbooks for primary and secondary schools. China News Service reporter Yu Haiyang photographed
teaching materials:
Renjiaoshe responded: It has not disappeared
Under the controversy, are Zhang Heng and ground motion instruments on the textbook still there?
Recently, some media reported that in the seventh grade of the unified junior high school history textbook put into use in 2017, the content about Zhang Heng and the weather wind ground motion instrument was deleted, and said that "the ground motion instrument model that was printed on the textbook and influenced by generations of Chinese and restored by Wang Zhenduo began to fade out of the vision of contemporary teenagers."
In this regard, some media reporters asked the People's Education Publishing House for verification, which clearly responded that the content of Zhang Heng and the ground motion instrument did not disappear from the unified edition of the textbook, but the arrangement of the textbook was adjusted.
Infographic: Hongkong Post launches special stamps with the theme of "Ancient Chinese Scientists". Image source: Xinhua Net
According to the response of the Renjiao Society, Zhang Heng and other figures have not "disappeared". Regarding the content of Zhang Heng and the Ground Motion Instrument, the fifth grade volume of the textbook on ethics and rule of law in primary schools specially sets up a lesson on "Ancient Science and Technology To Shine on China", introducing famous medical scientists such as Bian Que, Zhang Zhongjing, Hua Tuo, Li Shizhen, sun Simiao, and ancient scientific and technological giants and scientific and technological achievements such as Zhang Heng, Zu Chongzhi, Bi Sheng, and Cai Lun.
Among them, it also specifically tells zhang heng and his invention of the ground motion instrument, pointing out its major contribution to science and technology, while designing learning activities to guide students to pursue truth and dedicate themselves to science and technology, "like Zhang Heng, good at observation, good at thinking, and being a person with a heart." The textbook also set up a relevant column to introduce the international naming of the crater on the moon after Zhang Heng and Zu Chongzhi.
Feng Rui was in front of the "Wang's Ground Motion Instrument". Image source: West China Metropolis Daily
rehabilitation:
Is it possible to restore 100%?
The restoration of the weather wind ground motion instrument has been continuing, so in the future, a ground motion instrument restored to 100% may appear in public?
According to media reports, as early as 2003, the Henan Museum decided to recruit talents so that Zhang Hengdi could really "move". The Henan Museum not only found Feng Rui, but also signed a cooperation agreement with the China Earthquake Network Center in August 2004 and formed a research group to jointly restore the "Zhang Heng Ground Motion Instrument".
On September 20, 2009, the new museum of the China Science and Technology Museum was opened, and a new ground motion instrument model was met with the audience.
The ground motion instrument restored by Feng Rui and his team. Image source: West China Metropolis Daily
The audience can personally press the button to observe the different reactions of the ground motion instrument under different wave types - only when the transverse wave comes, it spits out the pill, and other vibrations from the longitudinal wave cannot make the ground motion instrument have any reaction. This means that similar doors, car crossings, and loud artillery fire will not interfere with the geokinetic instrument.
However, scholars also question this version of the model, believing that its key points are not close to the original documentary records.
In this regard, Chen Tianjia believes that 100% restoration is more difficult, and it is indeed impossible to achieve complete restoration at present.
For many netizens look forward to "restoring seismometers to achieve earthquake monitoring and forecasting", the academic community is not optimistic. In Chen Tianjia's view, the scientific community's research and restoration of Zhang Heng's ground motion instrument has more historical significance than practical significance.
▌ The source of this article: China News Network (cns2012), Comprehensive West China Metropolis Daily, Science and Technology Daily, Beijing Youth Daily, Xinhua Net, etc
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