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On December 18th, snow fell in Nanjing, and Nanjing Library guests gathered and the fragrance of books was stronger. Dozens of scientists, writers, and artists gathered together to witness the debut of the feature-length documentary "To the Sky: A Trilogy on the Development of Chinese Astronomy".
The work is a documentary work on the theme of science and technology launched by Zhang Jianhua, chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles and president of the Provincial Reportage Society, following the cultural theme "The Palace Museum Trilogy" (2015), the industrial theme "On the River: The Yangtze River Bridge Construction Trilogy" (2019), and the rural theme "Century Jiangcun: The Road to Prosperity Trilogy" (2020).
Zhang Jianhua lasted three years and carried out a lot of search and interview work. While traveling thousands of miles to search for ancient astronomical relics, he consulted tens of millions of words of relevant information, interviewed dozens of academicians, chief scientists, and front-line scientific and technological workers, and finally wrote this 500,000-word masterpiece that records the development of Chinese astronomy in a panoramic way.
△ New book release
Zhu Wenquan, former commander of the Nanjing Military Region, Jiang Dingzhi, former chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Yao Xiaodong, vice chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Gu Hao, former deputy secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, Feng Mingang, former deputy secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and former secretary of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, Feng Jianqin, former vice chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Fang Cheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Liu Jian, deputy secretary general of the Jiangsu Provincial Government, Xu Ning, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, Chang Shengmei, secretary of the party group, vice chairman and first secretary of the Secretariat of the Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and Zhu Bin, member of the party group and deputy director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, jointly released the new book.
△ New book release site
In order to overcome the difficulty of creation, he traveled thousands of miles to search and interview
Zhang Jianhua recalled that at the beginning of 2021, a piece of aerospace news made him excited: the launching ceremony of the 2021 "China Aerospace Day" and the opening ceremony of the China Aerospace Conference were held in Nanjing, Jiangsu, and Ye Peijian and Fei Junlong were hired as the image ambassadors of China's aerospace public welfare, both of whom are from Jiangsu!
"This triggered the idea of writing about astronautics. As always, Zhang Jianhua said just do it, immediately searched for information, and entered the preliminary interview. But he soon discovered that the important town of aerospace was not in Jiangsu, and the interview was difficult. The development of astronomical undertakings related to aerospace has a great relationship with Jiangsu. So, he decided to change his direction and write astronomy.
△ Zhang Jianhua
Jiangsu has been an important center for the development of astronomy in China from ancient times to the present. The creation of the Ming calendar by the ancestor of Nanjing has a far-reaching influence, and Xu Guangqi's concept at the end of the Ming Dynasty has been updated to inherit the past and open up the present. In 1934, the Purple Mountain Observatory, the first modern astronomical observatory in Asia, was established in Nanjing, opening the "starting point" of modern astronomy in China. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Purple Mountain Observatory, the School of Space Astronomy of Nanjing University, and the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics are the cradle of modern astronomical undertakings and astronomical talents in the mainland, and have always been at the forefront of astronomical science, and have achieved fruitful results in the new era, such as the dark matter detection satellite led by Chang Jin, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the "Xihe-1" satellite led by Academician Fang Cheng, and the "Kuafu-1" satellite led by Gan Weiqun, chief scientist, etc., are mainly developed in the land of Jiangsu.
In retrospect, this decision was the right one, because there are very few references to astronomy in literature. It's worth writing about. Zhang Jianhua said.
He said frankly that it is very difficult to create literature on the theme of science and technology. "I've never been exposed to astronomy and don't have the knowledge to do it. In terms of interviews, involving many places and units, I have to directly interview heavyweight famous scientists, whose conversations are profound and time-limited, which requires me to be fully prepared, otherwise the purpose of the interview will not be achieved, and there will be no remedy. In addition, in terms of writing, the subject matter of science and technology is relatively rigorous and rational, and it is not easy to write in an easy-to-understand, vivid and touching way. ”
In order to overcome these difficulties, Zhang Jianhua focused on interviews. He traveled thousands of miles, and successively visited Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Henan, Qingdao, Guizhou, Kunming, Hainan and other provinces and cities, and visited nearly 20 ancient astronomical relics, former residences of celebrities, and modern astronomical bases, collecting extensive materials and enhancing the sense of presence in writing. At the same time, more than 10 academicians, astronomy experts and chief scientists of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as dozens of astronomical workers who are struggling in the front line, have mastered a large number of first-hand materials, laid the foundation for creation, and also reduced the difficulty of creation to a certain extent.
The two-dimensional space on paper is a holographic reproduction of the past
From the "Forbidden City Trilogy" that tells about the southward relocation of the Forbidden City's cultural relics to the south in 1936, the "Yangtze River Bridge Construction Trilogy" that was completed and opened to traffic in Nanjing in 1968, to the "Trilogy of the Road to Prosperity" based on the Kaixian Gong Village in Wujiang, Suzhou, which was researched by Fei Xiaotong's "Jiangcun Economy", and the "Trilogy of China's Astronomical Development" was launched this time. Zhang Jianhua's thematic documentary writing covers everything from "Forbidden City" to "Heavenly Palace", from "earth" to "heaven", from "ancient culture" to "modern civilization".
It is not only a major theme, but also a concern of the people, a theme of Jiangsu, and a national significance, and a realistic theme, as well as historical depth. Zhang Jianhua's reportage has always been based on the "strictness" of such a topic.
As Xu Ning, Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, commented: "The trilogy of 'Forbidden City', 'Bridge', 'Well-off' and 'Astronomy' has written a Chinese story that conforms to historical logic by revealing 'how we have come all the way' and enlightening and looking forward to 'how we will go in the future'. In the two-dimensional space on paper, the vivid and full glorious past is holographically reproduced, and the vivid, capitalized 'people' set up the direction of history. On behalf of the Propaganda Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, Xu Ning expressed warm congratulations on the smooth publication and first release of "To the Sky".
△ Xu Ying
Many of Zhang Jianhua's non-fiction literary works have been published by Jiangsu People's Publishing House. Zhang Chaoyang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Phoenix Publishing and Media Group, introduced that Phoenix Group attaches great importance to the publication of "To the Sky" and lists this book as a key project of the group. In order to create a masterpiece that can stand the test of time and readers, the work team adheres to the ingenuity of craftsmen, covers, layouts, illustrations, paper selection, proofing, ...... Each link is selected among more than a dozen plans, kept improving, and repeatedly polished, and finally presents readers with such a masterpiece that represents the high quality of book publishing.
△ Zhang Chao-ho
Zheng Yan, Secretary of the Party Group, First Secretary of the Secretariat, and Executive Vice Chairman of the Provincial Writers Association, met Zhang Jianhua earlier and knew his diligence and knowledge. In his eyes, Zhang Jianhua is a "recorder of the times", with rich life experience, strong feelings for his family and country, with a unique perspective of topic selection, deeply cultivating the field of thematic literary creation, and frequently producing excellent works; he is a "dedicated creator", facing such a grand and profound professional field as astronomy, he has overcome many problems such as blind spots, multi-place search, and literary expression; he is also an "excellent literary organizer", focusing on anchoring theme creation, organizing collective creation, Encourage individual creation, greatly mobilize the creative enthusiasm of reportage writers in the province.
△郑焱
At the press conference, Yu Feng, Secretary of the Party Committee of Nanjing University of the Arts, Ye Biaorong, General Manager of the Provincial Cultural Investment Group, Liu Xudong, a first-level inspector of the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Li Qianmu, a member of the Party Group of the Provincial Association for Science and Technology, and Xu Hai, editor-in-chief of Phoenix Media, presented books to the representatives of scientists. Wang Baoding, President of Jiangsu People's Publishing House, and Xie Shanqing, Editor-in-Chief of Jiangsu People's Publishing House, donated books to Nanjing Foreign Chinese School, South Normal High School, Zhonghua Middle School, and Ninghai Middle School. Zhang Jianhua donated his trilogy of "Forbidden City", "Bridge", "Well-off" and "Astronomy" to Nanjing Library.
The first "literary general history" of the development of astronomy in China
"To the Firmament: A Trilogy on the Development of Chinese Astronomy" is divided into three parts. The upper part "Looking Back on the Naked Observation Era" traces the development history of ancient astronomy on the mainland, the middle part "The Dawn of the Tianyan Era" describes the achievements of China's modern astronomical undertakings, and the lower part "The Glory of the Sky Survey Era" details the achievements of the mainland's aerospace industry that have attracted worldwide attention. In the book, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences such as Fang Cheng, Su Dingqiang, Cui Xiangqun, Chang Jin, Li Tipei, Ye Peijian, Ouyang Ziyuan, Chen Jiansheng, and chief scientists such as Gan Weiqun and Zhao Haibin shine in the sky of literature like bright stars.
On the same day, Fang Cheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, academician of the Third World Academy of Sciences, chief scientist of the Xihe satellite, Gan Weiqun, former deputy director of the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief scientist of the Kuafu-1 satellite, Zhao Chuandong, China's first batch of astronauts and former first-class pilot of the Air Force, and several other interviewees also came to the scene to witness the release of the new book.
Fan Yizhong, deputy director of the Purple Mountain Observatory, is particularly interested in the "dawn of the 'Sky Eye' era" in the central part of the country. The ministry gave a detailed description of the Purple Mountain Observatory. From site selection to tortuous progress to the start of construction in 1931, from the rush of ancient astronomical instruments to Nanjing to their respective placements, from advanced astronomical telescopes becoming the eyes of celestial observation, to new methods of solar eclipse observation to open a new bureau of astronomical science, until the Purple Mountain Observatory was forced to move out to Phoenix Mountain in Kunming at a critical juncture for the country and the nation in the last century...... The Purple Mountain Observatory has completely reproduced the past and present life, and many events have been made public for the first time.
△ Mo Ichichu
"Different from the science popularization work that we Zitai usually conducts, it is through the expression of literary language, the exploration achievements of Chinese astronomy and the three-dimensional image of scientific and technological workers are vividly presented in front of the public readers. From this point of view, I think Mr. Zhang has done a very meaningful thing. Fan Yizhong said.
Zhao Chuandong was deeply touched by the "glory of the 'Sky Survey' Era" in the lower part: "From astronomical satellites to Chang'e lunar exploration, from Mars exploration to solar exploration, from the construction of space stations to the development of space survey telescopes, we have achieved one brilliant victory after another in the journey of exploring the universe. ”
△ Zhao Chuandong
"Scientists and writers are on different paths, towards the peak of human civilization, and their goals are the same. It is to appreciate the truth, goodness and beauty, and to create the truth, goodness and beauty. Ouyang Ziyuan, the first chief scientist of China's lunar exploration program and the "father of Chang'e", happily wrote a preface to "To the Sky" and sent a congratulatory video. He believed that the publication of such a "literary general history of the development of China's astronomical undertakings" would not only provide powerful enlightenment for the development of astronomy and aerospace, but also play a positive role in popularizing scientific knowledge and improving the scientific and cultural literacy of the whole nation.
Chen Jiansheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Department of Astronomy at Peking University, said: "If human beings want to explore the mysteries of the universe and achieve interstellar navigation, all this needs more people who look up to the stars. Long-form non-fiction works can help the public better understand the importance of astronomy, and will also inspire more young people to devote themselves to astronomy. ”
Modern Express + reporter Chen Xi/text Niu Huaxin Gu Wen/photo
(Proofread by Zhang Jingchao)