In the 17th and 18th centuries, the scientific revolution in Europe was in the ascendant, and the Kangxi era coincided with its heyday. Emperor Kangxi himself was keen on science, and in the context of scientific globalization, how science developed in China at that time, and what role the emperor played in it, is exactly what we want to explore.
The scientific activities of the Qing court were closely related to the scientists and scientific institutions of France, especially the Royal Academy of Sciences of France, which was one of the most important scientific institutions in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. In China, the Mengyangzhai Arithmetic Museum, founded in 1713 in Changchun Garden (next to the west gate of present-day Peking University), was a very important scientific institution in the Kangxi era. These two institutions are related to a certain extent, and we will start by introducing them, and we will take the scientific exchange between France and China at that time as an opportunity to get a glimpse of the problem of Chinese scientific modernization in the Kangxi era.
When the missionary needs of the West met the studious Kangxi Emperor
The Royal French Academy of Sciences was founded in 1666 with the support of Louis XIV's minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who hired important European scientists such as Christiaan Huygens of the Netherlands and Giovanni Domenico Cassini of Italy as academicians of the Academy of Sciences. An important figure in the Academy of Sciences was the president, appointed by the king to be Abbé Jean-Paul Bignon, who had many contacts with the missionaries who came to China. Another central figure is the permanent secretary who is responsible for organizing the activities of the Academy of Sciences, three of whom are related to China, such as Bernard LeBovier de Fontenelle, who lived to be nearly 100 years old, and Jean-Jacques Dortous de Mairan, and the Jesuits in Beijing, such as Dominique, who worked as an interpreter for Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Yongzheng Parrenin) is more social. In addition to the President, Permanent Secretary and Paid Fellows, the Royal French Academy of Sciences has corresponding Fellows, who mainly provide relevant scientific information to the Academy. The Academy also meets regularly and maintains a variety of journals.
In 1683, Colbert, who was directly responsible for the establishment of the Academy of Sciences, died, and the Academy's later dealings with China were carried out by two ministers, one of whom was the Marquis de Louvois. After the establishment of the Royal Academy of Sciences, in 1666 France established the Paris Observatory. Astronomical observations were a very important activity of the Royal Academy of Sciences at that time, which included the observation of solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, and the moons of Jupiter. The observation of Ganymede was very important, and it was one of Cassini's important astronomical achievements. At that time, the map of France was not accurate, and one of the important tasks of Cassini and others was to measure the latitude and longitude of various places in order to produce a new map of France. Latitude is relatively easy to measure and can be known based on the altitude of the North Pole. The measurement of longitude is more complicated, and one of Cassini's major functions in making Ganysis is to determine longitude. During the geodetic survey of the Kangxi era, Cassini's Ganygate watch was borrowed.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Jesuits were the main body of scientific and cultural exchanges between China and the West, such as Matteo Ricci, John Tong, and Nan Huairen, who had a great influence on China, and they brought knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and other disciplines from Europe. The reason why the Jesuits were interested in science was because they had the belief that "the glory of the Lord will be more and more revealed", and they used science as an important means to explore nature and science in order to prove the greatness of God and add glory to God, so science played a very important role in their activities.
Kangxi had experienced Yang Guangxian's anti-teaching case in his early years, and Tang Ruowang was involved, and Kangxi's interest in science had a lot to do with this anti-teaching case. John Tong was a missionary from Germany who served as a supervisor in the Qintian Prison. During the Shunzhi period, the Shunzhi Emperor had a very good relationship with John Tang, and often went to the church (that is, in today's South Hall) to see John Tang, and in 1664, Yang Guangxian was anti-Catholic for various reasons, and John Tang and others were imprisoned. Four or five years later, Kangxi sent people to the church to find missionaries to find out whether Western astronomy was advanced. The Belgian Jesuit Nan Huairen took this opportunity to overturn Yang Guangxian's anti-religious case, and an important means was to use solar shadow observation to determine whether the traditional method or the Western method was better. The results of the solar shadow measurement showed that the Western method was better than the traditional calendar, and the missionaries were once again reused, and Nan Huairen recorded this in detail in his "Brief History of the New King James Calendar".
The "Maxims of Court Training" compiled by the third son of Kangxi, Yinzhi and Emperor Yongzheng, mainly records some conversations between Emperor Kangxi and his sons, including this paragraph: "You only know the essence of arithmetic, but you don't know why I learned arithmetic." When I was young, the Han officials of the Qin Heavenly Prison did not get along with the Westerners, and they impeached each other, and they almost broke down. Yang Guangxian and Tang Ruowang saw the sun and shadow in front of Jiuqing outside the noon gate, and no one in Nai Jiuqing knew the law. I don't know what I know, how can I judge the right and wrong of others, and learn because of self-anger. From this, we can see the reason why Kangxi studied Western astronomy and calendrical calculations. The spread of science in the Kangxi era can be roughly divided into two stages, one is the Nan Huairen era, that is, the period from the victory of Nan Huairen after Yang Guangxian's rebellion in 1669 to Nan Huairen's death in 1688, which can be classified as the first period; The second period was about 30 years between the death of Nan Huairen in 1688 and the first arrival of the king mathematician of France in China to 1722. Of course, this period can be marked by Kangxi's establishment of Mengyangzhai in Changchun Garden in 1713, and then subdivided into two stages.
After the end of the anti-teaching case, Nan Huairen compiled many books, such as "Lingtai Yi Xiangzhi", and also built some instruments, most of which are still preserved in the ancient observatory next to today's Beijing railway station. Nan Huairen taught Emperor Kangxi some knowledge of Western astronomy and geography, and also wrote a book on local science, introducing the humanities, history and geography of Europe. The Kunyu Quantu is a map of the world, with many rare animals from all over the world depicted on it, to a certain extent, to satisfy Kangxi's interest, which can be corresponded to Nan Huairen's relevant letters, which proves that Kangxi had begun to be very interested in some natural phenomena and new things at that time. In addition, Kangxi once wrote "A Few Leisure Grid Things", that is, a book on the observation of natural phenomena written in the spare time of governing national affairs.
In the early 80s of the 17th century, another Belgian Jesuit, Antoine Thomas, came to China. Before coming to China, he was already very good at mathematics, publishing the Latin book "Synopsis Mathematica" (Compendium of Mathematics) in Portugal, and he later became Kangxi's mathematics teacher, and translated the mathematical content of "Compendium of Mathematics" into "General Outline of Algorithms", which was actually Kangxi's mathematics textbook. Since then, Kangxi has developed a keen interest in science.
In 1685, King Louis XIV of France sent six "king's mathematicians" to China, and except for one who stayed in Siam (Thailand), the five who came to China had their own strengths: Jeande Fontaney, the president, was a little older, had a very high astronomical literacy, and had published some astronomical works before coming to China; Joachim Bouvet, who later taught to Kangxi and had a lot of dealings with Leibniz; Jean-Fran (□ois Gerbillon), translator during the negotiation of the Treaty of Nebuchu; Liu Ying (Claude de Visdelou), a linguist; And Louisle Comte was well versed in natural history. According to the official records of France at that time, there were three main reasons why the "king mathematician" came to China: first, for the glory of the king and the interests of the country, to expand overseas hegemony and conduct overseas trade; secondly, many scientific institutions were established in France at that time in order to promote scientific progress, especially for the development of astronomy and the arts; Thirdly, in order to spread Catholicism. Prior to this, many missionaries had to obtain the consent of the King of Portugal before they could go to China on Portuguese ships because of the right to protect the Church, but this time the French sailed to China in the name of "King Mathematician", which has a different meaning.
In 1678, in view of the small number of missionaries in China, which endangered the missionary cause, Nan Huairen wrote a letter in Latin, engraved and printed many copies, and sent it to various institutions and missionaries in Europe, and some important figures, in order to recruit more missionaries to China, which is equivalent to a letter to the European Jesuits, the impact of this letter was very great, and it was responded to by the Europeans, and the French Jesuits were sent to China, and Nan Huairen's letter was an important factor.
Here's a small episode worth noting: the Belgian Jesuit Philippe Couplet was sent to Europe in the eighties of the 17th century, and his mission was to recruit Jesuits in Europe. The impact of his trip was very repercussive in Europe at that time, and he had contacts with Louis XIV and some important scholars, and he also brought a Nanjing man named Shen Fuzong with him when he went to Europe. At that time, some works of art such as paintings reflected Shen Fuzong's visit to Europe, which aroused the curiosity of many Europeans. In September 1684, Louis XIV hosted a banquet at the Palace of Versailles. The Parisian press also recorded Shen Fuzong's visit to Versailles, in which he said that Father Bert lived in China for 24 years, managed 60 Chinese people in the cathedral, spoke French, and brought with him a Chinese Shen Mier, who could speak some Latin, and they went to Versailles to greet the king. While in Paris, Bai Yingli and Shen Fuzong also had a relationship with the "king mathematician" who was about to go to China.
The minutes of the meeting in the extant archives of the French Academy of Sciences show that the royal astronomer Cassini, the astronomer Philippedela Hire, Hong Ruo and three other Jesuits were invited to the Academy of Sciences on the same day, and the Academy presented them with the journal of the Royal Academy of Sciences and told them what observations they should make when they arrived in China. In 1684, Hong Ruo, Bai Jin and four others were appointed corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences. In 1699, there was an important reform of the French Academy of Sciences, and a number of missionaries were appointed as corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences.
King Mathematician of Louis XIV and teacher of Western studies of Kangxi
On March 3, 1685, the "King Mathematician" set sail from the military port of Brest, France. From the military port, it means that the dispatch of the "king's mathematician" is an act of the French government, supported by the state. The "King's Mathematician" traveled to Beijing via Siam and Ningbo, while the previous missionaries had traveled from Lisbon to Goa and then to Macau. Their trip was kept in a diary by several people who were on the same boat, from which they could learn about some of the activities on board at that time. One of the clergy wrote: "We should take advantage of the opportunity to study astronomy with these six priests, who in China will be like Nan Huairen." At that time, Nan Huairen had already served as the "director of the Royal Observatory" in Qintianjian - Qintianjian Supervisor, and this clergyman felt that the six kings and mathematicians would become very important figures and honorable when they arrived in Beijing. This diary reflects the expectations of contemporaries for a "king's mathematician". The time on board was long and boring, providing plenty of time for the missionaries to learn from each other. The priest's diary also wrote: On this day (May 8, 1685), Hong Ruo gave us a lesson on celestial bodies, and when he became a great official, a red man before the emperor of China, I will say that he taught me about the movement of the celestial bodies on Sunday. However, despite his high level, because the Portuguese had already controlled the missionary activities in China at that time, it was impossible for the French to hold important positions in the court, so his scientific talents could not be used.
A manuscript I found in France shows that French missionaries had been making observations along the road, including astronomy and physics. The manuscript was sent to the Academy of Sciences by missionaries who came to China. The now published Brief Collection of Jesuit Chinese Letters contains some letters written by Hong Ruo in 1702 and 1703. Before going to the court, Hong Ruo and others stayed in Ningbo for several months, during which they wrote a large number of letters, through which their communication network can be seen - many letters were sent to the Academy of Sciences, for example, Hong Ruo asked the people of the Academy of Sciences to impart wisdom, let the members of the Academy of Sciences explain in detail what they particularly needed, and send some demonstrations, and at the same time asked the Academy of Sciences to assign a correspondent to the five people to guide the work on behalf of the Academy of Sciences, and at the same time provide advice when the five people encountered difficulties and questions. Hong Ruo also said: "Under such conditions, I hope that the Chinese Academy of Sciences will gradually improve, and you will be very satisfied." "The so-called Chinese Academy of Sciences, in fact, is an institution formed by their group of missionaries, which provides some scientific data for the Royal French Academy of Sciences, from which we can see some of the situation between the Academy of Sciences and the missionary "King Mathematicians" in China. Hong Ruo's letter to Cassini in 1687 expressed his desire for more astronomical instruments, and later a large number of astronomical instruments were sent to the court, and many of the scientific instruments of the Kangxi era preserved in the Forbidden City in Beijing were brought or sent from France at that time.
According to the inscription of the Ministry of Rites in the "Verdict of the Xi Dynasty" preserved in the French National Library in Paris, Jin Hong, the governor of Zhejiang, sent a report to the emperor, saying that five Westerners, including Hong Ruo, had arrived in Zhejiang from Siam on the ship of Wang Huashi, a Guangdong merchant, and hoped to visit fellow believers in Suzhou and Hangzhou. Later, Kangxi issued an edict to invite some of them who knew astronomy to come to Beijing. For this reason, Nan Huairen tried his best to mediate and made great contributions, but before the "king mathematician" arrived in Beijing, Nan Huairen died. On February 7, 1688, the "King Mathematicians" arrived in Beijing, and Kangxi subsequently summoned them at the Qianqing Palace. At that time, Kangxi recorded some scenes of Kangxi's reception of the "king's mathematician": they brought 30 boxes of gifts, including armillary instruments, seats, elephant and double image displays (which should refer to microscopes), clairvoyants, etc., as well as 6 boxes of "astronomical scriptures", 5 Western geographical maps, and a small box of magnets. These gifts were all relatively advanced scientific instruments in Europe at that time, one of which was invented by the Danish astronomer OleR, which was specially recorded in the "Biography of Emperor Kangxi" written by Bai Jin, the Danish astronomer was the first person to measure the speed of light. After Emperor Kangxi summoned five people, he left Bai Jin and Zhang Cheng by his side, and the other three went to other places to preach.
In addition to sending "king's mathematicians" to China by sea, Louis XIV also intended to send missionaries to China by land, but without the permission of the Tsar on his way through Russia, the missionaries were repatriated to China without success. Although they did not make it to China, the overland group wrote a book on their travels, with a letter from King Louis XIV to Emperor Kangxi. This letter, written in August 1688, is a one-sentence letter that is very long, translated into Chinese:
"Your Majesty, the supreme, most illustrious, most powerful, and most magnanimous Emperor Kangxi, our very close and good friends, may God increase your greatness, and wish you a good future, and we know that Your Majesty is anxious to gather around you, in your territory, a group of learned men who are well versed in European science, and for this purpose we decided a few years ago to send six mathematicians to Your Majesty— Our subjects, who have shown your Majesty the wonders of science, and especially the astronomical observations of the famous Royal Academy of Sciences, which was established in our beautiful city of Paris, but the sea has separated our two countries, and because of the great distances of the sea, the voyage is prone to accidents, and it is difficult to reach your country without going through many dangers and long journeys, therefore, to your Majesty's satisfaction, we have conceived this plan, and out of respect and friendship, we pledge to send more Jesuit mathematicians, together with the Count of Syri, through the nearest The safest overland route to reach His Majesty, they may be the first to arrive around His Majesty, and when Count Syri returns, we will have a true understanding of His Majesty's extraordinary and venerable life. ”
It is a pity that this letter of state did not reach the hands of Emperor Kangxi.
The French Jesuit "King Mathematician" carried out many scientific activities after coming to China. Bai Jin was later appointed by Kangxi to recruit another group of people in France; Hong Ruo also brought a group of people to China after that. Around 1700, many French people came to Beijing, and they were responsible for a large part of the scientific activities in China at that time.
During the two years after the "King Mathematician" arrived in Beijing, the Kangxi Emperor studied with the missionaries very diligently, attending classes two or three times a week. From the Biography of Emperor Kangxi, the Diary of Zhang Cheng and the unpublished Diary of Bai Jin, we can see the general situation of many scientific activities from 1689 to 1691, as well as the details of Kangxi's study of mathematics with missionaries.
At that time, the French Bai Jin and Zhang Cheng were taught at the court, as well as two Jesuit priests, Tomás Pereira of Portugal and Andor of Belgium, who took turns teaching mathematics to the Kangxi Emperor. At that time, the content taught was mainly from two books: the mathematics textbook of the Jesuit college where Hong Ruo worked, "The Originals of Geometry" by Bagnace Gaston Pardies, and the "Outline of Mathematics" written by Andor himself. Between 1689 and 1691, Kangxi studied a lot of Western science. Through the actual records and some anthologies of the Qing people, we can find out the purpose of Kangxi's study - to control the Han people with science and use them for show. Because the Manchu-Han dispute existed for a long time, in 1681 and 1683 the pacification of the three feudatories and the unification of Taiwan, but there were still great contradictions between the Han and the Manchus, so Kangxi has been trying to use Western learning to improve the status of the Manchus.
Here's an example: On February 2, 1692, a very cold day in the first lunar month, Kangxi convened his ministers at Qianqingmen to observe the sun's shadow. Normally, the Kangxi Emperor summoned ministers to talk about national affairs, but it is rare to talk about scientific issues with a group of ministers during the Spring Festival. Interestingly, the grandson of the famous thinker Fang Yizhi in the late Ming Dynasty, a mathematician at the time, was also summoned, which is very unthinkable, and is obviously an intentional arrangement of the Kangxi Emperor. Kangxi talked a lot about it at that time, such as the relationship between music and mathematics, the magnitude of pi, how to observe the shadow of the sun, and how long the shadow of the sun will be at 12 o'clock at noon, where it will go, and so on. While observing the shadow of the sun, let a group of Manchu and Han ministers and mathematicians surround him. At noon, the sun shadow really reached the point predicted by Kangxi, and the ministers began to praise Emperor Kangxi, which is vividly recorded in the "Records of the Holy Ancestors". Wang Xi, the minister who was present at the time, also recorded that he said that on that day, he "was summoned to the Qianqing Gate to see the music law calendar with the Manchu Han Zhengqing and the scholars of the Hanlin Academy, and ordered the good arithmetic people to calculate the "Nine Chapters" and other methods in front of the emperor", and then measured the horizontal sundial, which began in the afternoon. After Kangxi finished speaking, the ministers said: "Adhering to the holy teachings, you have to hear the unheard of, see the unseen, and be very happy." Minister Zhang Yushu also said: "Retreat and look at each other's surprises, deeply appreciate the shallow knowledge in the past, stick to the old words, and do not know that they are confused." It can be seen that the minister present at the time was very stimulated and later suggested that some scientific books should be compiled.
At that time, due to the lack of talents, the arithmetic institution was not established. Later, in order to cater to the Kangxi Emperor, Li Guangdi, Mei Wending and others recruited some young people to study mathematics in Baoding, laying the foundation for the establishment of arithmetic institutions.
The Jesuits helped the Kangxi Emperor to make cannons, make calendars, negotiate with Russia, and the missionaries also cured Kangxi's malaria with quinine (cinchona), and in return, Kangxi issued a "new decree" in 1692 to allow missionaries to preach in China, which made the missionaries very excited, and they wrote a book about Kangxi's edict.
You can't get out of the Western science of the Mengyangzhai Arithmetic Museum
After 1705, Kangxi's friendly attitude towards missionaries changed, an important reason was that the Holy See sent a special envoy to China, Doro, to prohibit Chinese from worshipping their ancestors and worshipping Kong. After Doro arrived in Beijing, Kangxi was very friendly to him at first, but later learned of his purpose in China, Kangxi was very annoyed. According to Li Guangdi's records, Kangxi once summoned Li Guangdi and Xiong Cixu to the palace and told them a passage - Emperor Kangxi said: Do you know, Westerners are gradually making trouble now, and they have scolded Confucius, so I treat them well, just to use their skills; If you go out in the future, you will have to tell the local officials some of my attitudes. It can be seen here that the main reason why Kangxi used missionaries was that they had a skill in astronomical calculations and artillery, but Doluo came to China to prohibit ancestor worship and worship Kong, which caused Kangxi to change his attitude towards missionaries.
Of course, there were other events that also influenced Kangxi's attitude, such as the observation of the sun's shadow on the summer solstice in 1711. Back then, Kangxi found that some of Qin Tianjian's algorithms were wrong, and Kangxi had always thought that there was no problem with Western Law. There is a record in the "Actual Record" that Emperor Kangxi said that "the new law will not be wrong in calculating". But the observation of the sun on the summer solstice in 1711 made Kangxi think that Qin Tianjian's method was wrong, and as a result, Kangxi was not only distrustful of the religious aspects of the missionaries, but also suspicious of Western science.
All of the above led to the establishment of the Mengyangzhai Arithmetic Museum by Kangxi around 1713. In fact, two missionaries introduced the French Academy of Sciences to the Kangxi Emperor, and the French missionary Jean-Fran□ois Foucquet specifically mentioned that the "Académie française de la Française de la Régiard de la Régistan" (i.e., the Royal Academy of Sciences of France) would discuss some astronomical issues; Bai Jin also told Emperor Kangxi that one of the purposes of their visit to China was to collect some scientific materials, and he mentioned that "the Palace of Astronomical Astronomy and Other Scholars", the Palace of Astronomy actually refers to the Paris Observatory, and the Palace of Gewu is the Royal Academy of Sciences. It can be said that the establishment of the Mengyangzhai Arithmetic Museum is to a certain extent out of political considerations - the ultimate goal of learning Western studies is to get rid of the monopoly of Westerners on science.
In 1713, the Mengyangzhai Arithmetic Museum was built, and Kangxi asked his third son, Prince Cheng, to be in charge of related activities, and selected more than 300 people from all over the country, and after examinations, 72 were selected to work in Mengyangzhai. A large number of young people of all ethnic groups who understand astronomy and mathematics are working in Mengyangzhai, including Mei Wending's grandson Mei Yingcheng, Mongolian mathematician Ming Antu, Fang Bao, an important figure of the Tongcheng faction, and some students of Li Guangdi. There were also many missionaries working in the Mengyangzhai Arithmetic Center, such as Pierre Jartoux, Fu Shengze, Franz Thilisch, Kilian Stumpf, Bai Jin, etc.
There are many scientific observation activities in Mengyangzhai, including measuring the yellow and red corners in Changchun Garden, and measuring latitude and longitude all over the country. It can be seen that many of the scientific activities of Mengyangzhai at that time were modeled after the practices of the French Academy of Sciences. Meng Yangzhai also compiled many books on the calendar, such as "The Origin of the Calendar of Laws", including "The Essence of Mathematics and Physics", "The Essence of Qinruo" and "The Righteousness of the Law", which involve mathematics, astronomy and music.
At that time, the content of Western science transmitted to China was still relatively new, and the arithmetic aspects included the borrowing root square algorithm, which was actually algebra; British mathematician Henry Briggs on logarithmic tabulation; The book "The New Law of Algebara" introduces algebraic notation, as well as series expansions related to calculus. Despite the large number of missionaries in the service of the Kangxi Emperor in the court, science did not spread as much as one might think, and fewer books were published than expected. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Guangqi introduced many books in a short period of time, but during the reign of Kangxi, for a longer period of time, although there were more manpower (missionaries and Chinese) and material resources, the total number of books could not be compared with Xu Guangqi's time. It can be seen that Kangxi actually regarded science as part of the power technique.
The poor dissemination of science is also related to the imperial power, Kangxi let his son lead scientific activities, so many activities are controlled by the prince and the officials of the internal affairs government under him, and science has become an important part of power. In addition, the spread of science was hindered by internal disputes among missionaries, such as the fact that some missionaries did not want to introduce more advanced things, such as the Copernican heliocentric system, and when others wanted to introduce it, they were opposed.
In addition, Emperor Kangxi arbitrarily praised and depreciated the content of Western learning, he learned to borrow the root algorithm, and felt that this was very useful, and later Fu Shengze wanted to introduce his more abstract symbolic algebra, but Emperor Kangxi did not understand, and therefore issued an edict to comment: "There is also a speaker A multiplication A, B multiplies B, there is no number, even if it is multiplied out, I don't know how much, it seems that this person's algorithm is mediocre." Because Kangxi said some derogatory things, some of the books translated by the missionaries were never published.
It can be said that the Kangxi era had a good opportunity for scientific development: a large number of missionaries were active in China, and in addition, European scientists such as the German mathematician Leibniz wanted to establish contact with China and even with the emperor himself through missionaries; The French Academy of Sciences also hoped to have some scientific exchanges with China through missionaries, but in fact this good opportunity was missed. At that time, what came in was basically some knowledge about the calculation of solar and lunar eclipses, because it was very important to the emperor - if there was a solar or lunar eclipse, the emperor had to reflect, so the prediction should be accurate. As a result, much of the introduction is basically practical knowledge, while many of the leading scientific achievements of Kepler, Cassini and others have been introduced but not published. It is deeply regrettable that a large amount of new scientific knowledge did not spread rapidly at that time.
Another big reason for the missed opportunity was that Yongzheng after Kangxi did not like Western missionaries, and after his accession to the throne in 1723, Catholicism was strictly forbidden; In addition, the third son of the emperor, who was very familiar with Western science and had received Amdo's education, had a bad relationship with Yongzheng and was no longer reused, and the scientific activities of the Mengyangzhai Arithmetic Museum he was responsible for finally came to an end. Personally, I believe that he himself had a certain degree of scientific literacy, and indeed introduced some Western things, and had an important impact on the development of science in China in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, his role in the development of science at that time was very limited, because on many occasions Kangxi only used science as a means of domination, elevating his own academic status and that of the Manchus, and suppressing and controlling the Han people, who had a distinctly strong academic tradition. Therefore, what Kangxi was looking for was not systematic scientific knowledge, so that some advanced scientific content could not be published until twenty or thirty years after it was introduced, for example, the Geometric Originals had been translated around 1690 and was not published until 1722 - if it had been published earlier, and everyone would have known about it earlier, the situation might have been completely different. It can be seen from the records left by the missionaries that Kangxi did not want to let his subordinates know about the scientific content disseminated in the court. The missionary once said in a letter: Kangxi called him to the palace in a certain month and year to translate algebra things, and the emperor told him not to tell others about these things after they were translated. It can be seen that Kangxi actually wants to "keep a hand", he does not want to spread the new scientific knowledge that has been disseminated to the public immediately, his purpose is to take science as his own selfishness, and he can show off in front of ministers and Han people to improve his authority.
It is also worth mentioning that the popular view of "Western learning in the middle of the source" in the Kangxi period, which believed that many new things in Western learning actually came from China, also hindered the spread of science. This involves the study of the Book of Changes conducted by Bai Jin at that time - an important reason for Kangxi to have this idea is that Bai Jin believed that the content of the Book of Changes was similar to that of binary and Leibniz's research, and Kangxi was influenced by Bai Jin and other missionaries to further deduce the theory of "the source of Western learning". Undoubtedly, this kind of concept makes the study of new Western scientific knowledge lack the due humility and study, and is bound to hinder the further dissemination and development of science in China. Therefore, in general, in the process of China's scientific modernization, Kangxi may objectively promote the partial development of science, but more often than not, it hindered the timely dissemination of new scientific knowledge, so that the real modernization of Chinese science began later than after the Opium War.
Han Qi is a researcher at the Institute of History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, deputy director of the Academic Committee, doctoral supervisor, professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, member of the Academic Committee of the Center for Christian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, academic member of the Center for Religion and Chinese Society of Chung Chi College, University of Chinese Hong Kong, and member of the Academic Committee of the Matteo Ricci Institute for the History of Chinese and Western Cultures at the University of San Francisco.
His main research areas are the history of Chinese science, including the history of mathematics in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the history of astronomy in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the history of Chinese printing, and the history of science and society. the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, especially the history of scientific and technological and cultural relations between China and foreign countries; History of Catholicism in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, etc. He is the author or co-author of "The Western Spread of Chinese Science and Technology and Its Influence (1582-1793)", "Collection of Catholic Documents of the Yongzheng Qianlong Dynasty in Europe", "History of Chinese Printing" and other monographs. He has been invited to visit the United States, Japan, France, Britain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Poland and other countries, and has published more than 80 academic papers in four languages: Chinese, English, French and Japanese, such as "Gewu Poor Institute and Mengyangzhai - Sino-French Scientific Exchange in the 17th and 18th Centuries", "The Scientific Activities of the French Jesuits in China in the Kangxi Dynasty", "Science, Knowledge and Power: Solar Shadow Observation and the Role of Kangxi in Calendar Reform", etc., and was invited to give a 45-minute report at the 27th International Congress of Mathematicians in 2014.