How were hanging coffins sent to the cliff in ancient times? Is the controversial Zhang Heng ground motion instrument that has been deleted from textbooks really "fake"? In addition to the "four major inventions", was there any science and technology in ancient China? What does the mysterious "Wooden Cow Running Horse" look like?
On January 10th, the symposium on the publication of "Research on the Restoration of Ancient Chinese Machinery" was held at the Metropark International Hotel in Beijing, Zhang Baichun, director of the Institute of Natural Science History of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and academician of the International Academy of Sciences, Feng Lisheng, director of the Institute of The History of Science and Technology and Ancient Literature of Tsinghua University and academician of the International Academy of The History of Sciences, Liu Bing, professor of the School of Social Sciences of Tsinghua University, Wang Fang, professor of the Institute of Medical Humanities of Peking University, and Dai Wusan, professor of the Shenzhen Graduate School of Tsinghua University. Sun Lie, a researcher at the Institute of Natural Science History of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other industry experts jointly discussed the "ancient mechanical civilization".
The theme of the publication seminar of "Research on the Restoration of Ancient Chinese Machinery" was "Reproducing ancient Chinese mechanical civilization".
Needham listed 26 outstanding inventions of ancient China
For a long time, when it comes to ancient Chinese science and technology, people often think of the "four great inventions", but in addition to the "four major inventions", they are often unknown. In addition to the "four major inventions", does China have science and technology? The answer, of course, is yes. So, what is the level of development of ancient Chinese science and technology in the world?
Lu Jingyan, a well-known historian of science and technology, pointed out in his book "Research on the Restoration of Ancient Chinese Machinery" that Chinese science and technology began to enter the advanced ranks during the Qin and Han dynasties, and there were many important scientific and technological achievements in this stage, more than in any previous period, such as Qinling copper carriages and horses, guide cars, jili drum cars, three-legged wheels, wheelbarrows, incense burners, fan cars, keel water wheels, flat looms, ground motion instruments, water conservancy astronomical instruments - hun elephants, etc. Lu Jingyan believes that the time when China's science and technology are in the forefront should be counted from the Qinling copper car and horse.
The bronze carriages and horses excavated from the Qin Tombs in the 1980s have realistic shapes, beautiful shapes, complex and perfect structures, showing the high level of science and technology and manufacturing technology of the Qin Dynasty.
Since when has China's science and technology ceased to be advanced? Lu Jingyan said that the time when Chinese science and technology withdrew from the advanced ranks was about the middle and late Ming Dynasty, that is, the 15th-16th centuries. During this period, the West was on the eve of the industrial revolution that changed the face of the world, and the progress of science and technology was very obvious. From the middle and late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, the level of science and technology in Europe has generally surpassed that of China, which also proves that the situation of China's advanced science and technology has ended.
Lu Jingyan pointed out in the book that China was one of the first countries in the world to use and develop machinery. Historically, China's mechanical technology has maintained a long-term leading position in the world, and has made a series of remarkable achievements in agriculture, metallurgy, textiles, vehicles and ships, military, astronomy, drilling and other fields. The British scholar Joseph Needham once listed 26 outstanding inventions of ancient China in English alphabets in the general treatise of his monumental work "History of Science and Technology in China", and pointed out that these outstanding inventions were used in Europe centuries to more than a dozen centuries later than in China. Of these 26 inventions, 12 belong to the category of machinery, and another 10 have a more or less relationship with machinery. It is no exaggeration to say that ancient Chinese machinery is an important part of ancient science and technology, and the glory of ancient Chinese mechanical technology, its type, quantity and rich connotation, have a huge impact on the development of science and technology in China and even in the world.
British scholar Joseph Needham (1900-1995).
At the seminar site, Wen Zeyuan, president of Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, introduced the original intention and editing process of the book "Research on Mechanical Restoration in Ancient China" to the guests. He said that in fact, these outstanding achievements of ancient China Chinese not know much, or even very little. "Research on Ancient Chinese Mechanical Restoration" vividly and vividly reproduces the overall appearance of China's ancient mechanical technology civilization, and by restoring the mechanical production results of different periods, it can allow more readers to understand the context of the development of ancient Chinese science and technology, reveal its development trajectory and rise and fall process, and then understand the socio-political and economic conditions at that time.
Zhang Baichun also affirmed the significance and extraordinary value of this work, he said that the human and material resources of ancient Chinese mechanical restoration work cost a lot, and the effect was relatively slow, and very few people engaged in this research work in the past, there were a large number of gaps in this academic garden, and there were few monographs on restoration research. However, Lu Jingyan has not given up the goal of writing a complete history of China's mechanical engineering, and has successively written works such as "Ancient Chinese Weapons", "History of Chinese Science and Technology, Mechanical Volume", "History of Chinese Machinery" and so on.
Zhang Baichun said that "Research on Mechanical Restoration in Ancient China", as a monograph on the history of technology, combines ancient documentary records, archaeological data and fieldwork to carry out research and restoration of the history of machinery technology, which not only inherits Mr. Liu Xianzhou's research method of mechanical history, but also develops the ancient scientific and technological restoration research pioneered by Mr. Wang Zhenduo and others. "In years of scientific research work, Professor Lu Jingyan has explored the ancient trail in the southwest, combined with the actual restoration of wooden cattle and flowing horses; in Guixi, Jiangxi, antique hanging coffins, cracking the mysteries of the ages; meticulously examining ancient books and documents, restoring and producing a variety of military machinery... He produced nearly 100 kinds of about 150 large and small models to show the wisdom and ingenuity of China's ancestors, and reproduce the ancient Chinese technological civilization. ”
How were hanging coffins sent to the cliff in ancient times?
The hanging coffins that originated in Wuyi Mountain and the surrounding areas are considered to be a mystery for thousands of years, how were the hanging coffins sent to the cliff in ancient times? Lu Jingyan pointed out in the book "Research on the Restoration of Ancient Chinese Machinery" that according to ancient records and field research, it was determined that the hanging coffin did not rely on the power of god or nature, but a lifting engineering problem in ancient times, and summarized the four methods of lifting the hanging coffin: the method of lifting, the method of stacking, the method of piling up and the method of rising water. Among them, the lifting method is the most used, the stacking method must have a certain boardwalk foundation, the use of the soil piling method is limited, and the use of the rising water method is even less. But either way, lifting and transport must be combined. So, what is the equipment used to raise the coffin? Lu Jingyan wrote in the book that the equipment used to raise the hanging coffin should be the lifting machinery that existed at that time, such as levers, pulleys, reels, winchs, sticks and ropes.
There are many hanging coffins at the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan, and the age of the hanging coffin burial is very old, and from the perspective of the hanging coffin burial remains found today, the earliest began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and lasted until the Yuan and Ming Dynasties.
The hanging coffin is also the content that the Wang side is most interested in. He teaches the philosophy of life and death at peking university's Institute of Medical Humanities, and has the status of deputy director of the expert committee of the China Funeral Association. At the seminar site, Wang Fang talked about the hanging coffin, believing that the "hanging" of the hanging coffin is both the "hanging" of the hanging and the "hanging" of the unsolved case, and the relevant research in the book has broken the mysterious color in it and solved a mystery in Chinese funeral culture. At the symposium site, Yin Chuanhong, editor-in-chief of Science Popularization Times, also cited inventions with Chinese characteristics such as hanging coffins, jili drum carts and incense burners as examples to illustrate the interest, academic value and popular science significance of ancient mechanical restoration.
The incense burner that appeared in the Western Han Dynasty, no matter how to roll the ash cup, will never tip over, the principle is the same as today's gyroscope.
However, Lu Jingyan also mentioned in the book that the specific methods of hanging coffins in different regions may be different, but it must be emphasized that no matter which method is used, the machinery used cannot exceed the age at that time, and must meet the objective conditions of the local area and be selected according to local conditions. He once wrote a special "Chinese Hanging Coffin Research", which listed the methods of actually lifting the hanging coffin according to the environment.
Is the Zhang Heng ground motion instrument that "disappeared" from the textbook really "fake"?
In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about Zhang Heng's ground motion instrument. In the human-taught textbook before 2010, Zhang Heng and his ground motion instrument were introduced. The text says: "Scientist Zhang Heng has built an instrument that can determine the direction of earthquakes, called a ground motion instrument. This is recognized as the world's earliest seismic instrument. However, in the 2016 ministry textbook and the 2017 unified textbook, Zhang Heng and the ground motion instrument are no longer introduced.
Zhang Heng and his ground motion instrument were introduced in the old version of the human-taught textbook.
Is the Zhang Heng ground motion instrument that "disappeared" from the history textbook really "fake"? Lu Jingyan pointed out in the book that from the ancient records, it can be seen that the ZhangHeng ground motion instrument is composed of two systems, one is the system of receiving seismic signals, which is composed of du pillars and eight orbits; the other is the earthquake system of baozhi, which is composed of internal organs, dragon heads, copper pills and toads. Unfortunately, the core component of the ground motion instrument, the mechanism, is difficult to know.
Many modern scholars have conducted in-depth research on Zhang Heng's geokinetic instrument. As early as the 19th century, Japanese scholars have discussed it. After that, the ideas that had a relatively large impact also included Wang Zhenduo's idea of restoring the ground motion instrument, Xi Wen's idea of the ground motion instrument, and the idea of the China Earthquake Administration and other units to restore the ground motion instrument. Lu Jingyan said that these assumptions about the working principle of the ground motion instrument all make use of the inertia of the object, and from a scientific point of view, they are reasonable and have high academic value, of which the latter two are more sensitive. Because the Book of the Later Han Dynasty provides a precious historical record of Zhang Heng's creation of the ground motion instrument, about 1700 years before other countries, Needham called Zhang Heng's invention "the originator of the ground motion instrument", which is a remarkable achievement.
However, Lu Jingyan also stressed that seismology is an emerging independent discipline, and understanding the great achievements of ancient China in seismology can inspire modern researchers, but should not exaggerate the sensitivity of the earth motion instrument. After analyzing the error of Zhang Heng's geokinetic instrument, it was found that its capital column could only be dumped according to eight orbits, and there was a 45° angle between the two adjacent orbits. When an earthquake occurs in the direction between two adjacent tracks, the geokinetic instrument is difficult to report correctly, and the error is greatest when the direction is 22.5° different from each orbit. And Zhang Heng's ground motion instrument can only report the vibration of the ground, and cannot distinguish whether the vibration is caused by an earthquake or other causes. In addition, when an earthquake must reach a certain intensity and a certain distance, the geokinetic instrument can only make a report, nor can it digitize the intensity of the earthquake.
What does a "wooden cow and horse" that "can walk around on its own without manpower" look like?
Dai Wusan recalled the scene when he visited the war model restored by Lu Jingyan in the Military Museum of the Chinese Revolution, and he believed that showing the continuation of Chinese civilization for thousands of years is not limited to the "four major inventions", but should pay attention to the ancient production and living tools from the perspective of people's livelihood, and it is these tools that have supported our thousand-year-old rich life. China's material culture research should not be limited to the culture of hedonic life and the culture of urban life, but there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of mechanical dexterity and technical wisdom. Dai Wusan mentioned that at that time, the title of an interview mentioned that "wooden cows flow horses into dreams." The "wooden cow and flowing horse" used in this is actually one of the many restored works of Lu Jingyan and his students.
What does the legend look like like the "wooden cow flowing horse" that solved Zhuge Liang's grain transportation problem and "can walk around by himself without manpower"? Lu Jingyan found a detailed record of the "Wooden Cow Flowing Horse Method" in the "Zhuge Liang Collection". According to the description of "one foot and four feet", it is inferred that it is likely to be a kind of human-propelled wheelbarrow decorated with a bull's head for freight, one wheel for travel, four pillars for support when stopping, and has a very advanced braking system at that time.
A model restored according to the wooden cow inference diagram.
In order to verify the hypothesis, Lu Jingyan specially rushed from Shanghai to Sichuan, climbed up the cliff to measure the wedge hole left by the ancient boardwalk, and after calculation, found that according to the moment relationship between the arm and the force, the weight of the ancient boardwalk could bear was basically 150 kg to 200 kg, which was both the load of a larger unicycle that could be built at the manufacturing level at that time, and basically the weight of a soldier's annual ration at that time, which was fully in line with the record of "a wooden cow carrying one year of grain" in the ancient book. During a visit to the local elderly, he also obtained information on the "five-foot road" (that is, the width of the ancient boardwalk is about five feet in ancient times), which also coincided with the dimensions of the wheelbarrow, and finally was able to restore the model of the wooden cow and the flowing horse.
Reporter 丨He An'an
Edited by 丨 Gong Zhaohua
Proofreading 丨 Xue Jingning