I overheard that there were immortal mountains on the sea, and the mountains were in the void
*This article is excerpted from "Notes on Sea Mistake Diagrams III", with deletions.
"In the sea of Dengzhou, there are clouds from time to time, such as palaces, taiguans, castles, figures, carriages and horses, crown covers, which can be seen throughout history, which is called the sea market." ——Shen Kuo,"Mengxi Pen Talk"
At least since the Northern Song Dynasty, the ancients have begun to record the strange scene of "mirages". Now we know that a mirage is a natural phenomenon, that is, the light reflected by the object is refracted by the atmosphere to form an imaginary image.
But for the ancients, the pavilions that appeared on the sea were really difficult to explain; so they believed that the secret of the mirage was hidden in the "mirage". In this regard, Zhang Chenliang, the "naturalist jun", made an in-depth study in the "Notes on The Sea Mistake Map" and did a deep study.
Mirage, big clam also
Mirage, sea, city, building three words easy to understand, because this phenomenon occurs more often in the sea, the market pavilions stand side by side; but this "mirage", what is it?
The Zhou Li clearly states: "Mirage, big clams also." "It turned out to be a clam!" But even if the clam is bigger, it is not bigger than a building, what does it have to do with a mirage?
The ancients speculated that the mirage was formed by a mirage. Although it has never been clear what kind of clam the "mirage" is, countless people have seen the "mirage" with their own eyes, but they cannot explain it, and there is such speculation.
As a map depicting various types of marine life, the scene of mirage breathing into the sea is also painted. In the author Nie Huang's heart, the mirage is the gas exhaled by the mirage, which is the conclusion, and there is no need to make other moths. He said: "The mirage weather platform next to the sea, the people of the past have been making it clear for a long time, and no one is puzzled, so why should they turn against the clouds and feng shui? ”
In ancient times, the people would grind large mussel shells into sickles and harvest crops, and such mussel shell products were called "mirages". Photo/ "Notes on the Wrong Picture of the Sea"
Probably because he loves unreliable myths so much that he can't suppress his excitement when he talks about it. This can be felt from the tone of his writing: "Mirage is extraordinary! "Mirage... Revealing Yinghua to spit out strange qi in the two rooms, can be immortal with the pen of chemical industry! "With foolishness, there will be a deep meaning!"
Regarding the cause of the mirage, the ancients were actually very curious. The Northern Song Dynasty scientist Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Pen Talks about Strange Things" mentions: "Or the qi of the mirage, it is doubtful that it is not." "Some people say that the sea market is a mirage, and he is very suspicious.
On May 7, 2006, from 13:20 to 14:00, a mirage appeared in the sea east of the Baxiandu Scenic Area in Penglai, Shandong Province, which lasted for 40 minutes. Photo/ "Notes on the Wrong Picture of the Sea"
Digging deeper into this sentence, you will find that the saying that "the sea market is made of mirage" was not widely recognized in ancient times, and many ancients expressed doubts about it and put forward their own views.
Lang Ying of the Ming Dynasty noticed that mirages always appeared in spring and summer, and what appeared was only ordinary scenery, not some immortal palace building. Therefore, he believes that the places where the sea market appeared, which may have been land in the past, there were "chengguo mountain forests", and later the vicissitudes of the sea and mulberry fields, these places sank to the bottom of the sea. However, "in the spring and summer, the earth gas occurs", and the image of the underwater ruins is fumigated by the earth gas, and it is presented in the air and becomes a sea market. The Ming Dynasty Ye Sheng said, "The sea market... Formed by a large feng shui cyclone. ”
Mirage of brittany in France. The right and left are intermittently connected. Photo/ "Notes on the Wrong Picture of the Sea"
Under the conditions of science and technology at that time, these ancients did not believe in blind obedience and put forward views according to their independent thinking, which was very valuable. Some of them are already very close to scientific facts.
Real hallucinations
In contrast to hallucinations, mirages are a real optical phenomenon, and since the observed position is a phantom image formed by the refraction of actual light, it can be captured with a camera. There are two common types of mirages: upper mirages and lower mirages. The former appears above the horizon and the latter below the horizon.
Most of what appears on the sea is a mirage. At the turn of spring and summer, the sea water is still relatively cold, resulting in the low air on its surface is also cold, but the upper layer has warm air coming, the lower cold is hot, and the air density above and below is different, so that the light is refracted, so that the image of the distant object appears above the actual position. So we see objects that are far below the horizon and could not be seen.
Most of the mirages occur on land. When the weather is hot, the ground is hot, and the air in the lower layers is very hot, but the air on the upper floors is colder, just the opposite of the sea. Thus the image of the distant object appears below the actual position and is inverted. Travelers often see reflections of lakes and dunes in the distance in the desert, and when they run over to see, there is no water at all. This is the next mirage. The lake is actually an inverted image of the sky. The inverted image of the dune is also presented below the body, which looks like a reflection in the water.
A mirage on a hot road. The "stagnant water" on the ground is actually an inverted image of the sky. The Japanese call this "escape water", which means that this "water" seems to escape, and you will never be able to reach it. Photo/ "Notes on the Wrong Picture of the Sea"
You who live in the city, do not have to run to the desert, pick a big hot day, drive on the road, you can see the end of the asphalt road as if there is water, the car walks on it and there is a reflection, this is the mirage.
On the sea surface or in the polar regions, when the meteorological conditions are complex, there will also be a "complex mirage", that is, a combination of the upper mirage and the lower mirage. A "wall of light" will appear on the horizon, and the scenery in the wall is extremely eerie. The Ming Dynasty Yuan Keli described the sea market he had seen as "overturned when high and low, and split and merged in an instant", which should be a complex mirage.
Why Penglai?
From ancient times to the present, Dengzhou, Shandong (around present-day Penglai, Longkou, and Yantai) has been the most frequent place to witness mirages. Like the "Turpan raisins" and "Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs", "Dengzhou Sea Market" has become a specialty of Dengzhou. Just like to see the aurora often go to Northern Europe, to see the mirage, you have to come to Dengzhou (Penglai).
Why are mirages so frequent in Penglai, Shandong? Nie Huang also thought about this question after painting the exhaling mirage in "Sea Mistake Map", and explained it with his strange ideas:
"What is Shandong?" It is the Ruins of Qilu! It is the fiefdom of the Duke of Zhou! It is the hometown of Confucius! It is a land of civilization admired by all eternity! Mirage is a civilized thing, so spiritual, of course, it must be attached to the Zhou Gong and Confucius. The pheasant that has become a mirage must have entered the sea from Shandong. ”
Obviously, it is a mirage, how did it pull the pheasant again? This has to mention a widely accepted theory of ancient times, "metaplasia", that is, the belief that one organism can be transformed into other living things. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, there was a relevant record in the Book of Rites: "Pheasant into the great water is a mirage". The water is the sea, that is, the ancients believed that pheasants would enter the sea and become large clams.
Modern people know that no kind of pheasant can become a large clam. But Nie Huang was right about one thing, Shandong has been a place of civilization since ancient times, densely populated, with many witnesses, many cultural people, and many records left behind. Once it is recorded by celebrities, such as Su Shi who served as a Taishou in Dengzhou for 5 days, he wrote the famous "Dengzhou Haishi", and posterity will come to see it, resulting in its becoming more and more famous.
In fact, Qinhuangdao, Ningbo, Shanghai Jinshan have all appeared mirages, and even Dongting Lake has appeared many times "lake mirage", but unfortunately they do not have celebrity "blessings" and cannot compete with Dengzhou Sea Market.
Penglai has four distinct seasons in northern China. At the turn of spring and summer, the temperature rises rapidly, creating conditions for the mirage. In addition, Penglai is located in the narrowest western part of the Bohai Sea - the Bohai Strait, and there will be large tides before and after the Wang (full moon) and Shuo (New Moon), and the big tide will roll the cold bottom seawater to the surface of the water, making the air on the surface of the sea become cold, and the upper air is already very hot, so a mirage occurs.
Complex mirages often erect a "wall of light" on the surface of the sea, and the scenery in the wall is extremely deformed. In recent years, some studies believe that the reason for the sinking of the Titanic is that this wall of light obscures the distant view, so that the crew did not find the iceberg in time. Photo/ "Notes on the Wrong Picture of the Sea"
In the winter, when the tide is high, the bottom sea water is warmer, which is conducive to the appearance of a mirage. The Penglai Meteorological Bureau has counted 18 sea markets in northern Penglai from 1980 to 2007, and found that 16 occurred within 5 days before and after the Wang and Shuo days, accounting for 88.9%, which is enough to prove this.
On the surface of the sea of Penglai, there are 32 small islands scattered, collectively known as Long Island County. They are very close to Penglai, and under specific atmospheric conditions, these islands, which can be seen from the shore of Penglai, will levitate and deform. On October 24, 2002, the two ends of the large and small Black Mountain Island and Dazhushan Island north of Penglai were cocked and suspended above the sea. A string of spots also appeared between the islands and the islands, constantly changing shapes. Fishermen call this phenomenon of temporary deformation of the scenery that can be seen in ordinary times "haizi". In fact, it belongs to the next mirage.
(Ming) Shen Meng's "Records of Guanhai City" once had a record of "the mountain looks up and opens its mouth, and the sea will be the city". "Mountains look up and open mouths" is the characteristic of the phenomenon of "Haizi", indicating that the ancients have concluded that Haizi often heralds a larger-scale complex mirage. This is November 17, 2008, the phenomenon of sea on Zhucha Island, Camel Island, Dashi Island and Xiaoshi Island in the sea directly south of Qingdao Zhanqiao occurred. The two sides are upturned, half-hanging and half-floating, that is, the so-called "mountain looking up and opening the mouth". Photo/ "Notes on the Wrong Picture of the Sea"
In addition, in the north of Penglai, the Liaodong Peninsula stretches out, and its tip is Dalian. Usually, from Penglai, Dalian is below sea level and cannot be seen. Once there is a mirage condition, will the displayed scenery be Dalian? I'm not sure, but I hope that the next time there is a mirage in Penglai, someone will be able to identify whether there is a landmark building in Dalian.
Another point is that the vast majority of people are not familiar with mirages, as long as there is any wind and grass in the Penglai area, it is easy to be identified as a sea market. This is becoming more and more evident today.
Casually searched, 10 news about the mirage: 4 is the advective fog (a layer of fog on the ground blocks the bottom of the high-rise building, exposing the roof); 2 is the netizen ps; 1 is the netizen through the half-open glass window to shoot outside, the glass reflects the scene next to it; 1 is the sea temporarily opened a strange shape of the large working boat; 1 is usually too serious smog, today suddenly the day is good to reveal the distant scenery. There is only 1 and it is a real mirage.
True or false, perhaps, this is the modern version of the mirage.
This is an imaging representation of a mirage. It was drawn based on a mirage observed by scholar Vince in the south-east of England. But the painting exaggerates Vince's original record and is not rigorous. The mirage in reality would not rise so much above sea level, nor would it be so massive.
Author: Zhang Chenliang, a "naturalist" who focuses on science communication, the planning director of "Museum" magazine, the operator of @Museum Magazine, and a member of China Science Writers Association.
Play a hard broad: If you are amazed and impressed by the rigor of Xiao Liang's examination of the mirage, if you are interested in the ocean and ancient naturalism, welcome to buy this relaxing and interesting popular science book "Notes on Sea Mistakes Map III" (don't read the first two books, don't worry, you can start directly from 3!) ）
A book with research, culture, and handiwork
There are also museum notes for the late-night canteen!
"Naturalist Jun" Zhang Chenliang, which took two years,
Examine 63 ancient pictures of the Forbidden City
20 long notes
Another royal atlas "dialogue" that spans time and space
《Notes on The Sea Mistake Map: Three》
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Author 丨 Zhang Chenliang
Edited by 丨 West Lake Vinegar Fish, Su Xiaoqi
Content Source | "Notes on Sea Mistakes Map: THREE", with deletions