Qin Guan (秦觀), also known as Huaihai Jushi (淮海居士), was a northern Song Dynasty poet. Everyone is familiar with his words, from "if the two loves are long, they are in the twilight of the dynasty", "Free flying flowers are light as dreams, boundless silk rain is as thin as sorrow", and other beautiful and poignant words, may think that he is just a talent. In fact, Qin Guan is also an expert in the sericulture industry, he once wrote a well-known monograph in the history of Chinese agronomy "Silkworm Book", this monograph also has a high status in the history of sericulture in the world, in the Library of Congress's "Huaihai Collection", included in the "Silkworm Book".
China's silk industry has a very long history, since ancient times, China's agricultural mulberry at the same time, sericulture industry has a very important position. At the beginning of the 20th century, the famous archaeologist Li Ji said: "There is a history in China, there is a record of the history of the sericulture industry, which is an index of Chinese culture. ”
However, before the Song Dynasty, there were not many monographs on sericulture, and only a few literature materials discussed it. For example, the chapter "Planting Mulberry" in the "Qi Min Zhi Shu" also mentions sericulture, but the space is very limited and the operability is not strong.
Qin Guan's hometown is in Gaoyou. When Qin Guan was young, in addition to reading and traveling, he also directly participated in the production of sericulture, which gave him the opportunity to observe and study sericulture, and accumulated valuable practical experience for writing the "Book of Silkworms". When Qin Guan was idle in his hometown, he wrote "Four Songs of Tianju", one of which has a verse cloud: "Into the summer mulberry thick, yin and yin and fall." New wheat has appeared, and the rest of the silkworms are still in the foil. ”
Qin Guan not only personally participated in the practice of sericulture himself, but also carried out detailed thinking and research on the issues related to sericulture production with the rigorous attitude of scholars. In the preface to the Book of Silkworms, he writes:
Kao Zhi Yu Gong, Yang, Liang, You, Yong, do not pay tribute to cocoons. Yan Gui Weaving... And the mulberry soil is a silkworm, and it is a unique word. However, the Kyushu silkworm affair, Yan wei is the most important?
That is to say: "Why do people mention the cultivation of mulberry silkworms, and the only one says Yanzhou?" Is it the best there? With this question in mind, between the economic rivers on the way north to Beijing, Qin Guan conducted field research. In Yanzhou, he found that peasant women raised silkworms everyone and formed a custom, so he inspected the sericulture industry in Yanzhou and recorded some important information.
It can be seen that Qin Guan has been engaged in agricultural production and is also very familiar with the production of sericulture. Therefore, combined with his experience in sericulture farming in his hometown of Gaoyou, it is not surprising that he wrote the monograph "Silkworm Book".
The Book of Silkworms summarizes the experience of sericulture and silk reeling in the Yanzhou region before the Song Dynasty. The book consists of 11 chapters and less than 1,000 words, but it is concise and practical. It can be said that it is a concise textbook of silkworm reeling technology. Excluding the preface, the main text is divided into ten chapters, namely: "Variations, Seasonal Eclipses, House Making, Huazhi, Qianyan, Locking Stars, Tian Ti, Che, Praying for the Gods, and RongZhi." Among them, "breeding, eating, and living" is to talk about the physiological characteristics of silkworms and the technology of silkworm breeding; "Huazhi, Qianyan, Locking Stars, Tian Ti, And Che" describes the method of boiling cocoons, the equipment and operation of silk reeling; "Prayer God" tells about the customs of folk silkworm breeding; and "Rongzhi" tells about the spread of sericulture in the western region.
From the discussion in the "Book of Silkworms", we can see that the sericulture technology of the Song Dynasty has a high scientific level. The author believes that it is mainly reflected in the following three aspects.
First, the physiological characteristics of silkworms are scientifically described
Qin Guan discussed the growth and development of silkworms in more detail, giving the age of each age, the age of each sleep, and the length of the sleep period. If he compares the age and sleep period given by him with the modern sericulture method, it can be found that in addition to the infantile silkworm period, there is almost no difference in the length of other ages and sleep periods.
Qin Guan pointed out: "Five days, color blue; six days, white; seven days, silkworms have silkworms, still lying down without injury." "That is to say, under the condition of using human body temperature to promote greening, the silkworm eggs turn blue on the fifth day, turn white again on the sixth day, and hatch on the seventh day."
This shows that during the Northern Song Dynasty, people already had scientific records of the physiological characteristics of silkworms.
Second, the incubation technology of silkworms was scientifically elucidated
In the "Seed Variation" section, Qin Guan describes the incubation technology of silkworms in the bath: "On the day of wax, the silkworm seeds are gathered, the cattle are fertilized, and the bath is in the river. This means that during the Waxing Moon, the silkworm seeds should first be watered with cow urine, then placed in the river to wash them, and then the silkworm seeds should be hung.
Why use cow urine bath seeds? Modern science has confirmed that: first, bovine urine is weakly alkaline, which can dissolve the protein of the outer layer of silkworm eggs, making it easy for young silkworms to hatch; secondly, bovine urine contains minerals such as phosphates, sulfates, and hydrochlorides, which can remove some pathogens from silkworm eggs. Although this method has long been abandoned, the summary of the ancients still has a certain scientific basis.
At the same time, why is the "bath seed" carried out on the "Day of Wax"? In terms of modern biological engineering technology, it is to use the low temperature of winter to select excellent silkworm eggs.
In addition, the significance of the body temperature probing used at that time was very significant. In ancient times, there was no temperature measurement equipment, it was difficult to grasp well, but because the human body was constant temperature of about 37 degrees, the use of human body temperature to promote greening solved this problem.
Third, the feeding method of silkworms is scientifically summarized
When feeding the silkworms, Qin Guan put forward different requirements for the feed of the silkworms at different stages. He said that the mulberry leaves raised by raising silkworms should be chopped, and the 1-inch mulberry leaves should be cut into 20 parts and fed 5 times a day; after entering the second sleep, the 1-inch mulberry leaves should be cut into 10 parts and fed 6 times a day... After entering the full food period, feed 10 times a day.
Modern sericulture science shows that from the third day of the fifth age, silkworms develop rapidly and grow rapidly, at this time, the amount of mulberry and the number of mulberries are required to increase accordingly, and fully ensure that the silkworms can be eaten, in order to achieve stable and high yield of silkworm cocoons.
Qin Guan can arrange different mulberry numbers, mulberry quantities and mulberry cutting standards according to the different ages of silkworms, and give scientific guidance to silkworm farmers, which is very valuable.
He also proposed that "the cloth leaf should not be thrown, and if it is thrown, the silkworm will be frightened, and the second leaf should not be eaten." This means that the first time the silkworms feed the leaves after sleeping, they should gently put the mulberry leaves and not throw them violently, because this will frighten the silkworms. Moreover, only one leaf can be fed when raising silkworms, otherwise it will affect the growth and development of silkworms. At the same time, it is also necessary to remove silkworm sand and leftover leaves in time so as not to breed bacteria and affect the growth of silkworms.
In the article "Making a Residence", Qin Guan pointed out that "houzizhi is a cluster, and the cocoon is cocooned, and it is collected for seven days." This means that the late-ripening silkworms are placed on the upper level of the silkworm rack, the clusters are placed on the lower layer, and the cocoons can be picked after 7 days after the cluster. This is the use of hot air floating on the upper layer, which is conducive to the characteristics of late hot silkworm aging. At the same time, he put forward the scientific thesis that "the silkworm wants to be warm, the cocoon wants to be cool, so the cocoon is paved with a cocoon, the cold is windy, and the moth changes is slower", which means that the temperature during the silkworm breeding period should be higher, and the temperature should be lower when the cocoon is clustered, so it is necessary to use reeds to spread under the cocoon, and open the window to ventilate and ventilate to delay the moth.
Qin Guan also proposed the production standards for cluster tools. He said, "The ruler of variation, and the cocoon of the general, are square and square." Weaving reeds, Fan with cangyi bamboo, seven feet long and five feet wide, thought to be a basket. "When the silkworm is about to form a cocoon, it needs 4 square meters, the cluster should be made of reeds, and the silkworm foil is about 7 feet long and 5 feet wide, and each layer is spaced 9 inches apart.
When Qin Guan's "Book of Silkworms" came out, it did not cause much repercussions, and his mentor Su Dongpo was also unhappy. However, during the Jiading period of the Southern Song Dynasty, his "Silkworm Book" began to become popular, which greatly promoted the development of China's sericulture economy.
According to the Southern Song Dynasty Sun Yong's "Book of Silkworms" for the "Book of Silkworms", there was a Wang Taishou in the history of Gaoyou who paid attention to the people's livelihood, he was very knowledgeable, and after reading the "Book of Silkworms", he was deeply touched. However, the people of Gaoyou believe that the local water and soil are not suitable for planting mulberry, and even in the year of "low grain and expensive", they do not want to change to planting grain for mulberry. Wang Taishou asked people two questions: "You think that Gaoyou can't plant mulberry and raise silkworms, so how did Qin Shaoyou's "Silkworm Book" come about?" Why can't Qin Shaoyou's wife raise silkworms now? This impressed the people of Gaoyou. Therefore, he personally ordered the re-engraving of Qin Guan's "Silkworm Book", so that Gaoyou's sericulture industry once again flourished.
In the history of China's sericulture industry, the Northern Song Dynasty is an important period, before the Northern Song Dynasty, the level of sericulture technology in the north was higher, and the southern part was low. After the Northern Song Dynasty, northern sericulture technology spread to the southern region. Qin Guan's "Book of Silkworms" promoted the technology of sericulture, which greatly improved the sericulture technology in the south, and the sericulture industry gradually gained the upper hand.
In summary, Qin Guan's "Silkworm Book" shows us the level of sericulture technology in China during the Northern Song Dynasty. The hatching technology of silkworms and the feeding methods of silkworms in the book are highly scientific, and they still have certain reference value and have made great contributions to the development of sericulture in China.
Resources: 1. Silkworm Book, Qin Guan 2. Several issues in the study of the history of sericulture in China, Zhou Kuangming 3. Qin Guan's Interpretation of the Book of Silkworms, Jiang Chengzhong 4. On the Book of Silkworms in qinguan, Wei Dong