See below.
Recently, I read a record of reading Needham's literature for 50 years on the Internet, and mentioned the publication of China's History of Science and Technology by British scientist Needham, which made people find that "China, which was judged by Einstein as lacking two major elements of science, and China, which even Feng Youlan argued as a barren land of science, were originally rich and dazzling scientific powers before modern times."
This view has a long history in our country, which sounds very comfortable and spreads widely. But in ancient China, there was no science at all, and science did not exist yet. How can there be a scientific power?
I said this, which is really disappointing. As soon as I said it, someone objected. Isn't four great inventions of ancient china great? You can also cite Zhang Heng's seismograph and the salt well of artesian well. Kongming lantern is the arrow of space flight, firecrackers are the origin of rockets, and so on. These things were unparalleled in the world at that time, so Kongming Lantern was really exhibited in the Air and Space Museum in DC. But unfortunately, they can only be called technology, not science. Technology and science are related, but they are not the same. Strictly speaking, those technologies in ancient China were not based on science, and they were also different from those in the modern sense. So some people call the civilization established at that time the craftsman civilization, which is the beginning of the difference.
The following example, I think, is enough to illustrate.
A team led by Mr. Zhu, an expert in metallurgical history, studied the ancient buildings in China by using modern testing methods. He told me that 1974 buried the three swords unearthed in the pit of Qin Shihuang, buried directly in the ground about five or six meters deep, and the water on the ground could penetrate and contact, but after more than two thousand years, they were still as bright as new and very sharp when unearthed, and a woman's braid could be broken with a wave of her hand! Later, at a meeting, Comrade Fang Yi also talked about this Qin Shihuang-era sword. He tried it when he visited, and it was really sharp. These Jian Qin are made of copper, tin and a little lead, not steel swords.
Zhu et al. repeatedly checked with testing instruments and made some simulation tests. Finally, they found that the secret of stainless steel sword is that there is a layer of chromium with a thickness of only ten microns on the surface. They also found that in these swords, the tin content in the body is higher than that in the blade, so the blade is sharp and tough as a whole. How is this sword made? The result of the study is that the "compound sword" is to cast the core rod in the middle first, and then cast the blades on both sides. You know, it was more than 2,000 years ago, and whether it is a craftsman's skill or not, this technology is also remarkable.
The material composition of the sword is clear, and the manufacturing method is also known. Why not build some swords? Some people tried, but none of them succeeded. Because these strange swords in ancient times were made by crossing the river by feeling the stones with personal accumulated experience. I don't know what the physical and chemical function of the sword is in the refining process, and there is no standardized technological process to make this one, so the next one may not be copied, so there is a legend that the famous sword casting master and his wife Mo Xie worked hard for three years without success, and finally cut their hair and nails and put them in the smelting furnace until Mo Xie jumped into the furnace himself. Moreover, this sword has aura, which has become a sacred object to deter evil and left many records. It can be seen that although high technology is high, it has nothing to do with science, and there are many supernatural mysteries. Instead of rising to science, you can only learn by doing. The master took his disciples and handed them down from generation to generation. I don't know which generation, but this experience will end with the master in the coffin.
Another example is Zhang Heng's seismograph, which really deserves our pride. The west has undoubtedly expressed its respect for Zhang Heng, but how much science is there? The relevant records in the history books are only a few lines. Some experts want to copy one. After years of research, they can't report an earthquake. Even if the information left is very detailed and it is really useful to copy it, it only provides a tool to understand the earthquake. No one took over after Zhang Heng. In China society, the understanding of earthquakes is still a set of induction between man and nature. In Sichuan, there is a story. During the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, one day a large piece suddenly fell from the lobby of Baoning House, and a monument emerged from the ground, engraved with the words "Niuming earthquake". It is said that Zhuge Liang left a prophecy. Everyone knows that Niu Jiao will shake when it gets up, so cattle are forbidden to enter the city and allowed to enter the countryside. Don't call it. But later, a county magistrate named Niu and a county magistrate named Ming arrived at the same time. It was on this day that people suddenly realized that Niu Ming was here. It is so absurd, but it is solemnly recorded in the book "Send a snail, a ghosting image"; Many people believe this statement, so Hong Xiuquan also took the earthquake as a sign of establishing a "new celestial dynasty". After the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, he still quoted the propaganda tools at that time.
Moreover, this compass was invented by China people, but it is not as useful as Feng Shui when used in serious matters. Finally, compasses used for navigation or topographic and geological surveys have to be bought in the west. The traditional compass in China is round, and some mysterious things like heavenly stems and earthly branches are added around the magnetic needle, which is useless for geological work. But now it is said that it is more valuable than geological compass, because many people believe in geomantic omen, including the leaders of some units, and their income is better than that of dry geology. Mr. Sai is so down and out, can you not be sad!
The propaganda that the lowly is the cleverest and the noble is the stupidest appeared in a period. In fact, it did not understand the value of science and stayed in the narcissism of craftsman civilization. In many movies, films and literary works at that time, scientists were the most stupid, not only useless, but also in the way.
Superb technology does not mean the existence of science. There is nothing more to say. However, some people will say that, like Zhu's understanding of fossils, Shen Kuo's observation of Hebei Plain was formed by the sediment brought by rivers, and Xu Xiake's observation of karst landforms was unscientific. More than ten years ago, I encountered such a problem.
These ancient people have excellent understanding, but a few words are equivalent to the establishment of this science? Obviously not. There is a voluminous Compendium of Materia Medica in Li Shizhen, which contains many available materials, but we can't ignore the fact that eating the fox's five internal organs and intestines raw can cure the fox's charm, and if it is used to make soup, it can cure adults and ghosts. If we are proud of the scientific sparks in the thoughts of ancient sages such as Zhang Heng, Zhu Xi, Shen Kuo and Xu Xiake, why these sparks didn't burn in China and didn't establish the discipline of natural science in China, it is even more worthy of our deep thinking.
We have a famous Confucian scholar Liao Jiping in Sichuan (1853- 1932). In his Questions and Answers on Geosciences (19 15), please note that this is not geography in the scientific sense, but the traditional "geoscience" in China, Zhu Kezhen, Weng Wenhao, Ding Wenjiang and Li Siguang. But now some people really want to return to their ancestors. There is a saying that "Mount Tai crosses the sea from the bottom of the sea, and when it comes from the leap beauty, the beauty lies in the west of Kunlun, which belongs to Shao Hao, diving from the west to the east, and the middle-earth river is sandwiched between it, and the integration of East and West is the most sacred." It shows that Confucius, who was born in Qufu, a "Shao Hao market", became a saint and achieved a wonderful life: China's geomantic omen combined with modern geology.
However, if you have a little knowledge of geology, you will know that this is nonsense, but this old gentleman is serious, and he knows it according to Long Mai in Feng Shui.
Moreover, there are still some advanced cultures that have been ignored by human beings. Differentiating by region, it is emphasized that the future is backward for western culture, and eastern culture will take its place. So I don't know what kind of treasures and treasures have been dug up from the bottom of the box, all under the banner of promoting national culture, and I don't forget to put on a scientific robe, and you will appear when you sing; Machamp, who was also refuted by Confucius, became a super science or an alternative science and got a considerable number of mental prisoners. His heart is unfathomable, not as sincere as Mr. Liao's bookworm. On the other hand, the negative effects brought by science are being exaggerated, and the voices against scientism are barking, which has become a wonder of China at the turn of the century. This phenomenon just proves that there was no science in ancient China. Indeed, if we look at his present, we can understand his past.
I think Einstein was right in his letter to Stweetzer in 1953: "The development of western science is based on two great achievements, namely, the Greek philosopher invented the formal logic system (in Euclidean geometry) and it became possible to find out the causal relationship through systematic experiments (in the Renaissance). In my opinion, it's not surprising that Tessa of China didn't take these two steps. Surprisingly, all these findings (in China) are there. "