What role did academic missionaries play in the development of science and technology at that time?

China's "Four Great Inventions" have obviously promoted the development of human science and technology and social progress, which is also an important reason why China's ancient science and technology can occupy the leading position in the world for a long time. For this historical phenomenon, Mr Joseph Needham, a famous British expert in the history of modern science and technology, once gave such a pertinent explanation: "No ancient country in the world has done more in science and technology than China".

Collision between science and "theology": Looking at the history of missionaries coming to China, it is not difficult to find that the development of traditional science and technology in China seems to have reached a certain limit after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and there is almost no substantive progress in the next 100 years, and even the slow development of unilateral increase has become an extravagant hope. At the same time, in the west, the fireworks of the "Renaissance" are sweeping across the whole European countries, which is likely to start a prairie fire. At the same time, thanks to the gradual formation of modern natural science system represented by Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and others, the scientific and technological level of some western countries has been improved by leaps and bounds in a short time. By the end of Ming and early Qing Dynasty, China had been left behind by them.

Nevertheless, China's splendid ancient culture, long history, rich natural resources and exquisite handicrafts still strongly attract explorers and businessmen far away from home. /KLOC-At the end of 0/5, the opening of the new Asia-Europe air route provided a bridge for these careerists to come to China. Of course, these "careerists" are also mixed with individual devout missionaries who shoulder the mission of persuasion.

Due to the implementation of the sea ban policy at the end of Ming Dynasty, these missionaries before Matteo Ricci came to China failed to enter the mainland of China smoothly, and had to stay in Portuguese-occupied Macao. This situation was completely broken by Matteo Ricci's coming to China in the tenth year of Wanli (A.D. 1582).

Matteo Ricci, as a western missionary, knew very well that if he wanted to carry out missionary work in China at that time, he had to get the approval of the upper rulers. Finally, Matteo Ricci, after a long period of observation and exploration, combined with the political situation of the Qing Dynasty at that time, summed up a set of effective missionary strategies, namely "academic missionary". The so-called "academic missionary" was also explained in detail in the last article: Talking about the strategies of western missionaries in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Here, I briefly state that the advanced scientific knowledge of the West at that time was used as an "introduction" to gain the trust of the ruling class and the literati class in the Qing Dynasty, and then preach on this basis.

As mentioned above, China's science and technology has been in a state of stagnation since the middle of the Ming Dynasty for various reasons. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, western missionaries, led by Matteo Ricci and others, brought the idea of "cross" to China, and at the same time introduced western science and technology first. Therefore, the field of science and technology in China in this period was forced to immerse itself in the stimulation of modern western natural science system, and a collision between science and theology was about to begin.

Academic Missionary: There is no denying that the intelligentsia in Qing Dynasty was a flash in the pan. The success of the strategy of "academic missionary" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties largely depended on China's urgent demand for some western scientific and technological fields at that time, such as firearms manufacturing, astronomy and other fields closely related to the feudal ruling mechanism.

First, take "gun manufacturing" as an example. /kloc-before the 0/7th century, the main equipment in the Ming army was the Fran machine gun, which could be used with cold weapons in the early days. However, because the Qing army took the lead in attacking the situation in Liaodong, the Fran machine gun of the Ming army became inadequate, and the Hony Gun imported from Portugal by Yuan Chonghuan made outstanding achievements in Liaodong battlefield (it was rumored that Nurhachi had been shot and injured). Therefore, in a sense, the Ming ruling class in this period urgently needed the knowledge of "firearms manufacturing" brought by western missionaries. Here is a quote from Xu Guangqi, assistant minister of does at that time (A.D. 1622):

Liaoyang is broken, wake it up. Back to the DPRK, I advise you to throw more western guns to defend the city, and the emperor is kind.

Similarly, after the history entered the Qing Dynasty, the early wars (such as suppressing the "San Francisco Rebellion", suppressing the peasant army, Nanming and other anti-Qing forces) also triggered the rulers' desire for knowledge about "firearms manufacturing". In the early years of Kangxi, with the help of the missionary Ferdinand ferdinand verbiest, the "Red Gun" was successfully developed. Since then, Ferdinand ferdinand verbiest has successfully copied 320 Europa-style Shenwei guns with high hit rate and convenient carrying, which has made great contributions to quelling internal rebellion and resisting Russian invasion.

Furthermore, taking astronomy as an example, due to the disrepair of "Dali", its calendar has repeatedly made mistakes since the formation of the Ming Dynasty, and the calendar has always been a bridge between "providence" and "personnel" as the supreme ruler, which often makes the country's calendar mistakes known as the rise and fall of national luck. Therefore, replacing a more scientific and accurate calendar has become an important safeguard measure to maintain the feudal ruling order. There are several clear records in the historical materials of astronomical activities in the Ming Dynasty:

In the first month of the first year of Jingtai, Xin Mao and Mao Zheng had three eclipses. The first moment when the supervisor mistakenly introduced the old, the ambulance was lost; In November of the fifteenth year of Chenghua, there was an eclipse, and the supervision was wrong; In Hongzhi, eclipses occur repeatedly and also occur; In March of the 19th year of Jiajing, Taiwan officials said they would eat it every day, but they didn't.

Such records can be said to be everywhere in the historical materials of the Ming Dynasty, but unfortunately, China's achievements in the field of astronomy in this period only stayed in the traditional stage of "observing images, timing and divination", and there was no astronomical calendar with a substantial theoretical basis. In this case, the western calendar just solved the serious shortage of accuracy and science of this calendar.

Of course, the above-mentioned "firearms manufacturing" and astronomy are only a microcosm of the backward scientific and technological level in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. It is no exaggeration to say that China's science and technology in this period had certain advantages in ceramics, textiles and architecture, and there was almost nothing else that could be obtained. Missionaries, as the main media of "Western learning spreading to the east" in the17th century, brought advanced western science and technology and injected rare fresh vitality into the intellectual community in China at that time. Unfortunately, this vitality only makes the intellectual community "a flash in the pan."

The historical regret of "western learning spreading to the east": at that time, people did not accept western science ideologically. As mentioned earlier in this paper, although "Western learning spread to the east" injected fresh vitality into the scientific and technological field of China at that time to a certain extent, it was a pity that it did not seem to further develop. So, what is the reason for this phenomenon?

In fact, if we look at this wave of "western learning spreading to the east" in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties from the perspective of each need, the answer is obvious. First of all, we should understand that the ultimate goal of missionaries is not to introduce advanced western science and technology into China, but to successfully complete the mission of missionary work in China entrusted by the Pope. Therefore, the "learning" in this period only served as a tool for missionaries to pry open the door of the Qing Dynasty (to gain the trust of the rulers). On the other hand, the rulers in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties were in a state of strong demand for western science and technology, and the arrival of missionaries in China just eased this demand. Therefore, after both sides have achieved their respective goals, no one thinks it is necessary to popularize and further study this advanced technology. Even the rulers once regarded it as a "strange skill and cunning" that undermined the feudal ruling order.

In addition, in my opinion, China people at that time did not really accept and absorb Western learning fundamentally. At that time, the so-called "Western learning spread to the east" was still confined to the exclusive circle of the upper ruling class, the scholar-bureaucrat class and the missionaries, and most of these upper-class people, who had been influenced by traditional Confucian culture for thousands of years, were still immersed in the "Heavenly Teacher's Way" and only regarded it as a supplement to China's traditional knowledge in the face of the impact of Western learning. More importantly, in order to maintain the original feudal ruling order, rulers often deliberately suppressed the development of western learning among the people. Even after realizing the advantages of western learning, they still threw out the view that "western learning originated from China's traditional scholarship" to the whole intellectual community, making "western learning originated from China" become the academic view set by the emperor, which also made a wrong blueprint for China's academic development.

Conclusion: At the end of the article, let me quote a sentence by arnold joseph toynbee, a famous British historian in the 20th century, which can be said to be the most appropriate way to sum up the "Western learning spreading to the East" at that time.