"In ancient China, the speed of development of science and technology has not surpassed that of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. If the stagnation of science and technology in the Middle Ages in the West was due to the domination of theology, then what hindered the exponential development of science and technology in ancient China, or rather, the slow development of science and technology in ancient China? ”

To answer this question, let's go back to the facts of history."

"From ancient times to the present, the Chinese have always longed for national unity and stability. For the Chinese, 'unification of the world' is a good thing. It facilitates trade and cultural exchanges between regions, which is supposed to be conducive to the development of science and technology. Because a unified country can plan the economy and science and technology on a large scale. The 'unification of the world' eliminates the threat of war, enables the people to live and work in peace and contentment, and provides a peaceful environment for the development of science and technology. But the purpose of 'dominating the world' is to achieve the hegemony of the rulers: to make all the land of the world the land of the king, and let the people of the world all the subjects of the emperor. Thus, the positive side of domination for the development of science and technology was not utilized, while the negative side was brought into play. Like Qin Shi Huang, after he ruled the world, he immediately implemented centralized power [***] and monopolized power. Since then, whether it is in the period of 'unification of the whole world' or the period of 'multi-power confrontation', the centralized [***] system has been followed by all Chinese dynasties. ”

"One of the driving forces for the development of science and technology is the demand for social surnames. 'Unification of the world' eliminates competition between political powers. When there are multiple counterweight regimes in Chinese mainland, each regime must strengthen national defense and develop national strength in order to maintain its survival (or hegemony), which is what scholars often call 'rich countries and strong soldiers'. Therefore, the social need for the survival of the country will greatly stimulate the development of science and technology. ”

"For the sake of enriching the country, rewarding ploughing and warfare was one of the important policies adopted by the vassal states in the competition of national strength during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. For example, Li Kui implemented the 'teaching of making the best use of the land' in the Wei State to give full play to the potential of the land, increase the output per unit area, and make the Wei State strong for a time; the Qi State rewarded the insightful people of agriculture, animal husbandry, and medicine with a lot of money, and for a time dominated the princes; The Qin State used the Shang Dynasty to change the law, attached importance to agricultural warfare, and made the Qin State from weak to strong. Competition has led to a great development of agriculture and laid the foundation for the ancient Chinese tradition of intensive agricultural cultivation. The development of agriculture required an accurate understanding of the time of day, so it promoted the development of astronomy and calendar. The need for agricultural surveying, astronomy, and calendars drove advances in mathematics. Therefore, the competition of national strength has directly led to the tremendous development of agriculture, astronomy, and arithmetic among the four major disciplines in ancient China. ”

"In order to strengthen the army, the production of weapons was an issue that the vassal states attached great importance to during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The need for weapons manufacturing has led to the rapid development of metallurgy and manufacturing. At that time, bronze tools were quickly replaced by iron tools, and China's history entered the Iron Age from the Bronze Age. Heat treatment technology is also widely adopted. ”

It is this kind of competition between countries that has given a great impetus to science and technology, making the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period a spring for the development of science and technology in ancient China. The high speed of scientific and technological development in the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Song, Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties was also related to the competition between countries. The impact of this competition between countries on the development of science and technology is even more evident today. For example, in order to cope with the threat from the capital, China made a leap forward in science and technology after 1916; China's participation in the war in Europe and the subsequent arms race with China cleared the way for China to comprehensively introduce advanced science and technology from the United States, because building a strong army requires advanced weapons, and the production of weapons is inseparable from powerful industrial forces. Similarly, this competition has stimulated the development of science and technology in various fields in China, and has enabled China to leap into a new era of scientific and technological history. ”

Listening to the explanation of the bearded professor on the stage, Liu Desheng realized how much misunderstanding he had about the history of his motherland.

Liu Desheng took advantage of the professor's drinking water, looked around, and found that most of the students were taking notes seriously, but there were also a very small number of male and female students sitting together and whispering and whispering, and they were not there to listen to the lecture.

Liu Desheng peeked at Yang Jinhui sitting beside him, and saw that she was seriously recording the main points of the handouts in her notebook, without noticing that she was looking at her. Looking at her concentrated and focused on studying, Liu Desheng felt that she had become more cute.

At this time, Liu Desheng had completely forgotten Tao Shiyong, who had brought him extreme joy, and Jiang Guizhen, who was heroic.

"Here, I would also like to talk about the influence of Confucianism on the development of science and technology in China." After a slight pause, Professor Peng continued to lecture, easily drawing his attention away from the beautiful woman around him.

"The centralization of the 'unification of the whole world' [***] led to the adoption of the policy of 'deposing the hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism' in Han Dynasty China, and the implementation of this policy directly hindered the development of science and technology in ancient China."

"Confucianism, as one of the hundred schools of thought in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, did not receive much attention from the vassal states at that time. Like Confucius and his disciples who traveled around the world to propagate Confucianism, but ran into many obstacles, I don't think even Confucius himself would have imagined that the Confucianism he founded would have such a huge impact on the China behind him. ”

"In the early years of the Han Dynasty, in order to consolidate imperial power, the founding emperor Liu Bang divided a large number of kings with the same surname. These kings with the same surname posed a great threat to the centralization. The practice of centralization carried out by subsequent emperors showed that Chinese society needed a set of ethical and moral philosophies to maintain centralized rule. Confucianism, on the other hand, uses a series of ethical and moral norms such as 'the monarch as the minister, the husband as the wife, and the father as the son', and takes the society as the basic unit as the base point, building a centralized pyramid social structure, which has become a powerful ideological weapon for the monarch to control the centralized state. For this reason, when Dong Zhongshu put forward the suggestion of 'deposing the hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone', it was readily adopted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and regarded it as an important national policy, and Confucianism was in a position of exclusive respect from then on. Although this policy consolidated the rule of the Han Empire, it severely hindered the development of science and technology in China. ”

"The 'deposition of the Hundred Schools of Thought' made the doctrines of the Hundred Schools of Thought other than Confucianism banned, thus ending the innovation and prosperity of new scholarship and new ideas. Since then, not only have new scientific and technological theories been difficult to appear, but even existing schools of thought have gradually declined until they disappear. For example, the Mohists are one of them. During the Warring States Period, the Mohists, as a school of small producers in the handicraft industry, wrote a glorious page in the history of Chinese science and technology. This school of thought paid attention to experimental methods, was good at abstracting new concepts from concrete things, and opened up a direction that was very favorable to the development of abstract science, and the Mohists made outstanding achievements in optics, mechanics and mathematics. However, it was in the Han Dynasty that the Mohists gradually declined, and after the Han Dynasty, they ceased to exist. Another example is the loss of scientific writings and expertise. After the Han Dynasty, every natural disaster [***] was often accompanied by the loss of scientific works and technology, but Confucian literature was rarely lost because of this. This is obviously related to the fact that the hundred schools of thought, except for Confucianism, are not valued by society. ”

"Confucianism attaches great importance to the relationship between people and society and between people, and despises science and technology and manual labor, which is conducive to social stability under [***] rule, but is not conducive to the development of science and technology." 'Confucianism' attracted the research interest of the social intellectual class to the study and research of Confucianism. Confucian ethics became the standard of social ethics and morality. Confucianism's theory of 'those who work hard govern people, and those who work hard govern people' makes the mental labor and physical labor that should complement each other in society out of touch, that is, theory and practice are out of touch, so it is difficult for the practical link to go beyond the scope of experience accumulation due to the lack of theoretical guidance, and theoretical exploration has become a tree without roots because of the lack of practical testing, so it is extremely unfavorable to the development of science and technology. ”

Confucianism valued righteousness over profit, agriculture over commerce, and despised industry and commerce, which made industry and commerce extremely low in society at that time. The intelligentsia did not despise the involvement of industry and commerce, and the state suppressed and even plundered commerce and handicrafts, which greatly reduced the stimulating effect of industry and commerce on science and technology. ”

"Under the rule of [***], the practice of 'deposing the hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism' is more harmful. People's minds are imprisoned in Confucianism. Theories consistent with Confucianism can be studied and developed, while views that are inconsistent with Confucianism are denied and killed as unorthodox fallacies, and even researchers are worried about their lives. As a result, academic thinking in society tends to be singular and rigid. ”

"In the centralized [***] society after the Han Dynasty, the development of science and technology tended to be slower than in the Qin and Han dynasties. This is directly related to the establishment of the orthodox status of Confucianism. In the period when the centralization was weakened and the heroes were rising, the heroes who competed for the world did not abide by Confucian ethics to speak of 'gentleness, kindness, courtesy, thrift, and tolerance'. As a result, the shackles of Confucian orthodoxy were broken, other ideas began to contend, and a new dynamic situation emerged in the academic circles, which lifted the ideological shackles for the development of science and technology. ”

"Here, I would also like to talk about the impact of the imperial examination system on the development of science and technology in China's centralized [***] society."

"In China, the imperial examination as a way for intellectuals to enter the official career, aroused the enthusiasm of many scholars. However, in a centralized society where Confucianism is the orthodox ideology, the imperial examination is dominated by Confucian classics, and scholars serve to maintain centralized rule. As a result, countless valuable talents have been misled and spent; Countless intellectuals were made into Confucian scholars, so that the centralization of power [***] could continue to develop. ”

"China's emperors realized early on that Confucianism alone as an ideological weapon of centralization[***] was not enough to consolidate centralized [***] rule. Society must also provide the elites with access to official careers and weave them into a centralized state apparatus. Otherwise, the social elites will have a huge destructive effect on the destruction of centralized power. Like the famous Three Kingdoms period, idle intellectuals such as Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, and Pang Tong performed an earth-shattering scene, showing their great power. I don't know if there is a direct causal relationship, but in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the imperial examination system appeared in China. ”

"The imperial examination system is obviously more just than the gatekeeper origin, and it provides a way for the common people to enter the official career. There is nothing wrong with the scientific system itself, the real question is what subjects are mainly assessed in the imperial examination. In the centralized [***] domination of the world, the hundred schools of thought were deposed, and Confucianism was exalted to help maintain the centralized power[***]. Confucian classics are the key study content of candidates; Confucian ethics is the criterion by which the examiner judges the merits and the inferior. 'Learning and excelling' and the lucrative income after entering the career form a strong temptation for intellectuals. For this reason, after the implementation of the imperial examination system, the vast majority of intellectuals in the country were attracted to the single-plank bridge of the imperial examination. The imperial examination system became a powerful means of instilling Confucian teachings in intellectuals and popularizing Confucian ethics throughout the country. Therefore, the implementation of the imperial examination system was more effective than the administrative order of 'deposing the hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism', so that Confucianism, which was conducive to consolidating centralized power, continued to develop and grow, and is still in effect today; Centralization [***] also became the main form of government in China during the period of 'unification of the whole world'. China's science and technology have also further entered a social environment that is difficult to develop. ”

After the implementation of such an imperial examination system, Chinese intellectuals were eventually busy memorizing ancient books in an attempt to make a career as officials. If you don't achieve your goal, you won't give up. And once the dream of the title of the gold list comes true, the red tape of officialdom and the open and secret battles occupy the main part of their time and energy, making it difficult for them to have the energy and leisure to think about science and technology. However, it is impossible for science and technology to develop rapidly without intellectuals to sum up and study, and technology cannot progress without intellectuals to innovate and refine. As a result, the imperial examination system has drained the intellectuals, the dry firewood needed for the development of science and technology, making it difficult for the flame of science and technology to burn. The development of science and technology in China has been dealt another blow. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial examination further imprisoned the minds of intellectuals and created a large number of ideologically rigid bureaucrats, which further aggravated the decline of China's science and technology. ”

"If we examine the path of the famous scientists of the Ming Dynasty, we can see the harm of the imperial examination system to science and technology. For example, Xu Guangqi did not begin scientific research until he was 40 years old, and became a master of agriculture, mathematics and heaven; Song Yingxing is a Zhongju person, and after the age of 47, he began to write "Heavenly Creations". Their youth was spent on the imperial examinations. As a result, it is difficult for them to achieve the achievements of European scientists of their time. Li Shizhen failed to pass the three township examinations after being admitted to Xiucai at the age of 14, so he gave up the imperial examination and devoted himself to studying medicine, so he made great achievements in medicine. If we are to be mean, it is fortunate that Li Shizhen gave up studying economics and medicine in his early years, and if he really has the title of the gold list, the champion and the first, it will be difficult for China to have the great medical work "Compendium of Materia Medica". There are also people like Xu Xiake, who abandoned the path of the imperial examination in his early years, and with the encouragement of his mother, he aspired to travel all over the famous mountains and rivers and become a famous geographer. The above examples all show the phenomenon that only Chinese intellectuals who have left or completed the path of the imperial examination are likely to achieve something on the road of science and technology. It can be said that the imperial examination system, which uses Confucianism as the main criterion for selecting and employing people, misleads and consumes a large number of talents in China who are useful for the development of science and technology. ”

"Because the development of science and technology in the Ming Dynasty was not only harmed by the social environment of 'dominating the world' and hindered by the orthodoxy of Confucianism, but also because of the lack of intellectuals engaged in scientific and technological research due to the imperial examination system, the development of science and technology in this period was slower than that of the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty. The disadvantages of the imperial examination system for the development of science and technology come from the centralized [***] political system and the policy of 'deposing the hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism' in order to maintain this system. ”

"The main reason why China's science and technology developed slowly in some historical periods, to the point that it completely lagged behind the West during the Qing Dynasty, was the premature establishment of a centralized[***] 'unified world' in a closed area. It removes the strong stimulus to the development of science and technology that arises in order to maintain the survival of the state (or to seek hegemony); It led to the implementation of a national policy of 'deposing the hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone'. In the era of centralization and Confucianism, the imperial examination system attracted the research interest of the social intelligentsia to the study of Confucian classics, language and writing. Because ancient Chinese science and technology lacked the stimulus of competition between countries and the investment of the social intellectual class in the development of science and technology, China's science and technology developed slowly for a long time in a certain period of time, and was eventually completely surpassed by the West. ”

"But now it is gratifying that we have seen that although China is still a unified centralized state, the power of reading talents has been greatly weakened, and the national policy of 'deposing a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone' has also been abandoned, and China has ushered in an era of freedom of thought and prosperity that is rare in history. China is the first republic in Asia and has become a major power in the world, but China's national security is still facing external competition and threats, but this has become an important factor in stimulating the development of science and technology in China. Now that the factors that have constrained China's scientific and technological development in the past have disappeared and China is ushering in unprecedented development opportunities, I hope that the students here today can benefit from my lecture and contribute to the development of China's science and technology, not only science and technology, but also other fields, and build a happy and beautiful China. ”

Professor Peng ended his speech, and the students gave warm applause to Professor Peng's words of encouragement at the end. Especially Liu Desheng, he couldn't help but stand up, and his palms were red from the force. At this time, his heart was surging, tears welled up in his eyes, and he was completely immersed in the excitement brought by Professor Peng's lecture notes, and he didn't even notice that the beautiful women around him were looking at him with some strange and funny eyes.

(To be continued)