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Song Yingxing (
Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...
: 宋應星;
Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions ...
: 宋应星;
Wade Giles Wade, WADE, or Wades may refer to: Places in the United States * Wade, California, a former settlement * Wade, Maine, a town * Wade, Mississippi, a census-designated place * Wade, North Carolina, a town * Wade, Ohio, an unincorporated communi ...
: Sung Ying-Hsing; 1587-1666 AD) was a Chinese scientist and encyclopedist who lived during the late
Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
(1368–1644). He was the author of ''
Tiangong Kaiwu The ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' (), or ''The Exploitation of the Works of Nature'' was a Chinese encyclopedia compiled by Song Yingxing. It was published in May 1637 with funding provided by Song's patron Tu Shaokui.Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 36.Song, ...
'', an
encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
that covered a wide variety of technical subjects, including the use of
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). T ...
weapons.Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 36. The British biochemist,
sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...
, and historian
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, i ...
called Song Yingxing "The
Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...
of China."Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 102.


Biography

Song Yingxing was born in Yichun of
Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...
in 1587 to a gentry family of reduced circumstances, he participated in the
imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
s, and passed the provincial test in 1615, at the age of 28. He achieved only modest wealth and influence during his life. However, he was repeatedly unsuccessful in the metropolitan examination. Song sat for the test five times, the last being in 1631 at the age of 44. After this last failure, he held a series of minor positions in provincial government. The works for which Song is known today all date from 1636 to 1637. The repeated trips to the capital to participate in the metropolitan examination likely provided him with the broad base of knowledge demonstrated in the works. Song retired from public life in 1644, after the fall of the Ming dynasty. Song's life and work coincided with the end of the Ming dynasty. While the empire was ultimately toppled by a series of succession crises, many historians noted that the collapse followed a period characterized by “indulgence and the lust for luxury goods”. Song’s family life in many ways mirrored the imperial decay. Nonetheless, the late Ming dynasty was still culturally vibrant and there was great demand for specialized craft goods. Also the state placed heavy regulations and taxes on the various craft industries Song profiled in his encyclopedia. His life also coincided with a period of rising literacy and education, despite increased economic strain. For many scholars, a life of simplicity and frugality was considered an ideal. Further, the study of subjects like agriculture and handicrafts was considered a worthy pursuit, since it was expected that the social elite should respect their obligation to care for the common folk Song’s repeated examinations were common for the time, as the required exams were incredibly competitive, despite their formulaic nature. It was common for would-be civil servants to attempt the exams even into their 40s. His treks to and from the capital for these exams not only allowed him to interact will all manner of laborers and craftsmen, but also exposed him to the realities of the declining empire. Marauding bands and encroaching tribes people threatened China in the north, while peasant revolts and invasions plagued the south. Even in Beijing, the twisting and turning machinations of those vying for power often spilled over into the scholarly realm, sometimes subjecting them to expulsion.


Written works


Encyclopedias

Although Song Yingxing's encyclopedia was a significant publication for his age, there had been a long tradition in the history of Chinese literature in creating large encyclopedic works. For example, the '' Four Great Books of Song'' compiled much earlier in the 10th and 11th centuries (and all four combined, were much more extensive in size than his work). Just a few decades before Yingxing's work, there was also the Ming Dynasty encyclopedia of the ''
Sancai Tuhui ''Sancai Tuhui'' (, ), compiled by Wang Qi () and his son Wang Siyi (), is a Chinese ''leishu'' encyclopedia, completed in 1607 and published in 1609 during the late Ming dynasty, featuring illustrations of subjects in the three worlds of heaven ...
'', written in 1607 and published in 1609. Song Yingxing's famous work was the ''
Tiangong Kaiwu The ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' (), or ''The Exploitation of the Works of Nature'' was a Chinese encyclopedia compiled by Song Yingxing. It was published in May 1637 with funding provided by Song's patron Tu Shaokui.Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 36.Song, ...
'', or ''The Exploitation of the Works of Nature'', published in May 1637 with funding provided by Song's patron Tu Shaokui.Song, xiv. The ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' is an encyclopedia covering a wide range of technical issues, including the use of various gunpowder weapons. Copies of the book were very scarce in China during the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
(1644–1911) (due to the government's establishment of monopolies over certain industries described in the book), but original copies of the book were preserved in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
. As the British biochemist and historian Joseph Needham points out, the vast amount of accurately drawn illustrations in this encyclopedia dwarfed the amount provided in previous Chinese encyclopedias, making it a valuable written work in the history of Chinese literature.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 172. At the same time, the Tiangong Kaiwu broke from Chinese tradition by rarely referencing previous written work. It is instead written in a style strongly suggestive of first-hand experience. In the preface to the work, Song attributed this deviation from tradition to his poverty and low standing.


Cosmology

Song also published two scientific tractates that outline his cosmological views. In these, he discusses the concepts of '' qi'' and ''xing'' (). Qi has been described in many different ways by Chinese philosophers. To Song, it is a type of all-permeating vapor from which solid objects (''xing'') are formed. These solid objects eventually return to the state of ''qi'', which itself eventually returns to the great void. Some objects, such as the sun and the moon, remain in ''qi'' form indefinitely, while objects like stones are eternally ''xing''. Some objects, like water and fire, are intermediary between the two forms.


See also

* List of Chinese people * History of science and technology in China * '' Huolongjing'' * History of gunpowder * Gunpowder warfare *
History of agriculture Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa. At least eleven separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin. The development of agriculture a ...
* History of ferrous metallurgy * Wang Zhen (official)


References


Citations


Bibliography

* Brook, Timothy. (1998). '' The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China''. Berkeley: University of California Press. * Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering''. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. * Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics''. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. * Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic''. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. * Song, Yingxing, translated with preface by E-Tu Zen Sun and Shiou-Chuan Sun (1966). ''T'ien-Kung K'ai-Wu: Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century''. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. *


External links


Song Yingxing at China-corner.com

Song Yingxing at Jongo Knows

Tiangong Kaiwu Picture Gallery at ECHO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Yingxing 1587 births 1666 deaths Chinese technology writers Chinese encyclopedists Ming dynasty essayists Ming dynasty science writers People from Yichun, Jiangxi Scientists from Jiangxi Writers from Jiangxi