Fang Yizhi (Chinese: 方以智, as a politician: Mi Zhi, Man Gong, Lu Qi, Long Mian Yuzhe, as a monk: Dazhi, Wu Wu, Hongzhi, Yao Monk Di, 1611 – November 9, 1671) is a Chinese politician,

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

monk and author of scientific textbooks in the late Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Early life, family and education

Yizhi was born in Tongcheng County, Zhili Province (now Tongcheng City, Anhui Province). His grandfather, Fang Dazhen, once served as the Shaoqing of Dali Temple in the Wanli Dynasty. He contributed to the " Book of Changes" and " Book of Rites" and wrote other notable literary works. His father, Fang Kongzhen, was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Wanli reign (1616), an official in Chongzhen court and governor of Huguang. Fang Yizhi was noted for being gifted with exceptional wisdom at a young age. He knew

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

at the age of six and was well-read. In his early years, he traveled with his father as an official to Jiading,

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

, Funing,

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

, Zhili, Yanjing and other places. He saw famous mountains and rivers, interacted with Western missionaries Bi Fangji and Tang Ruowang, and read Western books. Together with Maoxiang, Hou Fangyu and Chen Zhenhui, they are collectively known as the four young masters of the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

Politician career

In the seventh year of Chongzhen (1634), there was a civil uprising in Tongcheng. Fang Kongzhen stayed behind, while Fang Yizhi fled to

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

with his family. In the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), he was elected to the Jimaoke Yingtian Township Examination. In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640), he was awarded the Jinshi title of Lianjie and was awarded the Imperial Academy for review. After Li Zicheng entered

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, he was severely tortured. Soon after Li Zicheng defeated Shanhaiguan, Fang Yizhi took advantage of the chaos and fled to the south.

Monk career and later life

In the Yongli Dynasty of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he was dismissed from his post due to the case of forged writings except for being an official at the Jingyan Festival. Participated in the anti-Qing activities on his own. After the defeat, he became a monk and changed his name. He was known as the "Medicine Monk". Because of the " Guangdong Case", he was escorted north by the Qing government to Nanchang Provincial Prison, and then to

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

to undergo the court hearings in his trial. On October 7, he went to the panic beach in Wan'an, Jiangxi Province. Remembering the deeds of Wen Tianxiang in the late

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

, he drowned himself in the river.

Legacy

It is said that when he fought against the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

with his wisdom, he promoted the development of the secret society Tiandihui at the bottom of society.

Education and indoctrination

Most of Fang Yizhi's works are sad and touching, such as: "My companions all broke up, and I went into the forest alone in hemp shoes. I changed my surname three times a year, and my heart was crossed. I am used to hearing about conflicts and letters, and I am worried because of the deep wind and rain. Life and death are easy things, The pain is a close friend." ("Going Alone"). Fang Yizhi has made outstanding achievements in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

. He is the author of " Tongya", " Little Knowledge of Physics", " Medicine Di Paozhuang", " Dongxi Jun", " Zen Yuefu", " Four Rhymes Dingben", " Medicine Complete" and so on. Among them, "Tongya" and "Little Knowledge of Physics" are encyclopedic monographs, and the scholar is known as the "unparalleled encyclopedia school in the seventeenth century". The earliest known paintings are "Four Wonderful Pictures" painted in 1635, as well as "Picture of Cutting the Red Dust", "Picture of Stubborn Stone", "Picture of Riding a Donkey", etc. Fang Yizhi had a profound family background. While studying Chinese academics, he also learned science and technology from Westerners. He accepted modern Western scientific knowledge but did not follow it blindly. He often verified it through experiments and corrected the mistakes in Western understanding. Fang Yizhi advocated the study of general mathematics and quality testing, and made many achievements in science. In terms of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, Fang Yizhi had many original ideas. Starting from the natural view of Qi monism, he proposed a simple light wave theory, saying: "Qi condenses into shape and emits light and sound, and there is still uncondensed air that rubs and breathes with it. Therefore, the function of shape is to stop it. Among them, the use of light and sound always overflows the rest: there is no gap in the air, and they respond to each other." (Volume 1 of " Little Knowledge of Physics") Fang Yizhi believes that the generation of light is due to the stimulation of Qi. Since Qi is diffusely distributed in all spaces without any gaps between each other, the excited Qi must interact with the surrounding stationary Qi, "friction, hissing and inhalation" to transmit the excitement, which forms the propagation of light. In his "Little Knowledge of Physics", Fang Yizhi recorded a large amount of

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, cultivation, management and other knowledge. He quoted the missionary's saying that "the brain dominates the mind" and introduced the Western world's knowledge about human bones,

muscles Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

, etc., but excluded content such as the missionary's statement that "Almighty God created the world." Liang Qichao said: "The fifty volumes of Fang Mi's Tongya published in the 15th year of Chongzhen's reign are actually the first book on primary school research in modern times. The style is slightly similar to " Erya", but the categories are slightly increased or decreased"; and Shuo Fang Yizhi's contribution to

phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...

lies in his proposal of "seeking meaning from sounds".

References