What experiences does Xu Guangqi have?
Xu Guangqi is a native of Shanghai and a famous scientist in ancient my country. During the reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, the coastal areas of Shanghai were often attacked by Japanese pirates. When Xu Guangqi was a child, he often listened to his father telling stories about the heroic stories of the Shanghai people who resisted Japanese invasion. He was very inspired and moved. He especially admired famous anti-Japanese patriotic generals like Qi Jiguang. He had a patriotic enthusiasm since he was a child.
Xu Guangqi loved reading since he was a child. He was smart and studious, and he was admitted as a scholar in his teens. When I grew up, I once took an imperial examination and passed through Nanjing and stayed there for a few days. I heard that a European missionary named Matteo Ricci came to Nanjing. He often took advantage of the missionary opportunity to teach about Western scientific knowledge. Many scholars in Nanjing had contacts with Matteo Ricci. After being introduced by others, Xu Guangqi also met Matteo Ricci. He listened to Matteo Ricci talking about scientific knowledge that he had never heard of or read in ancient books, and he fell in love with Western science from then on.
At that time, the Chinese did not believe in Western Catholicism, and the imperial court did not support Westerners coming to preach in the Ming Dynasty.
Matteo Ricci spread scientific knowledge mainly to facilitate missionary work. He believed that if the emperor did not support it, it would be difficult for his missionary work in China to expand its influence. He thought, how can he obtain the emperor's support? Only by using scientific knowledge that China did not fully possess could he attract the emperor and convince him to let him preach. At that time, the Ming Dynasty stipulated that foreign missionaries were not allowed to preach in Beijing. Later, Matteo Ricci asked local ministers to speak good words for him in front of the emperor. He himself went to Beijing and, through the eunuch Ma Tang, gave Ming Shenzong several Bibles, several pictures of the Virgin, and several self-ringing bells. Ming Shenzong did not believe in Western religion, did not understand the Bible, and did not know where the Virgin Mary was from. However, after seeing the chiming bell, he found it strange. He could not figure out how this iron lump could tell the time automatically, so he asked Ma Tang to tell Matteo Ricci the time. Bring him to the palace.
Ming Shenzong met Matteo Ricci and asked him where he was from. Matteo Ricci was originally Italian. Because Zheng He made seven voyages to the West, the Ming Dynasty had close contacts with Western countries. In order to show off, he Let’s just say he’s an Atlantic countryman. Ming Shenzong rewarded Matteo Ricci with some property and allowed him to preach in Beijing. In this way, Matteo Ricci often came into contact with court officials, and his missionary activities were also launched in Beijing.
A few years later, Xu Guangqi passed the Jinshi examination, went to Beijing, and became a civil official in the Hanlin Academy. He was very happy to hear that Matteo Ricci had already arrived in Beijing. He believed that mastering science and then applying it to various aspects would be of great benefit to enriching the country and strengthening the army, so he went to become a disciple of Matteo Ricci and learned from him various scientific knowledge such as astronomy, geography, mathematics, surveying, and weapons manufacturing. .
From then on, Xu Guangqi went to Matteo Ricci whenever he had time to listen to his lectures on scientific knowledge. Once, Xu Guangqi went to study with Matteo Ricci again, and heard Matteo Ricci talking about a Western mathematical book called "Elements of Geometry". Unfortunately, it was difficult to translate it into Chinese. After hearing this, Xu Guangqi said: "This book is so good. As long as you are willing to give me advice, I will definitely translate it into Chinese." Matteo Ricci saw that Xu Guangqi was very determined and was very moved, so he agreed. Later, when Xu Guangqi left the Hanlin Academy every day, he went straight to Matteo Ricci's residence to collaborate with him in translating "Elements of Geometry". Matteo Ricci narrated it, and Xu Guangqi translated and recorded it. At that time, no one in China had translated foreign mathematical works. It was indeed very difficult to accurately translate the original works into Chinese. Xu Guangqi spent more than a year translating word for word and sentence by sentence, repeatedly deliberating and revising, often forgetting to eat and sleep, and staying up all night. After his hard work, the first six volumes of "Elements of Geometry" were finally translated into Chinese text more accurately. Later, geometry was widely used in China.
After the translation of "Elements of Geometry" was completed, Xu Guangqi collaborated with Matteo Ricci and another missionary, Xiong Sanba, to translate scientific works on surveying, water conservancy and other aspects. Xu Guangqi learned a lot about astronomy from Matteo Ricci. He combined the ancient Chinese calendar with Western astronomical science, conducted in-depth research, and made great progress.
Xu Guangqi studies science in many aspects. When his father died of illness, he returned to Shanghai to attend the funeral and observe mourning. This year, Jiangnan suffered a major flood, and all the crops were submerged. After the water receded, he helped the people bring a batch of sweet potato seedlings from Fujian and asked everyone to plant them. He also took the lead in trial planting on wasteland, and the results were fruitful. He saw that sweet potatoes could be grown not only along the coast of Fujian, but also in Shanghai, so he compiled a pamphlet to introduce how to grow sweet potatoes. Later, the cultivation of sweet potatoes was extended from Fujian to Zhejiang, and soon to the Jianghuai River Basin.
Xu Guangqi not only studied science, but was also very concerned about state affairs.
When the news that Yang Hao's four armies were almost wiped out in Sarhu reached the capital, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were shocked. Ministers called on the court to select strong generals, increase their troops, and conquer Hou Jin. Xu Guangqi sent three memorials to Ming Shenzong in succession, believing that the Hou Jin Dynasty was becoming more and more powerful and was obviously the enemy of the Ming Dynasty, becoming the biggest threat to the court. To save the dangerous situation, only by selecting capable talents and training new soldiers can we To resist possible future aggression against the imperial court by Hou Jin, he volunteered to take on the important task of training new soldiers. Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty knew that he was a civil servant and that he was also knowledgeable about military affairs and had such enthusiasm, so he approved him to recruit and train new soldiers in Tongzhou.
Xu Guangqi was full of hope and determined to train new soldiers well and strengthen national defense. Unexpectedly, all departments of the imperial court were extremely corrupt. After the military training yamen was built, Xu Guangqi needed neither personnel nor military pay. He was so anxious that he went around and around. Finally getting some military pay, he went to Tongzhou to inspect the new recruits. Unexpectedly, most of the more than 7,000 new recruits were old and weak. Sick and disabled. Xu Guangqi was greatly disappointed. Seeing that his ambition could not be realized, he had no choice but to resign from the Xinbing Yamen.
After the death of Ming Shenzong, his son Zhu Changluo came to the throne, and this was Ming Guangzong. Soon after, Ming Guangzong also died of illness, and Prince Zhu Youxiao came to the throne. This was Ming Xi Zong. After Xizong came to power in the Ming Dynasty, he summoned Xu Guangqi to Beijing. After Xu Guangqi resumed his official position, he saw that the later Jin Dynasty was increasingly threatening the Ming Dynasty and that the Ming Dynasty's defense capabilities were getting worse and worse. He also reported to the court and strongly advocated the construction of more Western cannons. However, the Minister of War strongly opposed it. For this reason, they argued endlessly and had great conflicts. As a result, Xu Guangqi failed to fight against the powerful Minister of War and was squeezed out again.
When Xu Guangqi resigned and returned to his hometown, he was already over sixty years old. Since he originally liked studying agricultural science, after returning to his hometown, he did farm work in his own fields and did some experiments at the same time. After long-term research and recording, he wrote a famous book called "The Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs".