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Why has the development of natural science in China been less than that in Europe in the past five thousand years?
There are many kinds of this statement, which can be combined.

First of all, the unified society lacks the soil of "heresy". The development of European astronomy has been continued in different countries, such as Copernicus-Tycho-Kepler-Galileo-Newton and so on. The Pope can only control the surrounding areas of Italy, and heresy develops in countries beyond his control. Of course, this is also a contribution of Protestantism. The same thing happened in Japan. Although the shogunate was conservative, the following governors had begun to introduce western technology, build their own reverberatory furnaces, translate western books and engage in modern finance before the reform, all of which were the advantages brought by the separatist regime.

Secondly, the scientific and technological responsiveness of Confucianism is not even as good as that of Catholicism in this respect. Catholicism is very helpful in the history of science. The earliest institutions of higher learning in Europe were established by the church. Of course, the original intention of the church is not to oppose itself, but to see the benefits of technological development. Buildings can be used to build cathedrals, and artists can improve their elegance through painting. In particular, the church did not know the date and year, which formed an atmosphere of attaching importance to knowledge-the worship of scholars in ancient Greece was revived in the church after the disappearance of ancient Greece for one thousand years. The church openly put the ancient Greek philosophers in a position similar to martyrs. The Pope asked Michelangelo, the great painter, to draw a picture of a man of God, and Raphael, the great painter, to draw the Academy of Athens, the ancient Greek philosopher. You can imagine the atmosphere of respecting knowledge at that time. Compared with Confucianism, the vision of the church is much broader, and Confucianism is a pure obstacle. Wang Yangming said, "You can learn from things." After a few days of bamboo, what knowledge did you finally gain? There is nothing left.

Generally speaking, modern science can't develop in China society because of the wrong national atmosphere. Although I respect scholars very much, this "scholar" only refers to Confucianism. You said that you can do arithmetic, practice medicine, and know the calendar. These are not scholars. Studying these things is similar to farming and doing business, and it is lower than those who engage in Confucianism. At the same time, in the name of respecting knowledge, the Catholic church vigorously teaches knowledge other than theology. When missionaries come to China, they can make calendars, teach geometry and draw maps, while Confucianism can only write articles and tell them back and forth. Some "smart people" can't pass on their income even if they are found occasionally. Qin Shihuang burned books, and the history books recorded that "those who did not go, planted books, and divined with medicine." ",but in fact, these books were not burned by the first emperor, because they were not Confucian books, so they were lost in history.