Although this is the era of state power, in many ways, China is far ahead; Such as papermaking, gunpowder, compass, etc. Not only that, this time is also the golden age in the history of ancient mathematics in China; Unfortunately, this golden age came to an abrupt end, and the brilliant mathematics of Song and Jin Dynasties was interrupted. What are the reasons we don't know?
1. In ancient China, scientific research related to agriculture was relatively valued, while mathematics was neglected.
In the ancient society of China, feudal agriculture always dominated. As the saying goes, food is the most important thing for people. Therefore, grain cultivation has always been valued by rulers of past dynasties. Most people work hard to fill their stomachs. But in the ancient society with low productivity, the total grain output was still relatively low.
This makes people begin to improve production tools, study new production technologies and achieve new growth. In this development process, the industrious and intelligent ancient people of China developed new farm tools and some suitable farming systems. For example, the twenty-four solar terms and fourteen solar terms we are talking about now are the application of astrometeorology in agriculture.
These scientific researches related to agriculture, such as astronomy, meteorology, hydrology and tool manufacturing, have made great progress. However, apart from the efforts of some scientists such as Zu Chongzhi, the ancients did not put a lot of energy into mathematical research that had little to do with agriculture.
In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, China mathematicians wrote "Nine Chapters Arithmetic", which calculated more pi and its decimal points, exceeding Europe 1000 years. But for the working people at that time, these did not play much role in improving crop yield and solving the problem of food and clothing. Under such circumstances, the development of mathematics in China has been hindered.
And make China mathematics quickly out of the golden age that just appeared. Under the influence of such traditional ideas, it is normal that mathematics is not valued by the ancients. For the development of mathematics at this time, the narrow development soil forced it to withdraw from the golden age of development and could not enter the mainstream of historical development.
Secondly, the political and cultural environment in Song Dynasty made the study of mathematics often ignored by people.
(1) With the expansion of the imperial examination scale in the Song Dynasty, the atmosphere for people to learn book culture became stronger.
In the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination system further developed. Under the national policy of Emperor Song, the civil service group expanded rapidly, and the foundation of all this was brought by the increasingly mature imperial examination system. The imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty was based on the Tang Dynasty, followed the subjects of Jinshi and Wushu in the Tang Dynasty, and attracted a large number of talents.
The Four Books and the Five Classics
Moreover, with the development of the scholar-bureaucrat class, the demand for civil servants expanded rapidly, and the Emperor of Song Dynasty gathered some talents in other ways, which made people in the society see more ways to be an official. So in the Song Dynasty, the atmosphere of reading became stronger, and many people in society regarded reading as a means to change their destiny. As a result, more and more people began to devote themselves to the study of the Four Books and Five Classics, dealing with poems and songs all day long.
The atmosphere of reading in the Song Dynasty was very strong, which greatly interfered with people who studied science. At that time, people who studied mathematical science as their profession turned to the ranks of seeking officials and fame. However, only some people who love mathematical science research are still sticking to their ideals.
However, the efforts of a few people have not played much role in the development of mathematical research. With the passage of time, mathematics is gradually ignored by people. At this time, people pay more attention to the study of cultural knowledge and pursue fame and fortune.
(2) The prosperity of Song Ci culture squeezed the living space of mathematical research.
Su Shi
When it comes to Song Dynasty, we have to mention Song Ci. Song ci was originally idle poetry, but it turned out to be a high-end pastime for some literati. However, with the development of commodity economy in Song Dynasty, the citizen class expanded, which adapted to the secular culture of street life and had great development space. Last time, princes and nobles, down to ordinary people, all liked the cultural product of Song Ci.
For the literati at that time, if they failed to achieve fame, it was also a good choice to turn to lyrics, just like Liu Yong. The unrestrained poets in Song Dynasty were Su Shi and Xin Qiji. The only graceful poets are Li Qingzhao, Liu Yong and Qin Guan. These people, like our current traffic stars and top online writers, all had their own fans at that time.
The success of these famous poets has made people with certain cultural knowledge see another road to fame. As a result, some intellectuals turned to Ci, which made Ci culture develop in Song Dynasty. The prosperity of Song Ci culture makes people's pursuit of culture only focus on this aspect of Song Ci. However, only a few people, even few people, devote themselves to mathematical research.
The prosperity of instantaneous culture has greatly reduced the living space of mathematical science research. Therefore, the brilliant mathematical achievements of the Northern and Southern Dynasties met with a crisis of survival in the Song Dynasty, and it can even be said that they were gradually forgotten and not inherited. After that, the ethnic minority regime destroyed the culture and literati, which made the brilliant mathematics of Song and Jin Dynasties suffer a greater blow.
Li Qingzhao
Third, the oppression of scholars and the destruction of culture in the Yuan Dynasty led to the stagnation or even retrogression of mathematical research.
(1) The destruction of culture by a few regimes made some mathematical achievements disappear in history.
As we all know, the Song Dynasty was in an era of numerous national regimes. Moreover, in most national wars, the Song Dynasty was basically in a weak and beaten situation. As a savage minority, most of them despise culture. However, this minority mostly adopts the policy of exclusion to the Han culture, and wherever they go, they basically plunder the Han people and wantonly destroy the Han civilization.
This made some historical orphans and mathematical achievements lost in the war. Just like the Mongolian regime established by Genghis Khan, basically taking a city is murder and arson. Some books about mathematical operations were also burned. In this way, people later want to restore some cultural classics, follow the footsteps of predecessors, and continue to study mathematics, which increases the great difficulty.
Jenghiz Khan
Whether the achievements of a civilization can be preserved, whether the soil it develops is sound, and whether the nutrients needed for growth can be endless with the development of the times. So at this time, the cultural destruction of the minority regime brought great damage to civilization, and even the brilliant mathematics of Song and Jin Dynasties was lost in history. With the development of time, the peak of mathematics in Song and Jin Dynasties came to an abrupt end at this time. With the development of time, it is lost in history.
(2) The Yuan Dynasty banned the imperial examination and implemented the policy of ignorance, which greatly reduced people's cultural literacy.
The fatal blow to the glory of mathematics in Song and Jin Dynasties was undoubtedly the foolish policy of the Yuan Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty abolished the imperial examination system in order to maintain its rule. Not only that, the Yuan Dynasty persecuted intellectuals and burned books such as the Four Books and the Five Classics. This is undoubtedly a devastating blow to culture.
At that time, the Yuan Dynasty paid attention to force and suppressed literati, which directly made those literati's status in that dynasty very low. At that time, those scholars basically knew nothing but reading, and because of policy reasons, their talents could not be brought into play. These people are depressed, but they have not turned to inherit and develop their previous mathematical research.
At the same time, the Yuan Dynasty began to implement the policy of ignorance of the people, trying to turn the agricultural civilization of the Han nationality into a nomadic civilization. At this time, under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, ordinary people could not get the way to learn knowledge at all, and their cultural literacy was not as good as that of the Song Dynasty, which had to be said to be a historical retrogression.
People lack knowledge, so it is impossible to carry out scientific research. According to historical research, the mathematical level of the Yuan Dynasty was basically inferior to that of the previous generation. According to historians' translation and explanation of some mathematics books in Yuan Dynasty, it is found that the problems recorded in these books are very basic and simple. I have to say that the blow to mathematics is unprecedented.
The barbarism of the Yuan Dynasty caused cultural losses. More importantly, however, mathematics itself is abstract, which is very difficult for these barbaric minority rulers to understand, so it cannot be preserved in the upper level like culture. These rulers abandoned their shoes for the study and study of mathematics. Therefore, under the influence of political environment and its own defects, with the limitations of development, the brilliant mathematical culture of Song and Jin Dynasties had to withdraw from the historical stage and was interrupted.
Conclusion:
After more than 5,000 years of development, China's culture has also undergone its own changes. There have been glory and decline, but these are the results of comprehensive effects. Just as the brilliant Song and Jin mathematics was buried by the development of the times. The brilliant mathematical achievements in Song and Jin Dynasties were interrupted by their own defects and development environment.
For us now, it is the most important thing to explore excellent ancient civilizations and use them for us now. In Song Dynasty, Zhang Zai once said:? Heaven and earth have a heart, all beings have a life, the past is not forgotten, and the future is a teacher, and the world is peaceful. ? Song and Jin's brilliant mathematics is what we should inherit. We should not let such a tragedy repeat itself in history.
Reference book:
Song Shi
the yuan dynasty history
Northern history
imperial collection of four