I, compose the 5000 years of China

Chapter 278 The Four Great Inventions of Ancient China, Papermaking... (Subscribe)
Regarding the work of compiling history, Chen Fan agreed in principle.

However, he is not ready to study history now.

The work of compiling history is not so easy to do.

Take a look at Ban Gu, who spent a total of 25 years studying Han Shu.

This has not been completely finished, and later I asked my sister to continue writing.

Another example is Sima Guang, who spent more than ten years cultivating the Zizhi Tongjian.

There are also various dynasties to compile the official history of the previous dynasties, some of which will take several years, or even decades.

Some have been repaired for more than 100 years, which is really life-threatening.

Although the Internet is more developed now, what Chen Fan is facing now is about 5000 years ago.

If you really want to repair it, although Chen Fan still has it in his mind, he still has to refer to some historical materials of this world.

But the historical materials of this world are not safe, and sorting them out is also a headache.

It probably took a lot of time.

but.

Chen Fan was not in a hurry either.

Anyway, there is nothing to do in this world.

In the days to come, it is not impossible to tell stories to everyone while revising history, and then bragging about being awesome.

of course.

When you are free, you can continue to travel around the country, introduce the scenery to everyone, and then dig the tomb...whatever.

This, far away.

For the time being, Chen Fan is going to talk about it after finishing the few lectures of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

……

"Mr. Chen Fan, the next session of the Hundred Schools Forum, which one are you going to talk about?"

"At that time, everyone can watch the programs of Baijia Forum."

"However, some people in the industry commented that apart from the good performance of the early emperors in the Eastern Han Dynasty, some emperors in the later period performed mediocrely. There is basically nothing to say."

"History does not always revolve around the emperor. Apart from the emperor, there were many other existences in the Eastern Han Dynasty that influenced the later generations for thousands of years."

This is Chen Fan's answer when he was interviewed by a media reporter before giving a lecture on Baijia Forum.

but.

Regarding Chen Fan's answer, the industry is still unwilling to believe too much.

It's not that I don't believe in Chen Fan, but I really don't believe that there is anything else to watch in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

"I feel that the next hundred forums will be weak."

"I also think that after Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Han Zhang, Emperor Hanhe...there is really nothing to talk about after that."

"I think so too. The Ban Gu, Ban Chao, and Ban Zhao mentioned by Mr. Chen Fan before were all in the period of Emperor Ming, Emperor Zhang, and Emperor He. The latter, if I really want to talk about it, is that the Three Kingdoms that Mr. Chen Fan talked about before is even more exciting. .”

"Although the Three Kingdoms is wonderful, it was not as ordinary as everyone imagined before the Three Kingdoms. Don't talk nonsense, since Teacher Chen Fan started the lecture, it definitely has quite a lot to watch. As for what we don't know, we can only say that we all Uninformed."

Even though it is said so, many people really want to see what the Baijia Forum is talking about in this issue.

In fact.

Chen Fan didn't feel that there was nothing to talk about in this session of the Hundred Schools Forum.

instead.

In terms of influence on later generations, his influence is even greater in terms of this issue of the Hundred Schools Forum.

and so.

When preparing for the show that day, Chen Fan was in a good mood.

This also infected the staff of Dragon TV.

"Teacher Chen Fan, I'm in such a good mood today."

"good."

"Teacher Chen Fan, what are you talking about today?"

"Hahaha, just listen to it when the time comes."

Chen Fan didn't say anything either.

However, seeing their curiosity, Chen Fan revealed a little bit: "What I'm going to talk about today may affect many people in the future."

As for what.

Chen Fan kept it a secret.

……

8 o'clock that night.

At this time, Dragon TV has adjusted "Lecture Hall of Hundred Schools" to the prime time broadcast.

Chen Fan took the stage again.

Looking at the crowd, Chen Fan said directly: "Before we talked about Wang Mang, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, Ban Gu, Dou Xian, and Ban Chao who ruled the fifty countries in the Western Regions... I saw many classmates, and Many netizens commented on the media, and everyone lamented that after watching it, the blood boiled for a while."

"Yeah, the glory of the Eastern Han Dynasty is actually not worse than that of the Western Han Dynasty. After all, the Eastern Han Dynasty developed on the basis of the Western Han Dynasty. At the same time, it has experienced several people's monarchs, so it has developed well. And the one who is going to give a lecture today At that time, some media interviewed said that after Han Hedi, the performance of a series of emperors in the Eastern Han Dynasty was very mediocre. If we speculate based on this, then there is nothing to say about the Eastern Han Dynasty?"

Chen Fan shook his head: "I told this reporter friend that the Eastern Han Dynasty is not the Eastern Han Emperor's Eastern Han Dynasty. Apart from these emperors, there are many other people who have nothing to do with the emperor, and there are also many people or people who are closely related to our lives. thing. Today, what I want to talk about is the historical materials of the Eastern Han Dynasty that have nothing to do with the emperor and the generals."

Yes.

Chen Fan has long wanted to talk about this episode.

But after all, I have to explain the background of the entire Eastern Han Dynasty before, so Wang Mang, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty... these people will talk about it.

In addition, the entire political, military... and so on, should also be discussed.

And after talking about this.

Well, that is the life of the people that has little to do with the emperor, the military, or politics.

"During the Eastern Han Dynasty, people's lives were actually pretty good. Because of the development of iron control technology, the people of the Eastern Han Dynasty gained greater convenience in life. Among them, the iron plow technology has been greatly developed."

side said.

Chen Fan opened the PPT.

The PPT shows an iron plow unearthed in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

"At the same time, farmers have also mastered more detailed farming methods in production activities. In Cui Shi's "Four People's Monthly Order", he recorded in detail the conditions of farmers' farming fields. Among them, weeding and fertilization, and for They have a more mature understanding of the nature of the land. They will plant different crops according to different lands, and even adopt different planting densities, and they can turn the soil and dry the fields in time, double-season crop rotation, and improve the utilization rate of the land... "

Although this doesn't seem like much.

but.

When Chen Fan explained these farming knowledge, all the spectators were shocked.

"Let me go, the cultivation level in the Eastern Han Dynasty was almost the same as ours in modern times."

"It's more than the same, there is no difference at all. Moreover, for more than 2000 years, we still look like the planting technology of the Eastern Han Dynasty. I am thinking, is the ancient people too smart, or we are too stupid, and it has been more than 2000 years? Nothing has changed."

"Hahaha……"

This is true.

If you only stare at the emperor and some generals, then the width of the entire history is just that small.

But if you skip these things and focus on other more interesting places, even if the Eastern Han Dynasty produced a series of mediocre emperors, they are equally wonderful.

of course.

What was outstanding in the Eastern Han Dynasty was not only agriculture, but also the textile industry.

The five-star brocade from Dongfangli China is actually a kind of textile industry.

However, the textile technology in the Western Han Dynasty was still so-so, but in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the technology had developed very superbly.

There are even many brocades that cannot be made by modern techniques.

"In addition to these things, the Eastern Han Dynasty also attracted the attention of the world in terms of science and technology, affecting China... no, it even affected the whole world."

For this sentence, some people do not understand.

"Technology?"

"What technology can the Eastern Han Dynasty have?"

"It seems that there was no technology in ancient China, let alone affect the whole world."

"Isn't it Western technology that affects the whole world? Where is Eastern technology?"

This is of course everyone's misunderstanding of ancient Chinese science and technology.

In fact, ancient China had a series of technologies, and even some of them were black technologies.

Even in the Eastern Han Dynasty, his technology was amazing.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun was the most outstanding performer in the field of science and technology.

"Do you know when paper was invented?"

At this moment, Chen Fan suddenly asked.

"Paper?"

This time, I really asked a lot of people.

In their concept, there is really no concept of paper.

But as a symbol of civilization, paper is extremely important.

even.

Chen Fan thinks.

For the development of science and technology, paper is the most important thing, not one of them.

If there is no paper.

Where are there so many Tang poems and Song Ci?
If there is no paper.

Where is there so much advanced culture and technology?

If there is no paper.

I am afraid that there are not many scholars.

"It seems that everyone doesn't have a big concept of paper. Before the Eastern Han Dynasty, the medium we used for writing was not paper, but bamboo slips, silk brocade, or animal fur. But there are big problems in these , such as bamboo slips, it is more troublesome to make and takes up too much space. Look at what many people said in ancient times that learning is rich and five carts. This five carts is a book made of five carts of bamboo slips. But speaking of it, it is even Books, his content is not much. Even, there is not as much as a 100 million-word novel. So if we really want to calculate according to the ancient times, the students sitting here are all educated and rich..."

"As for silk, brocade, and animal fur, they are too extravagant and expensive, and ordinary commoners can't use them at all. Even the royal family can't often use these. Therefore, in the Western Han Dynasty, some people wanted to make a A medium that does not take up space, is cheap, and is very convenient for writing. This medium is paper. Moreover, some people really made it in the Western Han Dynasty. But the effect of the paper made in the Western Han Dynasty was not good. One is It is rough, and the other is that the surface is not smooth, which is not suitable for writing, but only suitable for packaging."

"Later, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was an eunuch named Cai Lun. He realized the function of paper, so he began to improve the paper produced in the Western Han Dynasty. After countless experiments, Cai Lun used bark, hemp bark, bamboo...etc. And so on, summed up the four steps of papermaking."

The first step is the separation of raw materials.

It is to use the method of retting or steaming to make the bark, hemp bark, bamboo... These are degummed in the lye and dispersed into fibers.

The second is beating.

The fibers are cut by cutting and pounding, and the fibers are broomed to become pulp;
The third is plagiarism.

The pulp is infiltrated with water to make a slurry, and then the pulp is scooped with a scoop, so that the pulp is interwoven into a thin sheet of wet paper on the scoop.

The fourth is drying.

Dry or dry the wet paper and peel it off to become paper.

These four steps, since the invention of Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty, 2000 years have passed, and most people have made them according to this method.

Even if the development of modern technology is very powerful, the basic steps are similar.

It's just that they will use machines to improve efficiency in these four steps.

"Because it is the papermaking technology summarized and improved by Cai Lun, we call the paper improved by Cai Lun Caihou paper."

As for why it is Cai Hou paper, not Cai Lun paper?

That's because Cai Lun helped Emperor He destroy some arrogant and domineering relatives like Dou Xian during the period of Emperor He of the Han Dynasty. In addition, Cai Lun was loyal and loyal, and was finally named Longtinghou.

"It can be said that Cai Lun's improved papermaking technology can be said to be the first of the four great inventions in ancient China."

At this time, Chen Fan mentioned a new point of view, the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China.

This point of view aroused the incomparable interest of everyone present.

"The Four Great Inventions of Ancient China?"

"Where did this come from?"

At this time, some students raised their hands and asked, "Mr. Chen Fan, what are the four great inventions in ancient China?"

It's not that they don't know.

In fact, the idea of ​​previous lives was not raised by the Chinese.

The idea of ​​the four great inventions of ancient China in the previous life was first proposed by the British.

In other words.

Although China has had four major inventions for a long time, no one has mentioned them, and no one has taken them seriously.

If they don't take it seriously, people think that ancient China didn't have much technology and didn't make much contribution to the world.

It can be said from this.

History is still that history, but if there is no publicity, many times the wonderful things in history may be lost.

The significance of the historian also lies in this.

Chen Fan went on to say: "There were many inventions in ancient China, not only the four major inventions. However, these four are relatively influential. The first invention is Cai Lun's improved papermaking technique I mentioned earlier, or It can be said that the papermaking technology was invented by Cai Lun directly. Because Cai Lun’s improved papermaking technology not only affected China, but also the whole world. Because the paper made by Cai Lun’s papermaking technology is easy to carry and economical. Soon, he spread It arrived in Korea, Fusang and other countries. Later, under the influence of the Silk Road, it spread to Central Asia, South Asia, Europe..."

"The second invention is the compass."

"The third invention is called gunpowder."

"The fourth invention, movable type printing."

Without papermaking, it is estimated that the process of cultural development in the world will be delayed by ten times.

Without a compass, there would be no so-called Age of Discovery.

Without gunpowder, I am afraid that China will always be the kingdom of heaven.

Without movable type, cultural estimates were still in the hands of a few.

and so.

Among the four great inventions, Chen Fan believes that papermaking should be ranked first.

"It turns out that we had such a powerful invention in ancient times."

"The four great inventions, although I don't know much about the situation here, but judging from these four great inventions, he has changed the world."

"Yes."

If it is said that everyone was not particularly interested in these ancient technologies before.

But when Chen Fan mentioned the concept of the four great inventions of ancient China, everyone could already feel the impact of these inventions on modern times.

but.

For the time being, Chen Fan didn't talk about the other three major inventions.

Because among the four great inventions, only papermaking was invented in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the others were invented in the Song Dynasty.

When compiling history in the future, Chen Fan can put the three major inventions in the history of Song Dynasty.

……

but.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, when it comes to science and technology, it is not only the papermaking technology invented by Cai Lun.

In addition to Cai Lun, there is also a technology madman named Zhang Heng.

Seeing that everyone has entered the state, Chen Fan said: "During the Eastern Han Dynasty, with the continuous improvement of productivity, great progress was also made in cultural knowledge and technology. At this time, there was a man named Zhang Heng who was in charge of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Taishiling. This Taishiling is an official in charge of astronomy and calendar. This official position is not very big, and it is not very important. But even so, Zhang Heng has a lot of research on astronomy and mathematics."

"He once wrote a work called "Lingxian" on astronomy knowledge. In this work, Zhang Heng believed that the universe is infinite and the movement of celestial bodies is regular; the moonlight is the reflection of sunlight, and the lunar eclipse is caused by the earth Sunlight, the moon orbits the earth and rises and falls. He believes that certain laws of the sun’s movement correctly explain the causes of long winter nights, short summer nights, vernal equinoxes, and autumnal equinoxes. He also pointed out that there are 2500 stars that can be seen in the Central Plains. This is similar to what we know now. After observing the movement of some celestial bodies, he came to the conclusion that one day is 360 five degrees and one quarter degree, which is the same as the modern geodesic earth's one circle around the sun lasted 365 days and 5 hours. The value of 48 minutes and 46 seconds is almost the same..."

of course.

For many people today, this may be very simple knowledge.

Even some schoolchildren know it.

but.

When you know that it was the ancients more than 2000 years ago who realized this, then you won't say that.

"Nimma, this level is amazing."

"It's no wonder that China has always been ahead of the world in ancient times. With this level of mathematics, it completely beats all other countries at the same time."

"Well, the knowledge of the sun and the moon alone is enough to lead them. After all, the calendar is calculated by the moon and the sun."

As for your question, what does the calendar have to do with China leading the world?
It's too relevant.

In ancient times, food was everything, it was productivity, and it was the strength of a country.

Then.

What determines food production?
Many people may say that it is a production tool, such as the appearance of farming iron tools and so on.

But these are just secondary.

The most important thing is the calendar.

What does the calendar represent?

This doesn't just tell you what day it is today, what month?
The important role of the calendar also tells you when you can sow seeds and when you can harvest in autumn.

Without the guidance of these calendars, all the things that are planted will be ruined.

"However, it's not just that. Zhang Heng also invented the Armillary Sphere in order to better study the Zhou Tian Xing Dou."

"Teacher Chen Fan, what is an armillary sphere?"

A classmate asked.

"An armillary sphere is an instrument for recording astronomical phenomena. At that time, Zhang Heng engraved 28 constellations, Chinese and foreign star officials, yellow equator, north and south poles, 24 solar terms, constant display circles, and constant hidden circles on a copper ball with a diameter of more than four feet. The muddy image, and then use a set of water drop mechanism to combine the muddy image with the clepsydra. Use the clepsydra to control the muddy image, so that it rotates synchronously with the celestial sphere, to show the weekly apparent movement of the starry sky, such as the appearance and disappearance of stars and the center God wait..."

It seems that everyone does not understand.

Chen Fan also explained that he is actually an upgraded version of the globe, or he can be called a celestial globe.

The globe indicates only the earth.

The armillary sphere records the movement of celestial bodies.

As for why the armillary sphere is used, it is better to identify it.

Otherwise, how can you distinguish the stars all over the sky?
With something like a celestial globe, it is much more convenient to distinguish by yourself or to impart astronomical knowledge.

of course.

This is nothing.

After all, although something like an armillary sphere has more technological content, it is still good and not so shocking.

What is really shocking is another awesome technology.

Or called black technology.

This black technology is called a seismograph.

(End of this chapter)