Song Yingxing

Song Yingxing was a scientist and encyclopedist who lived during the late Ming Dynasty . He was the author of an encyclopedia that covered a wide variety of technical subjects, including the use of gunpowder weapons. Comparing him to the famous encyclopedist, the sinologist and historian Joseph Needham called Song Yingxing, "The of China."

Biography

Song Yingxing achieved only modest wealth and influence during his life. Born in 1587 to a gentry family of reduced circumstances, he participated in the imperial examinations, and passed the provincial test in 1615, at the age of 28.

Written works

Encyclopedias

Although Song Yingxing's encyclopedia was a significant publication for his age, there had been a long tradition in the history of Chinese literature in creating large encyclopedic works. For example, the ''Four Great Books of Song'' compiled much earlier in the 10th and 11th centuries . Just a few decades before Yingxing's work, there was also the Ming Dynasty encyclopedia of the ''Sancai Tuhui'', written in 1607 and published in 1609. Song Yingxing's famous work was the ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' , or ''The Exploitation of the Works of Nature'', published in May of 1637. The ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' is an encyclopedia covering a wide range of technical issues, including the use of various gunpowder weapons. Copies of the book were very scarce in China during the Qing dynasty , but original copies of the book were fortunately preserved in Japan. sericulture and textile technology, another illustration shows a brick-maker filling a wooden mold with clay while he dresses the brick's surface with a finishing wire strung on a bow.

As the historian Joseph Needham points out, the vast amount of accurately drawn illustrations in this encyclopedia dwarfed the amount provided in previous Chinese encyclopedias, making it a valuable written work in the history of Chinese literature. At the same time, the Tiangong Kaiwu broke from Chinese tradition by rarely referencing previous written work. It is instead written in a style strongly suggestive of first-hand experience. In the preface to the work, Song attributed this deviation from tradition to his poverty and low standing.

Song wrote about the general terms used in agriculture, saying that the "hundred grains" referred to crops in general, while the "five grains" were specifically sesamum, legumes, wheat, panicled millet, and glutinous millet . He wrote about the meticulous and proper cultivation of each crop, as well as how to avoid agricultural disasters in the process.

In aiding the text, he also provided many different drawn illustrations, including a man loosening the soil by ploughing with an ox, soil broken into fine particles by an ox-drawn , men engaging in foot weeding and hand weeding of rice, a vertical waterwheel with hollow wooden cylinders dipping water into an open woodwork tub feeding an irrigation canal, a cylinder-type chain pump powered by a vertical waterwheel placed in a narrow, low-lying stream with a mounted rotating wheel placed at the top of an elevated plane, whereupon the cylinders fed water into an irrigation canal, a wooden river dam correcting the flow of water around a field of crops, a sluice gate controlling the flow of a water channel, a square-pallet chain pump powered by a horizontal waterwheel, connected by an axle to a gear-tooth wheel above, which in turn engaged a vertical gear-tooth wheel, another square-pallet chain pump employing an ox-drawn set of geared wheels, two different types of foot-treadle operated chain pumps, a counterweighted lever for raising or lowering a bucket, a pulley-wheel for raising or lowering a bucket, an ox-drawn plough-seeder with a cone-shaped filter, an ox-drawn pair of stone rollers, used for pressing seeds into the soil, the simpler process of sewing seeds by hand and pressing them into the dirt by foot, and finally, an illustration of men cultivating wheat with broad-headed hoes.

In another chapter, The Preparation of Grains, he also provided illustrations for rolling rice grains with a wooden ox-drawn roller, a crank-operated rotary-fan winnowing machine that separated husks, a hand-operated wooden hulling mill, a hand-operated earthen hulling machine, a process of sieving to separate husk-free grains, two types of foot-operated trip hammers, a hydraulic-powered trip hammer powered by a waterwheel that rotated an axle of overhead cams, a horse-drawn hulling mill, an oxen-drawn grinding mill, a grinding mill operated by a vertical waterwheel, and a rolling mill operated by a horizontal waterwheel, the waterwheel placed in a rushing current found under a wooden deck that rotated the axle of the stone roller above within the interior of a building.

Nautics

The subject of maritime and nautical technology and engineering was discussed extensively by Song Yingxing. Song noted that in northern China the chief means of transportation was by carriage and cart, while in southern China it was by ship and boat. He provided various nuances about nautical matters, such as metal anchors for battleships and sea-going vessels weighing up to 30,000 . Song also wrote of the methods used by the Chinese in his day for pearl diving in Guangdong. Song wrote that these divers were able to stay underwater for prolonged periods of time since a secure rope was tied around their waists connected to the ship as they breathed through a long curving pipe that led up above the surface of the water.

In his admiration for the stern-mounted steering rudder , he wrote:

Sericulture and cotton

Song Yingxing opened his chapter on clothing with the aspects of sericulture in producing silk. He gave an accurate description of the raising of , along with their instinctual mating tradition. Those raising the silkworms had their eggs deposited on sheets of paper or cloth, and stored for use in the following year. He noted the differences between two general forms of silkworms, late and early, while providing information on a wide variety in different silkworm breeds and cocoons, and even silkworm diseases. After their eventful hatching, he described the proper living conditions and environment that the silkworms should be immersed in, as well as the care that should be given in feeding them. He warned of different sources of foul odors and smoke that had the capability of killing the silkworms if they came into contact. gathering of cocoons, and the different pests such as birds and mosquitoes that should be avoided, He also described the proper planting of mulberry trees and how to harvest them. For the process of making silk, he noted that raw silk could not be reeled into normal silk until a formal wadding process was done. He described the reeling of silk fabric with a reeling machine, the of silk fibers, the spinning of silk fibers into weft yarns, the silken threads drawn into a warp frame for weaving, and the "ingenious" works of figure designing. He also described the proper dimensions of different draw looms,

Song Yingxing wrote that although silk was reserved for those with economic means, both rich and poor used cotton clothing during the winter. In ancient times, he said, cotton was called ''xima'' . He noted the process of straightening the cotton fibers with wooden boards, which prepared them for the spinning wheel, the "slivers drawn out to desired size and twisted into yarns." In addition to these he also described different fur, woolen, and felt clothing.

Metallurgy, casting, and forging

In China, the 'five metals' were gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin, although the term could be extended in general terms to any sort of metal. He wrote of how gold was held to be the most precious metal of them all, and that it could be obtained in the mountains, panned from river sand, and from underground mining. He also outlined the different grades of gold and its malleable qualities.

Song Yingxing wrote that ancient rulers of early China cast inscriptions of writing onto bronze tripods since this was a much more durable method of preserving the written record than using the perishable materials found in books and scrolls. He noted that musical and announcing bells of higher quality were made of different copper alloys, while those of lesser quality were made of iron. He also provided weighted formulas of different metal compositions for certain bells, for example, the casting a large bell in an audience hall or pavilion that required 47,000 of copper, 4,000 of tin, 50 . of gold, and 120 . of silver in its composition. When dried and heated so that the melted fat and wax could flow out entirely by means of apertures at the base, the bell or tripod could be cast in the vacated cavity between the core and the mold. metal statues, metallic mirrors, and different metallic coins of copper or iron. He described the processes of hammer forging with the initial casting of an anvil, He outlined the different types of , axes, , saws, anchors, that could be forged and produced. For the making of the finest swords, he said, they are coated with steel after "a hundred smeltings," but the core of the sword was still made of wrought iron; this was because a sword made entirely of steel would easily break when making hard strikes. For the preparation of saltpetre, Song Yingxing wrote:





cquote|
For purification the remaining solution is again boiled, together with a few pieces of turnip, until the water has evaporated further. This is then poured into a basin and left overnight so that a mess of snow-white is formed, and that is called ''pen xiao''. For making gunpowder this ''ya xiao'' and ''pen xiao'' have a similar effect. When saltpetre is used for making gunpowder, if in small quantity it has to be dried on new tiles, and if in large quantity it should be dried in earthenware vessels. As soon as any moisture has all gone, the saltpetre is ground to a powder, but one should never use an iron , because any spark accidentally produced could cause an irretrievable catastrophe. One should measure out the amount of saltpetre to be used in a particular gunpowder formula, and then grind it together with sulfur. Charcoal is only added later. After saltpetre has been dried, it may become moist again if left over a period of time. Hence when used in large cannons it is usually carried separately, and the gunpowder prepared and mixed on the spot. It also described an explosive naval mine that was timed by a fuse and sent down river to an enemy ship. However, it was the ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' of Song Yingxing that outlined the use of a rip-cord pulled from ambushers hidden on a nearby shore that would trigger the steel-wheel mechanism in producing sparks for the naval mine placed in the river or lake.

Song Yingxing described a 'match for ten thousand armies' bomb as follows:



The historian Needham notes that Song Yingxing must not have been much of a military man with extensive knowledge of martial matters, due to his enthusiasm for this archaic type of bomb that had been used by the Chinese since the Song Dynasty in the 12th century.

Cosmology

Song Yingxing also published two scientific tractates that outline his cosmological views. In these, he discusses the concepts of ''qi'' and ''xing'' . Qi has been described in many different ways by Chinese philosophers. To Song, it is a type of all-permeating vapor from which solid objects are formed. These solid objects eventually return to the state of ''qi'', which itself eventually returns to the great void. Some objects, such as the sun and the moon, remain in ''qi'' form indefinitely, while objects like stones are eternally ''xing''. Some objects, like water and fire, are intermediary between the two forms.

Tiangong Kaiwu gallery