Reasons for the decline of ancient invention achievements

1. Political system: Long-term feudal rule is the most important factor inhibiting the development of science and technology in China.

China was the first country to enter and finally get out of feudal society, and its long-term and serious feudal rule system was full of drawbacks.

About the development of science and technology, ancient science and technology in China can be roughly divided into two categories: official science and technology and folk science and technology. Official science and technology is that the emperor called a group of people of insight around him to engage in so-called scientific research to serve himself. For example, the water camera invented by Su Song in the Northern Song Dynasty was specially used to show the emperor the time. The duty of many alchemists is to study the elixir for the emperor in the palace. Most of these scientific researches were carried out to please the emperor or complete his tasks, although most of them had a single purpose and limited results. However, the achievements of water transport instruments and observatories are of great value, and the research of mathematics and astronomy has also made outstanding achievements, which has played a very good role in promoting the development of science and technology. However, many achievements can't be applied to production practice by the people at the first time because of the royal signboard, and become an empty theory that can't be further developed. Folk science and technology is developed by ordinary people who are interested in science and technology (such as Shen Kuo and Li Shizhen) or people who have accumulated experience in their daily life and work (such as Bi Sheng). Because there is no certain organization and arrangement, the results are mixed. In addition, because some technologies can only be owned by the royal family, especially astronomy, folk research has been suppressed or even banned by the government, and there is no hotbed for development. For another example, ancient ceramics are also divided into official kilns and folk kilns. The official kiln technology is strictly forbidden to spread abroad, which seriously affects the technical exchange between official kilns and folk kilns, and then affects the development of ceramic industry. Therefore, in such a political system and social environment, science and technology can not be fully developed at all, and they always rely on the achievements left by their predecessors to be complacent, even complacent. One generation depends on another, and the result can only be more and more backward. Under such a feudal system, even though a group of outstanding scientists emerged in each generation, it also deeply affected the overall development of science and technology. Ancient China was like a man who made great achievements when he was young, but he didn't make progress when he was old. He only appreciated the great achievements when he was young, and finally lost his ability to resist external intrusion, leading to a tragic end of being trampled on.

Second, national policy: the serious policy of "emphasizing agriculture and restraining business" makes science and technology unnecessary.

The development of science and technology at all times, at home and abroad, must rely on the support of state power and correct science and technology policies. In the feudal society of China, the long-term bureaucratic system was the mortal enemy of the democratic system on which the development and prosperity of science and technology depended. The ruling class demands that science and technology obey their own interests and implement the policy of "emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce". A large number of science and technology related to the development of handicraft production but unrelated to their own immediate needs are ignored or even contained. For example, the book "Heavenly Creations" in the embryonic period of capitalism in the Ming Dynasty is a summary of the production technology of agriculture and handicrafts by Song, a famous scientist in ancient China. It was advanced in the world at that time, but it was not valued and applied in the social system at that time. The feudal society in China has always been a self-sufficient natural economy combining planting and cottage industry, with little commodity exchange and no need for complicated science and technology to greatly improve productivity. Engels said: "Once the society has a technological need, this need will push science forward by more than ten universities." The demand for science and technology is not as urgent as that in the west, which makes advanced science and technology in a distributable embarrassing position. Moreover, in the Qing Dynasty, the severe isolation and blind arrogance made science and technology even more unnecessary. When the British envoy went to see Emperor Qianlong and asked for trade, Emperor Qianlong's reply turned out to be: "China is rich in products and everything, so it didn't rely on foreign goods to exchange needed goods." Even Lin Zexu thought at the beginning of the ban: "I used to have tens of thousands of miles of land, which was rich in production and I didn't borrow money to buy goods. (If China is closed to the outside world) I am afraid of the livelihood of all countries and will rest from now on. " Without paying attention to commodity exchange, there will be no motivation to improve production, and there will be no need to develop science and technology. With this attitude, how can we learn more advanced technology from the west with our heads down? There is no desire to develop, no motivation to advance, and no external stimulation, so it is a historical necessity that China's modern science and technology lags behind the times.

Third, the education system: the backwardness of the imperial examination system is the direct reason for the backwardness of science and technology.

In the history of our country, the imperial examination system has been used for a long time to select talents, but the imperial examination system serves the rulers, so it emphasizes politics and ethics and ignores natural science. The content of the examination is limited to Confucianism and Confucianism, and it rarely involves science and technology, which is a great drawback. It is not surprising that you don't focus on the imperial examination. Therefore, many scholars have been in the imperial examination all their lives. How can they learn mathematics, physics and chemistry? Moreover, even if he gains fame, he is also a "model" with no ideological and practical ability. Where can we afford the burden of scientific research? On the other hand, those who take the stereotyped examination are all famous, and those who engage in scientific research can't get policy and economic support even if they are interested, and become poor scholars. Where can they afford scientific research? This series of reasons has led to a serious shortage of scientific research talents in the country. Without such talents, it is fatal to the development of science and technology. At the same time, compared with the progressive education system in the west, it is only natural that China's traditional science, which once had an advantage in the world, gave way to western natural science in modern times. Galileo, Copernicus, Newton and Leibniz appeared in the west. Who appeared in China? What about the long history of China and the advanced science and technology in ancient China? Compare its current strength. It is a historical necessity that China's science, technology and mode of production have not been substantially improved for a long time, and it will be overtaken if it does not develop.

Fourth, thinking concept: ignoring science and technology, lacking logical system, hindering the development of science and technology.

Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "ousted a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone", Confucianism has always been the orthodox thought in China's feudal era. Confucianism values humanities rather than science and engineering, and ideology rather than practice. The main purpose of learning is to cultivate one's morality, keep one's family in order, run the country and level the world. Those who really promote the development of science and technology are "not ashamed of the scholar-officials", so Mr. Yang Zhenning thinks: "The conservatism of Confucian culture is the biggest reason why China resisted western scientific thought for three centuries." Excessive contempt makes scientific and technological progress difficult. On the other hand, it is obvious from the scientific and technological achievements in ancient China that most of them pay attention to intuitive summary and experience induction, but lack rigorous thinking and logic. This is also reflected in the scientific classification. So that when Mr Needham compiled the History of Science and Technology in China, he had to use the classification method of modern science to extract the contents related to science and technology, and let the world know the great achievements of science and technology in China. In other words, we don't even know what we have achieved. Foreigners helped us find it, not ourselves. For example, Shen Kuo's written talk, the Temple of Heaven in Song Dynasty, Zhu in Sun Simiao and Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica are all of great value, but they all stay in practice and record, and it is difficult to make a qualitative leap in thinking without reasoning and deduction. So China's nine chapters of arithmetic have not been upgraded to geometric elements, and the sky is round. Although it is not feasible to engage in theory alone, if the practice and records have not reached a new height in theory for thousands of years, there is bound to be no broader room for development. Therefore, it is not surprising that western powers can find us with our invented compass and open our country with our invented gunpowder, because at that time, we were making compasses with compass technology to see Feng Shui, and using gunpowder as firecrackers to make a crackling sound to render a festive atmosphere.

5. Academic atmosphere: The conservative and silent academic atmosphere hinders the development and dissemination of science and technology.

Qin Shihuang's centralized autocracy and Emperor Wudi's "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" ended China.

The era with the most active thoughts, the strongest academic atmosphere and the richest achievements in history is the era when a hundred schools of thought contend. Influenced by Confucianism for thousands of years, China people are cautious and modest in words, actions and academic views. They dare not say anything, dare not do anything, stick to the "golden mean", are not good at in-depth research, and are not good at disagreeing with previous views. In this lifeless atmosphere, even if it develops, it will go step by step. In sharp contrast, the West made great strides at the same time, the Renaissance produced modern natural science, the Enlightenment enhanced scientific awareness, and the scientific and technological revolution pushed this development to a climax. In addition, at this time, western universities are rising rapidly, especially the establishment of world famous schools such as Cambridge and Oxford, which has played a role in fueling the development of science and technology in the West. China, on the other hand, not only did not attach importance to learning from the West, but only a few movements, such as the Westernization Movement, were strongly obstructed by conservatives, thus making intellectuals more silent. Also, as the first official university in the history of China, Peking University appeared nearly 700 years later than Cambridge University. How many years will it take to recover the 700-year gap?