In the second half of 2017, the Zhang Heng seismometer model, which had been imprinted in the public's mind for more than half a century, was deleted from the textbook in the unified version of the history textbook of junior high school textbook.
Chinese Academy of Sciences Academician (Professor) Fu Chengyi even refuted Zhang Heng's seismometer model, hanging pieces of meat under the beam are stronger than this . Why is the reason why the model that has been used for nearly sixty years is deleted?
Actually, as early as the second volume of the third grade of elementary school, the ninth lesson of our Chinese textbook is "Zhang Heng and His Seismometer" .
At that time, we, who were innocent and curious about the world, were immediately attracted by the strangely shaped seismometer , this fresh thing, and all looked at them with a striking look.
appearance features
Looking at this large oval jar, with eight golden dragons with claws and beads in their mouths hovering on it. The base also corresponds to the dragon's mouth, and eight toads with big open mouths embedded in them.
We have infinite questions about what it is and why it can detect earthquakes.
However, in the latest published unified textbook, the Zhang Heng model of seismometer was actually removed.
lacks the combination of pictures and texts. Children's understanding of seismometers can only outline the general appearance in their brains through the description of texts in the text. As the crystallization of wisdom of ancient Chinese people, people have attached great importance to earthquakes throughout the ages.
In ancient China, traditional Confucianism dominated. Since Han Dynasty Han Dynasty Emperor Wu of Han, he has "deposed all schools of thought and respected Confucianism ", which is very different from the ideological and cultural policies adopted by the Qin Dynasty " Burning books and burying Confucianism ".
Earthquakes are regarded as natural disasters in traditional Confucian culture. The heaven brings disasters, and the king is the unity of "heaven", "earth" and "people". Disasters are intended to warn the rulers.
The story behind
At this time, the ministers will meet and submit memorials to advise the rulers not to be sensual, sexual and sexual, resulting in an imbalance of yin and yang. In the eyes of ancient scholars and officials, was a manifestation of the ruler's lack of morality.
The Book of Songs says: "Ye Ye shakes the lightning, and it is restless and uneasy. The rivers are boiling, and the mountain tombs collapse. The high shore is a valley, and the deep valley is a tomb." The sentences of the sky collapse, the earth is a crack, the mountains turn into valleys, and the gullies turn into hills are the true description of the earthquake once every two years of the Youwang in the Zhou Dynasty.
Starting from " Han Shu ", there is another one in the Five Elements Records - earthquakes.
Ancient people did not know the specific reason for the earthquake, so they blamed the earthquake on the king .
But when facing natural disasters, the feudal rulers were gradually improving disaster relief strategies.
First of all, the rulers issued the " Sin of the Self-Sincerity ". As the king of a country, they quickly took the mistakes on themselves in order to appease the hearts of the people and follow the will of heaven.
Other inventions
When the king used Confucianism to rule by autocratic rule, he was also restricted by traditional Confucianism.
While the king was guilty of himself, he also vigorously reduced taxes and even provided silver subsidies to severely affected areas.
The kings of all dynasties also paid great attention to investigating the causes of earthquakes. Finally, in 132 AD, Zhang Heng, the Eastern Han Dynasty, created the world's first seismometer.
At that time, Zhang Heng was still in the palace as a Taishi Ling . He knew astronomy and geography on , and he also invented armillary sphere and guide .
is of great significance to guiding agricultural production, updating astronomical calendar , and promoting ocean navigation.
The seismometer was not moving at all six years after it was created.
Until February of the lunar calendar in 20138, it was placed in Luoyang City . The seismometer that was still moving, the coiled dragon in the west spit out the copper ball in its mouth. With a sound, it was crisp and loud, and it fell into the mouth of the toad in the west.
This means that a severe earthquake occurred on the west side of Luoyang .
Zhang Heng, who noticed this matter, immediately submitted a memorial requesting the then king to be filial to the emperor Liu Bao 5 to prepare materials to help the victims.
At that time, the residents of Luoyang City did not notice anything strange at all. Pedestrians were still in constant force on the street, and there was a peaceful scene without any tragic situation of natural disasters.
The court and the people talked about Zhang Heng and his inventions, believing that Zhang Heng was sensational and committed the crime of deceiving the emperor.
At this moment, a report came from the Longxi area, and it was the day when the seismometer warned that an earthquake occurred in Gansu area, thousands of miles away from Luoyang.
The whole country was shocked by Zhang Heng's seismometer, and everyone believed in Zhang Heng's intelligence.
Zhang Heng was originally valued by Emperor Shun of Han, and has always been a position of Shizhong who can directly speak to the emperor (used to be the prime minister).
The officialdom is frustrated
but Eunuchs and relatives of the Eastern Han Dynasty have serious power . The emperor basically made the eunuchs around him be his confidants, and the relatives of the outside world always control the government.
Because Zhang Heng often speaks out for advice, blocking their financial path and career path, they are not happy to see Zhang Heng rise step by step.
Zhang Heng, who was excluded from the inside and outside, was finally transferred out of the capital and went to Hejianwang to become the prime minister. died of illness at the age of 62.
is far away from the central government and is sent to a remote small country (homeday Bohai Rim region ), and is not valued by the rulers, which to a certain extent caused the loss of the seismometer.
The physical objects of the long history of seismometer, or the manuscript patterns of how to build seismometers, have all turned into dust in the long river of history and have been annihilated.
The seismometer model we see now is actually a brief text record left by later generations, and has been gradually improved through the wisdom of people of all generations.
has not achieved a complete reproduction in the true sense, and there are still many imprudent aspects that need to be corrected.
According to the originality of the records, the " Continuing Han Shu " records the Houfeng seismometer as follows:
Later generations used this as a benchmark to gradually explore the mystery of the seismometer.
Scholars are looking for clues about seismometers in the vast sea of information, and everyone's opinions vary.
But the consensus is that the detection of earthquakes by the seismometer actually uses the inertia principle of physics "force". When the seismometer is transmitted to the meter, the detection component opens the switch in the corresponding direction through the inertia generated by the seismometer.
The seismometer model we saw in the second history textbook of the seventh grade before was a seismometer model created by archaeologist Wang Zhenduo in the 1950s after verification.
The main core view of the seismometer model restored by Wang Zhenduo is the "upright pole principle":
The core component of sensing the seismo wave is similar to an inverted beer bottle. When the seismo wave enters the container, it will be sensed from which side. The core component is connected to 8 azimuth switches. When the earthquake is there, the switch will be turned on, allowing the copper ball in the dragon's mouth to fall to the corresponding direction.
Seismometer in the Chinese History Museum
As a respected archaeologist, Wang Zhenduo's views were highly praised by the historical community at that time.
Even the Chinese History Museum designed Zhang Heng's seismometer model based on the inference of senior Wang Zhenduo.
modified
many times, but in 2005, this inference was slowly denied.
Scholars of the National Earthquake Administration Feng Rui 's main core view is the "perpendicular swing principle":
The core component of sensing seismic waves is not standing perpendicularly inside the seismic meter, but hanging on the seismic meter, just like the pendulum of a clock, with a small ball tied below, the position of the small ball is located at the center of the circle composed of eight directional switches, and the distance to the eight switches is the same. It is still due to seismic wave inertia, which causes swing.
After various inference verification and model simulation, Chinese historian and scientific communities believe that the "vertical swing principle" is more in line with the working principle of Zhang Heng's original seismometer.
After passing through Feng Rui Research Institute, the seismic data in Gansu area was collected through relevant computers at the Luoyang Earthquake Station, simulated the Longxi seismic wave in 138, and then entered the corresponding seismic meter calculation model, and the seismic meter was continuously improved according to the results.
After four simulated earthquakes of all sizes, the digital seismometer has obtained good experimental feedback.
This also confirms that the working principle of Zhang Heng's seismometer is the "vertical swing principle".
So in the same year, researcher Feng Rui restored Zhang Heng's seismometer model. The seismometer restored this time does have a certain ability to perceive earthquakes.
This time, the successful restoration of Zhang Heng's seismometer is a model for combining science and technology with traditional culture.
"I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" once again combines science and technology with Chinese traditional culture , achieving major strides on the ideological level, providing us with new ideas for future archaeology. Before
, foreign scholars believed that Zhang Heng's seismometer was simply a result of making up random things and spreading rumors. This successful restoration also promoted the wisdom of our ancient working people.
Modern science and technology are not contrary to our ancient Chinese traditional culture . As long as we are good at using emerging modern Internet technologies, traditional culture can shine more and become more innovative over time, allowing people all over the world to feel the profoundness of Chinese culture.
Reasons for removing textbooks
So, why did the model created by Wang Zhenduo have been used by the textbooks for almost half a century before it was removed?
This is also related to the national conditions of our modern and contemporary China. The Zhang Heng seismometer model restored by Wang Zhenduo in 1952 was highly praised by the historical community. The National Education Bureau then compiled the seismometer model into the compulsory education textbook.
Education Bureau hopes that while we are reading and recognizing words, we will receive the influence of Chinese traditional culture, enhance our national self-confidence and pride, and allow us to develop a good cultural heritage and have a deeper understanding of the wisdom of our ancestors.
The original intention of the Education Bureau is good, but in the face of constant debates in the Chinese historiography and scientific circles, it is understandable that Wang Zhenduo's model image has been used without a clear conclusion.
Moreover, with the reform and opening up of the new China, the living standards of the Chinese people have also improved rapidly. We no longer worry about food and clothing, but pursue quality of life more.
This generation of people lives a good life and hopes that the next generation can continue to work hard.
Therefore, the Chinese people pay more and more attention to education issues. The 8-year compulsory education policy has basically prevented China from being illiterate. Even farmers who are still farming can read and understand basic newspaper digests.
Now the main contradiction in our new China has become the contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate. People are increasingly concerned about spiritual and cultural needs.
So in the field of education, the continuous textbook reform is also underway.
At the beginning, our elders might have learned a classical Chinese article called " Two Children's Day Debate ", but in our generation, it has not appeared in our textbooks again. There are many similar examples for
. The articles, mathematical formulas, and English words learned by the previous generations may be different from what we are learning now.
We can also look at the textbooks for each subject now, and we will also find that the textbooks have been partially modified. The era is constantly changing, and China's economic strength and the comprehensive quality of the people are also constantly improving.
While the economic foundation is constantly laid, education, as the superstructure, naturally must adapt to changes in the economic foundation.
Education adapts to changes in the economic foundation, which is not to remove the content of textbooks that do not conform to the facts, and combine it with the current social background, add new knowledge points to add vitality to the must-read books for people across the country.
This can explain why we have removed the Zhang Heng seismometer model picture that has been used for more than half a century.
Because it does not conform to the trend of the development of the times, it still remains in the past and will definitely be eliminated.
We can also imagine that a hundred years later, are the textbooks we are still familiar with now basically changed to brand new?
The current education reform is also slowly getting on the right track. Recently, we are still familiar with the policy of reducing the academic burden of primary and secondary school students, which has affected China's education and training industry. The purpose of is to be the harmony and happiness of students.
If the Zhang Heng seismometer model restored by Wang Zhenduo has not been deleted, on the one hand, it is disrespect for the facts and has not achieved the value of seeking truth and being pragmatic.
On the other hand, it is seriously misleading people's children. If you paste the wrong model to every household, they will think that Zhang Heng's seismometer is like this.
Children have a strong preconceived concept, and once formed, it is extremely difficult to correct .
So we must ensure that the child’s ideas and concepts of eyes, ears, mouth and nose are introduced to the maximum extent. We must be accurate and there must be no gray areas.
This also plays a great role in forming a correct view of children.
If many years later they find that the original compulsory education textbooks are full of loopholes, the children will question the authority of the China Education Bureau and our teachings to him.
With the sincere heart of education reform and shouldering the promise of education reform. If we do not move forward, we will lose our way.
takes one step in the educational reform, which is to remove the Zhang Heng seismometer model that had been used for half a century before, and re-select a new model to add.
Everything is becoming more and more perfect, and it comes from appropriate reforms. Fu Chengyi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that hanging pieces of meat under the beams is stronger than this. The sentence
seems a little heavier, and we cannot dismiss the explorations made by scholars Wang Zhenduo on the road to pursuing the truth.
After all, there is no absolute truth or absolute fallacy in the world. As long as the truth and fallacy can be transformed into each other under certain conditions.
In the process of exploring the truth, We can only slowly approach the other side of the truth, and no one can say that we have mastered the truth.
-end-
reference
"The "Zhang Heng Seismometer" was deleted from the textbook? Because it's unscientific? The truth is…》Guangming.com
