The book "Heavenly Creation" is very interesting and comprehensive.

The whole book is divided into "Nailiang" (grain), "Naifu" (textile), "Zhangshi" (dyeing), "Essence" (grain processing), "Salty" (salt), "Ganxi" (sugar), "Paste" (edible oil), "Taoyun" (ceramics), "Smelting and Casting", "Boat and Car", "Hammering", "Burnt Stone" (coal and stone firing), "Finishing Stone" (papermaking), "Hardware", "Jiabing" (weapons), "Danqing" (mineral pigment), "Qu Tiler" (koji) and Jewel.

The book describes in detail the types, origins, production technologies and technological equipment of various crops and handicraft raw materials, as well as some production organization experience.

The first volume records the cultivation and processing methods of cereals, beans and hemp, the weaving and dyeing techniques of silk, cotton and ramie, and the processes of salt and sugar production.

The contents of the middle volume include the production of bricks and ceramics, the construction of vehicles and ships, the casting and forging of metals, the mining and firing of coal, lime, sulfur and alum, as well as oil extraction and papermaking methods.

The second volume deals with the mining and smelting of metal minerals, the manufacture of weapons, the production of pigments and koji, and the collection and processing of pearls and jade.

This book is scattered and embodies the knowledge of ancient Chinese physics, such as water lifting tools (cylinder cars, water beaches, windmills), rudders, steel filling, mud casting kettles, lost wax casting, coal mine gas removal methods, salt shafts in the salt pit (pumps), melting, extraction methods, etc., there are many physical knowledge of mechanics, heat and so on.

In the chapter "Hardware", it is clearly stated that zinc is a new metal, and its smelting method is recorded for the first time.

That's pretty remarkable......

The book also records the cases of farmers cultivating new varieties of rice and barley, studies the effects of soil, climate and cultivation methods on the changes of crop varieties, and notes the mutations caused by the hybridization of different varieties of silkworm moths.

It shows that through human efforts, the characteristics of animals and plants can be changed, and the scientific insight that "soil veins vary from age to era, and species are divided with water and soil".

This view proved to be very correct in later generations.

The book is the world's first comprehensive work on agriculture and handicraft production, and is a great scientific and technological work in Chinese history. It systematically summarizes the various technologies of ancient China and constitutes a complete scientific and technological system.

The rich experience in agriculture is summarized, and the achievements of process technology are fully reflected.

The preciousness of "Heavenly Creations" lies in the fact that it describes many advanced scientific and technological achievements in industrial and agricultural production.

The book uses technical data to give quantitative descriptions, revealing advanced scientific ideas and theoretical elaborations, focusing on the introduction of theoretical concepts rather than simple technical descriptions. In terms of agriculture, "Naili" pointed out that 30 days after rice seedlings are raised, they will be pulled out and planted, and one mu of seedling field can be transplanted to 25 mu, that is, the ratio of seedling field to Honda is 1:25.

It is also said that there are three buckets of drinking water for upland rice and five buckets for drinking water for late rice, and they will dry up when they lose water. These technical data have a guiding role in agricultural production and are the theoretical basis for seedling raising, transplanting and irrigation, which have not been mentioned in previous agricultural books.

"Heavenly Creations" also reflects Western learning to a certain extent, such as "Where the method of welding iron, Western countries have strange medicines." The Chinese small welding uses white copper powder, and the large welding is trying its best to swing the hammer and force it, and it cannot be strong after a long time. Therefore, there are forged cannons in the west, and China only relies on smelting and casting. ”

The "Theory of Species Development and Variation" in "Heavenly Creations" was more than 100 years earlier than the "Provenance Theory" of Carver Wolf in Germany; the "Breeding of Improved Varieties by Animal Crossbreeding" was more than 200 years earlier than the theory of Biltz Bisya in France; and the gas emptying in coal mining, roadway support, and chemical changes were also much more advanced than the foreign sciences at that time.

In particular, the research results such as "ashes dipped in seedling roots" and "seed characteristics are divided with water and soil" are major breakthroughs in agricultural history.

"Tiangong Kaiwu" describes in detail the cultivation of new varieties of silkworms: the yellow cocoon silkworm was crossed with the white cocoon silkworm to breed the brown cocoon silkworm, and the "early male" and "late female" were crossed to breed the "Jia Chong", which was more than 200 years earlier than the similar record in France.

In the chapter "Hardware", Song Yingxing is the first scientist in the world to scientifically discuss zinc and copper-zinc alloy (brass).

He made it clear that zinc was a new metal and for the first time documented how it was smelted. This is one of the important achievements in the history of metal smelting in ancient China, making China the only country in the world that can smelt zinc on a large scale for a long time.

Song Yingxing's method of refining brass with metal zinc instead of zinc compound (calamine) is the earliest record in human history of using copper and zinc to directly fuse two metals to obtain brass. The series use of iron-making and iron-frying furnace is summarized and proposed, and the pig iron is directly fried to mature iron, which has the important characteristics of modern metallurgical technology.

This method did not exist in Europe in the 17th century.

The case of farmers cultivating new varieties of rice and barley was recorded, the influence of soil, climate and cultivation methods on the changes of crop varieties was studied, and the mutation caused by the hybridization of different varieties of silkworm moths was also noted, indicating that the characteristics of animals and plants can be changed through human efforts, and the scientific insight that "the soil veins vary from time to time, and the species are divided with water and soil" was obtained, which advanced the understanding of ecological variation of ancient Chinese scientists and put forward a theoretical basis for the artificial cultivation of new varieties.

The piston blower technology described in "Tiangong Kaiwu" is more advanced than that of European blower equipment. Special chemical heat treatment processes such as copper alloys, rattle molding, iron anchor forging, steel needle drawing, and "pig iron showers" and metal composite materials are also the earliest clear records. In modern times, its rationale still applies.

In terms of mechanical dynamics, Tiangong Kaiwu recorded many inventions and creations in China in terms of mechanical power, such as flower machines for weaving and fabrics, which were not available in foreign countries at that time. "Pure Essence" introduces the water mill device invented in the Han Dynasty in China, which connects the three parts of the power machine, the transmission machine and the working machine, more than 1,000 years earlier than the British trial of a water wheel to drive two disc mills.

The drilling technology in "salty" is more than 300 years earlier than the Russian drilling technology.

Tiangong Kaiwu is taken from "Tiangong and its replacement" and "Kaiwu Chengwu", which embodies the simple materialist view of nature, which is different from the orthodox science at that time. This heterodox ideological trend reflects a new social phenomenon and the orientation of the times.

However, an individual's thinking can be different from the mainstream, but it cannot be beyond the times. In ancient times, agriculture was the top priority, so Song Yingxing's articles also reflected the idea of precious grains and light gold and jade.

Pan Jixing, an expert in the history of Chinese science and technology, mentioned in "Song Yingxing's Commentary" that "Heavenly Works, Creations, and Saltiness" and "On Qi, Qi and Sound Five" both said that "there are five qi in the sky, and there are five elements", believing that the five elements of water, fire, earth, metal, and wood are born from the corresponding qi, and are not the most primitive origin of all things.

Song Yingxing further expounded the principle of the generation of all things after analyzing the interrelationship and transition level of water, fire, earth, gold and wood, that is, solving the relationship and transition between the material transition level of "qi and form" and the material transition level of form.

"Heavenly Creations: Tao Yin" pointed out: "Water and fire are both good and earth are harmonious. In a country of 10,000 rooms, there are not enough people to work thousands of people a day, and there are many civil servants. This means that by the interaction of water and fire on clay, it is sintered into ceramics for daily use.

Pan Jixing believes in "Song Yingxing's Commentary" that Song Yingxing discusses the generation mechanism of all things in the natural world, and divides organisms into two categories: plants and animals, and in the development sequence of organisms from low to high, plants, that is, plants and trees are relatively basic.

He divided the animals into insects, fish, birds, walkers, and finally the "spirits of all things" according to the sequence of development. He believes that animals evolve and generate from plants, and plants evolve and generate from inorganic matter, and in the final analysis, they arise through the interaction between water, fire, and earth.

Song Yingxing wrote: "Qi from the ground to promote a grain, the small one is Peng, the big one is the wood that hides the cow and the sky, this grain is originally geometric, and the rest are transformed by Qi." "Plants and trees grow with water, soil and fire (combustible organic fertilizers). The cultivation of various plants such as rice, wheat, hemp, beans, mulberry, cotton, kudzu, herbaceous dyes, oil plants, sugarcane, bamboo, trees and various trees described by Song Yingxing in "Heavenly Creations" is carried out according to this principle.

He also described in detail the interaction of these plants into vegetable oil, sugar, clothing, dyes, paper, cars and boats, as well as tools and daily necessities such as wood, oil presses, sugar wheels, looms, various agricultural tools, cooking pots, etc.

Although cereals are grown mainly by water, soil and gold, it is not possible without the cooperation of fire, which is expressed in the form of sunlight. If there is no sunlight (yang, fire) and rain (yin, water) continues, the yield will be reduced. As for grain processing and food manufacturing, it is not possible to do without water, fire and gold.

Due to the interaction of the five qis, a variety of plants and their processed products are produced, like all things in the inorganic world, for people's daily use, and in the final analysis, they are also generated by the material level of the Yuan Qi → the form and the qi → form.

Pan Jixing believes in "Song Yingxing's Commentary" that Song Yingxing described in detail the technology of making various products from animal bodies in "Heavenly Creations". According to his philosophical point of view, although the animal kingdom belongs to a higher stage of development than the plant kingdom, its material origin is still nothing more than the gradual generation and evolution of the material level of vitality, form and qi, form and plant, although he does not tell us how long it will take to complete these transitions.

In his discussion of the material unity of the animal, plant and mineral worlds, he also spoke of the reasons for the diversity of the material world.

Pan Jixing believes in "Song Yingxing's Commentary" that because the material elements of water, fire, earth, and gold and wood interact with each other, they produce a large number of things.

As Song Yingxing said in "Heavenly Creation", many natural objects have produced countless things that are not in nature itself through artificial action. In his words, it was "either fake manpower or made of heaven"

Pan Jixing mentioned in "Song Yingxing's Commentary" that when talking about the diversity of things in the material world, Song Yingxing wrote in "The Preface to the Creation of Heavenly Works": "The heavens and the earth are loaded, and the number of things is tens of thousands, and because of it, the twist is not left behind." How manpower is it?"

It basically means that there are tens of thousands of things between the earth, and through various changes to form a perfect world, which is probably not all human can do.

His philosophical proposition that "the form is ever-changing but not endless" can now be understood as the diversity of the material world composed of finite elements and atoms in their ever-changing and infinite combinations. Modern theories of the structure of matter also prove that the view of matter is correct, because everything in the universe is ultimately made up of atoms.

Pan Jixing argues in his Commentary on the Biography of Song Yingxing that when Song Yingxing developed the natural philosophy of the generation and evolution of all things, he closely integrated his philosophy with science and technology, and used the examples of the 30 technical processes described in the Heavenly Creations to support and explain his philosophical thoughts.

This is not only something that no other philosopher in Chinese history could do, but also a great scientist like Li Shizhen could not do it.

When he explained the gradual transition from the most fundamental vitality to the inorganic world and the living natural world, he provided us with a picture of the generation and evolution of all things, and its basic transition levels are: vitality→ water, fire→earth→ gold and wood→ inanimate → plants and trees (living things), → animals (advanced organisms).

One of the most critical steps is the transformation from inanimate to biological.

This point of view, Han Xiao believes that until the new world, it is still correct. Because, as far as the immortal cultivation civilization is concerned, some essence stones can become spirits after years of refining the essence of the sun and the moon!

This is also the transformation from inanimate to living things.

The universe, or in other words, nature is so magical, this kind of magical power, ordinary people can't see or feel.

The more profound the cultivation, the more the vastness and majesty of the universe can be ......