Shen Kuo
polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty
1031 CE to 1095 CE
Shen Kuo or Shen Gua (1031–1095), courtesy name Cunzhong and pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng, is a polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty (960–1279).
Excelling in many fields of study and statecraft, he is a mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist, geologist, zoologist, botanist, pharmacologist, agronomist, archaeologist, ethnographer, cartographer, encyclopedist, general, diplomat, hydraulic engineer, inventor, academy chancellor, finance minister, governmental state inspector, poet, and musician.
He is the head official for the Bureau of Astronomy in the Song court, as well as an Assistant Minister of Imperial Hospitality.
At court his political allegiance is to the Reformist faction known as the New Policies Group, headed by Chancellor Wang Anshi (1021–1086).
In his Dream Pool Essays (Mengxi Bitan) of 1088, Shen is the first to describe the magnetic needle compass, which will be used for navigation (first described in Europe by Alexander Neckam in 1187).
Shen discovers the concept of true north in terms of magnetic declination towards the north pole, with experimentation of suspended magnetic needles and the improved meridian determined by Shen's astronomical measurement of the distance between the polestar and true north.
This is the decisive step in human history to make compasses more useful for navigation, and may have been a concept unknown in Europe for another four hundred years (evidence of German sundials made circa 1450 show markings similar to Chinese geomancer compasses in regards to declination).
Together with his colleague Wei Pu, Shen plans to map the orbital paths of the Moon and the planets in an intensive five-year project involving daily observations, yet this is thwarted by political opponents at court.
To aid his work in astronomy, Shen Kuo makes improved designs of the armillary sphere, gnomon, sighting tube, and invented a new type of inflow water clock.
Shen Kuo devises a geological hypothesis for land formation (geomorphology), based upon findings of inland marine fossils, knowledge of soil erosion, and the deposition of silt.
He also proposes a hypothesis of gradual climate change, after observing ancient petrified bamboos that had been preserved underground in a dry northern habitat that would not support bamboo growth in his time.
He is the first literary figure in China to mention the use of the drydock to repair boats suspended out of water, and also writes of the effectiveness of the relatively new invention of the canal pound lock.
Although Ibn al-Haytham (965–1039) had been the first to describe camera obscura, Shen is the first in China to do so, several decades later.
Shen writes extensively about movable type printing invented by Bi Sheng (990–1051), and because of his written works the legacy of Bi Sheng and the modern understanding of the earliest movable type has been handed down to later generations.
Following an old tradition in China, Shen creates a raised-relief map while inspecting borderlands.
His description of an ancient crossbow mechanism which he himself unearths proved to be a Jacob's staff, a surveying tool which will not be known in Europe until described by Levi ben Gerson in 1321.
Shen Kuo writes several other books besides the Dream Pool Essays, yet much of the writing in his other books has not survived.
Some of Shen's poetry is preserved in posthumous written works.
Although much of his focus is on technical and scientific issues, he has an interest in divination and the supernatural, the latter including his vivid description of unidentified flying objects from eyewitness testimony.
He also writes commentary on ancient Daoist and Confucian texts.
World
The Far East
View →Related Events
Showing 9 events out of 9 total
The polymath Shen Kuo is appointed in 1072 as the head official for the Song Bureau of Astronomy, where he begins his groundbreaking work with the colleague Wei Pu on accurately plotting the orbital paths of the stars, planets, and moon three times a night for a continuum of five years.
In his career as a scholar-official for the central government, Shen Kuo is also an ambassador to the Western Xia Dynasty and Liao Dynasty, a military commander, a director of hydraulic works, and the leading chancellor of the Hanlin Academy.
With his impressive skills and aptitude for matters of economy and finance, Shen is appointed as the Finance Commissioner at the central court, where he is a political favorite of the Chancellor Wang Anshi, who is the leader of the political faction of Reformers, also known as the New Policies Group (Xin Fa).
Shen Kuo has a previous history with Wang Anshi, since it was Wang who had composed the funerary epitaph for Shen's father, Zhou.
Shen Kuo had soon impressed Wang Anshi with his skills and abilities as an administrator and government agent.
In 1072, Shen is sent to supervise Wang's program of surveying the building of silt deposits in the Bian Canal outside the capital city.
Using an original technique, Shen successfully dredges the canal and demonstrates the formidable value of the silt gathered as a fertilizer.
Chancellor Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty creates a new bureau of the central government called the Directorate of Weapons, which supervises the manufacture of military armaments and ensures quality control.
Shen Kuo, while employed by the central government, is also sent out with others to inspect the granary system of the empire, investigating problems of illegal collections, negligence, ineffective disaster relief, and inadequate water-conservancy projects.
While Shen is serving as the regional inspector of Zhejiang in 1073, the Emperor Shenzong of Song requests that Shen pay a visit to the famous poet Su Shi (1037–1101), at this time an administrator in Hangzhou.
Shen takes advantage of this meeting to copy some of Su's poetry, which he presents to the Emperor indicating that it expresses "abusive and hateful" speech against the Song court; these poems will later be politicized by Li Ding and Shu Dan in order to level a court case against Su.
With his demonstrations of loyalty and ability, Shen Kuo is awarded the honorary title of a State Foundation Viscount by the emperor, who places a great amount of trust in Shen Kuo.
He is even made 'companion to the heir apparent' (’Taizi zhongyun').
Shen Kuo gains further reputation at court once he is dispatched as an envoy to the Khitan Liao Dynasty in the summer of 1075.
The Khitans have made several aggressive negotiations of pushing their borders south, while manipulating several incompetent Chinese ambassadors who concede to the Liao Kingdom's demands.
In a brilliant display of diplomacy, Shen Kuo comes to the camp of the Khitan monarch at Mt. Yongan (near modern Pingquan, Hebei), armed with copies of previously archived diplomatic negotiations between the Song and Liao dynasties.
Shen Kuo refutes Emperor Daozong's bluffs point for point, while the Song reestablish their rightful border line.
Shen, with regard to the Lý Dynasty of Dại Viet (in modern northern Vietnam), demonstrates in his Dream Pool Essays that he is familiar with the key players (on the Vietnamese side) in the prelude to the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1075–1077.
With his reputable achievements, Shen becomes a trusted member of Wang Anshi's elite circle of eighteen unofficial core political loyalists to the New Policies Group.
Shen Kuo, to allow more accurate astronomical observations and recordings, has improved the technical designs of the rotating armillary sphere, the gnomon, the clepsydra clock, and the sighting tube.
He has calibrated the standard diameter of the sighting tube's width, hence allowing the observation of the polestar indefinitely (which had shifted since the time of Zu Geng in the fiftht century).
With these, Shen and Wei have attempted to predict the mean speeds of the planets as well as the accurate positions of the planets in their orbits.
They have established a system of observing and recording on a star map the exact coordinates of the planets, done three times a night for a total of five years.
Shen Kuo has made a cosmological hypotheses in explaining the variations of planetary motions, including the concept of retrogradation.
On the other hand, Wei Pu realizes that the old calculation technique for the mean sun is inaccurate compared to the apparent sun, since the latter is ahead of it in the accelerated phase of motion, and behind it in the retarded phase.
Hence, he incorporates solar motion into the eclipse theory.
The Song Dynasty astronomers of Wei's day still retain the lunar theory and coordinates of the earlier Yi Xing (683-727), which after three hundred and fifty years has devolved into a state of considerable error.
To fix this, Shen and Wei have kept similar astronomical records, three times a night over five years, for the orbital path of the moon.
Wei and Shen's work is deeply opposed by the officials and fellow astronomers at court, who are offended by their insistence that the coordinates of the renowned Yi Xing are inaccurate.
The elite, well-educated ministers and leading astronomers are also insulted by the fact that Wei Pu had been born a commoner, yet holds more expertise in his field than many of them.
When Wei and Shen make a public demonstration using the gnomon to prove the doubtful wrong, the other ministers reluctantly agree to correct the lunar error.
Although correcting the lunar error is a success, the other ministers and officials eventually dismiss Wei and Shen's recorded course plotting of planetary motions, while the court relies upon the inefficient and older model.
This means that only the very worst errors are corrected for planetary motion.
Shen Kuo had been entrusted as a military officer in defense of Yanzhou (modern-day Yan'an, Shaanxi province) a few years after Song Dynasty military forces made territorial gains against the Tanguts of the Western Xia.
During the autumn months of 1081, Shen is successful in defending Song Dynasty territory while capturing several fortified towns of the Western Xia.
Emperor Shenzong has rewarded Shen with numerous titles for his merit in these battles, and in the sixteen months of Shen's military campaign, he has received two hundred and seventythree letters from the Emperor.
However, Emperor Shenzong trusts an arrogant military officer who disobeys the emperor and Shen's proposal for strategic fortifications, instead fortifying what Shen considers useless strategic locations.
Furthermore, this officer expels Shen from his commanding post at the main citadel, so as to deny him any glory in chance of victory.
The result of this is nearly catastrophic, as the forces of the arrogant officer are decimated; Xinzhong Yao states that the death toll was sixty thousand.
Nonetheless, Shen is successful in defending his fortifications and the only possible Tangut invasion-route to Yanzhou.
Shen's defensive victories are marginalized and sacrificed by the new Chancellor,Cai Que, who hands Yanzho over to the Tanguts as terms of a peace treaty).
Cai Que holds Shen responsible for the disaster and loss of life.
Along with abandoning the territory for which Shen Kuo had fought, Cai ousts Shen from his seat of office.
Shen's life is now forever changed, as he has lost his once reputable career in state governance and the military.
Shen Kuo is now placed under probation in a fixed residence, where he is to live for the next six years.
However, as he is isolated from governance, he decides to pick up the ink brush and dedicate himself to intensive scholarly studies.
After completing two geographical atlases for a state-sponsored program, Shen will be rewarded by having his sentence of probation lifted, allowing him to live in a place of his choice.
Shen will also be pardoned by the court for any previous faults or crimes that had been claimed against him.
The Dream Pool Essays represents the earliest known writing about the magnetic compass, movable type printing, experimentation with the camera obscura only decades after Ibn al-Haytham, and includes many different fields of study in essay and encyclopedic form, including geology, astronomy, botany, zoology, mineralogy, anatomy, pharmacology, geography, optics, economics, military strategy, philosophy, etc.
Published in this year by the polymath scientist and statesman Shen Kuo, the book features some of Shen's most advanced theories, including geomorphology and gradual climate change, while he improves Chinese astronomy by fixing the position of the pole star and correcting the lunar error by plotting its orbital course every night for a continuum of five years.
Shen's book is also the first to describe the drydock in China, and discusses the advantages of the relatively recent invention of the canal pound lock over the old flash lock.