In the astronomical calendar, Xu Guangqi introduced European astronomical knowledge represented by ancient Ptolemy's old geocentric theory and contemporary Tycho's new geocentric theory. He was familiar with the Chinese and western calendars at that time and presided over the compilation of the Chongzhen Almanac. In the almanac, he introduced the concept of round earth, and explicitly introduced the concepts of longitude and latitude of the earth. He introduced the concept of magnitude to the astronomical community in China. According to Tycho's catalog and China's traditional catalog, the first all-sky catalog was provided, which became the basis of the catalog in Qing Dynasty. In the calculation method, Xu Guangqi introduced precise formulas of spherical and plane trigonometry, and corrected parallax, air difference and time difference for the first time.
The compilation of Calendar of Chongzhen is a leap-forward breakthrough in China's ancient calendar reform, which laid the foundation for China's nearly 300-year calendar. Xu Guangqi's work of compiling calendars laid a certain ideological, theoretical and technical foundation for the development of astronomy in China from ancient times to modern times.
Xu Guangqi, also known as Hu Yun, 1562 was born in a poor family in Shanghai in April. The family plundered by the Japanese pirates could not provide superior conditions for his childhood, so they could only make a living and send him to school. Passing the imperial examination is the expectation of the whole family for Xu Guangqi. Xiao Guangqi realized the pains of his parents. He is smart and studious, and his academic performance has always been good. At the age of 20, Xu Guangqi was admitted as a scholar and passed the first level of the imperial examination. But after that, Xu Guangqi's luck was not so good. They took part in several consecutive provincial examinations in Sun Shan, but all failed. The family is poor, but there is still a long way to become famous. Forced to make a living, Xu Guangqi continued to cope with the imperial examination while helping his family to do some farm work, so he had to go to Guangdong, Guangxi and other places to be a rich female teacher.
In A.D. 1597, 35-year-old Xu Qi took the provincial examination again and walked into the examination room. In order to prepare for his exam in Anhui, his mother sold what little food she had at home, so the whole family didn't cook for several days. In order to save money, he carried his luggage and braved the heavy rain to walk along the river 100 miles. At the beginning of this exam, the examiners still kept Xu Guangqi out of the list. Until two days before the announcement of the list, Jiao Hong, the examiner and famous scholar, was still reviewing the papers that were unsuccessful. As soon as he read Xu Guangqi's paper, he "clapped his hands and cheered". When he saw the back, he was surprised and said, "There is no doubt that this famous scholar is also!" So Xu Guangqi rose from the loser to the first place in the exam. At that time, Xu Guangqi was famous all over the country, and the articles he took were compiled into "Reading Mo Jian Shu" until the Qing Dynasty, which served as a model essay for scholars all over the country.
Undoubtedly, this move by China people has brought new hope to Xu Guangqi's family, and even some upper-class people look at Xu Guangqi with new eyes. At that time, a big bureaucratic client in Shanghai took the liberty of marrying his daughter to Xu Guangqi's son. Xu Guangqi became the first, although proud, but also has its own difficulties. 20 years old is a scholar, 35 years old is a scholar. During this decade, Xu Guangqi spent most of his time studying the Four Books, the Five Classics and stereotyped writing. In fact, he is not a person who is very keen on being famous. He took part in the imperial examination, first to fulfill his parents' wishes, and second to change his embarrassing family situation and inferiority complex. Xu Guangqi also didn't care about stereotyped writing. Later, he told his son that it was all a little skill and it didn't help. He is more concerned about practical learning that can strengthen the country and benefit the people. So while he was immersed in poetry and eight-part essay, he also read a lot of art books and science and technology books.
Twenty-eight years of Wanli (AD 1600) is an extremely important year in Xu Guangqi's life journey. This year, he met Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit missionary, in Nanjing. Xu Guangqi, who was concerned about science and technology, was deeply attracted by the scientific and technological products such as prism, clock and sundial brought by this missionary. After a year of friendship, Xu Guangqi was deeply influenced by Matteo Ricci and was deeply impressed by a novel western science and technology culture. The following year, Xu Guangqi, a Ming Dynasty juren, was baptized in Nanjing and formally joined Catholicism, becoming the first Catholics in China history.
Xu Guangqi lived in the stormy end of the Ming Dynasty: during the period of crisis, domestic class contradictions intensified, peasant uprisings piled up like mountains, the invasion of Japanese pirates in the southeast coast intensified, and the Nuzhen nationality attacked the northeast again and again, and the country was in danger. At this time, with the ambition of serving the country, Xu Guangqi turned his attention to science and technology, hoping to use science and technology to eventually enrich Qiang Bing and save the motherland. In ancient China, where Confucianism dominated, science and technology were always ignored and slandered as "strange skills and cunning". China used to be ahead of the world in science and technology, but it fell behind the west in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, when Matteo Ricci introduced advanced knowledge of western science and technology to Xu Guangqi, Xu Guangqi's thought was born with the desire to borrow advanced western science and technology to make up for the deficiency of China's science and technology and introduce western practical science to revitalize the motherland. /kloc-in 0/600, he hit it off with Matteo Ricci in Nanjing, and became a Catholic without hesitation the following year, and was named Paul, which was a groundbreaking move in the Ming Dynasty with strict ethical norms. However, Xu Guangqi's move was not out of religious fanaticism, but his fundamental motive was to enrich Qiang Bing with western science and technology. This desire is so strong that nothing can stop his determination and ideal. Soon, an unprecedented pioneering work of translating and introducing western science and technology began.
Translation and introduction of western learning will connect China and the West.
1604, Xu Guangqi completed the last stop of the imperial examination tour, passed the examination and entered imperial academy as Jishi Shu. From then on, he put aside all the eight-part essays he hated all his life and devoted himself to practical learning. Xu Guangqi is a scholar-type official. He uses what he has learned on weekdays to preserve the good and the bad. In view of the decadent political, military and economic situation in the Ming Dynasty, he put forward a series of reform plans, such as "planning to go to the frontier to capture Shu", "handling Zonglu to inspect the frontier and discuss the salary", "on coastal defense" and "on Caohe River". It is all his painstaking efforts to discuss current affairs at this stage. However, Xu Guangqi's reasonable plan could not be implemented because of the weak words of the people and the rejection and opposition of the big bureaucrats in big noble.
At this time, Matteo Ricci also came to Beijing from Nanking, and from then on Xu Guangqi and Lima.