A Comparative Study Metallurgical Parts Of Kunyu Gezhi And Tiangong Kaiwu

Kunyu Gezhi is a metallurgical book translated from the famous metallurgical book DE RE METALLICA from the late Ming Dynasty missionary Tang Ruowang.De Re Metallica is a classic book on mining and metallurgy in Europe.The book was written in 1550,which ss known as an epoch-making masterpiece of mining and metallurgy.Its author,Agricola,was born in Glauchau,Germany.He used be a doctor but focused on mining and metallurgy technology researches later,which made him known as “the father of modern mineralogy.”When Kunyu Gezhi was completed at the end of the Ming Dynasty,the central government was facing a fiscal emptiness.Tang Ruowang,the joint missionary of Li Tianjing,presided over the translation of the book and submitted it to the Emperor for publication in order to increase the amount of metal mining and enrich the country's treasury through mining.Although for various reasons,it has not been able to play a practical role at the local level,but the technology therein is recognized by some people of insight.Tiangong Kaiwu is the encyclopedia of technology of the Ming Dynasty.The metallurgical part of the book contains detailed descriptions and systematic reviews of the metallurgical technology in China at that time.Comparing the two works is of great significance for the studies of China's metallurgical technology in the late Ming Dynasty and the metallurgical technology imported from the West.Through the careful analysis and comparison of the metallurgical parts of Kunyu Gezhi and Tiangong Kaiwu,the contents of the two works were compared from the metallurgical melting furnace,the ore used in metallurgy,and the metallurgical method.Judging from the metallurgical melting furnace recorded in the two books,the Kunyu Gezhi accounts aremore detailed,have unique features in materials and design,and embody the scientific methods of inspection;the Tiangong Kaiwu was not introduced too much in the metallurgical melting pot.The furnace has wide applicability,and in terms of ironmaking,more reasonable and more efficient furnaces are recorded.From the point of view of the metallurgical ore recorded in the two books,Kunyu Gezhi has a well-established method of identification.For each of the stated ores,there are records of color,hardness,and richness,etc.In-depth description;Tiangong Kaiwu based on the local,more concerned about the origin of ore information,different types of metal ore only picked one of the main records,but did not form a fixed identification method,the introduction of different properties of ore Sometimes not.From the point of view of the metallurgical methods recorded in the two books,there are not many similarities,and the differences mainly appear in gold and silver separation methods,gold and silver smelting,brass smelting,and steel smelting.Among them,lanthanum lead is a kind of metal that the West was unable to smelt at the time,so it has become the only comparison point that has not appeared in both at the same time.The Kunyu Gezhi was born in the Renaissance period of Europe,and Tiangong Kaiwu was written on the occasion of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Because the two books are finished in a similar time in which the societies are extremely changing.They reflects not only the the similarities and differences in the metallurgical techniques used in China and the West but the differences in the levels of the development in the field of metallurgy.