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Abstract
( The Song Dynasty’s History : The biography of Shen Kuo ) claimed that Shen Kuo was “ Erudite and well – versed in literature, an expert in astronomy, local history, laws of calendar, music, medicine and fortune telling. And Shen Kuo also had a say and publications in these fields.”(A synopsis in the comprehensive table of contents of Siku Quanshu ) mentioned that “Shen Kuo was the most learned man in Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore he had investigated in the anecdotes, astronomy, algorithm and music.” One of his publications “ Meng Xi Bi Tan ” was highly respected by a lot of scholars who study the history of Chinese science , it was named “ The coordinate in Chinese science history ”. Shen Kuo’s accomplishments in science was widely known, those who study Shen Kuo throughout history also emphasize more on his value in the scientific aspect, and often neglect his success in humanities. In fact, Shen Kuo was not only a pioneer in science during The Song Dynasty, but he also preserved a lot of historical data for the investigation of people and social milieu in his works. Its value lies especially in philology which is truly a treasure to the Chinese people.
This paper wants to investigate Shen Kuo’s life, publications, and to discuss the contributions of one of his books ; “ Meng Xi Bi Tan ”. The entire essay is divided into six chapters: Chapter 1 An introduction, Chapter 2 The current study of “ Meng Xi Bi Tan ”. I’ll discuss the purposes of this study, how I sample materials, methods of investigation, and the results excavated by recent scholars who study “ Meng Xi Bi Tan ”.It is divided neatly into science and humanities so as to benefit academic survey. Chapter 3 The life of Shen Kuo and his publications, The analysis of the versions of. Kuo Shen’s life and then how he went on to become a government official. I put Kuo Shen’s publications in order according to Confucian classics, history, philosophy and literature. To closely exam what was put down in writing and its version, hoping to have a whole and general understanding of Kuo Shen’s background and publications. Chapter 4 The documentary value of “ Meng Xi Bi Tan ”. We discuss all these according to its name, rolls, manuscripts, and the current volume. Chapter 5; It had seven outstanding contributions namely, recorded in the books, emphasize on the collection and comparison, error corrections , explanation of poems and materials, a compilation of those shown in history as well as those that are not, verifying the historical data and confirmation of books on medicine. I also consulted the different publications of Song Dynasty in order to say that “ Meng Xi Bi Tan ” has the following characteristics in philology, such as, real object identification, objective and real, knowing what is sham and what is not, encompasses lots of studies, inclusive of everything, think highly of the inscriptions on ancient bronzes and stone tablets, to compile the literatures. Chapter 6 Conclusion.
I also compiled Shen Kuo’s chronicle and categorical list for “ Meng Xi Bi Tan ” etc, in the related chapters ; chapter 2 and chapter 5, so as to put the words systemically which makes retrieving them more convenient. The references and photocopies of the front covers of the books are at the end of the paper.
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