A Critical Study of Xiong Mingyu's (1579-1649) Gezhi Cao

Abstract

Xiong Mingyu’s lifetime was a critical epoch in the course of 'East meets West' during Late Ming and Early Qing period. His work on Western sciences notably the Gezhi Cao, was widely quoted and highly evaulated by his contemporaries as well as other Ming loyalists. Being a member of Donglin Group, Xiong maintained an open attitude and had a close relationship with Jesuit missionaries. As a matter of fact, the title of Gezhi Cao was clearly inherited from the Neo-Confucian term 'ge wu zhi zhi', i. e. to investigate things and extend knowledge to the utmost, Xiong incorporated a wide range of subjects of Western knowledge extracting from Chinese translation of Jesuit works into his book, including astronomy and related scientific instruments, meteorology, world geography and mapping, idea of soul and theory of creation etc. However, Gezhi Cao was not known by Chinese intellectuals since Early Qing that might be due to the campaign of book-banning. Xiong’s researches on Western science were heavily quoted by his disciple You Yi. You Yi’s Tianjng houwen (Queries on the Astronomical Classics) is a synthesis of Traditional and Western Knowledge,which describes the Tychonic planetary system and Xiong’s view, exerted great influence upon Japanese astronomy in Edo Period.

熊明遇生當明清鼎革之際“東西文化交流”的重要時刻。他的主著《格致草》廣被時人以至遺民征引和稱頌。作為明末東林黨的成員之一，熊氏對耶穌會士抱持開明的態度，并跟他們建立良好的友誼。正如書名所示，《格致草》的撰作，毫無疑問是繼承了宋明理學“格物致知”的傳統。《格致草》當中，具見熊明遇從耶穌會士的譯作中節引西學所涵蓋的多個領域，如天文學及相關科學儀器、氣象學、世界地理及繪圖、靈魂學說和創世理論。然而，約從清初行禁書之令后，《格致草》一書使銷聲匿跡，而國人也不復知此書仍存于天壤之間，熊明遇研究西方科學的成果又多被其門人游藝征引；游氏著作《天經或問》傳入日本后，當中提及第谷學說和熊明遇的觀點，對江戶時期的日本天文學產生過巨大的影響。