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Dream Pool Essays
Traditional Chinese 夢溪筆談
Simplified Chinese 梦溪笔谈
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin Mèng Xī Bǐtán
Wade–Giles Meng4 Hsi1 Pi3-t'an2
Wu
Suzhounese mon6 chi1 piq7 de2
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping mung6 kai1 bat1 taam4
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese /mɨuŋH kʰei pˠiɪt̚ dɑm/
Shen Kua sketch
Shen Kuo (沈括) (1031–1095 AD)

The Dream Pool Essays is a huge and important book written by a smart Chinese scholar named Shen Kuo (1031–1095). He was a polymath, which means he knew a lot about many different subjects. The book was published in 1088 during the Song dynasty in China.

Shen Kuo wrote this amazing book when he had to retire from his government job. He named it after his private home, which was near a place called Zhenjiang in China. Over the years, other Chinese writers changed and reorganized the book many times. Today, The Dream Pool Essays has been translated from Chinese into several languages, including English, German, French, and Japanese.

This book covers many cool topics. It talks about new ideas and discoveries in Traditional Chinese medicine, math, astronomy, science and technology, how light works, building design, metalworking, and even early archaeology.

Shen Kuo also wrote about the natural world. He observed animals, weather, and even had ideas about how the Earth's surface changes (called geomorphology) and how climate changes over time. He based these ideas on finding petrified (turned to stone) plants and animals, and seeing how natural erosion shaped the land. He even wrote about a strange unidentified flying object he heard about!

Shen Kuo made some big contributions. He was the first to explain that a compass needle points to true north (not exactly magnetic north). He also recorded the first use of a compass for navigation. He described the invention of movable type printing by an artisan named Bi Sheng. And he was the first in China to describe a drydock, which is a special place to repair boats out of the water.

History of the Book

Shen Kuo was a well-known government official and a military general in China during the Northern Song period. However, he was removed from his job in 1081. This happened because another official blamed him for a military loss against the Tangut-led Western Xia dynasty.

After this, Shen Kuo retired to his beautiful garden estate near Zhenjiang. He called his home the "Dream Brook." In 1088, he wrote and published The Dream Pool Essays (which in Chinese is Meng Xi Bi Tan). He said he named it "Brush Talks" because he only had his writing brush and ink to talk with.

Sadly, many of Shen Kuo's writings were lost over time. Only six of his books remain, and some of them have been changed a lot since he wrote them. The Dream Pool Essays was first mentioned in another Chinese book in 1095. This shows that it became popular quickly.

The book originally had 30 chapters. But in 1166, an unknown writer edited it into 26 chapters. There is one copy of this 1166 edition still in Japan. Later, in 1305, a new version was printed in China. In 1631, another edition was printed, but it was heavily reorganized into just three main chapters.

In modern times, parts of The Dream Pool Essays have been translated into modern Chinese. Many parts have also been translated into English by Joseph Needham in his famous book series, Science and Civilization in China. The first complete English translation was published in 2008. There are also Japanese, French, and German translations of parts of the book.

Amazing Discoveries and Ideas

Earth's Changing Face

Shen Kuo wrote about fossils and how the Earth's surface changes. He also had ideas about how climates shift over time.

He described finding something shaped like a snake or dragon that had turned to stone while digging a well. He also wrote about finding a whole forest of bamboo, roots and all, turned to stone deep underground near a river. This was strange because bamboo didn't grow in that area anymore. Shen Kuo thought that maybe in ancient times, the climate was different, making it possible for bamboo to grow there. This shows he was thinking about how the Earth and its climate change over long periods.

Looking at the Stars

Shen Kuo also had smart ideas about astronomy. When asked if the sun and moon were flat like fans or round like balls, he explained they must be like balls. He used the moon's phases (how it changes from a crescent to a full moon) to prove this. He said the moon doesn't make its own light, but reflects the sun's light, just like a silver ball.

He also explained why eclipses don't happen every day. He said the paths of the sun and moon are like two rings that are slightly tilted. So, even when they are in the same general area, they don't always block each other.

Shen Kuo also improved how people found the pole star. Before his time, people thought the pole star was exactly in the center of the sky. But Shen Kuo used a special sighting tube to watch the star. He found that the pole star actually moves in a small circle around the true center of the sky. He observed this for three months and made many diagrams to prove it to the emperor.

The Invention of Movable Type Printing

Shen Kuo wrote about an incredible invention by an artisan named Bi Sheng. Between 1041 and 1048 AD, Bi Sheng invented movable type printing.

Here's how it worked: Bi Sheng made individual characters out of sticky clay, as thin as a coin's edge. He baked them to make them hard. Then, he prepared an iron plate with a mix of pine resin, wax, and paper ashes. When he wanted to print, he put an iron frame on the plate and arranged the clay types (characters) close together inside it. Once the frame was full, it became a solid block of type.

He would then warm the plate near a fire until the paste melted a little. He would press a smooth board over the surface to make sure all the types were perfectly even. This method was not easy for printing just a few copies. But for printing hundreds or thousands of copies, it was incredibly fast! Bi Sheng often used two forms at once: while one was being printed, he would set up the types on the other. This way, printing was done very quickly.

Amazing Engineering

Shen Kuo also wrote about building methods. He praised a book called the Timberwork Manual by an architect named Yu Hao.

Shen Kuo shared a story where Yu Hao gave advice on how to make a wooden pagoda stable. A general was worried because a pagoda he was building swayed. Yu Hao said to add special wooden supports called "struts" and fix them with iron nails. This would connect all the parts of the building, making it strong and stable, like a cage.

Yu Hao's book also explained how to build things using specific measurements. It said buildings had three main units of proportion: one for the upper parts, one for the middle parts (like the ground floor), and one for the lower parts (like foundations). This meant that all parts of a building, from beams to columns, had fixed proportions to each other. The book even described how to build different types of ramps, from steep to easy-going.

Nature's Wonders

Shen Kuo observed many things in nature. He described a helpful insect that looked like a "dog-grub." This insect appeared in huge swarms and ate a harmful moth called zi-fang, which was damaging crops. The insect would grab the zi-fang with its pincers and break it in half. Within ten days, all the harmful moths were gone, and the farmers had a good harvest. Local people called these helpful insects "not allowing other [insects] to be."

Strange Happenings

Shen Kuo also wrote about unusual events. One passage describes a strange account of an unidentified flying object (UFO). He wrote that during the reign of Emperor Renzong (1022–1063), a bright, pearl-like object sometimes floated over the city of Yangzhou at night. People in other areas also saw it.

Shen Kuo wrote that a man near a lake saw this object. It "opened its door and a flood of intense light like sunbeams darted out of it." Then, its outer shell opened, showing a large pearl inside that lit up the interior with a silvery-white light. This light was so bright it cast shadows of trees up to ten miles away, like the rising sun. Then, the object quickly flew away and seemed to land in the lake.

Shen Kuo mentioned that a poet even wrote a poem about this "pearl." Because the "pearl" appeared often, people built a "Pearl Pavilion" where they could go by boat, hoping to see the mysterious flying object.

Swords and Clothing

Shen Kuo also wrote about how swords were made. He explained that ancient swords used a combination of hard steel for the edge and soft iron for the back. This made the sword strong but also flexible, so it wouldn't break easily. He also described the patterns seen in the steel, comparing them to the insides of a cooked fish.

He also noticed that Chinese clothing had changed over the centuries. He observed that since the Northern Qi period (550–557), Chinese clothes had adopted many styles from "barbarian" (non-Chinese) cultures. These included narrow sleeves, short robes, tall boots, and metal belt ornaments. He noted that narrow sleeves were good for shooting arrows while riding horses, and short robes and tall boots were useful for walking through tall grass, which was common where these other groups lived.

Book Topics

The Dream Pool Essays covers a wide range of topics, showing how much Shen Kuo knew! Here are some of the main areas:

(In total, the book has 584 paragraphs!)

See also

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