Xu Shou (18 18- 1884)
Wuxi people. He lost his father at the age of five and was raised by his mother. He witnessed the corruption and incompetence of the Qing court, humiliated the country and felt that the classics he had learned were of no practical value, so he turned to natural science. He and his fellow countryman Hua exhibited China's ancient natural science works, and went to Shanghai to buy back a batch of western science and technology books such as New Natural History for self-study from Mohai Library run by foreign missionaries. In order to understand some scientific principles, they made their own instruments and conducted experiments.
In the eleventh year of Xianfeng (186 1), Xu Shou and Hua were recommended to the shogunate by Zeng Guofan. In March of the first year of Tongzhi (1862), Xu Shou, Hua, and Xu went to work in Anqing Inner Ordnance Institute founded by Zeng Guofan. At that time, Zeng Guofan ordered them to build a ship. To this end, Xu Shou and Hua Heng went to a foreign ship on the Anqing River to observe it carefully and started to develop a steam engine with reference to the sketches in the New Collection of Natural History. On July/0/4 of the same year, the first steam engine in China was built in three months (cylinder diameter/0/.7 inch, engine speed 240 rpm). Then design and manufacture the hull part. Through the joint efforts of all technicians, a wooden boat with a length of 55 feet, a load of 25 tons and a speed of about 20 miles per hour was finally built in Tongzhi for four years, and it was named "Huangque", becoming the first self-made motor boat in China. At that time, when reporting this news, Zilin West Newspaper exclaimed "the success of China people's creativity".
In the sixth year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan sent Xu Shou (his son Yin Jian) to the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau established by Li Hongzhang in Shanghai (hereinafter referred to as Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau) to take charge of technical work. In view of the fact that the technology and raw materials for the development of China's arms industry were dependent on foreign countries at that time, he put forward four suggestions to Zeng Guofan, namely, translating western books, opening coal for ironmaking, building his own cannon, and practicing ship and navy, which was praised by Zeng Guofan.
In the seventh year of Tongzhi, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau set up a translation hall. Xu Shou presided over library affairs and personally participated in translation work, which lasted 17 years. He doesn't speak any foreign languages, and was translated by an Englishman, such as John Flair. He wrote a narrative. Since the first translation of The Origin of Turbine was published in that year, western scientific and technological books 17 volumes (105 volumes, 168 volumes) and 9 monographs with more than 2.87 million words have been translated and introduced, covering chemistry, physics, mathematics, medicine, military science and technology. The chemical comparison system includes chemical identification, chemical quality inspection and chemical number calculation. In the List of Chinese and Western Names in Chemical Materials, he adopted transliteration, took the first syllable of the original text to make new words, and added "gold" to all metal elements, such as translating "Mg" into "magnesium" and "Ca" into "calcium". This translation has been used by the chemical circles in China and borrowed by the Japanese chemical circles.
Xu Shou devoted his life to science and was a pioneer of modern chemistry in China. Frankly speaking, he doesn't want to be an official or be generous. After he was made into the first ship in China, the Qing court gave him the title of "the best craftsman in the world", but he never hung up, worked diligently, and finally broke down from constant overwork. Guangxu died in Shanghai Gezhi Academy on the sixth day of August in the tenth year of Guangxu, at the age of 66.
Xu (1845— 190 1)
The second son of Xu Shou. When he was young, influenced by his father, he became interested in science. 1862, 18 years old, he assisted his father Xu Shou in developing steam engines and ships in Anqing, and successively participated in the development of modern warships such as the first steamboat "Huanggu" and "Huiji" in China.
In order to better study modern western science and technology, Xu Shou and his son applied for the establishment of the translation hall of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and cooperated with westerners Wei Lieyali, John Flair and Jin Kaili to translate books. Xu translated a large number of western scientific and technological works in Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, such as: chemical classification, acoustics, electricity, military science, figurative images, figurative images, new steam turbine systems, necessary steam turbines, operating instructions, etc. , the world's advanced science and technology into China.
1874, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau established Longhua Firepower Plant, and Xu Shou and his son devoted themselves to the earliest gunpowder development in China. In this year, he was transferred to Tianjin Manufacturing Bureau. Under the auspices of Xu Shou and Xu, the Shanghai Bureau and Tianjin Bureau first adopted the lead chamber method to produce sulfuric acid in China.
1875 Shandong plans to set up machinery bureau. Under the strong recommendation of Ding Baozhen, then Governor of Shandong Province, Xu was transferred to the General Political Department of Shandong Province. Thanks to the efforts of Xu and his brothers and other technicians, Shandong Machinery Bureau was successfully established. In the modern industrial history of China, with its own technical strength, it set a model of introducing foreign machinery and equipment and building a modern enterprise independently.
During this period, Xu Yin Jian established a close relationship with Li Hongzhang through his work in Shandong Machinery Bureau. Li Hongzhang is going to build a Beiyang Navy with Germany as an example, and he needs a technical expert to deal with ordering warships and other matters. So after recommending Li to go to Germany, 1879, he also recommended Xu to be responsible for inspecting shipbuilding, ordnance and ordering ships in Germany, Britain and France in the name of Counsellor in German Embassy. After visiting Britain, France, Germany and other countries, Xu finally ordered two armored ships at Vulcan Shipyard in Constantine, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland), which are the two main forces of China and beiyang fleet. Another important task of Xu's trip to Europe is to "visit factories in various countries". This is the first time that China's scientific and technological personnel have made a systematic inspection of modern European industries. During the 20-month "trip to Europe", Xu visited more than 80 factories and other scientific and technological units, and nearly 200 items of process equipment and management methods were compiled into a book "Miscellaneous Notes on a Journey to Europe". Miscellaneous Notes on Europe is a documentary with rich contents and informative materials, which provides valuable historical materials for studying the communication between China and the West in modern times and the introduction and spread of modern western science and technology in China. 188 1 year, Xu also wrote a large number of technical papers, sent them back to China and published them in Gezhi Compilation, which played an important role in popularizing scientific and technological knowledge.
1900, Zhang Zhidong set up an industry in Hubei, trained a new army, invited Xu to take up his post, and went to Wuchang and Hanyang again. After Gengzi, foreign countries stopped supplying gunpowder to China. Xu shouldered the heavy burden of design, installation and trial production, and established the "Safety Powder Bureau" to produce black powder in three months. The original "Hanyang Iron and Steel Pharmaceutical Factory" is going to manufacture nitrocellulose smokeless powder because foreign workers leave the factory and put into production indefinitely. So, Xu went to the iron and steel pharmaceutical factory to trial-produce smokeless powder, and the trial-production was successful soon. However, just as the factory was about to put into production, on March 3 1 year, an explosion occurred in the laboratory, and Xu was unfortunately killed, becoming the first scientist in modern China who devoted himself to his career.
Shugaodi (1844- 19 19)
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He worked in the Translation Hall of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau for 34 years, and was a famous scientific translator in China in the early days.
Shu Gao was born into a peasant family in Shujia, Qiaozhuang, Cixi (now Qiao Zhuang Street, Jiangbei District, Ningbo). At that time, Shu Gao, from a poor family, entered a boarding school for boys run by the church. Smart and enterprising, Di is deeply loved by teachers. 1859 When the teacher returned to the United States, he took him and several talented students to the United States for further study. My major is medicine, and I graduated from 1867, ranking first in my class. Later, he studied in a theological seminary and returned to Shanghai after receiving a doctorate in theology from 65438-0873. It happened that Li Hongzhang founded the Arsenal, that is, he hired Shu Gao No.1, who was proficient in English and natural science, as a technician and doctor. Later, he was hired by Li Xingrui, general manager of GuangHua Library, and worked as an English teacher in Shanghai GuangHua Library 1877 for more than 26 years. This museum, also known as Shanghai Wentong Museum, has trained the first generation of students in China who are proficient in western languages and learning. Shanghai Cantonese Pavilion, together with Shi Jing Wentong Pavilion and Guangzhou Wentong Pavilion, has trained the first generation of diplomats and a large number of regular translators in China from 1863 to 1906, and is known as the cradle of modern translators and diplomats in China. During his teaching, Shu Gao passed on what he had learned abroad to his students, and made great contributions to the early training of foreign language and diplomatic talents in China.
Since 1878, Shu Gao has been working as a translator in the translation hall of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. During the self-improvement movement in the late Qing Dynasty, the library was the only specialized translation institution in China. The integrity, high quality and great influence of the book system he translated are only temporary. The library has translated and published about 200 books in western languages, from the introduction of military application technology and manufacturing technology to the introduction of the basic theory of natural science of acousto-optic electrification, which brought many new achievements of western natural science to modern China, represented the highest level of western scientific knowledge that most China people could understand during the Westernization Movement, and occupied an important position in the history of modern science and technology in China and the history of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. Shu Gao is the most important translator in China, and his translated works are quite rich, ranking first among translators in China.
Zhao (1840 ~ 1902)
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Xinyang, Jiangsu, Guangxu juren, proficient in medicine. In the eighth year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1869), he was invited to work in the translation hall of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. In the 15th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1889), he served as a medical officer, accompanied the embassies of Britain, France, Belgium and Italy, and returned to work in the translation hall of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau after returning to China. In the 23rd year of Guangxu, Dong Kang and others founded the Shanghai Book Translation Association, and in the same year, they founded the Medical Association with Wu. His translated works mainly focus on western medicine and health care, including Confucian medicine, optics, masterpieces of western medicine and forensic medicine, among which the masterpiece of western medicine was the largest translation of western medicine at that time, and Forensic Medicine was the first translation of western forensic medicine in China.
Hua (1833- 1902)
Mechanical engineering expert and mathematician. China is one of the representatives who mastered and disseminated modern science and technology in the early stage. Together with Xu Shou and others, he built China's first practical ship powered by a steam engine and presided over balloons made of nitric acid and hydrogen. In the field of mathematical research, he has made achievements in the fields of square root, product comparison and number root, translated many modern scientific and technological books, and introduced modern mineralogy, biological evolution theory and probability theory to China earlier. It has contributed to the modernization of science and technology in China.
Hua, Ruo Pavilion. 1833 was born in Dangkou, Nanyan Township, Jingui, Jiangsu (now Wuxi). His father, Hua Yilun, is a juren, and the official is up to four grades. Hua was not interested in the four books and five classics since childhood, but he was fascinated by arithmetic. His father bought him some old books, which enabled him to study China's traditional mathematics systematically when he was a teenager. I also visited Xu Shou in the same county (181~1884) to learn from each other and become bosom friends. They visited Li (181~1882), a mathematician who translated modern western science and technology books, and met with (1828 ~ 19 12) and foreign missionary Alexander. He and Xu Shou used to grind the crystal seal into a prism in their hometown to do white light color separation experiments, and also tested the parabola of bullet trajectory.
186 1 autumn, Zeng Guofan, Governor of Liangjiang, organized Anqing Ordnance Institute. At the beginning of 1862, Hua and Xu Shou were invited by Zeng Guofan to specialize in manufacturing matters. 1865, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang established Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau in Shanghai, and transferred Hua and Xu Shou to "build factories and set up machines". From 65438 to 0867, Hua and Xu Shou began to cooperate with foreigners to translate modern western scientific and technological books. The following year, the manufacturing bureau will have a translation hall. Since then, Hua has focused on translating books, and at the same time conducted research in mathematics and other aspects. 1876 After the establishment of Gezhi College, he went to teach 10 for more than 0 years and participated in the management of the College. From 65438 to 0887, he went to teach in Tianjin armament school founded by Li Hongzhang. 1892 Teaching in Wuhu Academy and Qiangzi School. 1896 returned to Jiangnan manufacturing bureau technical school to teach mathematics. 1898 returned to his hometown and taught in Wuxi Qiushi School. 1902 died.
He devoted his life to research, writing, translating books and teaching apprentices. He worked hard, lived frugally, was indifferent to fame and fortune, and did a lot of work in science and technology.
In addition to China native translators, some foreigners also participated in translation, the most famous of which is John Flair.
John Flair (1839 ——1928)
Formerly known as John Fryer, he was born in a poor pastor's family in Hayes Town, Kent, England. His family was poor, so he developed the character of studying hard and working hard from an early age. He yearned for China since he was a child, and he had a desire to work in China. A little longer. I am an apprentice in a winery. Later, he received government funding to study at Highbury Teachers College in London. After graduating from university, he went to Hong Kong in the 11th year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (186 1) and became the dean of Shengbaoguo College. Two years later, he was hired as an English teacher in Beijing Wentong Library. In the fourth year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1865), he was transferred to the principal of Shanghai Huaying School, and was the editor-in-chief of Zilin Foreign Firm's Chinese newspaper Shanghai New Newspaper. Tongzhi for seven years (1868), translated for 28 years in the Translation Hall of Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and compiled the Collection of Modern Books in Western Countries. Gezhi Academy was founded on the 23rd day of the first month in the second year of Guangxu reign (1February/July, 876), and published the scientific magazine "Gezhi Compilation" at its own expense. Most of them contain scientific knowledge, mainly news, with a "Q&A" column, which lasted from the first issue to the end of publication, with a total of 322 articles and 500 questions exchanged. Guangxu three years (1877), was promoted to the director of Shanghai Yizhi Bookstore, engaged in popular science work. In the 22nd year of Guangxu (1896), he went to the United States and became a professor of oriental literature and language at the University of California, and later became an American citizen.
The Qing government awarded three titles and medals. He has translated 129 books in western languages (mostly of a scientific nature) alone or in cooperation with others, and is the person who has translated the most books in western languages among foreigners in China.