Chapter 19 Section 5 The Cultural Exchange between China and the West in the Yuan Dynasty

The westward spread of Chinese silk fabrics had another upsurge in the Yuan Dynasty.As early as during the Western Expedition of Mongolia, some Chinese weavers were brought to the Muslim world.Chinese phoenix, dragon, unicorn and other patterns were introduced into Muslim silk weaving patterns, and spread to Egypt and Asia Minor, where the Mongols had never been.At the same time, products such as Chinese silk, which were almost extinct in Western Europe, began to come to this region one after another.Since the end of the 13th century, Chinese silk brocades have become the fashionable clothing of dignitaries from all over Italy and the Holy See.The paintings and archaeological excavations at that time both reflected and confirmed this situation.For example, the "St. Louis of Tulus Coronation of King Robert of Naples" painted by the painter Simone Maldini in 1317. The bishop's crown and robe ribbon of St. Louis in the painting can be clearly seen as the Chinese silk fabrics.At the same time as Robert, the ruler of the northern Italian city of Verona, Gangrande, after archaeological excavation and sorting of his cemetery, it was found that the body in the coffin was covered with Chinese silk.Together with silk, the export of ceramics in the Yuan Dynasty still maintained the momentum since the Song Dynasty.A large number of fragments of Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain have been unearthed in Egypt and various parts of the Arabian Peninsula.Ibn Batuta also mentioned in his travel notes that Chinese porcelain has been exported to his hometown Morocco.

The circulation of Chinese banknotes was also introduced to the West during the Mongol and Yuan Dynasties. In the middle of the 13th century, Lubrook, who was an envoy to Mongolia, introduced Chinese banknotes.He said: "Khitan's usual money is a piece of cotton paper, with a length and width of about one palm. They have printed stripes on this paper, which are the same as the stripes on the seal of Mengge Khan." my country's banknotes first appeared During the Renzong period of the Northern Song Dynasty.The banknotes circulated in various Mongolian tribes during the period of Mongke Khan were obviously influenced by the Central Plains.During the Yuan Dynasty, the circulation of Chinese banknotes was introduced to the Muslim world.For example, the Arab geographer Ahema Xibabuding who died in Cairo in 1338 once recorded: "The Chinese use the rectangular paper made of mulberry fiber as coins, with the emperor's name printed on it. Use these When you buy paper money, take it to the officials, get a discount, and get another bill, just like coins minted in our printing factory with gold and silver bullion." Ibn Batuta also introduced: "Everything that has arrived The gold and silver in this country (referring to China) are all melted into lumps. As I said just now, all transactions are done in paper money, as big as the palm of your hand, with the emperor's imperial seal on it."

In addition, China's post system was also introduced into Egypt.After Egypt adopted the post system, the communication with Syria was unimpeded.At that time, if there was an emergency from Damascus to Cairo, it only took four days to arrive. Most notable was the spread of gunpowder. China is not only the inventor of gunpowder, but also the first country to manufacture various firearms, including copper cannons.As early as the seventh and eighth centuries A.D., Sun Simiao and others were good at using nitrate and sulfur as ingredients for making fire in alchemy.After the invention of gunpowder, it was quickly used in military affairs and became a highly lethal fire attack weapon. At the beginning of the 10th century, the "flying fire" used in our country's urban battles can be said to be the earliest firearm in the world.During the Northern Song Dynasty, the state established large-scale firearms and gunpowder factories. At the beginning of the 11th century, an improved gunpowder bag called "hand cannon" was created.This was followed by the invention of the Thunderbolt Cannon and the Iron Cannon similar to modern mines.In the Southern Song Dynasty, tube-shaped firearms, such as bamboo muskets, and flying muskets and torches that emit flames began to be used. In 1259, Shouchun (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province) appeared in Shouchun (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province). It used giant bamboo as the barrel, and used the explosive force of gunpowder to launch the sub-cup [keke] with a range of 150 paces. It is really the originator of modern shooting firearms.

The Yuan Dynasty inherited the technology of the Song Dynasty, further researched and developed it, and finally produced the earliest fire blunderbuss [chongchong]. Unearthed in Acheng, Heilongjiang in 1970, the copper blunderbuss used by Kublai Khan when he suppressed the rebellion (AD 1287) is 34 cm long and weighs 3.55 kg.At that time, the "gun pawns" who specialized in using this kind of firearm in China were actually the earliest batch of musketeers in the world. After gunpowder and firearms were invented in China, they quickly spread to the west.The manufacture of gunpowder was first introduced to Islamic countries through nitrate.The time was as early as the eighth and ninth centuries.The Persians call it "Chinese Salt" and the Arabs call it "Chinese Snow".The Southern Song Dynasty was partial to An, and the capital Lin'an (Hangzhou) was popular with "meteors" and "fireworks".Many people from the Arab region living in the area were so impressed by the flying fireworks that they soon introduced them to their hometowns.According to records, in 1249, the Minister of State of the Ayyubid Dynasty of Egypt, Omlai, personally presided over the first experiment of using gunpowder in an Islamic country.The gunpowder formula used in this experiment is likely to be the prescription of "Khitan flower" listed in an Arabic military book half a century later.

When the Mongols went south to the Central Plains, they mastered this scientific and technological achievement and marched westward with it. In 1260, Sultan Baibers of the Mamluk Dynasty in Egypt defeated the Mongolian Western Expeditionary Army in the First Battle of Damascus, captured some craftsmen who made gunpowder, and seized a large number of firearms.Since then, China's gunpowder and firearm technology has been spread westward on a large scale. In the 14th century, the Egyptian Mamluk Dynasty began to imitate Chinese firearms, which could launch rockets with muskets.On this basis, a firearm that fired iron pellets was successfully developed soon, and later developed into a musket. In the 1470s, Egypt also produced a bronze cannon capable of firing large cannonballs with an extremely long range.

Firearms spread westward from Egypt and soon reached Morocco.Morocco thus became a center for the manufacture of gunpowder and firearms, second only to Egypt. In 1590, Moroccan Sultan Ahmed Mansur sent troops to the Songhai Empire in the south of the Sahara, including 2,000 musketeers.Relying on the advantages of this new type of firearm, the Moroccans destroyed the last large empire in Western Sudan.Moroccans also used firearms against Portuguese invasions from the north. In 1342, the Moroccans used artillery to fight against the army of King Alfonso X of Portugal in the battle to defend Algeciras.The British Earls of Derby and Salisbury participated in the campaign and learned the use of artillery from the Moroccans.Three years later, at the Battle of Clécy in 1345, the British used artillery for the first time.Then the Portuguese also learned to use and make artillery and muskets.Since then, modern firearm technology has spread rapidly throughout Europe.When the Portuguese colonists first came to China in the 16th century, it was the new firearms that made them show off their might in front of the Chinese.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, several great ancient scientific and technological inventions of our country spread to the west of the Muslim world, and then spread to Europe from there, which is of great significance in the history of the world.The compass and its application to navigation played an important role in the opening of new European sea routes and the creation of the capitalist world market in the future.Navigating the vast sea without a compass, whether Columbus discovered America or Magellan circumnavigated the world is unimaginable.The westward spread of papermaking and printing enabled the writings of Western European bourgeois Enlightenment thinkers to be widely circulated in society, making ideological and theoretical preparations for the bourgeois revolution.The introduction of gunpowder to Europe made the castles of European princes and nobles in the Middle Ages vulnerable to the bourgeois revolutionary armed forces who had mastered firearms. looting.In short, on the eve of the great turning point in European history, the westward spread of these inventions played a revolutionary role in the collapse of European feudalism and the victory of capitalism.

When Chinese culture spread westward in the Yuan Dynasty, some technological and cultural achievements from the Arab world were also introduced to China. In the Yuan Dynasty, people from the Muslim world who immigrated to China often entered and left the court as Semu people, and were trusted and reused.They played a great role in spreading Arab culture, and some made great contributions in astronomy, calendar, medicine and so on. The greatest influence of Arabic science and technology on the Yuan Dynasty was astronomy and calendar.The "Astronomical Collection" written by Ptolemy, a scholar in Alexandria in ancient Egypt, was introduced into China, and it was translated as "The Ceremony of Making Sitian by Maizhesi".Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, attached great importance to this work. Before he came to the throne, he recruited Muslim astrology scholars, and at that time, Jamaluddin and others were called to come. In 1267 (the fourth year from Shizu to Yuan Dynasty), Jamaluddin "wrote it into the perpetual calendar, and Shizu issued it a little bit".In the same year, Jamaluddin "created the ritual image of the Western Regions".According to the research of the British scholar Joseph Needham, the almanac brought to Beijing by Jamaluddin is the book of the beginning and the end compiled by the Moroccan astronomer Abu Ali Hassan Malakousi.In Beijing, Jamaluddin met Guo Shoujing, an astronomer in the Yuan Dynasty of our country.When Guo Shoujing was in charge of reforming the new calendar, he was sure to have been influenced by the Arabic calendar.As for the astronomical instruments brought or made by Jamaluddin, they should be the instruments passed to China from the Malaga Observatory in Azerbaijan by the Ilkhanate at that time. Azimuths, celestial globes, globes and observatories.Their introduction and use have effectively promoted the progress of ancient Chinese astronomy and calendar.After the Yuan Dynasty in my country, the giantization of astronomical instruments was also influenced by Egypt.

Axel from Syria is proficient in many languages ​​in West Asia, and is good at ephemeris and medicine.During the reign of Guiyu Khan in Mongolia, Aixue came to China in 1246. He was deeply trusted and worked in Kublai Khan's residence. He once suggested the establishment of a Western Region ephemeris and medical agency.After Kublai Khan ascended the throne, he appointed Aixue to be in charge of the Western Regions Ephemeris and the Second Department of Medicine.In the Yuan Dynasty, Huihui Medicine Hospital was set up in Shangdu and Dadu.The existing "Huihui Medicine Prescription" engraved in the early Ming Dynasty should be the translation of Arabic medical books and medicine books in the Yuan Dynasty.There are still four volumes of "Huihui Medicine Prescription" collected by the Beijing Library.They are the catalog volume of the first volume; the stroke door of the second volume; the miscellaneous diseases door of the third volume;The medicine involved includes internal medicine, gynecology, pediatrics, surgery, orthopedics, acupuncture and pharmacy. "Huihui Medicine Prescription" is written in Chinese with some Persian text attached.It was originally supposed to be several Arabic pharmacopoeias circulated in the Muslim world. In 1273, the Dadu Medicine Academy founded by Aixue was renamed Guanghuisi.There are many descendants of the Ai Xue family, inheriting the family education, and continuously in charge of religion, ephemeris, medicine and other departments.

Scholars from the Islamic world mainly work in two departments, one is Huihui Sitiantai, and the other is Secretary Supervisor.Therefore, these two departments have brought together many collections from the Arab world, which embodies the situation of Sino-Arab cultural exchanges.According to statistics in 1272, only returning to Sitiantai declared that there were 242 scriptures in the station.Among them, there are 96 books of seven kinds of astronomy; 47 books of four kinds of mathematics, including the Arabic translation of Euclidean geometry; several books of six kinds of astrology and divination; 13 books of one kind of medical classics; Philosophy, historiography, poetics, and treasure knowledge technology books each have several volumes.The number of disciplines is unprecedented.In addition, there are four astronomical charts and instruments.

In terms of architecture, Yuan Dynasty Chinese architecture was influenced by the Arab world.The Arab architect Yeridier once presided over the construction of the imperial city and palace garden in the capital of Yuan Dynasty.At the same time, businessmen from the Muslim world who came to China built mosques and hospitals in Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and other places. Their architectural styles were also imitated according to the styles popular in Syria and Egypt.The earliest surviving mosque is the Qingjing Mosque in Quanzhou, which was built in 1009 and renovated in the 14th century.The architectural style of the gate tower of the temple is very similar to some monasteries and mausoleums in Aleppo and Cairo from the 12th to the 14th centuries.The gate tower is made of narrow and long pointed arches, and the entrance dome is made of cobweb-shaped pointed arches and stone carvings. The architectural style and style of the corridors are also exactly the same as the Islamic architecture of the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. In addition, the ancient Chinese sugar-making process was also affected by foreign influences.Before the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese were known to boil sugar with sugarcane juice, but the method was relatively backward.Since the technology of boiling sugar with cane juice in India reached a very high level in the seventh and eighth centuries AD, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty sent people to study it.In the Yuan Dynasty, some Egyptians came to China to teach the technology of making white sugar. In addition to Arab civilization, European Christian civilization was also directly introduced to China in the Yuan Dynasty.In the Yuan Dynasty, Christianity was collectively referred to as Yeli Kewenjiao, including Nestorianism that was originally spread in China and Catholicism introduced by the Franciscan sect in Rome.The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty specially set up the Chongfu Division to manage Yelike Wenjiao affairs. Together with the Xuanzhengyuan, which specializes in Buddhist affairs, and the Jixianyuan, which manages Taoist affairs, they became the three major institutions in charge of religious affairs.In the Yuan Dynasty, there were 30,000 to 40,000 believers in Yelike Wenjiao, most of whom were Mongolians and Semu people (the general name of the Yuan Dynasty for all ethnic groups in the Northwest, Western Regions, and even Europe except Mongolia).With the migration of Mongolian and Semu people, Yeli Kewen believers spread all over the country.At that time, there were Catholic churches in Beijing, Quanzhou, Datong, Yangzhou, Xinjiang and other places.With the introduction of Christianity, Christian music was also circulated in the streets and alleys of the capital.