Zhiweilu

The Renzong Dynasty of the Northern Song Dynasty was the era closest to the scientific revolution in Chinese history. Movable type printing had just been invented, the compass began to be used for navigation, gunpowder weapons gradually matured, and Shen Kuo was about to be born. The market was prosperous, minds were open, and talents were booming—Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi, and Wang Anshi all lived in that era. It was a strange window in the history of human civilization. With just a push from someone, history can be rewritten. That person is here. His name is Shen Zhiwei. He woke up in a ruined temple in Bianjing, holding a scroll of bamboo slips in his hand with the ink still wet. He had a copper ruler divided into one hundred equal parts; a magnetic needle pointing five degrees east; and a plaster board with ten questions written on it: Doubt precedes faith. Measure later. Control a variable. It can be proved again. See the truth in detail. Pictures speak louder than words. Mistaken for teacher. Work can also be learned. Don't keep your skills private. Those who know something small can change their destiny. He was going to teach a nine-year-old child how to look at ants and ask him, "Why don't they walk straight?" He asked a blacksmith to build a waterwheel with gears so that the waterwheel could rotate at a constant speed. He wants a girl to ask: "Why doesn't God give birth to a female saint?" He asked a petty official to climb over the wall to learn, and hid a round mold carved by himself in his pocket. He wanted the emperor to ask: "If everyone knew reason, who would listen to the emperor?" He asked mothers to sew bamboo slips into wedding dresses, girls to use drippers to measure pulses, children to draw triangles in front of the Buddha, and fishermen to light up the harbor with gunpowder. He wants to make more and more people ask "why".