The Most Learned Emperor in Chinese History - Emperor Kangxi

Emperor Kangxi (1654 - 1722) had three different types of blood flowing in his veins. His father was a Manchurian, his grandmother, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, was a Mongolian, whilst her mother was a Han. He was taught many life experiences by his grandmother, and he then learned the Mongolian language from Sumalagu (maid to his grandmother), horseback riding and archery from a Manchurian master and Confucian education from a Han teacher. Emperor Kangxi's bravery and steadfastness was primarily influenced by his Manchurian culture. His foresight and magnanimous heart were mainly influenced by his Mongolian origin. His benevolence and tactics, on the other hand come from the Han's Confucian education that he received. His openness and heart of seeking endeavors were mainly influenced by Western culture. Emperor Kangxi was imparted with the deep and profound cultures of the Chinese as well as many countries of the West, and this made him one of the most cultured people at that time. All these provided him with a foundation which helped him display his royal abilities and wisdom in many significant events.

Emperor Kangxi was one of the few emperors in Chinese history that loved to read and learn. At the age of 5, he had already been taught to read and write, and since then he studied steadfastly and arduously with full concentration. He also loved to do Chinese calligraphy, and he wrote thousands of words daily as constant practice. When he studied the "Four Books of Confucianism," which consist of the "Great Learning," "The Doctrine of the Mean," "The Analects of Confucius," and "The Mencius," he ensured that he remembered each character of the books by heart. Later he required his sons to read these books over 100 times and to memorize them. This was his scholarly experience when he was young.

After Emperor Kangxi became emperor, he became even more steadfast in his study and sometimes he vomited blood due to prolonged fatigue. To him, studying was not a pastime, but rather it was for him to understand the meaning behind ruling a country. He hoped to learn as much as he could so that China would be in peace and harmony. During his inspection tours around China, he never stopped learning in any situation, whether it was on a boat or in a hotel. Books that he read include "The Book of Changes," "Annals of Zuo," "Documents of the Elder" and "The Book of Odes." He took studying and learning as part and parcel of his life.

Emperor Kangxi was also very particular about historical records, so he ordered his subordinates to compile the "Qing Dynasty Chinese Dictionary," "Kangxi Dictionary," "Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng," "Tang Poems" and many others. He also wrote many books himself. In total, there were about 1,147 poems compiled during his reign.

Emperor Kangxi was also extremely interested and knowledgeable in medicine. He said that when he was young, he could pull fifteen bows and shoot thirteen arrows. From this, we can imagine how strong he was and his superb skills in archery. As he had experienced a few major illnesses, he was always interested in medicine. At the age of 40, Emperor Kangxi had malaria and no Chinese medicine could cure him. Christians by the name of Hong Ruohan and Liu Ying gave him some quinine frost (quinine) which miraculously cured his illness. After his recovery, he rewarded them with two houses in Xian Gate, and later this place became a Catholic church. When Cao Huang suffered the same illness as Emperor Kangxi, he was also given some quinine frost as a treatment. Since that time, Emperor Kangxi became interested in western medicine and began requiring the capital city to manufacture western medicines. Emperor Kangxi also had a personal laboratory in his palace for manufacturing and inventing drugs. He also encouraged everyone to have vaccinations for smallpox. Some nomads like the Mongolians were especially susceptible and afraid of contracting smallpox. Emperor Shunzhi, Kangxi’s father, died because of smallpox, and Emperor Kangxi also had smallpox, which left many scars on his face. The Qing Dynasty built some pavilions and magnolia yards at the northern portion of the Great Wall of China, and the main reason for this was to allow Mongolian nobles to continue their pilgrimage without entering the Capital city in China, so as to reduce their chance of contracting smallpox. In order to solve this problem, he ordered compulsory smallpox vaccinations for his family and everyone in the palace. He also promoted smallpox vaccinations to the 49 different tribes of a Mongolian group. This prevented many deaths.

Emperor Kangxi also ordered Christian Ba Duoming to translate the western book, "Human Dissection" into Manchurian and Chinese. He even ordered the dissection of a bear, which he witnessed himself.

Researching natural science was also a favorite of Emperor Kangxi. He started researching natural science because he encountered problems when ruling a country. Yang Guangxian, the official in charge of calendar calculation in China at the time, sued Tang Ruowang (a knowledgeable man from Europe who visited China), which started when the Chinese government had a great argument regarding how to determine the calendar. At that time, Emperor Kangxi ordered the ministers to observe the shadows in the afternoon. However, there was no one who understood how to calculate the calendar at that time, and even Emperor Kangxi did not have the slightest knowledge about it. Kangxi thought to himself, "If I do not know this, how can I judge what is right and wrong?" and at that time, he began to study natural science.

On November 28, 1688, Joachim Bouvet, Jean-Francois Gerbillon and four other French scientists were welcomed by Emperor Kangxi in his palace. They offered him thirty different types of imported scientific equipment and books as greeting gifts. These strange pieces of equipment from the West greatly thrilled Emperor Kangxi, and he decided to appoint these scientists as his science consultants in his palace. For the next few decades, the palace was filled with the scientists who did research.

After Joachim Bouvet entered the palace, he was extremely close with Emperor Kangxi and many research projects went well. Many of the scientists highly praised Kangxi's positive attitude towards science and even wrote their experiences in the palace courts in the report submitted to King Louis XIV. In his book published in 1698, entitled, "Chinese Emperor Kangxi," Joachim Bouvet wrote:

“Emperor Kangxi had great enthusiasm towards learning science and every day he would spend a few hours with us. In the morning and at night, he would spend time extra time on self-study. He did not like to live a life wasting time so he always went to sleep late at night and rose early. Despite us researchers entering the palace early in the morning, he would always be up earlier than us and had everything prepared. He liked to consult us regarding some questions he had worked on and sometimes he even raised new questions.
At times, Emperor Kangxi applied geometry methods to calculate distance, the height of mountains, as well as the width of the lake. He set everything up by himself and did everything with precise calculations. After that, he would ask others to calculate the distance and if they had the same answer as his, he would be extremely elated."

In regards to the scientific equipment imported from the West, Joachim Bouvet said, "Emperor Kangxi loved the binoculars, two wall clocks and a leveler -- most of this equipment was made with high precision. All of this equipment was placed in his own chamber. He also liked the straightedge and compass very much."

In 2003, the exhibition, "Emperor Kangxi Exhibition" was held in the Palace of Versailles near Paris, and many types of scientific equipment that was created during Emperor Kangxi's period were all displayed. Amazingly, some of them still looked shiny and functional. The displayed items were as follows:

1. Hand-held calculator: the first hand-held calculator was made in France in 1642 by French scientist Blaise Pascal. The imperial palace kept ten of these ancient calculators and they were all made during Emperor Kangxi's reign. All of these calculators could do simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

2. Gold-plated compass: This was originally invented by Galileo Galilei and could do many different calculations. Kangxi's compass was a further improvised version which had more functions than before.

3. Kangxi's angle rule: It was engraved with four Chinese words which meant "Made by Kangxi."

There were many other pieces of scientific equipment that were made during that period of time and it was amazing to see the knowledge Emperor Kangxi had.

After Joachim Bouvet and Jean-Francois Gerbillon left, many more scientists from the West went to the palace in China for research purposes. The greatest achievements of these scientists perhaps were being able to encourage Emperor Kangxi to build a "China Science Research Institute" as well as implement the huge project of mapping China.

Emperor Kangxi's big project of mapping China has contributed a lot to world geography. It was because of this project that many French scientists had a chance to come to China for investigations, and they had many other gains from this project as well. In 1709, P. Jartoux joined the team in mapping the northeast region of China. At Changbai Mountain, Jartoux saw people harvesting ginseng and was amazed. He documented the function, location, storage methods of the ginseng as well as a picture of the ginseng. Then he sent them to France for publishing. After four years, another French scientist followed Jartoux's descriptions of ginseng and identified other ginseng types in Quebec, Canada, which shared the same longitude as Changbai Mountain. As this type of ginseng grew in the West, it was named "Western Ginseng."

康熙：最博学的帝王

康熙身上有着三种血统、三种文化和三种品格。他的父亲是满洲人，祖母是蒙古人，母亲是汉族人。他深受祖母的教诲，又向苏麻喇姑（苏墨尔，孝庄皇后随嫁贴身侍女）学习蒙古语，向满洲师傅学习骑射，跟汉族师傅接受儒家教育。康熙的勇武与奋进，受到了满洲文化的影响；高远与大度，得益于蒙古文化的薰陶；仁爱与韬略，来自汉族儒学的营养；后来，他的开放与求新，则是受了耶稣会士西方文化的薰染。康熙帝吸收了中华多民族的、西方多国家的，悠久而又新进、博大而又深厚的文化营养，具有当时最高的文化素质。这为他展现帝王才气，实现宏图大业，奠定了基础。

康熙是中国历史上少有的嗜书好学的帝王。他5岁入书房读书，昼夜苦读，不论寒暑，甚至废寝忘食。又喜好书法，“每日写千余字，从无间断”。他读“四书”──《大学》、《中庸》、《论语》、《孟子》，“必使字字成诵，从来不肯自欺”。后来他要求皇子读书，读满百遍，还要背诵，这是他早年读书经验的传承。

康熙继位后，学习更加勤奋，甚至过劳咯血。他读书不是为消遣，而是为“体会古帝王孜孜求治之意”，以治国、平天下。他在出巡途中，深夜乘舟，或居行宫，谈《周易》，看《尚书》，读《左传》，诵《诗经》，赋诗著文，习以为常。直到花甲之年，仍手不释卷。

康熙帝重视史籍，下令编纂《清文鉴》(满文字书)、《康熙字典》、《古今图书集成》、《全唐诗》、《皇舆全览图》等，开一代整理与雕印文化典籍之风。他还有《御制文集》（三集）、《御制诗集》、《几暇格物编》等传世，留下1147首诗词。

康熙皇帝对医学很有兴趣，也很有研究。他说自己“年力盛时，能挽十五力弓，发十三把箭”，可见他体格强健长于弓马。他也得过几场大病，使他很早留心医药学。康熙40岁那年得了疟疾，中医药未能治愈，耶稣会士洪若翰、刘应进金鸡纳霜（奎宁）。康熙服用后，很灵验，病好了。他召见洪若翰、刘应等，在西安门内赏赐房屋，后这里成为天主教北堂。曹寅得了疟疾，康熙赐金鸡纳霜治好了他的病。此后，康熙便对西药发生兴趣，命在京城内炼制西药，还在宫中设立实验室，试制药品，亲自临观。他提倡种痘以防天花。关外的游牧族群，特别怕患上天花。顺治因患天花而死，康熙也出过天花，脸上留下麻子。清朝在塞外建避暑山庄、木兰围场，原因之一是蒙古贵族可以不入京朝觐，减少出天花的机会。他破除因循，推广种痘，命先给自己子女及宫中女子种痘，还给蒙古49旗及喀尔喀蒙古部民种痘，这就使千万人因种痘而免去患天花死亡或不死而留下麻子的悲剧。

康熙帝命耶稣会士巴多明将西洋《人体解剖学》书籍翻译成满文、汉文。他曾命将一只冬眠的熊进行解剖，并亲自参加。

康熙还喜爱研习自然科学。他学习自然科学的一个动因，是曾经因为不懂自然科学而在处理政事时遇到困难。钦天监杨光先状告汤若望，朝廷会议展开了一场关于天算历法的大争论。当时，康熙命各位大臣在午门前观测日影，但在九卿中没有一个懂得天文历法的，康熙自己也不懂。他想：自己不懂，怎么能判断是非呢？因此努力学习。

康熙二十七年（1688年）十一月二十八日，白晋、张诚等6位法国科学家在乾清宫受到康熙帝的召见，他们献上了从法国带来的30件科技仪器和书籍作见面礼。这些非同寻常的礼品，令康熙帝“天颜喜悦”，当即决定让他们入宫，担任自己的科学顾问。从此开始了外国科学家在清朝宫廷从事科学活动长达数十年的局面。

白晋等人入宫后，与康熙相处很融洽，工作也很顺利。他们对康熙热衷科学的态度给予了高度评价，曾把他们的见闻写在给路易十四（1643～1715年）的报告中。1698年巴黎出版的白晋著《中国皇帝康熙传》中有过如下记述：

康熙带着极大的兴趣学习西方科学，每天都要花几个小时同我们在一起，白天和晚上还要用更多的时间自学。他不喜欢娇生惯养和游手好闲，常常是起早贪黑。尽管我们谨慎地早早就来到宫中，但他还是经常在我们到达之前就准备好了，他急于向我们请教一些他已经做过的一些习题，或者是向我们提出一些新的问题……

有时他亲自用几何方法测量距离，山的高度和池塘的宽度。他自己定位，调整各种仪器，精确地计算。然后他再让别人测量距离。当他看到他计算的结果和别人测量的数据相符合，他就十分高兴。

对从法国带来的科技仪器，白晋说康熙“最喜欢的是用于观察天体的双筒望远镜、两座挂钟、水平仪，这种仪器精确度很高，他让把这些仪器摆放在自己的房间里”。他“把著直尺和圆规爱不释手”。

在法国巴黎凡尔赛宫2003年曾举办了“康熙大帝展”，展出故宫珍藏的康熙年间西洋科学仪器，至今仍运转自如，光彩耀人。这些展品主要有：（1）手摇计算机。世界上第一台手摇计算机是法国科学家巴斯如于1642年制造的。故宫博物院收藏10台手摇计算机，都是康熙年间制作，能进行加减乘除运算。（2）铜镀金比例规。原是伽利略发明的计算工具，可以进行乘、除、开平方等各种计算。康熙的比例规增加平分、正弦等不同的计算。（3）康熙角尺：尺上镌刻有“康熙御制”四个字。（4）平面和立体几何模型，全部由楠木精制，是清宫造办处为康熙学习几何学所制作的教具。（5）绘图仪。质地有银、木、漆、鲨鱼皮等，每套6至20余件不等。盒内装有比例规、半圆仪、分厘尺、假数尺、两脚规、鸭嘴笔等。为适用野外作业，有的还配有刀子、剪子、铅笔、火镰、放大镜、黑板、画棒等。这类仪器是康熙时期清宫造办处仿照西洋绘图仪器制作的，用于野外绘图。（6）御制简平地平合璧仪：它是集简平仪、地平仪、罗盘、像限仪、矩度为一仪的多功能测量仪器，携带方便，具有适合野外作业的特点。它共分六层，由清宫内务府造办处制造。

白晋、张诚之后，又陆续有不少西方科学家来到清宫。他们最大的成绩，莫过于促使康熙创建了被他们称为“中国科学院”的蒙养斋算学馆，和促使康熙实施了中国地理大测绘这一伟大创举。

康熙组织的这次地理大测绘，对世界地理学的贡献不容低估。法国科学家们也因此而有机会到中国各地考查，在其他方面的收获也相当大。康熙四十八年（1709年），杜德美参加了赴东北的勘测队。他在长白山见到采参的情况后，把参的性能、产地、采集、保存等等，写成文字、绘出图样寄回法国发表。没想到4年后，另一位法国科学家参照杜德美有关人参的文章，在加拿大与长白山纬度相近的魁北克一带，也发现了相似的参。它产于西洋，就有了“西洋参”这个名字。