Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian was still very concerned about Qian Qianyi's movements.

Having freed himself from the daily affairs of the court, he had much energy to devote to intellectual matters.

Seeing that Qian Qianyi had taken the initiative to cooperate with the Wensi Academy and promote production development, Zhu Youjian was satisfied and summoned him to the palace to ask:
"What do you think of the technology from Wensi Institute, sir?"

"Could this change people's perception of machines, so they no longer see them as mere gimmicks or tricks?"

Qian Qianyi pondered for a moment and replied:
"After the Zhou Li·Dong Guan was lost, it was replaced by Kao Gong Ji".

"Confucian scholars did not oppose industry, and regarded the hundred crafts as one of the six departments. The Ministry of Works among the six departments was modeled after the Winter Official of the Zhou Dynasty."

"However, Confucian scholars have always held a consistent attitude towards strange and ingenious crafts. The Book of Documents, in the chapter 'Tai Shi,' says that the Shang king created strange and ingenious crafts to please women..."

Zhu Youjian interrupted him, saying:

"The 'Tai Shi' chapter belongs to the ancient text of the Book of Documents, and is mostly a forgery, so it cannot be used as evidence."

"After overturning this statement, who will still call strange skills and tricks frivolous?"

Qian Qianyi opened his mouth, only to remember that the emperor had already removed the ancient text of the Book of Documents from the Book of Documents due to doubts about its authenticity, and treated it only as reference material.

Judging from what the emperor is saying now, it seems that the ancient text of the Book of Documents will be completely abandoned. All related viewpoints will need to be re-examined.

This is not as magnanimous as when the ancient texts of the Book of Documents were removed; it is estimated that a great deal of scholarship will be affected.

Qian Qianyi felt a pang of unease when he thought about this.

Because he has studied this for the first half of his life, how can he accept it when things suddenly change?
Now that he's over fifty, his mindset isn't so easily changed.

Seeing his silence, Zhu Youjian guessed what he was thinking.

Even he found it difficult to change his mind when he discovered that the reality was different from what was taught in textbooks.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa drop experiment a few days ago was a case in point; if he hadn't found no record of it, he wouldn't have believed that the article in the textbook was fabricated.

If this insignificant article is so influential, how much more so the Confucian classics that have changed the lives of scholars?

Therefore, he decided to extend the transition period of old Confucianism until all those who studied the old classics had grown old and died, and then fully adopt the punctuated Confucian classics.

For an academic master like Qian Qianyi, the offer was to use incentives:

"The Six Classics interpret me, and I interpret the Six Classics."

"The time is right for the Confucian classics to be annotated and reinterpreted."

"I hope that you will take the initiative to study and reinterpret some of the views in the Confucian classics, with the idea of ​​Great Harmony as the core."

"We should proactively remove old books that are of questionable authenticity and that are not conducive to the common good of the world from the classics."

"Replace with new ideas, or even write new classics."

This undoubtedly encouraged Qian Qianyi to take a share of the pie when the old Confucian views collapsed, and to replace them with his own ideas and theories.

Qian Qianyi wasn't stupid; he certainly knew that the emperor was targeting the strange and ingenious techniques in the "Tai Shi" chapter of the Book of Documents. If the controversy over the authenticity of the "Tai Shi" chapter could overturn the entire chapter, then the claim of strange and ingenious techniques would naturally be considered nonsense.

He thought of his own work, "On Production," and what he had seen at the Wensi Academy, and immediately said:
"While the notion of 'strange skills and ingenious crafts' is not entirely unfounded, it should not be used to refer to tools."

Kong Yingda said: "Strange skills refer to unusual abilities, while excessive craftsmanship refers to overly skillful craftsmanship. The two are largely the same, but skills refer to human beings, while craftsmanship refers to objects."

He believed that "extraordinary skills and craftsmanship" were strange skills and overly elaborate objects.

"However, according to the Book of Rites: 'If someone makes obscene noises, wears strange clothes, performs strange skills, or uses strange weapons to mislead the public, he shall be killed.'"

"Only those who use strange skills and artifacts to bewitch the people should be killed; only then can they be considered to have strange skills and frivolous tricks."

"Therefore, I believe that whether skills and tools belong to strange skills and frivolous crafts depends on whether they are misleading or used to bewitch the people." "Tools that do not disturb the people's minds and are beneficial to the people's production should not only not be called strange skills and frivolous crafts, but should also be promoted and publicized."

"I intend to collaborate with the Institute of Arts and Sciences to promote production tools."

Based on whether they are beneficial to production, objects that are beneficial to production are called production tools, and are separated from strange skills and tricks.

This was his practice of "On Production," and Qian Qianyi was secretly pleased with himself.

Zhu Youjian was also very satisfied with what he heard, because this basically achieved his goal.

The notion of ingenious skills and tricks has been around for thousands of years, and it cannot be completely overturned simply by denying the ancient text of the Book of Documents.

In particular, Qian Qianyi quoted from the "Book of Rites: Royal System," which contains terms such as "extraordinary skills and artifacts."

Therefore, Qian Qianyi divided objects into two categories: production tools and whimsical skills. This effectively avoided criticism from some people and also guided technological development to be conducive to production.

This was also what Zhu Youjian hoped for, because he was not interested in making some exquisite toys, but rather wanted to use technology to develop production.

So he praised Qian Qianyi and then asked him:
"Some production tools are quite ingenious. Would Confucian scholars criticize these?"

“Especially some tools that may seem useless now, but could be used in production later.”

"This research should not be disturbed."

Qian Qianyi said with great confidence:
"As long as the purpose is to develop and produce tools, no matter how ingenious they are, they should not be criticized."

"It was Laozi and Zhuangzi who refused to adopt new tools; they were the ones who opposed the progress of technology."

Lao Tzu advocated small countries with few people, abandoning cleverness and profit, and having tools and weapons but not using them.

"When Zhuangzi saw Zigong promoting irrigation machinery, he criticized him, saying, 'Those who have machinery will inevitably have scheming intentions, and those who have scheming intentions will inevitably have scheming minds.' This is the origin of the connection between machinery and scheming minds."

"But they are actually Taoist teachings, used to criticize Confucianism."

"As a Confucian scholar, I am determined to set things right and refute the fallacies of Laozi and Zhuangzi!"

When Zhu Youjian heard the saying "the fallacies of Laozi and Zhuangzi", he almost burst out laughing.

However, refuting the connection between mechanics and movement is indeed necessary.

If he wants to develop machinery, he can't allow people to accuse machinery of disturbing people's minds.

Therefore, he affirmed:
"Many people have erroneous views on mechanical devices and ingenious tricks. As a great Confucian scholar of our time, you must set things right."

"In a world of great harmony, we need better machinery and more efficient production tools. We must judge machinery and tools based on whether they are conducive to achieving great harmony."

"Any object that is conducive to the development of production, the prosperity of the country and the strength of the people, and the common good and a well-off society should be vigorously promoted."

"Ignore what is useless, and ban what is misleading and deceitful."

"This matter will also be handled by the Department of Civilization, with the Datong Academy providing assistance."

"If someone reports it, the Datong Academy will judge whether it is considered a strange or frivolous skill."

The right to interpret and judge ingenious skills and tricks should be handed over to the Datong Academy, and clear evaluation criteria should be established.

We cannot simply discard something just because someone calls it a clever trick or a gimmick. Zhu Youjian did not want a repeat of the incident where Emperor Taizu smashed the crystal water clock, causing the Ming Dynasty's timekeeping instruments to malfunction for a long time.

Therefore, he established the Institute of Arts and Crafts at the Academy of Arts and Crafts. He considered handicrafts that brought joy and fetched high prices as objects beneficial to national prosperity and strength.

Just because they are exquisite does not mean they are mere superfluous crafts. (End of Chapter)