Zhao Lai's purpose was to examine the state and thoughts of the scholars at the moment. What he saw had already disappointed him, but after listening to the words of Chen Pu and others, he realized that his refusal to take office as the president of the "Academic of Science" was not because he was "not talented and knowledgeable", but because he looked down on this job of cultivating scientific and technological engineering talents from the bottom of his heart, and even regarded craftsmen as cheap servants.

Zhao, in his previous life, studied under the workforce, and he loved this profession very much and was proud of it. After coming to this world, he also used his previous needs to change the world, relied on the strong ships and cannons he created to save the Song Dynasty on the verge of the country of despair. He created amazing wealth with the power of technology, and gradually penetrated into every bit of society, changing the inherent production and lifestyle.

Even so, Zhao's behavior will still be greatly resisted. The ministers think that he is "not doing his job properly", and his preference for skills is to lose his ambition, and he does a low-spirited job. However, with his persistence and effect, he still won the understanding and recognition of some ministers. Today, after listening to these people's discussions, Zhao, who originally planned to just listen and not speak, did not calm down and fight back. But he also knows how pale and powerless his counterattack is in front of many conservative scholars. If he wants to change their deep-rooted thoughts, it is definitely not easy to change by his anger.

Everyone knows that the material culture or manufacturing industry in ancient China was ahead of the world before the Tang Dynasty, and the vertical comparison was the peak by the Song Dynasty. Since then, there has been almost no great progress. Not only has it been surpassed by Western countries, but the gap has become increasingly larger. Take the two industries that represent the level of traditional manufacturing as an example. Until the Tang Dynasty, China was at least proud of the countries in Asia, and with its convincing superb skills, it proved the splendor of the ancient "Made in China".

Why did it start to lag behind in the Song Dynasty? Zhao thought that this was not a simple technical problem, but had to find answers from the changes in the economic and political systems. The changes in the system caused changes in the distribution of interests and the differentiation of classes, which would lead to the prosperity of some industries and the decline of some industries. Or it can be simply said that the imperial examination system is an important "baton" for the Chinese people to value culture and neglect industry.

In ancient China's Spring and Autumn Period and later the Warring States Period, hundreds of schools of thought contend, and Confucianism was just one of them. Confucius did not underestimate all kinds of people who made a living by craftsmanship. He once said: Wealth can be obtained, even if we hold a whip, I will do it. If we cannot, we will follow my preferences. Moreover, the social status of craftsmen is not low, such as the well-known Chinese construction industry and carpenters, the founder of Lu Ban, the state of Lu, who was Gongshu Pan of Lu, who was known as Gongshu Pan of Lu, became a doctor of Chu with his own skills. "Mozi" records: Gongshu Pan built a ladder for Chu, and was formed, and was about to attack Song. Zi Mozi heard about it and started in Qi, and went to Ying for ten days and ten nights, and saw Gongshu Pan.

At that time, Mozi was like an industry leader in the craftsman world. He worked as a shepherd boy and studied carpenters when he was a teenager. A large number of handicraftsmen and lower-class scholars followed Mozi and gradually formed his own Mohist school and became the main opposition of Confucianism. After he saw Gongshupan, the two performed engineering equipment deductions, "Zi Mozi untie the belt into a city, using the sacrificial instruments as machinery. Gongshupan nine sets up the opportunity to attack the city, and Zi Mozi nine sets up the opportunity to escape from it. Gongshupan's attack was exhausted, and Zi Mozi had more than enough guarding the city." Gongshupan admitted defeat, so he gave up his plan to build a ladder for the Chu State.

At the same time, Guan Zhong, the prime minister of Qi, proposed the famous "Four People's Separation Theory", that is, people with four identities, "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce", live separately and cultivate their own skills to perfection. For craftsmen, his suggestions were: let handicraftsmen gather together to live, observe different needs of the four seasons, distinguish the quality of the instrument, use the fineness, beauty and ugliness of quality, estimate their uses, and compare the quality of the materials and make them just right.

It means "to work in the morning and evening, to impose it to all directions, to instruct their children, to talk to each other, to show each other skill, to show each other skill, and to make achievements." When they learn technology when they are young, their thoughts will be settled and they will no longer be moved. Therefore, the teachings of fathers and brothers to their children can be completed without serious supervision, and the children can learn well without effort. In this way, the disciples of handicraftsmen will always maintain their identity as handicraftsmen.

Such a profession of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce will certainly lead to social rigidity and be unfavorable to class mobility. However, from the perspective of vocational training, in ancient times when transportation and education were underdeveloped, father-son inheritance and brother-in-law help were convenient ways to develop and improve skills, that is, "talking each other with things, showing each other with cleverness, and executing each other with merit."

However, starting from the Han Dynasty, "abolishing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", the decline of the Mohist school, which could compete with Confucianism, was accompanied by a great regression in the social status of craftsmen. In the imperial era, a country was established by farmers and governing the country. Scholars and farmers were the basic foundations of rulers. As Guan Zhong said, "are gathering in the state", everyone gathered together and lived in towns, while merchants were moving everywhere, which was not conducive to rule.

For two thousand years, industry and business were discriminated against by rulers, and the design of various systems of the empire suppressed and prevented them. The reason why these two professions still exist is that society needs to build houses, make utensils, and the circulation of goods, and has to allow the existence of such people. It can be said that Chinese craftsmen and merchants survived in the cracks during the imperial era of more than two thousand years.

The imperial examination system broke the aristocratic system, allowing ordinary people to enter the ruling class, promoting social equality and class mobility. However, it also produced a negative side. Zhao thought that the rise of the imperial examination system made the craftsman group increasingly marginalized, and the gap between the social status of scholars and craftsmen became increasingly large. What was even more serious was that it changed people's thoughts.

"Being a farmer in the morning and climbing to the emperor's hall in the evening" has become the life dream of many children from poor families. "The purplish and purple are precious in the morning and all scholars" has become the standard for social value judgment. But on the other hand, China has paid a price, including the slow progress of manufacturing technology, and some areas have even regressed.

It is obvious that smart people in society want to study, take exams, and become officials. Those who work as craftsmen are often poor children who are forced by life. If their family has a few acres of land and can be a farmer, they rarely become apprentices and endure the abuse of almost being a master's slave. If a skilled craftsman lives a good life with his skills and is well-off, he must have asked his son to read sages, take scientific exams, and become an official without the craftsmanship.

The consequence is that the entire craftsman class is a physical laborer who has not received much education or even has no knowledge of his own words. The quality of the craftsmanship depends entirely on the experience of the craftsman and his professional attitude. The number of craftsmen that appear by chance is rare and cannot be cultivated in batches with some kind of education and training system. It is undeniable that ancient China was indeed of higher level in the field of engineering technology than other countries at the same time, but these achievements are based on the experience of craftsmen and are not summarized or summarized from a scientific level.

When Zhao came to this world, he soon discovered that the developed shipbuilding industry was caused by the craftsmanship passed down from generation to generation, but craftsmen did not understand the law of buoyancy. The same is true for architecture. Craftsmen did not understand structural mechanics and material mechanics. This kind of "innovation" that relies purely on experience is not only weak, but also goes upwards and it will soon reach the ceiling, and it is impossible to make a big breakthrough.

So a group of uneducated craftsmen, even if there are particularly smart people among them, they only learn the master's skills faster. How can they systematically summarize the knowledge of modern mechanics, physics and chemistry, and then have various categories of modern engineering? This can explain why ancient China did not move from crafts to the threshold of engineering and technology science. You can't expect those illiterate and semi-illiterate craftsmen to theorize the process!

What are the well-educated people in this society doing? They are reading the "Four Books and Five Classics" and learning Confucian classics. The lucky ones have become officials through exams and rely on Confucian ethics to govern the country. Some professional work such as finance and law are entrusted to the master. A few of them are willing to study the improvement of the forging technology with craftsmen, which is a "lower career" they look down on.

Zhao Zhi wrote a special book on Huang Dapo in his middle school history textbook, saying that she was a famous cotton textile and technological reformer in the early Yuan Dynasty. She was admired by the people because of her teaching advanced textile technology and promoting advanced textile tools. When Huang Daopo was young, he lived in Yazhou and learned to use cotton making tools and weaving Yazhou quilts. After returning to Songjiang, he taught people to make cotton, taught and promoted weaving techniques such as defense, sprinkling, weaving tools and yarn color matching, threading and flower-raising, making Songjiang cotton cloth popular all over the world.

When he was in Qiongzhou, Zhao also thought of such a historical figure, but he did not deliberately search for it, because he had completed such a major technological reform and promotion when he was in Qiongzhou to increase foreign trade income. Now with the recovery of Jiangnan and the migration of craftsmen to the north, this skill has been brought to the Jiangnan region intact. But if it were not for his own arrival, this weaving process would have to be completed by a woman with a rough life. Why? The reason is very simple. Who would have done this by scholars who study?

Some people may think that this statement is too extreme. The Song Dynasty also appeared theoretical documents that record ancient science and technology and summarize craft technology. But Zhao will tell you that it is just a drop in the ocean.

Let’s talk about the book “Creation of the French”, which records in detail the modulus system of building components, classifies, classifies and standardizes the size of materials and parts, so that craftsmen can list a complete and accurate material table before starting construction. However, later generations have known that this book is just a summary of China’s architectural craftsmanship over the past thousand years and does not have many breakthroughs in the sense of discipline.

Even though the author of this book is in charge of the royal craftsman, Li Jie, who is the chief of the royal craftsman, has little knowledge of the life experience of Li Jie, and even the editor of this book is called "Li Jie" or "Li Cheng", which is still controversial. The historical records of those high-ranking officials, heroic generals, literati and poets, and even heroes who robbed their families are so detailed.

In addition, ancient Chinese classics are vast, but the proportion of works such as "Qimin Yaoshu" and "Heavenly Works" is very small. There are too few scholars and officials who are willing to investigate and summarize the work experience of craftsmen. The reason why Song Yingxing, who wrote the book "Heavenly Works", was able to do this was because of his repeated failures in the imperial examinations, and henceforth he had the time and energy to write "idle books" that high officials disdained. Even so, he was just a bystander, a summarist, not a great craftsman who carried out actual operations.

In addition, the political system determines the low level of education for the craftsman class, and also determines the level of development of commercial culture. Manufacturing and trade are the two wheels of cars and the two wings of birds. The profits of manufacturing must be realized through commerce. In ancient China, commerce was suppressed, and the tribute system made the court monopolize foreign trade. The business environment of non-free competition increased the weak position of craftsmen in trade. Ordinary craftsmen worked hard and only fulfilled their lives.

In Zhao Ji's book in his previous life, he said that the craftsmen of the Song Dynasty would enjoy high treatment and their income even exceeded that of government officials. However, when he came to this world, his true feeling was that most craftsmen had a very poor living conditions. Even the "state-owned enterprises" such as Craftsman and Duzuoyuan, the craftsmen were also the same. They were banned from working in narrow workshops and received barely living salaries, which was no different from contract workers. How could you hope that some craftsmen who live without dignity would carry out technological innovation and promote the development of China's manufacturing industry?

In contrast, the manufacturing technology in Europe and Japan was able to develop, because the social environment in which the craftsmen lived was very different from that in China. Europe and Japan experienced a real "feudal" society. The feudal lords in Western Europe were highly autonomous within their jurisdictions, and the daimyos of Japanese islands were the same. Most of the fiefs were hereditary, the "world-official" system in Western Europe continued to the bourgeois revolution, and the "world-official" system in Japan continued to the "Meiji Restoration".

Craftsmen and peasants and business are in an equal position. Some handsome children from ordinary families are also willing to learn craftsmanship, while some craftsmen have been popular for hundreds of years, and craftsmanship has surpassed one generation after another. Moreover, without a unified centralization, the feudal lords and princes compete with each other, and the craftsman class and the merchant class have greater living space. Excellent craftsmen can stand out, live a good life with their craftsmanship, and are respected by the whole society.

Organization and professionalization are important characteristics of craftsmen, and the establishment of organization and professionalization has prompted generations of craftsmen to innovate in inheritance. Only this inheritance and innovation can cultivate the "craftsman spirit". The reason why the ancient European handicraft guild became the driving force for economic, social and urbanization was because it effectively guaranteed the orderly inheritance of various craftsman techniques, and was constantly improved and widely disseminated.
Chapter completed!