Chapter 958 957 [Future Sinologists]

The bodyguards paddled and the boat sailed leisurely in the river.

It was Ma Jue's first time to come to Cambridge. He couldn't help but burst into literary feelings. He stood up and said with a smile: "I am willing to be a waterweed in the soft waves of the Cam River. Sir, was this where Xu Zhimo and Lin Huiyin went boating and studied. ?”

Zhou Hexuan once came to Cambridge to give lectures and also traveled before traveling. He pointed to a building in front of him and said: "That's Trinity College, Cambridge University. Xu Zhimo was an auditor of Trinity College back then."

"Audience student?" Ma Jue was stunned.

Zhou Hexuan explained with a smile: "Xu Zhimo is an official student of King's College, majoring in political economics just like you did when you were a graduate student in London. But he spent most of his time going to Trinity College to audit literature, and the courses in this major were instead Delayed.”

Ma Jue couldn't help laughing and said: "So China has lost a politician and gained a poet. Sir, please tell more about Trinity College."

Zhou Hexuan said: "The most famous person who came out of Trinity College is Byron. He was already so famous when he was studying that the college gave him a special privilege."

"What privilege?" Ma Jue asked curiously.

Zhou Hexuan said: "Trinity College chartered Byron to keep pets in the school."

Xiao Qian interjected: "This privilege doesn't seem to be too much."

Zhou Hexuan laughed loudly: "Byron's pet is not ordinary, it is a big brown bear. Every evening, Byron will lead the clumsy brown bear for a walk on campus, scaring the timid teachers and students so much that they dare not go out."

"This is strange." Xiao Qian and Ma Jue exclaimed. They couldn't imagine that someone would treat a brown bear as a pet.

There were many people rowing in the Cam River, especially those training for rowing, and they kept shouting various chants to encourage them. This is so much noise that most of the buildings on the river side of Cambridge University are equipped with double-glazing to prevent students from being disturbed - it is said that this was a suggestion made by Newton, who was really disturbed by the noise of rowing.

Perhaps it was because the Asian face of Zhou Hexuan's boat was too conspicuous. The students on the surrounding boats looked sideways, and one of the boats approached directly.

"Mr. Zhou?" A girl on the boat shouted in Chinese, with joy and uncertainty.

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Are you a Chinese student?"

"I am Lu Guizhen from Gonville and Caius College," the girl introduced sideways, "This is my tutor, Professor Joseph Needham, and these are my classmates Wang Yinglai, Shen Shizhang, Edward and Groot. "

"Hello everyone, nice to meet you all." Zhou Hexuan smiled and nodded.

Lu Guizhen said to her tutor: "Professor, this is the famous Chinese scholar Mr. Zhou Hexuan."

The two ships were close to each other, but still not close enough to shake hands. Joseph Needham actually made a fist-cup salute: "Hello, Mr. Zhou, my Chinese name is Joseph Needham."

A strange smile appeared on Zhou Hexuan's face: "Hello, Mr. Joseph Needham, let's talk after we dock."

This may be the most unprofessional British celebrity known to Chinese people. He was obviously a biochemist, but when he was in his 40s, he suddenly changed his career to study Sinology. As a result, he became the most famous and authoritative communicator of Chinese culture in modern times.

The two boats gradually docked, and everyone came to the river to find a bench to sit down. Zhou Hexuan and Joseph Needham finally shook hands.

After some pleasantries, Needham expressed his admiration for Zhou Hexuan, and then said: "I am studying Chinese and studying the history of Chinese science. Unfortunately, the East Asia Reading Room of Cambridge University has too few relevant books."

At this time, Cambridge University had a large collection of Chinese books, nearly 2,000 volumes, and there were also some unique volumes from the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties. But those are only subsets of classics and histories, and there are basically no miscellaneous books such as "Tiangong Kaiwu", so it is very difficult for Joseph Needham to study the history of Chinese science and technology.

"If you have the opportunity, Mr. Needham can go to China for a walk. I have some related books in my home." Zhou Hexuan said.

Joseph Needham regretted: "It's a pity that I don't have the opportunity. I guess I won't be able to go to China in my life."

Zhou Hexuan thought to himself: Not only will you go to China in two years, but you will also become a Chinese son-in-law, and the female student next to you will be your future Chinese wife.

Joseph Needham said: "I heard Lu (Guizhen) say that papermaking, printing, the compass and gunpowder were all invented in China. This shocked me very much and gave me the idea of ​​studying the history of Chinese science and technology. You are the history of China. Scientist, can you tell me some knowledge about this?"

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Science in ancient China is all practical science. Take daily drinking water as an example. Westerners did not know how to drill deep wells before, but the Chinese invented drilling technology for drinking water. Today, European and American countries have adopted The latest oil drilling technology was introduced to the West from China in the 11th century. It was originally invented because the Chinese needed to find brine salt underground."

"Really? Oil drilling technology was also invented by the Chinese. That's so surprising." Joseph Needham quickly took out his small notebook and took notes.

Zhou Hexuan continued: "A few months ago, I went to a city in China called Zigong, where this drilling technology was invented. There is a salt well called Shenhaijing, which is more than a thousand meters deep and is the world's largest salt well. A deep well over 1,000 meters is still in use.”

Needham asked again: "Besides drilling technology, what other great inventions does China have?"

Zhou Hexuan thought for a while and said: "The law of twelve equals."

Joseph Needham was surprised: "Oh, God, the law of equals was also invented by the Chinese?"

Regarding this thing, Zhou Hexuan had boasted to Bernard Shaw before, so there was no harm in bragging again. Because the influence of twelve equal temperaments is so great in the West, it gave birth to the modern piano and truly modern Western music.

Zhou Hexuan said: "The inventor of the twelve equal laws was a nobleman from the Ming Dynasty of China and a descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty."

"Anything else? About natural science." Joseph Needham was very excited.

Zhou Hexuan said: "Around 1000 AD, Shen Kuo of the Song Dynasty measured the geomagnetic declination. He discovered that the earth's magnetic poles were not straight, but slightly tilted. Does this count?"

Needham smiled and said: "Of course it counts, and it is very important. This is knowledge necessary for human navigation."

Zhou Hexuan said: "There were many scientific discoveries and inventions in ancient China. If Mr. Needham wants to do research in this area, he must go to China in person."

"That's really a pity." Joseph Needham still thinks that it is impossible for him to go to China, and he never expected that he would have to stay in China for several years.

The two chatted for a long time, and Ma Jue and Xiao Qian were also dragged into chatting by Lu Guizhen and other Cambridge students. In the evening, Needham hosted everyone for dinner, and took Zhou Hexuan and others to the library in the evening.

In the next few days, apart from the honorary degree awarding ceremony and lectures in Cambridge, Zhou Hexuan stayed in major libraries in Cambridge.

Especially in the East Asia Reading Room of the library, Zhou Hexuan obtained permission from the school to make copies of all the ancient unique copies of Chinese classics. This is a very big gain, even if it is a photocopy, it is enough for collection.