Zhu Zaiyu

Zhu Zaiyu

Zhu Zaiyu

(1536-1611), male, character

Boqin

, No

Qushan people

、

Jiufeng Mountain People

When I was young“

Crazy life

”、“

Shanyang drunken immortal

”, also known as“

Duanqing Shizi

”He was born in Hanoi County, Huaiqing Prefecture, Henan Province (now Qinyang, Henan Province). He was a famous jurist (known as "the sage of law"), calendar scientist and musician in Ming Dynasty.

In 1536, Zhu Zaiyu was born in Hanoi County, Huaiqing Prefecture, Henan Province. He is the eighth grandson of emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty and the fifth son of Zheng fan of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Zaiyu was deeply influenced by his father, Zheng Gong and Wang Xiude, who gave lectures, provided food and clothing, and was able to write and write. He was frugal and diligent since he was a child. In his early years, he studied astronomy and arithmetic from his grandfather, he Tang. Because he was not satisfied with his father's guilt, he was shut up and lived alone for 19 years. It was not until 1567 that his father was pardoned that he was willing to enter the palace.

In 1591, Zhu Houan, king of Zheng, died. As the eldest son, Zhu Zaiyu was supposed to inherit the throne, but he gave up the Kingdom seven times, resigned from the throne and returned home, and devoted himself to writing books. For 19 years, Zhu Zaiyu became a sage and went out of the common sense. In the spirit of pursuing the sun and the moon, he focused on the study of temperament and calendar, and opened up a wide field of interdisciplinary subjects.

Zhu Zaiyu broke the rules of his ancestors and paid attention to practice and experiment. He worked hard all his life to seek truth and devoted himself to complete the complete book of music and temperament, the theory of Lu Zhenglun, the differentiation of Lu's doubts, the canon of jialiangsuanjing, the essence of Lu, the integration of Lu and Li, the new theory of mathematics, and the sepu. Zaiyu's achievements shocked the world, and Chinese and foreign scholars respected him as "the sage of Oriental Renaissance". Therefore, Zhu Zaiyu and Guo Moruo are listed as "world historical and cultural celebrities".

Life of the characters

Zhu Zaiyu was born in Hanoi County, Huaiqing Prefecture, Henan Province (now Qinyang, Henan Province). His father, Zhu Houan, was good at writing and was proficient in music. Zaiyu has been deeply influenced since he was a child. He likes music and mathematics and is very smart.

In the 24th year of Jiajing (1545), Zaiyu, who was only 10 years old, studied history books such as Shangshu Pangeng and became emperor Zheng's successor.

Although Zhu Zaiyu was the prince of Zheng fan, his life was not smooth, which was related to his father's experience. Zhu houdan was the fifth grandson of Zhu gaochi, the emperor of Mingren. He was king Zhenggong after his father. When Zhu was imprisoned, Zhu Zaiyu was just 15 years old. He "pained his father for not committing a crime. He built the earth room outside the palace. Xi Gao lived alone for 19 years. He returned to his residence and entered the palace. Zhu's unjust case was vindicated. The next year, Zhu Zaiyu ended Xi Gao's life and returned to the palace.

In the 19th year of Wanli (1591), Zhu Houan died of illness. He was the son of the world. He could have succeeded to the throne, but he wrote to the emperor and was willing to give up. According to a secretary, "although Zaiyu was deeply in charge of giving way, he had already succeeded King Zheng for three generations, so it is better to take Zaiyu's son Yi as his successor." Even so, Zaiyu didn't agree. He "tired Shu's plea" and insisted on letting Jue. From the year of his father's death to the 34th year of Wanli (1606), the emperor Shenzong granted his permission after 15 years of seven Shus. He ordered Zaiyu and Yixi to end up with their sons and grandchildren, and their descendants were still the king of Dongyuan After ranjue, he called himself a Taoist and moved.

Zhu Zaiyu died on the 6th of April in the 39th year of Wanli (1611). At the age of 76, he was buried in Jiufeng Mountain and was given the title of "duanqing".

personal works

In addition, there are some unknown works, such as the new theory of music learning, Lingxing xiaowupu, xuangonghe xiaowupu, Liudai xiaowupu, xiaowuxiang Yuepu, Eryi zhuzhaotu, jialiangsuanjing, yuanfanggoutu, Lulu's doubts, etc. Most of the above works are included in his complete book of temperament.

Main achievements

According to Yiwenzhi of Ming history, Zhu Zaiyu wrote 40 volumes of Yuelu Quanshu, three volumes of jialiangsuanjing, four volumes of Luli RONGTONG, one volume of Yinyi, one volume of Wannian calendar, two volumes of Wannian calendar preparation, two volumes of Lixue Xinshuo, etc. in his book Zhu Zaiyu, a star of science and art in Ming Dynasty, Dai Nianzu said the record of Ming history He is a heavyweight scientist who can be as famous as Li Shizhen, song Yingxing, Xu Guangqi and Xu Xiake. He is also an encyclopedic scholar. Among his works of up to one million words, the book of music temperament is the most famous.

Dr. Needham, an Englishman, said that the book was published around the 38th year of Wanli, but as early as the 12th year of Wanli, he had proved that the interval of even temperament scale could be taken as the 12th root of two, which was decades earlier than that of Europeans. This discovery completely solved the problem that perplexed people for thousands of years, and is a major event in the history of music. The manufacture of modern musical instruments is based on the twelve temperament. The theory of the law of twelve averages was brought to the west by missionaries and had a far-reaching influence. Prince Zhu Zaiyu also became famous in Europe. In his book Zhu Zaiyu, a famous science and art star of Ming Dynasty, Mr. Dai Nianzu quoted a passage from German physicist Helmholtz: "among the Chinese, it is said that there is a prince named Zaiyu, who advocated the seven tone scale in the great opposition of the old school musicians. The method of dividing octaves into twelve semitones and tone sandhi was also invented by this talented and skillful country

Europeans are praising and practicing Zhu Zaiyu's invention, but in his hometown, China, his creation is put on the shelf. After sleeping for more than 400 years, although Zhu Zaiyu has been re recognized and studied, he still lies in the scholar's study. If you look at any history textbook, whether it's primary school or secondary school, you can easily see the achievements of Li Shizhen, song Yingxing, Xu Guangqi and Xu Xiake, but you can't find the name of Zhu Zaiyu. As Dr Needham said, "it's an incredible irony.".

literature

Zhu Zaiyu's Sanqu, a collection of 73 Xiaoling poems in xingshici, has a strong color of critical realism.

"Chanting Ziling · donkey like", "shanpo sheep · rich can't be crossed", "shanpo sheep", "Huangying Er", "Qilu · sighing for the rich", "shanpo sheep · ten deficiencies", "Huangying Er · Jie Dezhi", "Huangying Er · poor but rich"

Art

Zhu Zaiyu's greatest contribution to Literature and art is that he created the

twelvetone equal temperament

. This theory has been widely used in keyboard instruments all over the world, including piano, so Zhu Zaiyu is known as a famous musician“

The originator of piano theory

.

Zhu Zaiyu calculated the square root and cubic root with a giant abacus spanning 81 gear, and put forward the theory of reducing pipe. Based on this theory, he designed and manufactured the chord and pitch pipe. Zhu Zaiyu's "Twelve average rhythms" makes the increase or decrease of each of the two adjacent keys equal. After decades of painstaking research, Zhu Zaiyu finally solved the academic problem left over by this music field for more than 1000 years. Perhaps this kind of professional vocabulary in music is puzzling, so let's quantify it: nine out of ten known instrument tuning in the world is completed on the basis of twelve average temperament, which is generally considered as "standard tuning" and "standard western temperament" in the West.

In the 17th century, Zhu Zaiyu's key data of the twelve law of averages - "root 2 to the 12th power" was brought to the west by missionaries through the silk road. If Bach is called the father of piano, Zhu Zaiyu can be called the father of piano. Pavarotti's "my sun" would not be able to sing without the twelve temperament, because there are two octaves in it. Mr. Huang Xiangpeng, a famous Chinese temperament expert, said: "Twelve average temperament is not a single scientific research achievement, but a broad and profound achievement involving musical acoustics in ancient metrology, mathematics and physics, running through the history of Chinese temperament, astronomical calendar and closely related to musical art practice." Twelve average law is a great revolution in musicology and music physics, and also a great invention in the history of world science.

In the course of the development of ancient Chinese phonology, scholars in all dynasties have been exploring how to achieve the tune rotation in music performance. However, up to the time of Zhu Zaiyu, no one has reached the peak of success. Only Zhu Zaiyu completely solved this problem. In order to create the law of twelve averages, we need to solve a series of academic problems around this problem. First of all, we need to find a mathematical method to calculate the law of twelve averages. Zhu Zaiyu used his self-made 81 level double row abacus to find out the parameters of the law of twelve averages by square root and cubic root, which is more detailed than the Ancient Mathematical Monographs in China, and the accuracy of the calculation results is up to 25 significant figures.

Chen wannai, a Taiwan scholar, said: "the method of prescribing prescriptions is not invented by Zhu Zaiyu. He is good at planning and has no academic value. However, he is the only mathematician who has been the most accurate and patient since ancient times when he arrived at a significant number of 25 digits."

Zhu Zaiyu was not only a scientist and musician, but also a musical instrument maker. He was not satisfied with the old theory. He dared to ask questions about the theory of temperament handed down from generation to generation. He set up a new theory, studied it with a practical and realistic attitude, and meticulously produced a musical instrument

The first tuning instrument in the world

To extend the theory of twelve average temperament to music practice. Zhu Zaiyu also made 36 copper pipes, and each pipe was the same. In his works, the material selection, production method and playing requirements of each temperament are explained in detail, and the data are extremely precise. Museum of musical instruments, Brussels, Belgium

Chinese PinYin : Zhu Zai Yu