Tu Benji

Tu Benji

Tu benluo, who was also named as laosou and uncle Tian, was named hanpi. In his later years, he called himself Mr. Han and father-in-law gualong. He was a native of Yinxian county (now Ningbo) in Zhejiang Province. Tu Dashan, his father, was once the rear right servant in Jiajing. He was dismissed by Yan Shifan, and later the imperial court restored him.

TU was born in a scholarly family. He is the author of "Minzhong haicuoshu", "seafood index", "Minzhong litchi spectrum", "yecaijian", "Lisao vegetation shubu" and other books. The content involves plants, animals, horticulture and other fields.

Tu Benji

The year of his birth and death is unknown, and he mainly lived in the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty (1573-1620). He is the author of the book "economic records of mountains and forests", which was compiled by him when he was dismissed from office. It is intended to "enjoy the interests of mountains and forests" and "enjoy the beauty of mountains and forests". It was published in 1613.

birth

TU was born in a scholarly family. His father Yin was appointed as the Tongzhi of Taichang Temple Dianbo, Li department doctor and Lianghuai transportation department, and later moved to Fujian as the Tongzhi of salt transportation department. He despises fame and wealth, is honest and easy to read, and is still diligent in his studies. Tu once said, "I am hungry for food, thirsty for drink, bent down for a pillow, worried for advocacy."

After the middle of Ming Dynasty, due to the influence of the development of commodity economy and the germination of capitalism, some Chinese intellectuals made great achievements in science and technology due to their in-depth practical investigation and research. Tu Benji is one of them. Through investigation and research, he has written many books, such as "Minzhong haicuoshu", "seafood index", "Minzhong litchi Genealogy", "yecaijian", "Lisao vegetation shubu". The content involves plants, animals, horticulture and other fields.

Minzhong haicuoshu mainly records the marine animals along the coast of Fujian, which is the earliest marine fauna of China. There are Yihai Zhuchen, Xuejin Taoyuan, zhucong bielu, mingbianzhai and series collection. Fujian Provincial Library has Wanli engraved edition and seafood index records 16 species of marine animals. It is written by the author to correct the mistakes in Zhang Jiujun's praise, praise, inscription and interpretation of 16 kinds of seafood, and its content is not as rich as that in Minzhong haicuoshu There is a sequel to Shuo Ying. Wild vegetable notes (Volume 1) records the wild plants of Tu benyao's hometown Siming (now Ningbo, Zhejiang). The book of Litchi in the middle of Fujian is described in the bibliography of qianqingtang, which is composed of 8 volumes. This book was also written by Tu benluo when he was an official in Fujian. The South China Agricultural University Library has an engraved edition of this book in the 25th year of Wanli period (1597). The title of the book is litchi general spectrum in central Fujian. The whole book consists of 4 volumes, with 1 volume of litchi spectrum by Cai Xiang and 3 volumes of litchi school spectrum by Xu huobo, which are combined into 8 volumes. "Minzhong litchi spectrum" mainly records litchi varieties, habits, cultivation and processing in Fujian.

The miscalculation of Minzhong sea

Tu benluo's representative work, the miscalculation of the sea in the middle of Fujian, was written at the request of Yu Yinzhi, Shaoqing of Taichang, after the author came to Fujian. It was completed in bingshen (1596) of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. The book is divided into three volumes. The first and second volumes are the scale section, and the second volume is the introduction section. There are also a preface and an appendix. This book records more than 200 kinds of marine animals (including a few freshwater species) along the coast of Fujian Province, mainly marine economic fish, including four famous marine treasures of China, namely large yellow croaker, small yellow croaker, hairtail and squid, as well as the well-known marine animals such as prawn, shad, shad and shad (Chinese blue scale fish). In addition to the synonyms of the same species, there are more than 80 kinds of fishes recorded in minzhonghaicuoshu, including crucian carp, red sea bream, square head fish, mullet, etc., belonging to 40 families of Cyprinidae, Sparidae, pomfretidae, and 20 orders of Cypriniformes, Perciformes, mullets, etc. There are 10 species of amphibians recorded, including toad (Bufo nigromaculatus), rain frog (Rana chensinensis), toad (Rana chensinensis), water fowl (Rana rugulosa), stone scale (Rana spinosa) and yellow catfish (Rana chensinensis), which belong to 3 families of toad, rain frog and frog. In addition, there are mollusc shellfish, arthropod shrimp, a few turtles and soft shelled turtles, as well as other common marine products in Fujian, such as bird's nest and sea powder. It should be pointed out that some records in the book have not been mentioned by predecessors. For example, the name "sea urchin" was once thought to come from Japan. In fact, Japan cited this book.

Marine animals

(a precious little sardine), which was not recorded before Ming Dynasty, was described by Tu Ben - yuan. Fujian is located between Zhejiang Province and Guangdong Province, and some marine animals are similar. Therefore, Tu's description of Fujian's marine animals is often compared with those from the east coast of Zhejiang Province. Therefore, Minzhong haicuoshu can be regarded as an early Chinese marine fauna or a monograph on marine animals. Through his research on marine animals, Tu benluo gained a lot of knowledge about the morphology and ecology of marine animals. For example, he vividly described the square head (fangtouyu) with a slightly square head; the head of tiger shark (Tigris angustifolia) with a concave head and a tiger pattern on its body; and he also described the morphology of marine animals such as Pera (red sea bream), Scapharca subcrenata (olive clam), Scapharca canadensis (clam). Species can be identified according to the characteristics described. It is consistent with the present species in Fujian. In terms of ecological habits, Tu recorded clearly the growth and reproduction of Bullacta exarata, "born in early spring and March, it is as thin as rice, soft shell and delicious. In early April, it's a little big. In May, it's full of fat. It can be stored for a long time. It can be soaked in wine for one or two nights. The cream overflows the shell and looks like crystal.

Shellfish

Autumn Moon take, meat paste less, taste less than spring. According to Zhang Xi, this kind of shellfish lays eggs from July to September. After autumn, it is collected from individuals who have laid eggs, so the meat is hard and less blind, and the taste is not as good as spring. The snails hatched in that year were small and hard to see by naked eyes. In the spring of the next year, they grew to grain size and began to breed from May to June. From Tu's description of the natural reproduction of mud snails, we can see that he has a clear understanding of the ecological habits of mud snails. He also observed that the ovary and testis of the good fish (Mugil mullet) filled the abdominal cavity in the deep winter, and the gonads matured and laid eggs. In the spring, good (ROE) fish excrete sperm after spawning, that is thin and tasteless. This understanding of the reproductive period of (ROE) fish is of reference value in fine farming. The records and understanding of the feeding habits, the migration rules of entering the harbor in winter and going to sea in the next spring will meet the current fishing season in Fujian. The internal organs of some marine animals are also described in the book. For example, it is pointed out that there are yellowish brown substance (liver), yolk, black as black as black gravel ink (ink sac) and white as barley (egg) in the belly of minnow. All of the above shows that in the 16th century, Chinese people's observation and understanding of marine animals reached a high level.

Freshwater aquaculture

In Ming Dynasty, freshwater aquaculture industry was quite developed, and some related materials were included in the book "minzhonghaicuoshu". For example, the record of carnivorous snakehead fish (that is, cuttlefish) said: "where snakehead, where a tail, people's pond, food fish exhausted, into every evil and drive it." It is pointed out that black mullet must be removed from the pond before fish culture. The book also introduces the methods of raising grass carp and silver carp in Fujian: in the second month of the lunar calendar, the fry are raised first in the small pond, then moved to the "upper and lower rhinoceros" pond, and then moved to the wide pond, where they are fed with grass, and the water starts in September. With the growth of the fish and replace the fish pond, the fry from the year to develop commercial fish. The experience that snakehead must be removed in the polyculture of grass and silver carp is still of practical significance today, which also reflects the progress of pond fish culture in Ming Dynasty.

fish

In Minzhong haicuoshu, Tu benyao put together the similar species, for example, echinohyena (red sea bream), red mane (Yellow Sea Bream), square head (square head fish), black cheek (black sea bream), Megalobrama amblycephala, toad (black orbit toad), rain frog (Chinese rain frog), stone scale (spine chest frog), green frog (black spot frog), etc. The above are equivalent to fish and amphibians in modern animal classification. Tu also arranged large groups of aquatic animals with more similar neutral forms. For example, among the fishes, the silverfish (silverhead), noodles (white muscle silverfish) and pulp (short tail new silverfish) are arranged together, which belong to the family silverfish; among the amphibians, the stone scale, green catfish, yellow catfish (marsh frog) and water fowl are arranged together, which belong to the family Ranae. Tu divided marine animals into different groups, and then divided them into sub groups. This arrangement method revealed the natural groups of animals to a certain extent, and reflected the genetic relationship between them. It can be seen that this Chinese biologist in the 16th century has taken a step towards the direction of natural classification. These different classes and subclasses are equivalent to the elements of families and genera in modern biology, which include the concepts of families, genera and even species. The descriptions of animal names by European naturalists at the same time were arranged in Latin alphabetic order, or classified according to the nature and use of medicine. There is no clue of natural classification. It is obvious that the animal classification adopted by Tu benluo in minzhonghai cuoshu was relatively advanced at that time.

Medicine, agriculture

Before Ming Dynasty, the knowledge of zoology in China was mainly scattered in the works of medicine and agronomy, but it did not form an independent and systematic science. Under such historical conditions, Tu benluo was able to write a marine fauna or marine monograph with the concept of natural classification, which is the earliest in China and the world, and has great significance in the history of biology.

Seafood index

Volume 1 of seafood index was written by Tu benluo to correct the mistakes of his predecessors. For example, the book points out that carp and yellow croaker are two different kinds of fish, and it is wrong to regard them as one kind of fish. It is also said that green carp is not green crucian carp. "Jiang yaozhu is a crab, all believe in the false biography.". Shichongqu, also known as bergamot clam, is not a clam but a clam. The work of rectifying these errors provides valuable scientific historical materials for the study of marine animals and the development of marine resources in China

Chinese PinYin : Tu Ben Jun4