Since when did the once powerful ancient China begin to lag behind the West?

Recently, I have been relearning linear algebra, and the first chapter is about augmented matrices—a, a very foundational topic. If you have a high school math background, you should find it quite comprehensible.。

The earliest augmented matrices can be traced back to the Chinese Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, which dates back to around 100 BCE. However, the row transformations used in modern Western mathematics differ from the column transformations employed by ancient Chinese mathematicians at that time. The use of column transformations is uncertain, and it may be related to the vertical writing system used by ancient Chinese scholars.The concept of augmented matrices did not appear in the West until several thousand years later. In addition to this, the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art also provided descriptions of decimal notation, quadratic and cubic equations, and had a well-developed understanding of negative numbers. In the early 14th century, Chinese mathematicians even explored systems of simultaneous higher-degree equations and elimination methods. It wasn't until the 19th century that the concept began to emerge in Europe.

However, in the subsequent thousands of years, the development of natural sciences in China only witnessed occasional sparks, without forming a systematic progression. Looking at the swift ascent of the West in the modern and contemporary era, most textbooks worldwide for studying natural sciences now bear names associated with white individuals.

There is a theory that suggests ancient China did indeed achieve many scientific advancements that were ahead of the world, but these achievements might not be considered true science because genuine science should be self-contained. The development of science in ancient China is seen as sporadic occurrences in history rather than a systematically evolving discipline. I'm not sure if this theory is accurate, but currently, the widely acknowledged figure for establishing the modern scientific system is Sir Isaac Newton, a British individual. Before him, it's as if people were peering into the scientific realm, but he forcefully kicked open the doors, revealing a staircase for later scientists to climb. Some even liken his contributions to those of religious leaders such as Jesus and Muhammad in terms of their impact on humanity.

Newton was twelve years older than the renowned Chinese Emperor Kangxi. The so-called Kang-Qian Golden Age in China seemed more like a feudal nation's self-presentation when compared to the situation in Britain at the time. Uttering these words as a Chinese feels somewhat harsh. However, while the common people in China were still cheering for the emperor, Newton, in England, had already established the foundations of modern science. At that time, China remained the world's largest economy, with our tea, porcelain, and silk highly coveted by European nobility. Yet, in the realm of science, China had already been far surpassed by the West.

Marco Polo, a European, once visited China and described us as a country with abundant gold, extremely prosperous. His travelogue, "The Travels of Marco Polo," became immensely popular in Europe.

Most Chinese people believe that China's backwardness can be traced back to the imperial decree issued by Emperor Qianlong in 1757, which initiated the policy of "closing the country to the outside world." This policy cut off communication with foreign nations and severed exchanges in science, culture, and economics. It is considered the root cause of China falling behind the West by more than two hundred years.

I believe that the seeds of falling behind the West were sown as early as 1225 during the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, the Southern Song economy was extremely prosperous. Historical records document the existence of the world's earliest and most thriving night market economy in the Southern Song Dynasty. If you were living in China at that time, even without incandescent lights, you could still go out for shopping and strolling at night. The capital, Lin'an (present-day Hangzhou), had a population of 1.2 million, over 300 bridges, and tax revenues far exceeded those of other countries during the same period. It was more prosperous than the capitals of all other countries in the world at that time.

Why do I consider the prosperous Southern Song Dynasty as the beginning of falling behind? Because in 1225, the same year, England issued the Magna Carta, limiting the power of the English king and establishing the principles of inviolable private property and personal freedom. In England, royal authority was restricted, and individual creativity began to be respected and developed. Meanwhile, in China, despite its prosperity, royal authority remained dominant, and even aristocrats could exploit peasants at will.

During this period, China remained much wealthier and more prosperous than the West. However, by the year 1689, the English published "Two Treatises of Government," marking a second significant restriction of royal power and a strong emphasis on individual human rights. Meanwhile, in China, not only was there no limitation on royal authority, but in the decades following, institutions like the Grand Council were established, reaching the pinnacle of the feudal system. There was no longer any entity in China to counterbalance royal authority. At this time, China neither needed nor allowed the existence of science; absolute obedience to the emperor was the sole requirement.

In 1776, Watt's steam engine marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and China unable to compete with the West. The limitation on royal authority was the starting point for the West's surpassing of China. With the full protection of individual freedom and human rights, the West experienced rapid development over the next few centuries. Europe, once in the chaos of the dark Middle Ages, leaped to become synonymous with human civilization.

Chinese people invented gunpowder but did not develop chemistry, invented the compass but did not study the magnetic pole phenomenon in physics. The most significant contribution of the Chinese to the world is papermaking, bringing the hope of cultural inheritance to civilizations worldwide. In the 17th century, European papermaking was only at the level of China in the 12th century. It was not until the 18th century when the French invented papermaking machines that European papermaking technology began to comprehensively surpass China.

The birth of papermaking originated from the Han Dynasty when Empress Dowager Deng had a strong passion for reading. This led to Cai Lun's famous improvement of papermaking techniques, which, in a way, received substantial assistance from royal authority.Ancient Chinese science served the authority of the monarchy.

When the British bombarded China with cannons during the Opium Wars, we realized the immense gap between us and the rest of the world. Even today, the British Museum still houses numerous spoils of war taken by the British during that period. Carefully preserved by the British, these items are displayed in the museum, seemingly telling the story of China's humiliation and backwardness compared to the West.

Present-day China is rapidly developing and has become a major global power, second only to the United States. It is the largest trading partner for the European Union and many other countries. The rapid development can be attributed, in part, to the decentralization of power to individual citizens by the Chinese government in the 1970s.

Lastly

Any attempt to forcibly impose political ideologies on schools and students is no different from the actions of politicians like Hitler.

In the past, despite Germany having some of the world's most outstanding physicists, they did not take the lead in inventing the atomic bomb. This was because Hitler believed that the quantum field associated with the atomic bomb was a science dominated by Jewish people, and he disliked it. He insisted that physicists find alternative ways to conduct research. His foolishness prematurely ended the evil of the Nazis.

The world is currently experiencing a turbulent era of political madness. Trends such as de-globalization, conservatism, and nationalism are on the rise. What started in elite American universities has spread to universities worldwide. Politicians are aggressively instilling their ideologies into students, and schools are no longer purely based on scientific research. This can be seen as a modern version of "royal intervention" in science, but this time, the "royalty" is not a single person but a small group of "elites."

As long as "royalty" persists, science struggles to thrive. It remains a spark, difficult to ignite into a full blaze.

Let us hope for purer universities and purer science, so that humanity can truly embrace its spring, rather than being stuck in a perpetual winter.

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强大的古代中国是什么时候开始落后西方的?

最近我在重新学习线性代数，第一章就是关于增广矩阵，非常基础的内容，如果你有高中数学基础，你就可以看懂

最早的增广矩阵能追溯到中国公元前100年的九章算术，但是和现代西方数学家采用的行变换不同，当时的中国古代数学家采用的列变换，采用列变换的原因不确定是不是和中国古人竖着写字有关。而增广矩阵过了几千年在西方才出现这个概念。除此之外，九章算术里对十进制、二次三次方程都有描述，负数的概念也早已成熟，在14世纪初中国数学家更是探讨了联立高次方程组与消元法，而直到19世纪，欧洲才开始出现这个概念

但是此后的几千年的时间，中国的自然科学发展只是零零星星的冒出火花，再也没有成体系的发展，反观西方在近现代飞速的崛起，如今各国学习自然科学的教科书基本都是白人的名字。

有一种理论是认为中国古代的确做出过很多领先世界的科学成果，但是算不上科学，因为正真的科学应该是自成体系的，而中国古代的科学发展只能是历史偶尔的昙花一现。我不知道这个理论对不对，但是目前世界上公认建立近代科学体系的人是英国人艾萨克.牛顿，在他之前，人们就好像在科学殿堂门口偷窥，而他一脚踢开了科学的大门，让后来的科学家看到了攀登的阶梯，因此有人甚至把他对人类的成就与耶稣和穆罕穆德这些宗教领袖并列。

牛顿比中国著名的康熙皇帝还大十二岁，所谓的康乾盛世对比当时的英国看来更像是封建民族的自我表演。这句话从我这个中国人说出来有些残忍。但是当时的中国老百姓还在对着皇帝欢呼万岁，英国人牛顿已经建立了近代科学的体系。这时候的中国依然是世界上最庞大的经济体，我们的茶叶，瓷器和丝绸在欧洲都是被贵族狂热追捧的物品，而在科学领域却已经远远被西方超越了。

欧洲人马可波罗曾经来过中国，形容我们是遍地黄金，极度富裕的国家，他回国后写下马可波罗游记风靡欧洲。

大多数中国人认为中国的落后是源于1757年当时的皇帝乾隆颁发诏令开始实施“闭关锁国”，不与外国来往，断绝了科学、文化与经济的交流，这被认为是中国落后于西方两百多年的祸根

我认为1225年南宋的时候就已经开始埋下了落后西方的种子，南宋当时经济极度繁荣，史书记载当时的南宋有世界最早最繁华的夜市经济，如果你生活在当时的中国，即使没有白炽灯，晚上依然可以出门逛街购物，都城临安当时人口120万，桥梁300多座，赋税收入远远超过同期的其他国家，比当时世界上所有国家的首都都远远繁华。

如此繁华的南宋为什么却被我认为是落后的开始？因为当时的1225年英国颁布《大宪章》限制英王的权利，已确立私有财产和人身自由不可侵犯的原则，王权在英国被限制，于是个人的创造力开始在英国得到尊重和发展。此时的中国虽然繁华，但是王权依旧鼎盛，甚至贵族门阀亦可以随意剥削农民。

这段时间的中国依然远远比西方富裕发达，当时间来到1689年，英国人发表《政府论》，第二次大幅度限制王权，充分尊重个体的人权。而此时的中国不仅没有限制王权，还在这之后的几十年建立了军机处，让中国的王权达到了封建制度的顶峰，再也没有和王权抗衡的存在，此时的中国不需要也不允许科学的存在，只需要对皇帝的绝对服从。

1776年，瓦特的蒸汽机开启工业革命开始，中国再也无力和西方做比较，对王权的限制，是西方超越中国的开始，当个体的自由和人权得到充分保障后，西方在近几百年高速飞快的发展，欧洲从混沌黑暗的中世纪一跃成为了人类文明的代名词

中国人发明了火药却没有发展出化学，发明指南针却没有研究物理的磁极现象

而中国人对世界最大的贡献就是造纸术，给世界上各国的文明带来了传承的希望，欧洲17世纪的造纸术只相当于中国12世纪的水平，直到18世纪法国人发明机器造纸，欧洲造纸技术开始全面超越中国。

而造纸术的诞生是源于当时汉朝的邓皇后酷爱读书，于是才有了蔡伦改良造纸术闻名于世，这何尝不是一次王权的鼎力相助。中国的古代科学是为王权服务的

当英国人在鸦片战争中用大炮轰击中国的时候，我们才知道，我们和世界的差距尽然如此巨大，现如今大英博物馆里依然有大量当时英国人带走的战利品，它们一件件的被英国人细心呵护的展览在大英博物馆里，却仿佛在一遍遍诉说着这段中国如何落后西方的耻辱

现在的中国快速发展，影响力已经成为了世界上仅次于美国的大国，是欧盟以及诸多国家的最大贸易合作国，而这一切的快速发展离不开上世纪70年代中国政府对民间个体的放权

最后

任何企图把政治观念强加学校和学生的政治家和希特勒并没有区别

当初德国之所以明明有着全世界最优秀的物理学家却没有率先发明原子弹，是因为希特勒觉得原子弹涉及的量子领域是犹太人的科学，他不喜欢，他要求物理学家另外想办法研究，他的愚蠢提前终结了纳粹的邪恶

世界正处于政治疯狂激荡的时刻，去全球化，保守主义，民族主义开始复苏，从美国的精英大学开始衍生到全世界的大学，政治家们疯狂的把他们的观念灌输给学生，学校开始不再是科学研究纯粹的基地，这何尝不是现代版的“王权”对科学的干预了，只是此时的“王权”不再是一个人而是一小群“精英”

“王权”不死，科学不生，终是星火，难以燎原。

希望我们的大学更加纯粹，我们的科学也更加纯粹，只有这样人类等来才是属于自己的春天而不是冬天