晚明中西传统农学的对话——以高一志《齐家西学》为中心-《中国农史》

文章信息/Info

Title:: The Encounter of Chinese and Western Traditional Agronomic Knowledge in the Late Ming Dynasty: A Focus on Alfonso Vagnone’s Qijia Xixue（《齐家西学》）

Author(s):: SONG Yuanming; (Institute of Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083)

Keywords:: Qijia Xixue; Jesuit missionaries; agricultural practices; animal husbandry; Sino-Western exchange

摘要:: 明末，来华传教士带来大量西方科技新知，意大利耶稣会士高一志与中国士人于山西绛州合作完成的《齐家西学》一书囊括了最早成体系传入中国的西方农学文本。书中详细介绍了西方在土壤分析、整地耕垦、水利器械、粮食储藏等方面的知识与技术，还对西方农业独有的按照月相安排农业生产的传统以及发达的畜牧生产技术进行了论述。同时，鉴于读者为中国受众，作者根据中国特别是其所处的山西等地的农业实际情况对书中知识进行了中国化表述，使得中西方农学在晚明实现了对话。由于彼时中国相较西方在农业生产上仍具有相对优势，书中的西学知识虽未能对中国农业实践产生直接影响，但为我们了解明清之际中西农学交流提供了极为重要的新文本。

Abstract:: During the late Ming dynasty, missionaries arriving in China introduced a wealth of Western scientific and technological knowledge. Among these contributions, Qijia Xixue, co-authored by the Italian Jesuit Alfonso Vagnone (Gao Yizhi) and Chinese scholars in Jiangzhou, Shanxi, encompasses the earliest systematic introduction of Western agricultural texts to China. The work extensively details Western agronomic knowledge and techniques, including soil analysis, land preparation and cultivation, hydraulic machinery, grain storage, and uniquely Western traditions such as lunar-phase-based agricultural scheduling and advanced animal husbandry practices. To cater to Chinese readers, the authors adapted Western knowledge to reflect the agricultural realities of Shanxi and broader China, achieving the encounter of Chinese and Western agronomy in the late Ming Dynasty. While the Western knowledge in the text did not directly influence Chinese agricultural practices due to China’s relative agricultural superiority at the time, it remains a crucial new source for understanding Sino-Western agronomic exchanges during the Ming-Qing transition.