Tang Jialu: 74-year-old ancient technology enthusiast restores historical "artifacts"

The book "Heavenly Creations" written by Ming Dynasty scientist Song Yingxing records more than 30 industries and 130 production technologies related to agriculture and handicrafts in China before the Ming Dynasty, which can be called "China's 17th century technology encyclopedia". In Shapingba District, Chongqing, there is a 74-year-old man named Tang Jialu who loves to study these old "old things" and can be described as an "ancient technology fan".

How can one ox pull nine mills? Is there a vertical shaft windmill? What was the world's earliest blower like? In the eyes of Mr. Tang Jialu, these things are simply too interesting! It is not enough to just like them, he also wants to make them. He uses his pension to buy materials. The old man has restored more than 20 ancient Chinese scientific and technological inventions, making the production tools in "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" such as "the world's earliest blower, the Han Dynasty's water-connected nine-mill and one ox eight-mill" "come alive" again.

Mr. Tang Jialu, who is 74 years old this year, immediately becomes energetic and full of vigor when talking about the treasures in front of him.

Tang Jialu:

This windmill is called a Chinese vertical axis windmill. It closes when the wind blows, and then turns around and automatically opens to reduce pressure.

This ancient windmill model was made by Mr. Tang Jialu, who spent more than half a year to refine it bit by bit based on a drawing in "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature", an ancient Chinese scientific and technological work.

Mr. Tang Jialu is addicted to restoring models of ancient Chinese technology. In addition to this multi-directionally rotating ancient Chinese windmill, what makes him most proud is that he personally restored a blower invented in the Han Dynasty.

Tang Jialu:

It converts the rotating force into pulling force, and then blows the wind. Therefore, after this appears, the temperature of the furnace can rise to over 1200℃.

In addition to these two "treasures", Mr. Tang Jialu also restored dozens of models of ancient Chinese scientific and technological production tools, such as one ox and eight mills, a wheel mill, a pestle, and a water-powered tea kneading machine. He was not satisfied with this. In order to let more people see the charm of ancient Chinese technology, Mr. Tang also made a 1:1 restored scientific and technological exhibit in the nearby Dianjiang County.

Tang Jialu:

This was based on the water-connected nine-mill invented in the Han Dynasty as described in Wang Zhen's Agricultural Book. It was mainly used in places with high mountains and fast-flowing water. The wheel was huge, very large, and it was driven by the strong water to drive the nine mills to grind flour. In the Han Dynasty, it was a large-scale flour processing machine.

Tang Jialu said that this device could promote the efficient development of agricultural production at that time. In order to successfully restore the Shuilian Jiumo in a 1:1 ratio, Mr. Tang Jialu and his like-minded friends went through countless trials and errors before finally making the finished product.

Tang Jialu:

The people who were moving the things manually saw and heard the wind blowing from above, and I tell you, they were shouting while moving the things below. So I tell you, our production workers, a few key members, became more and more interested as they worked.

Pursuing the “origin” of history to bring ancient technology to life

In 1966, Mr. Tang Jialu was transferred from Beijing to a research institute in Chongqing. By chance, he saw a local farmer using a huge tool to squeeze rapeseed oil, which immediately aroused his interest. After asking around, he learned that there were many ancient production tools in the local area, most of which could be found in the ancient book "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature". So he came up with an idea to restore the ancient scientific and technological tools based on the records in the book. Later, he finally found the ancient book "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" in the Chongqing History Museum.

Tang Jialu:

This book is old, I dare not touch it, so I asked their staff to copy all the pictures for me. It was very expensive at that time, and the photocopiers had just appeared. I had to copy it no matter how expensive it was and put it in the original book.

During the research process, in addition to "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature", Tang Jialu also found books such as "Wang Zhen's Book of Agriculture" and "Achievements of Ancient Chinese Science and Technology", and the contents recorded in them deeply attracted him.

Tang Jialu:

I have now copied down many pictures from all the ancient books, not only "Wang Zhen's Book of Agriculture" but also "Ancient Chinese Machinery" and put them together so that I can look through them and we can make them easily. It will reflect all aspects from textile to iron smelting.

With these photocopied ancient books, Tang Jialu traveled from Tongjiang, Sichuan to Hanzhong, Shaanxi, Guizhou to Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Tianjin and Beijing, looking for the scientific and technological relics mentioned in the books one by one. Whether in deep mountains or remote villages, from 2004 to 2007, Tang Jialu explored his goal with full passion.

Tang Jialu:

It took me more than three years, almost four years, to conduct investigations, and then I went to Beijing to visit some experts and professors. I had to reproduce it in a 1:1 ratio so that people could see the ancient Chinese technology, especially the Han Dynasty, two thousand years ago.

Tang Jialu's dream is to make ancient scientific and technological tools "alive" through constant persistence and dedicated research. However, he also faces challenges. Restoring these large devices requires a lot of time and money. For this reason, Tang Jialu has not only spent all his savings over the years, but also owed foreign debts. However, Tang Jialu never gave up his dream. His persistence and enthusiasm have gained more and more understanding and support, and he has become more determined to move forward.

Realizing the dream of "restoration" and passing on ancient science and technology culture

Where there is a will, there is a way. After decades of hard work, Mr. Tang Jialu not only made one "restored product" after another come down from the altar of ancient books and meet modern people, but he also gained support from a like-minded friend, who is the operator of a farm in Shapingba, Chongqing.

Nowadays, Mr. Tang can not only continue his research here, but also introduce knowledge related to ancient Chinese science and technology to children and parents who come here to visit, and teach children woodworking skills step by step.

Seeing the magical objects in Mr. Tang's hands, the children's faces were full of curiosity. Starting from the simplest woodworking operations, the old man taught them step by step, and the children learned attentively, and the wooden strips turned into interesting models in a blink of an eye.

Tang Jialu:

Taking into account that our production capacity is getting smaller and smaller, especially for carpentry, almost no one has learned it. How to pass on Lu Ban's skills is my next research goal.

Parent: I saw this ancient technology project online and thought it was very interesting, so I brought my child here to experience it. I think it can enhance the child's hands-on ability and activate his thinking.

Just as he had developed a bond with the ancient tools in the hands of farmers in the mountains of Chongqing, Mr. Tang Jialu hopes that more children will become interested in ancient Chinese science and technology through his demonstrations and explanations, and even have a deeper and longer inheritance.

Those who pursue their dreams are always young!

Mr. Tang Jialu said that his biggest regret at present is that he does not have a complete display base, so his current goal is to build an ancient technology display base by gaining support from all parties, so that he can display the ancient technology equipment they have restored to more people more fully and intuitively.

For the sake of these ancient technologies, Mr. Tang has read thousands of books and traveled thousands of miles, and he has also invested all of his retirement funds into them. This is undoubtedly his "true love".

The inventions and designs in "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" and other books embody the wisdom of the ancient Chinese. Although many of these designs have been replaced by more advanced technology in our lives today, the ingenuity contained in these inventions and the innovation behind them have been re-presented to us as Mr. Tang creates one physical object after another. These magical machines are not only an interesting science and technology class, but also an immersive history class.

(CCTV reporter Li Jiangnan, Deng Lijuan, Liu Ran, Wang Yuchen, Wang Hongchao)

Editor-in-charge: Wang Hexiang

Source: CCTV News Client