Wang Zheng Who Transmitted European Science and Technology and Culture to China

Wang Zheng was a famous researcher and transmitter of science and technology in the late Ming dynasty,and one of the earliest Chinese converts of Catholicism,and played an important role in the history of transmission of knowledge across cultures and the history of religion in China.Wang Zheng's father and uncle played an important role in shaping his religion thought.Although he was regarded as convert of Buddhism,Daoism,and Catholicism he never abandoned the core of Confucianism,and remained a real Confucian for his whole life.Confucianism influenced his technological practices and his attitude toward Western knowledge directly.Wang Zheng combined his Confucian morality with his interest in technology and machinery manufacture.He was an able official and the gentry who contributed greatly to maintaining the peace of the society,and sacrificed his life for the loyalty of the Ming Dynasty.The book The illustration and explanation of the best selection of the extraordinary devices of the far west compiled by Wang Zheng and Johann Terrenz,is the first book of European mechanics,and a milestone in the history of mechanics in China.