明末清初几本火器著作的初步比较

A comparison of several books about firearms in late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty

明末清初出现了两本全面介绍西方的军事技术的专著:《西法神机》、《火攻挈要》,也出现了部分介绍西方火器知识的兵书《兵录》。通过比较不同背景、成书时间相近的三本兵书,从“西方传入火器知识”、“中国传统知识的痕迹”两个方面进行考察与对比,从而对当时火器技术的有关问题进行探讨,得出三者在内容与结构上的一些结论,提出三者相关版本流传的可能情况,并同西方相关资料进行对照,以期对西方火器知识在明末这段特定历史时期的传播有所了解。

During late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, two most important books came into publication, introducing comprehensively the western firearm technology. They were Western Masterstroke of Firearms and Essentials of Gunnery. Also there were some books on tactics, and part of the contents was about western military technology, such as Records of Military Art. Based on the information in the three books, this paper makes a comparison of the firearm knowledge of the west and the ancient China. It is hoped that this comparison might reveal some problems concerning the firearm technology of that time, and how western firearm technology spread in late Ming dynasty.