中国指南针史研究文献综述

A Literature Review on the Historical Studies of Compass in China

中国古代指南针史研究始于20世纪初,对其起源有唐宋磁针说、先秦磁石说两类。普遍认为宋代指南针已具有多种类型,已广泛用于海陆辨向。中世纪指南针传到中亚和欧洲。史学界迄今对指南针的起源、人工磁化指南针制法与性能、航海罗盘构造及用法等存在不同观点和争议。当前宜从制作技术角度入手,考察技术历史背景,创新量化研究方法,提高实验研究的水平,从实证上推进指南针研究。

The historical studies on the compass in China was begun from the early 20th century. There are two kinds of viewpoints on the origins of the compass： the magnetic tip from North Song dynasty and the lodestone from pre-Qin period. In the previous researches, it was generally believed that the compass had a variety of types in the Song dynasty and had been widely used in orienteering of overland ravel and sailing. In the Middle Ages, the compass was spread to Central Asia and Europe. But some important details were disputing, vague or plausible sill, such as the origins of compass, the manufacture methods of artificial magnetized compass and the structure and usage of navigational compass. It is suggested to carry out studies on the manufacture methods, including investigating the historical background, innovating the method of quantitative research and exploring theoretical connotation, improving the experiments, to promote the historical research of compass by the empirical view.