徐光启未刊笔记《开成纪要》初考

Kai Cheng Ji Yao: An Unpublished Work by Xu Guangqi( Paul Xu)

浙江图书馆藏有一部题为《开成纪要》的抄本,抄写者是近代上海藏书家韩应陛,抄本最后有上海现代文人姚鹓雏的跋文。《开成纪要》的内容非常庞杂,以机械制作、金属加工、矿山开采为主,同时涉及农、牧、渔、造纸、化工、瓷器烧制、望远镜制作等。各种证据表明,这部抄本实际上是徐光启的一部未刊笔记,其内容大体上可以分为两大部分。第一部分是关于中国传统的一些民间工艺,第二部分则是来自欧洲的科技新知识,包括由欧洲文字直接音译而来的专业词汇。在这些来自欧洲的科技新知识中,有的是由利玛窦输入的,有的则来自其他传教士。《开成纪要》的主要价值在于,它不仅有助于进一步探讨徐光启的科技成就,而且还为深入研究中国古代科技史,特别是明末西方科技知识在中国的传播问题提供了宝贵的资料。同时,这部抄本对于研究松江韩氏读有用书斋也具有一定的意义。此外,借助于《开成纪要》,可以纠正现行《徐光启全集》中的一些文字错误。

The author of this paper has discovered a copy titled as Kai Cheng Ji Yao kept in Zhejiang Library.Although the copy was transcribed by Han Yingbi,a famous bibliophile in modern Shanghai,it showed that this is in fact an unpublished work by Xu Guangqi（ Paul Xu）. The content of Kai Cheng Ji Yao can be divided into two parts.The first part is about some of the traditional folk crafts in Chinese,and the second part is about some new knowledge of science and technology from Europe,of which,some was surely introduced by Matteo Ricci,while others were introduced by other European missionaries. This recently discovered work provides a new document not only for further exploring Xu Guangqi＇s achievements in science and technology,but also for the in-depth research of the traditional Chinese science and technology,especially the European knowledge introduced by the missionaries in the late Ming Dynasty. At the same time,this copy is also contributive to the study of Han Yingbi and his private library.