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{{short description|Aspect of Chinese history}}
{{Featured article}}
[[Image:Jiao zi.jpg|thumb|alt=A reddish purple rectangular piece of paper, about two times as long as it is wide, with a design divided into three sections. The top section depicts ten circles in two rows of five. The middle section is several lines of text, vertically ruled, and the bottom section depicts several men standing in front of a gate.|[[Jiaozi (currency)|Jiaozi]], the world's first [[Banknote|paper-printed]] [[currency]], a [[Song dynasty|Song]] innovation.]]
{{History of science and technology in China}}
The [[Song dynasty]] ({{zh|c=宋朝}}; 960–1279 CE) witnessed many substantial [[History of science and technology in China|scientific and technological]] advances in [[History of China|Chinese history]]. Some of these advances and innovations were the products of talented statesmen and [[scholar-officials]] drafted by the government through [[imperial examination]]s. [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095), author of the ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'', is a prime example, an [[List of Chinese inventions|inventor]] and pioneering figure who introduced many new advances in [[Chinese astronomy]] and [[Chinese mathematics|mathematics]], establishing the concept of [[true north]] in the first known experiments with the magnetic [[compass]]. However, commoner craftsmen such as [[Bi Sheng]] (972–1051), the inventor of [[History of printing in East Asia|movable type printing]] (in a form predating the [[printing press]] of [[Johannes Gutenberg]]), were also heavily involved in technical innovations.
The ingenuity of advanced [[mechanical engineering]] had a long tradition in China. The Song engineer [[Su Song]], who constructed a [[hydraulics|hydraulically-powered]] [[astronomical clock|astronomical]] [[clocktower]], admitted that he and his contemporaries were building upon the achievements of the ancients such as [[Zhang Heng]] (78–139), an astronomer, inventor, and early master of mechanical gears whose [[armillary sphere]] was automatically rotated by a [[waterwheel]] and [[Water clock|clepsydra]] timer.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 466">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 466.</ref> The application of [[movable type]] [[History of printing|printing]] advanced the already widespread use of [[woodblock printing]] to educate and amuse [[Confucianism|Confucian]] students and the masses. The application of [[History of gunpowder|new weapons]] employing the use of [[gunpowder]] enabled the Song to ward off its militant enemies—the [[Liao dynasty|Liao]], [[Western Xia]], and [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin]] with weapons such as [[cannon]]s—until its collapse to the [[Mongols|Mongol]] forces of [[Kublai Khan]] in the late 13th century.
Notable advances in [[civil engineering]], [[maritime history|nautics]], and [[History of ferrous metallurgy|metallurgy]] were made in Song China, as well as the introduction of the [[windmill]] to China during the thirteenth century. These advances, along with the introduction of [[Banknote|paper-printed money]], helped revolutionize and sustain the [[economy of the Song dynasty]]. Song era [[antiquarian]]s such as [[Ouyang Xiu]] (1007–1072) and Shen Kuo dabbled in the nascent [[History of Chinese archaeology|field of archaeology]] and [[epigraphy]], inspecting ancient [[Chinese ritual bronzes|bronzewares]] and inscriptions to understand the past. Advances were also made in the field of [[forensics]], in particular by [[Song Ci]] (1186–1249), author of the ''[[Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified]]'' that covered topics such as [[autopsies]] in murder cases and [[first aid]] for victims.
==Polymaths and mechanical engineering==
[[Image:Clock Tower from Su Song's Book desmear.JPG|alt=An excerpt from the painting "Along the River During Qingming Festival" depicting a simple building with a triangular roof. It appears that the teahouse is at the top floor of a multi-floor building, however the rest of the building is not shown.|thumb|left|The original diagram of the book by [[Su Song]] in 1092, showing the inner workings of his [[clock tower]], with the [[water clock|clepsydra tank]], a [[waterwheel]] with scoops and the [[escapement]], a [[chain drive]], the [[armillary sphere]] crowning the top, and the rotating wheel with [[striking clock|clock jacks that sounded the hours]] with bells, gongs, and drums.<ref>Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 165 & 455.</ref>]]
===Polymaths===
[[Polymath]]s—that is, people knowledgeable across an encyclopaedic range of topics—such as [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095) and [[Su Song]] (1020–1101) embodied the spirit of early [[empirical]] science and technology in the Song era. Shen is famous for discovering the concept of [[true north]] and [[magnetic declination]] towards the [[North Pole]] by calculating a more accurate measurement of the [[meridian (astronomy)|astronomical meridian]], and fixing the calculated position of the [[pole star]] that had shifted over the centuries.<ref name="sivin III 22">Sivin, III, 22.</ref> This allowed sailors to [[navigation|navigate]] the seas more accurately with the magnetic needle [[compass]], also first described by Shen.<ref name="sivin III 22"/> Shen was made famous for his written description of [[Bi Sheng]], the inventor of [[movable type]] printing. Shen was also interested in [[geology]], as he formulated a theory of [[geomorphology]] and [[climate change (general concept)|climate change]] over time after making observations of strange natural phenomena.<ref name="sivin III 23">Sivin, III, 23.</ref><ref name="needham volume 3 618">Needham, Volume 3, 618.</ref> Using contemporary knowledge of [[solar eclipse]]s and [[lunar eclipse]]s, he theorized that the sun and moon were spherical in shape, not flat, while expanding upon the reasoning of earlier Chinese astronomical theorists.<ref name="needham volume 3 415 416">Needham, Volume 3, 415–416.</ref> Along with his colleague [[Wei Pu]] in the Bureau of Astronomy, Shen used [[cosmological]] hypotheses when describing the variations of [[planetary motion]], including [[Apparent retrograde motion|retrogradation]].<ref name="sivin III 16">Sivin, III, 16.</ref><ref name="sivin III 19">Sivin, III, 19.</ref> One of Shen's greatest achievements, aided by Wei Pu, was correcting the lunar error by diligently recording and plotting the moon's [[Orbital motion|orbital path]] three times a night over a period of five years.<ref name="sivin III 18 19">Sivin, III, 18–19.</ref> Unfortunately Shen had many political rivals at court who were determined to sabotage his work. The court fully accepted their corrections to lunar and solar error, but only partially adopted Shen and Wei's corrected plotting of the [[planet]]ary orbital paths and various speeds.<ref name="sivin III 18 19"/>
Su Song, one of Shen Kuo's political rivals at court, wrote a famous [[pharmaceutical]] treatise in 1070 known as the ''Bencao Tujing'', which included related subjects on [[botany]], [[zoology]], [[metallurgy]], and [[mineralogy]].<ref name="unschuld 60">Unschuld, 60.</ref><ref name="wu 5">Wu, 5.</ref> This treatise included many medicinal applications, including the use of [[ephedrin]] as a pharmaceutical drug.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 446">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 446.</ref> He also was the author of a large celestial atlas of five different [[star map]]s,<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 569">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 569.</ref> and his extensive written and illustrative work in [[cartography]] helped solve a heated border dispute between the Song dynasty and its [[History of the Khitans|Khitan]] neighbor of the [[Liao dynasty]].<ref name="wright 213">Wright, 213.</ref> However, Su was most famous for his hydraulic-powered [[Astronomical clock|astronomical clock tower]], crowned with a mechanically driven [[armillary sphere]], which was erected in the capital city of [[Kaifeng]] in the year 1088.<ref name="sivin III 31 32">Sivin, III, 31–32.</ref> Su's [[clock tower]] employed the [[escapement]] mechanism two centuries before it was applied in [[clock]]s of Europe.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 445">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 445.</ref><ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 448">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 448.</ref> Su's clock tower also featured the earliest known endless power-transmitting [[chain drive]] in the world, as outlined in his [[horological]] treatise of 1092.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 111">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 111.</ref> The cases of these two men display the eagerness of the Song in drafting highly skilled officials who were knowledgeable in the various sciences which could ultimately benefit the administration, the military, the economy, and the people.
[[Image:Su Song Star Map 1.JPG|alt=A rectangular ink on paper diagram with several hundred dots, several of which are organized into constellations, such as a drawn bow (bottom center) and a tree (top left).|thumb|One of five [[star map]]s published in [[Su Song]]'s horological and astronomical book of 1092 CE, featuring Shen Kuo's corrected position of the [[pole star]] using the cylindrical [[equirectangular projection]]<ref>{{citation |last=Miyajima |first=Kazuhiko |year=1998 |title=Projection Methods in Chinese, Korean and Japanese Star Maps |journal=Highlights of Astronomy |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=712–715 |doi=10.1017/s1539299600018554 |doi-access=free }}</ref>]]
Intellectual men of letters like the versatile Shen Kuo dabbled in subjects as diverse as [[mathematics]], [[geography]], [[geology]], [[economics]], [[engineering]], [[medicine]], [[art criticism]], [[archaeology]], [[military strategy]], and [[diplomacy]], among others.<ref name="ebrey 162"/><ref name="ebrey cambridge 148">Ebrey, ''Cambridge Illustrated History of China'', 148.</ref> On a court mission to inspect a frontier region, Shen Kuo once made a [[raised-relief map]] of wood and glue-soaked sawdust to show the mountains, roads, rivers, and passes to other officials.<ref name="ebrey 162"/> He once computed the total number of possible situations on a game board, another time the longest possible military campaign given the limits of human carriers who would bring their own food and food for other soldiers.<ref name="ebrey 162">Ebrey, 162.</ref> Shen Kuo is also noted for improving the designs of the inflow [[Water clock|clepsydra]] clock for a more efficient higher-order [[interpolation]], the armillary sphere, the [[gnomon]], and the astronomical sighting tube; increasing its width for better observation of the pole star and other celestial bodies.<ref name="sivin III 17">Sivin, III, 17.</ref> Shen Kuo also experimented with [[camera obscura]], only a few decades after the first to do so, [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (965–1039).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 98">Needham, Volume 4, Part 1, 98.</ref>
===Odometer and
There were many other important figures in the Song era besides Shen Kuo and Su Song, many of whom contributed greatly to the technological innovations of the time period. Although the mechanically driven mile-marking device of the carriage-drawn [[odometer]] had been known in China since the ancient [[Han dynasty]], the ''Song Shi'' (compiled in 1345) provides a much greater description and more in-depth view of the device than earlier Chinese sources. The ''Song Shi'' states:
<blockquote>The odometer. [The mile-measuring carriage] is painted red, with pictures of flowers and birds on the four sides, and constructed in two storeys, handsomely adorned with carvings. At the completion of every li, the wooden figure of a man in the lower storey strikes a drum; at the completion of every ten li, the wooden figure in the upper storey strikes a bell. The carriage-pole ends in a phoenix-head, and the carriage is drawn by four horses. The escort was formerly of 18 men, but in the 4th year of the Yongxi reign period (987) the emperor Taizong increased it to 30. In the 5th year of the Tian-Sheng reign-period (1027) the Chief Chamberlain Lu Daolong presented specifications for the construction of odometers as follows: [...]<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 283">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 283.</ref></blockquote>
What follows is a long dissertation made by the Chief Chamberlain Lu Daolong on the ranging measurements and sizes of wheels and gears.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 283"/> However, the concluding paragraph provides description at the end of how the device ultimately functions:
<blockquote>When the middle horizontal wheel has made 1 revolution, the carriage will have gone 1 li and the wooden figure in the lower story will strike the drum. When the upper horizontal wheel has made 1 revolution, the carriage will have gone 10 li and the figure in the upper storey will strike the bell. The number of wheels used, great and small, is {{convert|8|in|mm}} in all, with a total of 285 teeth. Thus the motion is transmitted as if by the links of a chain, the "dog-teeth" mutually engaging with each other, so that by due revolution everything comes back to its original starting point.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 284">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 284.</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>In the first year of the Da-Guan reign period (1107), the Chamberlain Wu Deren presented specifications of the south-pointing carriage and the carriage with the li-recording drum (odometer). The two vehicles were made, and were first used that year at the great ceremony of the ancestral sacrifice.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 292">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 292.</ref></blockquote>
The text then went on to describe in full detail the intricate mechanical design for the two devices combined into one. (
===Revolving repositories===
[[Image:Longxingsi400x300.jpg|
[[File:Buddhist ark used by Chinese Jews.jpg|alt=A diagram of the front three sides of what appears to be a six sided wooden structure. All of its surfaces are intricately carved, with small doors in each side, cloud patterns in the bottom, and a wall carving at the top.|thumb|Revolving book case in [[Yingzao Fashi]]]]
Besides clockwork, hydraulic-powered armillary spheres, odometers, and mechanical compass vehicles, there were other impressive devices of mechanical engineering found during the Song dynasty. Although literary references for mechanical revolving [[archive|repositories]] and book cases of [[Buddhist temple]]s trace back to at least 823 during the [[Tang dynasty]],<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 549">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 549.</ref> they came to prominence during the Song dynasty.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 549"/> The invention of the revolving book case is considered to have happened earlier, and is credited to the layman Fu Xi in 544.<ref name="Chinese Classical Furniture"/> Revolving bookcases were popularized in Buddhist monasteries during the [[Song dynasty]] under the reign of [[Emperor Taizu of Song|Emperor Taizu]], who ordered the mass printing of the Buddhist [[Tripiṭaka]] scriptures.<ref name="Chinese Classical Furniture">{{cite book|title=Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-EKkblrm6sUC&pg=PA247|year=2001|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-21484-2|pages=246–247}}</ref>
Furthermore, the oldest surviving rotating book case dates to the Song period (12th century), found at the [[Longxing Monastery]] of [[Zhengding]], [[Hebei]] province.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 549"/><ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 plate CCLXIX">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, Plate CCLXIX, Fig. 683.</ref> However, there were nine prominently known revolving repositories during the Song period, and one of them was even featured in an illustration of Li Jie's book ''[[Yingzao Fashi]]'' ('Treatise on Architectural Methods') of 1103.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 549"/><ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 551">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 551.</ref> The rotating repository of 1119 in Kaifu Temple near [[Changsha]] had five wheels which all turned together,<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 552"/> and the revolving repository at Nanchan Temple of Suzhou featured a [[brake]] system of some sort ([[Sinology|sinologist]]s are still uncertain how this operated, since the earliest known curve brake bands appear in the time of [[Leonardo da Vinci]] in Europe).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 552">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 552.</ref> A later Muslim traveler Shah Rukh (son of the [[Turco-Mongol]] warlord [[Timur]]) came to [[Ming dynasty]] China in 1420 during the reign of the [[Yongle Emperor]], and described a revolving repository in Ganzhou of [[Gansu]] province that he called a 'kiosque':
<blockquote>In another temple there is an octagonal kiosque, having from the top to the bottom fifteen stories. Each story contains apartments decorated with [[lacquer]] in the [[Cathay]]an manner, with ante-rooms and [[verandah]]s...It is entirely made of polished wood, and this again [[Gilding|gilded]] so admirably that it seems to be of solid gold. There is a vault below it. An iron shaft fixed in the center of the kiosque traverses it from bottom to top, and the lower end of this works in an iron plate, whilst the upper end bears on strong supports in the roof of the edifice which contains this pavilion. Thus a person in the vault can with a trifling exertion cause this great kiosque to revolve. All the carpenters, smiths, and painters in the world would learn something in their trades by coming here!<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 554">Needham Volume 4, Part 2, 554.</ref></blockquote>
===Textile machinery===
[[Image:Wang Juzheng's Spinning Wheel, Close Up 2.jpg|thumb|alt=An older woman sits in front of a machine consisting of a vertically aligned wheel composed of about two dozen flat wooden spokes, with a string for an outside rim. The wheel is held up by a simple wooden pole stand.|Detail of ''The Spinning Wheel'', by Wang Juzheng, Northern Song era (960–1127).]]
In the field of manufacturing [[textiles]], [[Joseph Needham]] (1900–1995) wrote that the Chinese invented the [[quilling]]-wheel by the 12th century,<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 107">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 107.</ref> and wrote the mechanical [[Belt (mechanical)|belt drive]] was known since the 11th century.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 108">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 108.</ref> Qin Guan's book ''Can Shu'' (Book of [[Sericulture]]) of 1090 described a [[silk]]-reeling machine with an oscillating 'proto-flyer', as the apparatus of the main reel of which the silk is bound is wound and powered by [[treadle]] motion.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 107"/> In this device the ramping arm of the flyer was activated simultaneously by a subsidiary belt drive.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 107"/> This machine was portrayed in an illustration of the ''Geng Zhi Tu'' book of 1237,<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 107 108">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 107-108.</ref> and again a more elaborate illustration was provided in a 17th-century book.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 107"/> Qin Guan's 1090 book stated that:
An endless rope or cord may have been used in [[Du Shi]]'s device of waterwheels that powered [[bellows]] of the [[blast furnace]] in the 1st century (see [[Technology of the Song dynasty#Wind power|Wind Power]] below).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 108"/>
==Movable type printing==
{{
{{Further|History of typography in East Asia}}
[[Printing]] technology in the form of [[movable type]] was invented by [[Bi Sheng]] ({{lang|zh|毕升}}; 990–1051) in the 11th century. The work of Bi Sheng was written of by [[Shen Kuo]] in his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' (Mengxi Bitan).<ref name="bowman 105">Bowman, 105.</ref> Movable type, alongside [[woodblock printing]], increased literacy with the mass production of printed materials. This meant that parents could encourage sons to learn to read and write and therefore be able to take the [[imperial examination]] and become part of the growing learned bureaucracy. Movable type printing was further advanced in [[Joseon Dynasty|Joseon]] era Korea, where Bi Sheng's baked clay characters were scrapped for metal type characters in 1234.<ref name="ebrey 238">Ebrey, 238.</ref> The movable type of Bi Sheng was later improved upon by [[Wang Zhen (inventor)|Wang Zhen]] (1290–1333), who invented wooden movable type c. 1298, and [[Hua Sui]] (1439–1513), who invented [[bronze]] movable type in China in 1490; yet the [[Koreans]] had metal movable type before Hua Sui, and even Wang Zhen had experimented with [[tin]]-metal movable type.<ref name="Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 217">Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 217.</ref> Although movable type and woodblock printing would remain the dominant types of printing methods for centuries, the European [[printing press]] (employing the [[Hellenistic]] [[screw]]-press) was eventually adopted by East Asian countries.
[[Image:Pen ts'ao, woodblock book 1249-ce.png|alt=Two pages of a book printed on pieces of paper. On the left, half of the page is occupied by a line drawing of a plant. On the other half, as well as the whole of the right page, is vertically aligned text.|thumb|The ''Bencao'' on [[traditional Chinese medicine]]; [[woodblock printing|printed with woodblock]] in 1249, Song dynasty]]
For printing, the mass production of [[paper]] for writing was already well established in China. The [[papermaking]] process had been perfected and standardized by the [[Han dynasty]] court eunuch [[Cai Lun]] (50–121) in 105, and was in widespread use for writing even by the 3rd century.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 1">Needham, Volume 4, Part 1, 1.</ref> The Song dynasty was the world's first government in history to issue paper-printed money—the [[banknote]] (''see [[Jiaozi (currency)|Jiaozi]] and [[Huizi (currency)|Huizi]]'').<ref name="ebrey 156">Ebrey, 156.</ref> [[Toilet paper]] had been in general use in China since the 6th century,<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 122"/> paper bags for preserving the flavor of tea leaves by the 7th century,<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 122"/> and by the Song dynasty government officials who had done a great service were rewarded by the court with gifts of paper-printed money wrapped in paper [[envelope]]s.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 122">Needham, Volume 4, Part 1, 122.</ref> During the Song dynasty, independent and government sponsored industries were developed to meet the needs of a growing population that had reached over 100 million. For example, for the printing of paper money alone, the Song court established several government-run [[Mint (coin)|mint]]s and factories in the cities of [[Huizhou]], [[Chengdu]], [[Hangzhou]], and Anqi.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 48">Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 48.</ref> The size of the workforce employed in these paper money factories was quite large, as it was recorded in 1175 that the factory at Hangzhou alone employed more than a thousand workers a day.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 48"/>
==Gunpowder warfare==
[[File:FireLanceAndGrenade10thCenturyDunhuang.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A painting of a Buddha, with several smaller figures to the right. One of the figures in the center right is holding a green-brown sphere that is on fire, believed to be a representation of a grenade. Another figure, this one in the upper right, holds a fire lance, a silver cylinder with fire coming out of one end and either a rope or a wooden stick coming out of the other.|Earliest known representation of a gun (a [[fire lance]]) and a [[grenade]] (upper right), from the cave murals at [[Dunhuang]], c. 950 CE<ref name="Tanner">{{cite book|author=Harold Miles Tanner|title=China: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VIWC9wCX2c8C&pg=PA204|year=2009|publisher=Hackett Publishing|isbn=978-0-87220-915-2|page=204|quote=First known illustration of a fire lance and a grenade}}</ref><ref name="Bodde">{{cite book|author=Derk Bodde|title=Chinese Ideas About Nature and Society: Studies in Honour of Derk Bodde|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aPQuETESw84C&pg=PA300|access-date=15 February 2013|year=1987|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|isbn=978-962-209-188-7|page=300}}</ref>]]
{{Main|Gunpowder artillery in the Song dynasty}}
===Flamethrower===
Advances in military technology aided the [[Song dynasty]] in its defense against hostile neighbors to the north. The [[flamethrower]] found its origins in [[Byzantine]]-era Greece, employing [[Greek fire]] (a chemically complex, highly [[flammable]] petrol fluid) in a device with a [[siphon]] hose by the 7th century.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 77">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 77.</ref> The earliest reference to Greek Fire in China was made in 917, written by [[Wu Renchen]] in his ''[[Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms]]''.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 80">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 80.</ref> In 919, the siphon projector-pump was used to spread the 'fierce fire oil' that could not be doused with water, as recorded by Lin Yu in his ''Wuyue Beishi'', hence the first credible Chinese reference to the flamethrower employing the chemical solution of Greek fire (see also [[Pen Huo Qi]]).<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 81">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 81.</ref> Lin Yu mentioned also that the 'fierce fire oil' derived ultimately from one of China's maritime contacts in the 'southern seas', [[Arabia]] (''Dashiguo'').<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 82">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 82.</ref> In the [[Battle of Langshan Jiang]] in 919, the naval fleet of the [[Qian Yuanguan|Wenmu King]] from [[Wuyue (Ten Kingdoms)|Wuyue]] defeated a [[Huainan]] army from the [[Wu (Ten Kingdoms)|Wu state]]; Wenmu's success was facilitated by the use of 'fire oil' ('huo you') to burn their fleet, signifying the first Chinese use of [[gunpowder]] in a battle.<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 81–83</ref> The Chinese applied the use of double-[[piston]] [[bellows]] to pump petrol out of a single cylinder (with an upstroke and downstroke), lit at the end by a slow-burning gunpowder match to fire a continuous stream of flame.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 82"/> This device was featured in description and illustration of the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' military manuscript of 1044.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 82"/> In the suppression of the [[Southern Tang]] state by 976, early Song naval forces confronted them on the Yangtze River in 975. Southern Tang forces attempted to use flamethrowers against the Song navy, but were accidentally consumed by their own fire when violent winds swept in their direction.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 89">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 89.</ref>
[[Image:Chinese Flamethrower.JPG|alt=An ink on paper diagram of a flamethrower. It consists of a tube with multiple chambers mounted on top of a wooden box with four legs. How exactly the flamethrower would work is not apparent from the diagram alone.|thumb|A Chinese [[flamethrower]] from the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' manuscript of 1044 CE, [[Song dynasty]]]]
===Fire lance===
Although the destructive effects of gunpowder were described in the earlier [[Tang dynasty]] by a [[Taoism|Daoist]] [[alchemy|alchemist]], the earliest-known existent written formulas for gunpowder come from the ''Wujing Zongyao'' text of 1044, which described explosive bombs hurled from catapults.<ref name="ebrey cambridge 138">Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 138.</ref> The earliest developments of the gun barrel and the projectile-fire [[cannon]] were found in late Song China. The first art depiction of the Chinese '[[fire lance]]' (a combination of a temporary-fire flamethrower and gun) was from a Buddhist mural painting of [[Dunhuang]], dated circa 950.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 224 225">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 224–225.</ref> These 'fire-lances' were widespread in use by the early 12th century, featuring hollowed bamboo poles as tubes to fire sand particles (to blind and choke), lead pellets, bits of sharp metal and pottery shards, and finally large gunpowder-propelled arrows and [[rocket]] weaponry.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 220 221">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 220–221.</ref> Eventually, perishable bamboo was replaced with hollow tubes of cast iron, and so too did the terminology of this new weapon change, from 'fire-spear' ('huo qiang') to 'fire-tube' ('huo tong').<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 221">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 221.</ref> This ancestor to the gun was complemented by the ancestor to the cannon, what the Chinese referred to since the 13th century as the 'multiple bullets magazine erupter' ('bai zu lian zhu pao'), a tube of bronze or cast iron that was filled with about 100 lead balls.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 263–264">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 263–364.</ref> In 1132, at the [[siege of De'an]], Song Chinese forces used fire lances against the rival [[Jurchen people|Jurchen]]-led [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]].<ref>Needham, Volume V, Part 7, 222.</ref>
===Gun===
An early known depiction of a gun is a sculpture from a cave in [[Sichuan]], dating to 1128, that portrays a figure carrying a vase-shaped [[bombard (weapon)|bombard]], firing flames and a cannonball.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Lu|last=Gwei-Djen|author2=Joseph Needham |author3=Phan Chi-Hsing |date=July 1988|journal=[[Technology and Culture]]|volume=29|issue=3|pages=594–605|publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]]|title=The Oldest Representation of a Bombard|doi=10.2307/3105275|jstor=3105275}}</ref> However, the oldest existent [[archaeological]] discovery of a metal barrel [[handgun]] is the [[Heilongjiang hand cannon]] from the Chinese [[Heilongjiang]] excavation, dated to 1288.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 293">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 293.</ref> The Chinese also discovered the explosive potential of packing hollowed cannonball shells with gunpowder. Written later by [[Jiao Yu]] in his ''[[Huolongjing]]'' (mid 14th century), this manuscript recorded an earlier Song-era cast-iron cannon known as the 'flying-cloud thunderclap eruptor' (fei yun pi-li pao). The manuscript stated that:
<blockquote>The shells are made of cast iron, as large as a bowl and shaped like a ball. Inside they contain half a pound of 'magic' gunpowder. They are sent flying towards the enemy camp from an eruptor; and when they get there a sound like a thunder-clap is heard, and flashes of light appear. If ten of these shells are fired successfully into the enemy camp, the whole place will be set ablaze...<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 264">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 264.</ref></blockquote>
[[Image:Trebuchet1-intransit.jpg|alt=An ink on paper diagram of a trebuchet. A long arm with a spherical cap rests on top of a large square platform. The square platform is supported by four plain cut square beams, which connect to an open undercarriage. Rope hangs between the end of the pole that does not have the cap to the inside of the undercarriage, as far away from the start of the rope as possible. The assembly moves on four wheels attached to the sides of the undercarriage.|thumb|An illustration of a [[trebuchet]] catapult, as described in the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' of 1044.]]
As noted before, the change in terminology for these new weapons during the Song period were gradual. The early Song cannons were at first termed the same way as the Chinese [[trebuchet]] [[catapult]]. A later [[Ming dynasty]] scholar known as [[Mao Yuanyi]] would explain this use of terminology and true origins of the cannon in his text of the ''[[Wubei Zhi]]'', written in 1628:
<blockquote>The Song people used the turntable trebuchet, the single-pole trebuchet and the [[squatting-tiger trebuchet]]. They were all called 'fire trebuchets' because they were used to project fire-weapons like the (fire-)ball, (fire-)falcon, and (fire-)lance. They were the ancestors of the cannon.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 22">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 22.</ref></blockquote>
===Land mine===
The 14th century ''[[Huolongjing]]'' was also one of the first Chinese texts to carefully describe to the use of explosive [[land mine]]s, which had been used by the late Song Chinese against the Mongols in 1277, and employed by the [[Yuan dynasty]] afterwards.<ref name = "needham volume 5 part 7 192"/> The innovation of the detonated land mine was accredited to one Luo Qianxia in the campaign of defense against the Mongol invasion by [[Kublai Khan]],<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 192">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 192.</ref> Later Chinese texts revealed that the Chinese land mine employed either a rip cord or a motion [[booby trap]] of a pin releasing falling weights that rotated a steel [[wheellock|flint wheel]], which in turn created sparks that ignited the train of [[Fuse (explosives)|fuses]] for the land mines.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 199">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 199.</ref>
===Rocket===
Furthermore, the Song employed the earliest known gunpowder-propelled [[rocket]]s in warfare during the late 13th century,<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 477">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 477.</ref> its earliest form being the archaic [[fire arrow]]. When the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng fell to the Jurchens in 1126, it was written by Xia Shaozeng that 20,000 fire arrows were handed over to the Jurchens in their conquest.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 154">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 154.</ref> An even earlier Chinese text of the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' ("Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques"), written in 1044 by the Song scholars Zeng Kongliang and Yang Weide, described the use of three spring or triple bow [[ballista|arcuballista]] that fired arrow bolts holding gunpowder packets near the head of the arrow.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 154"/> Going back yet even farther, the ''Wu Li Xiao Shi'' (1630, second edition 1664) of Fang Yizhi stated that fire arrows were presented to [[Emperor Taizu of Song]] (r. 960–976) in 960.<ref name="partington 240">Partington, 240.</ref>
==Civil engineering==
[[Image:Boju-gueltas.jpg|
In ancient China, the [[sluice]] gate, the [[Lock (water transport)|canal lock]], and [[flash lock]] had been known since at least the 1st century BCE (as sources then alluded that they were not new innovations), during the ancient [[Han dynasty]] (202 BCE–220 CE).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 344 350">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 344–350.</ref> During the Song dynasty the [[pound lock]] was first invented in 984 by the Assistant Commissioner of Transport for [[Huainan]], the engineer Qiao Weiyue.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 350">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 350.</ref> In his day, the Chinese became concerned with a [[barge]] traffic problem at the Shanyang Yundao section of the [[Grand Canal of China|Grand Canal]], as ships often became wrecked while passing the double slipways and were robbed of the tax grain by local [[bandit]]s. The historical text of the ''Song Shi'' (compiled in 1345) stated that in 984:
<blockquote>Qiao Weiyue also built five double slipways (lit. [[dam]]s) between Anbei and Huaishi (or, the quays on the Huai waterfront). Each of these had ten lanes for the barges to go up and down. Their cargoes of imperial tax-grain were heavy, and as they were passing over they often came to grief and were damaged or wrecked, with loss of the grain and peculation by a cabal of the workers in league with local bandits hidden nearby. Qiao Weiyue therefore first ordered the construction of two gates at the third dam along the West River (near Huaiyin). The distance between the two gates was rather more than 50 paces (250 ft) and the whole space was covered over with a great roof like a shed. The gates were 'hanging gates'; (when they were closed) the water accumulated like a tide until the required level was reached, and then when the time came it was allowed to flow out. He also built a horizontal bridge to protect their foundations. After this was done (to all the double slipways) the previous corruption was completely eliminated, and the passage of the boats went on without the slightest impediment.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 351">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 351.</ref></blockquote>
[[Image:Canal lock.svg|thumb|alt=A diagram of the pound lock system, from a bird's eye perspective and from a side perspective. The bird's eye view illustrates that water enters the enclosed area through two culverts on either side of the upper lock gate. The side view diagram illustrates how the elevation is higher before reaching the top gate than it is afterwards. |Diagram of a canal [[pound lock]], invented in the 10th century and written of by [[Shen Kuo]].]]
This practice became widespread, and was even written of by the Chinese polymath scientist Shen Kuo in his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' (1088).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 351 352">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 351–352.</ref> Shen Kuo wrote that the establishment of pound lock gates at Zhenzhou (presumably Kuozhou along the [[Yangtze]]) during the Tian Sheng reign period (1023–1031) freed up the use of five hundred working laborers at the canal each year, amounting to the saving of up to 1,250,000 strings of cash annually.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 352">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 352.</ref> He wrote that the old method of hauling boats over limited the size of the cargo to 300 ''tan'' of rice per vessel (roughly {{convert|21|LT|kg|lk=on|disp=x|/}}), but after the pound locks were introduced, boats carrying 400 ''tan'' (roughly {{convert|28|LT|kg|abbr=on|disp=x|/}}) could then be used.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 352"/> Shen wrote that by his time (c. 1080) government boats could carry cargo weights of up to 700 ''tan'' ({{convert|49.5|LT|kg|abbr=on|disp=x|/}}), while private boats could hold as much as 800 bags, each weighing 2 ''tan'' (i.e. {{convert|113|LT|kg|abbr=on|disp=x|/}}).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 352"/> Shen Kuo also noted that proper use of sluice gates at irrigation canals was the best means of using [[silt]] for [[fertilizer]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 230 231">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 230–231.</ref> However, agricultural and transportation needs had the potential to conflict with one another. This is best represented in the ''Dongpo Zhilin'' of the governmental official and famous poet [[Su Shi]] (1037–1101), who wrote about two decades before Shen Kuo in 1060:
<blockquote>Several years ago the government built sluice gates for the silt fertilization method, though many people disagreed with the plan. In spite of all opposition it was carried through, yet it had little success. When the torrents on Fan Shan were abundant, the gates were kept closed, and this caused damage (by flooding) of fields, tombs, and houses. When the torrents subsided in the late autumn the sluices were opened, and thus the fields were irrigated with silt-bearing water, but the deposit was not as thick as what the peasants call 'steamed cake silt' (so they were not satisfied). Finally the government got tired of it and stopped. In this connection I remember reading the ''Jiayipan'' of [[Bai Juyi]] (the poet) in which he says that he once had a position as Traffic Commissioner. As the Bian River was getting so shallow that it hindered the passage of boats he suggested that the sluice gates along the river and canal should be closed, but the Military Governor pointed out that the river was bordered on both sides by fields which supplied army grain, and if these were denied irrigation (water and silt) because of the closing of the sluice gates, it would lead to shortages in army grain supplies. From this I learnt that in the [[Tang dynasty|Tang period]] there were government fields and sluice gates on both sides of the river, and that irrigation was carried on (continuously) even when the water was high. If this could be done (successfully) in old times, why can it not be done now? I should like to enquire further about the matter from experts.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 230">Needham Volume 4, Part 3, 230.</ref></blockquote>
Although the [[drydock]] had been known in [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] since the late 3rd century BCE (by a [[Phoenicia]]n; not used again until [[Henry VII of England]] in 1495), the scientist and statesman Shen Kuo wrote of its use in China to repair boats during the 11th century. In his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' (1088), Shen Kuo wrote:
<blockquote>At the beginning of the dynasty (c. 965) the two Zhe provinces (now [[Zhejiang]] and southern [[Jiangsu]]) presented (to the throne) two dragon ships each more than (60.00 m/200 ft) in length.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 660 220 feet">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 660, 200 feet.</ref> The upper works included several decks with [[palace|palatial]] cabins and [[cabin (ship)|saloon]]s, containing [[throne]]s and [[couch]]es all ready for imperial tours of inspection. After many years, their hulls decayed and needed repairs, but the work was impossible as long as they were afloat. So in the Xi-Ning reign period (1068 to 1077) a palace official Huang Huaixin suggested a plan. A large basin was excavated at the north end of the Jinming Lake capable of containing the dragon ships, and in it heavy crosswise beams were laid down upon a foundation of pillars. Then (a breach was made) so that the basin quickly filled with water, after which the ships were towed in above the beams. The (breach now being closed) the water was pumped out by wheels so that the ships rested quite in the air. When the repairs were complete, the water was let in again, so that the ships were afloat once more (and could leave the dock). Finally the beams and pillars were taken away, and the whole basin covered over with a great roof so as to form a hangar in which the ships could be protected from the elements and avoid the damage caused by undue exposure.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 660">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 660.</ref></blockquote>
==Nautics==
===Background===
[[Image:Angler on a Wintry Lake, by Ma Yuan, 1195.jpg|thumb|alt=A painting of a man fishing in a long, thin, one person boat. Attached to his fishing rod is a black cylinder, the fishing reel.|"Angler on a Wintry Lake", painted in 1195 by [[Ma Yuan (painter)|Ma Yuan]], featuring the oldest known depiction of a [[fishing reel]]<ref>Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 100.</ref>]]
The Chinese of the Song dynasty were adept [[sailor]]s who traveled to ports of call as far away as [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] Egypt. They were well equipped for their journeys abroad, in large seagoing vessels steered by stern-post [[rudder]]s and guided by the directional [[compass]]. Even before Shen Kuo and Zhu Yu had described the mariner's magnetic needle compass, the earlier military treatise of the ''Wujing Zongyao'' in 1044 had also described a thermoremanence compass.<ref name="sivin III 21"/> This was a simple iron or steel needle that was heated, cooled, and placed in a bowl of water, producing the effect of weak magnetization, although its use was described only for navigation on land and not at sea.<ref name="sivin III 21">Sivin, III, 21.</ref>
===Literature===
[[Image:Qingming Festival Detail 6.jpg|alt=A close up view of several small trading vessels clustered together near a dock. Parts of several boats can be seen. One has a curved wooden hull and a curved wooden roof, with several windows built into the roof. Another is flat bottomed, and has a thatched roof and several cylindrical, cloth covered objects tied to the edges of the midsection of the roof. A third, partially obscured boat has an arcing, thatched roof with netting attached to the ends. Small pieces of two other boats can be seen in the corners of the excerpt of the painting.|thumb|right|300px|Detail of river vessels docking at [[Kaifeng]], from ''[[Along the River During Qingming Festival]]'', by [[Zhang Zeduan]] (1085–1145).]]
[[Image:Qingming Festival Detail 4.jpg|alt=A close up view of a large trading barge crewed by multiple people. The barge has wooden walls surrounding it on all sides, and a thin line of tiled roof capping the walls, but not covering the interior of the ship. There are several windows built into the wall of the vessel.|thumb|right|300px|Another close-up view of the detail of ''[[Along the River During Qingming Festival|Along the River]]''.]]
There were plenty of descriptions in Chinese literature of the time on the operations and aspects of seaports, maritime merchant shipping, overseas trade, and the sailing ships themselves. In 1117, the author [[Zhu Yu (author)|Zhu Yu]] wrote not only of the magnetic compass for navigation, but also a hundred-foot line with a hook that was cast over the deck of the ship, used to collect mud samples at the bottom of the sea in order for the crew to determine their whereabouts by the smell and appearance of the mud.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 279">Needham, Volume 4, Part 1, 279.</ref> In addition, Zhu Yu wrote of [[Bulkhead (partition)|watertight bulkhead compartments]] in the [[Hull (watercraft)|hulls]] of ships to prevent sinking if damaged, the [[fore-and-aft rig|for-and-aft]] [[lug sail|lug]], taut mat sails, and the practice of beating-to-windward.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 463">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 463.</ref> Confirming Zhu Yu's writing on Song dynasty ships with bulkhead hull compartments, in 1973 a {{convert|78|ft|m|adj=on}} long, {{convert|29|ft|m|adj=on}} wide [[Quanzhou ship|Song trade ship from c. 1277]] was dredged from the water near the southern coast of China that contained 12 bulkhead compartment rooms in its hull.<ref name="ebrey 159">Ebrey, 159.</ref> Maritime culture during the Song period was enhanced by these new technologies, along with the allowance of greater river and canal traffic. All around there was a bustling display of government run grain-tax transport ships, tribute vessels and barges, private shipping vessels, a multitude of busy fishers in small fishing boats, along with the rich enjoying the comforts of their luxurious private [[yacht]]s.<ref name="China"/>
Besides Zhu Yu there were other prominent Chinese authors of maritime interests as well. In 1178, the [[Guangzhou]] customs officer Zhou Qufei, who wrote in ''[[Lingwai Daida]]'' about the [[Arab slave trade]] of Africans as far as [[Madagascar]],<ref name="levathes 37">Levathes, 37.</ref> stated this about Chinese seagoing ships, their sizes, durability at sea, and the lives of those on board:
[[Image:Guo Zhongshu-Traveling on the River in Snow.jpg|alt=A faded drawing of two ships, each with a single mast, several above deck compartments, windows with awnings, and crew members depicted. The ships are elegant rather than sparse and utilitarian.|thumb|300px|right|A Song painting on silk of two [[Junk (ship)|Chinese cargo ships]] accompanied by a smaller boat; notice the large stern-mounted rudder on the ship shown in the foreground]]
[[Image:
<blockquote>The ships which sail the southern sea and south of it are like houses. When their sails are spread they are like great clouds in the sky. Their [[rudder]]s are several tens of feet long. A single ship carries several hundred men, and has in the stores a year's supply of grain. Pigs are fed and wine [[Fermentation (food)|fermented]] on board. There is no account of dead or living, no going back to the mainland when once the people have set forth upon the caerulean sea. At daybreak, when the gong sounds aboard the ship, the animals can drink their fill, and crew and passengers alike forget all dangers. To those on board everything is hidden and lost in space, mountains, landmarks, and the countries of foreigners. The shipmaster may say 'To make such and such a country, with a favourable wind, in so many days, we should sight such and such a mountain, (then) the ship must steer in such and such a direction'. But suddenly the wind may fall, and may not be strong enough to allow of the sighting of the mountain on the given day; in such a case, bearings may have to be changed. And the ship (on the other hand) may be carried far beyond (the landmark) and may lose its bearings. A gale may spring up, the ship may be blown hither and thither, it may meet with shoals or be driven upon hidden rocks, then it may be broken to the very roofs (of its deckhouses). A great ship with heavy cargo has nothing to fear from the high seas, but rather in shallow water it will come to grief.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 464">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 464.</ref></blockquote>
The later Muslim [[Moroccan people|Moroccan]] [[Berber people|Berber]] traveler [[Ibn Battuta]] (1304–1377) wrote in greater detail about Chinese sailing vessels than Zhou Qufei. He noted that in and around the seas of China, only the distinct Chinese [[junk (ship)|junks]] were used to sail the waters.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 469">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 469</ref> He noted that the largest type of Chinese ships boasted a total of twelve sailing [[Mast (sailing)|mast]]s, while the smaller ones had three.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 469"/> On Chinese ships and their crews, Ibn Battuta stated:
<blockquote>The sails of these vessels are made of strips of [[bamboo]], woven into the form of [[matting]]. The sailors never lower them (while sailing, but simply) change the direction of them according to whether the wind is blowing from one side or the other. When the ships cast anchor, the sails are left standing in the wind. Each of these ships is worked by 1,000 men, 600 [[sailor]]s and 400 [[Marine (military)|marine]]s, among whom there are archers and [[crossbow]]men furnished with shields, and men who throw (pots of) [[naptha]]. Each great vessel is followed by three others, a 'nisfi', a 'thoulthi' and a 'roubi' (f endnote: a [[pinnace (ship's boat)|pinnace]], a small boat fitted with a rudder, and a [[rowing boat]]). These vessels are nowhere made except in the city of Zayton ([[Quanzhou]]) in China, or at Sin-Kilan, which is the same as Sin al-Sin ([[Guangzhou]]).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 469"/></blockquote>
Ibn Battuta then went on describing the means of their construction, and accurate depictions of separate bulkhead compartments in the hulls of the ships:
<blockquote>This is the manner in which they are made; two (parallel) walls of very thick wooden (planking) are raised, and across the space between them are placed very thick planks (the bulkheads) secured longitudinally and transversely by means of large nails, each three ells in length. When these walls have thus been built, the lower deck is fitted in, and the ship is launched before the upper works are finished. The pieces of wood, and those parts of the hull, near the water(-line) serve for the crew to wash and to accomplish their natural necessities. On the sides of these pieces of wood also the oars are found; they are as big as masts, and are worked by 10 or 15 men (each), who row standing up.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 469"/></blockquote>
Although Ibn Battuta had mentioned the size of the sailing crew, he described the sizes of the vessels further, as well as the lavish merchant cabins on board:
<blockquote>The vessels have four decks, upon which there are cabins and saloons for merchants. Several of these 'mysria' contain cupboards and other conveniences; they have doors which can be locked, and keys for their occupiers. (The merchants) take with them their wives and concubines. It often happens that a man can be in his cabin without others on board realizing it, and they do not see him until the vessel has arrived in some port. The sailors also have their children in such cabins; and (in some parts of the ship) they sew garden herbs, vegetables, and ginger in wooden tubs. The Commander of such a vessel is a great [[Emir]]; when he lands, the archers and the [[People of Ethiopia|Ethiops]] (i.e. black slaves, yet in China these men-at-arms would have most likely been [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malays]]) march before him bearing [[javelin]]s and swords, with drums beating and trumpets blowing. When he arrives at the guesthouse where he is to stay, they set up their lances on each side of the gate, and mount guard throughout his visit.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 470">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 470.</ref></blockquote>
===Paddle-wheel ships===
[[Image:Radpaddelsch.jpg|alt=An ink on paper illustration of a small boat with a flat front, flat sides and a large, upward arched back. Attached to the side are two water wheels, wooden wheels with spokes but no outside rim. The boat has a low, flat roof and paneled walls.|thumb|left|Paddle-wheel ship, 1726]]
During the Song
In 1183, the [[Nanjing]] naval commander Chen Tang was given a reward for constructing ninety paddle wheel ==Metallurgy==
[[Image:Yuan Dynasty - waterwheels and smelting.png|
The art of [[History of ferrous metallurgy|metallurgy]] during the Song dynasty built upon the efforts of earlier Chinese dynasties, while new methods were incorporated. The Chinese of the ancient [[Han dynasty]] (202 BCE–220 CE) figured out how to create [[steel]] by smelting together the [[carbon]] intermediary of [[wrought iron]] and [[cast iron]] by the 1st century BCE.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 563g">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 563 g</ref><ref name="gernet 69">Gernet, 69.</ref><ref name="morton 287">Morton, 287.</ref> However, there were two new Chinese innovations of the Song dynasty to create steel during the 11th century. This was the "berganesque" method that produced inferior, inhomogeneous steel, while the other was a precursor to the modern [[Bessemer process]] that utilized partial decarbonization via repeated forging under a cold blast.<ref name="Hartwell, 53 54">Hartwell, 53–54.</ref>
The per capita [[iron]] output rose sixfold between 806 and 1078, and by 1078 Song China was producing {{convert|127000000|kg|LT t|abbr=on}} in weight of iron per year.<ref name="Ebrey 158">Ebrey et al., 158.</ref><ref name="wagner 175"/> The historian Donald B. Wagner points out that this estimate was based upon the total number of government tax [[receipt]]s on iron from the various iron-producing prefectures in the empire.<ref name="wagner 177">Wagner, 177.</ref> In the smelting process of using huge [[bellows]] driven by [[hydraulics]] (i.e. large [[waterwheel]]s), massive amounts of [[charcoal]] were used in the production process, leading to a wide range of [[deforestation]] in northern China.<ref name="Ebrey 158"/><ref name="ebrey cambridge 144">Ebrey, ''Cambridge Illustrated History of China'', 144.</ref> However, by the end of the 11th century the Chinese discovered that using [[Coke (fuel)|bituminous coke]] could replace the role of charcoal, hence many acres of forested land and prime timber in northern China were spared by the steel and iron industry with this switch of resources to [[coal]].<ref name="Ebrey 158"/><ref name="ebrey cambridge 144"/> This massive increase in output of the iron and [[steel industry in China]] was the result of the Song dynasty's needs for military expansion, private commercial demands for metal products such as cooking utensils found in the market and a wide variety of agricultural tools, and by new canals linking major centers of iron and steel production to the capital city's bustling market.<ref name="embree 339">Embree, 339.</ref> The many uses for manufactured iron products in the Song period included iron for weapons,<ref name="wagner 175">Wagner, 175.</ref> implements,<ref name="wagner 175"/> coins,<ref name="wagner 175"/> architectural elements,<ref name="wagner 175"/> musical bells,<ref name="wagner 175"/> artistic statues,<ref name="wagner 175"/> and components for machinery such as the [[hydraulic]]-powered [[trip hammer]], which had been known since the 1st century BCE during the ancient Han dynasty,<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 390 392">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 390–392.</ref> and used extensively during the Song.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 393">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 393.</ref>
Due to the enormous amount of production, the economic historian Robert Hartwell noted that Chinese iron and coal production in the following 12th century was equal to if not greater than England's iron and coal production in the early phase of the [[Industrial Revolution]] during the late 18th century.<ref name="embree 712">Embree, 712.</ref> However, the Chinese of the Song period did not harness the energy potential of coal in ways that would generate power mechanically, as in the later Industrial Revolution that would originate in the [[Western world|West]].<ref name="China">China. (2007). [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-71718/China In ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']. From Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved on 2007-06-28</ref> There were certain administrative prefectures during the Song era where the Chinese [[iron industry]] was mostly concentrated. For example, the poet and statesman [[Su Shi]] wrote a [[memorial to the throne]] in 1078 that specified 36 ironwork smelters, each employing a work force of several hundred people, in the Liguo Industrial Prefecture (under his governance while he administered [[Xuzhou]]).<ref name="wagner 178 179">Wagner, 178–179.</ref>
==Wind power==
The effect of wind power was appreciated in China long before the introduction of the [[windmill]] during the Song period. It is uncertain when the ancient Chinese used their very first inflatable [[bellows]] as wind-blowing machines for kilns and furnaces. They existed perhaps as far back as the [[Shang dynasty]] (1600–1050 BCE), due to the intricate [[bronze]] casting technology of the period. They were certainly used since the advent of the [[blast furnace]] in China from the 6th century BCE onwards, since [[cast-iron]] farm tools and weapons were widespread by the 5th century BCE.<ref name="ebrey 30">Ebrey, 30.</ref> In 31, the [[Han dynasty]] governmental [[prefect]] and engineer [[Du Shi]] (d. 38) employed the use of horizontal [[waterwheel]]s and a complex mechanical gear system to operate the large bellows that heated the [[blast furnace]] in smelting [[cast iron]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 370">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 370.</ref> Bellows continued in use for purposes of metallurgy, but other sources of wind power were discovered and harnessed. The Han dynasty artisan Ding Huan ([[floruit|fl.]] 180) not only pioneered the invention of the [[Gerolamo Cardano|cardan suspension]], but also the [[Rotary motion|rotary]] [[Fan (mechanical)|fan]],<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 33">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 33.</ref> which could be used as a simple [[air conditioner]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 233">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 233.</ref> This employed seven wheels, each about 3 m (10 ft) in diameter and manually powered, but by the Tang dynasty (618–907) palaces featured water-powered rotary fans for air conditioning, and in the Song dynasty, states Needham, "the refrigerant effects of artificial draught seem to have been appreciated ever more widely."<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 151">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 151.</ref> There was also an intricate Chinese rotary fan [[Fengshanche|winnowing machine]] depicted in [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen's]] agricultural treatise of the ''Nong Shu'' of 1313 (although the earliest depiction of a winnowing machine was from a Han dynasty tomb model dated from the 2nd century BCE to the 2nd century).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 118">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 118.</ref><ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 plate CLVI">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, Plate CLVI.</ref> After these innovations, the windmill was finally introduced to China in the early 13th century via the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] in [[North China|northern China]], during the late Song dynasty.
<blockquote>In the collection of the private works of the 'Placid Retired Scholar' (Zhan Ran Ju Shi), there are ten poems on Hechong Fu. One of these describes the scenery of that place […] and says that 'the stored wheat is milled by the rushing wind and the rice is pounded fresh by hanging [[Mortar and pestle|pestles]]. The westerners (i.e. [[Turkish people|Turks]]) there use [[windmill]]s (''feng mo'') just as the people of the south (i.e. the Southern Song) use [[watermill]]s (''shui mo''). And when they pound they have the pestles hanging vertically'.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 560"/></blockquote>
Here Sheng Ruozi quotes a written selection about windmills from the 'Placid Retired Scholar', who is actually [[Yelü Chucai]] (1190–1244), a prominent Jin and [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] statesman (after the Jin fell in 1234 to the [[Mongols]]).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 560"/> The passage refers to Yelü's journey to [[Turkestan]] (modern [[Xinjiang]]) in 1219, and Hechong Fu is actually [[Samarkand]] (in modern [[Uzbekistan]]).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 560"/> Afterwards, the Chinese applied the 'fore-and-aft' sail riggings of typical Chinese junk ships to horizontal windmills.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 561">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 561.</ref> These windmills were used to operate the square-pallet [[chain pump]]s used in Chinese [[irrigation]] since the ancient [[Han dynasty]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 558">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 558.</ref> Windmills of this nature were still in use during modern times in [[Tianjin]] and along the [[Yangtze]] River.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 558"/> The first European to view Chinese windmills was Jan Nieuhoff, who spotted them in [[Jiangsu]] while traveling along the [[Grand Canal (China)|Grand Canal]] in 1656, as part of the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[embassy]] to [[Beijing]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 558"/> The first European windmills written of were those of Dean Herbert of [[East Anglia]] in 1191, who competed with the mills of the [[Bury St. Edmunds Abbey|Abbey of Bury St Edmunds]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 555">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 555.</ref>
After the windmill, wind power applications in other devices and even vehicles were found in China. There was the '[[Wheelbarrow|sailing carriage]]' that appeared by at least the [[Ming dynasty]] in the 16th century (although it could have been known beforehand). European travelers to China in the late 16th century were surprised to find large single-wheel passenger and cargo wheelbarrows not only pulled by mule or horse, but also mounted with ship-like masts and sails to help push them along by the wind.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 274 276">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 274–276.</ref>
==Archaeology==
{{Further|History of Chinese archaeology}}
During the early half of the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279), the study of [[archaeology]] developed out of the [[antiquarian]] interests of the [[Gentry (China)|educated gentry]] and their desire to revive the use of ancient vessels in state rituals and ceremonies.<ref name="fraser haber 227">Julius Thomas Fraser and Francis C. Haber, ''Time, Science, and Society in China and the West'' (Amherst: [[University of Massachusetts Press]], {{ISBN|0-87023-495-1}}, 1986), p. 227.</ref> This and the belief that ancient vessels were products of 'sages' and not common people was criticized by Shen Kuo, who discussed metallurgy, optics, astronomy, geometry, and ancient [[Bar (music)|music measures]] in addition to archeology.<ref name="fraser haber 227"/> His contemporary [[Ouyang Xiu]] (1007–1072) compiled an analytical catalogue of ancient rubbings on stone and bronze.<ref>Patricia B. Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, {{ISBN|0-521-66991-X}}), p. 148.</ref> In accordance with the beliefs of the later [[Leopold von Ranke]] (1795–1886), some Song gentry—such as [[Zhao Mingcheng]] (1081–1129)—valued archaeological evidence over historical works written after the fact, finding written records unreliable when they failed to match with the archaeological discoveries.<ref name="rudolph">Rudolph, R.C. "Preliminary Notes on Sung Archaeology", ''The Journal of Asian Studies'' (Volume 22, Number 2, 1963): 169–177.</ref> Hong Mai (1123–1202) used ancient Han dynasty era vessels to debunk what he found to be fallacious descriptions of Han vessels in the ''Bogutu'' archaeological catalogue compiled during the latter half of [[Emperor Huizong of Song|Huizong's reign]] (1100–1125).<ref name="rudolph"/>
==Geology and climatology==
Shen Kuo also made hypotheses in regards to [[geology]] and [[climatology]] in his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' of 1088. Shen believed that land was reshaped over time due to perpetual [[erosion]], uplift, and deposition of [[silt]], and cited his observance of horizontal strata of fossils embedded in a cliffside in the [[Taihang Mountains]] as evidence that the area was once the ___location of an ancient seashore that had shifted hundreds of miles east over an enormous span of time.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 603–604, 618.</ref><ref>Nathan Sivin, ''Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections.'' (Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum, Ashgate Publishing, 1995), Chapter III, p. 23.</ref><ref name="chan clancey loy">Alan Kam-leung Chan, Gregory K. Clancey, and Hui-Chieh Loy, ''Historical Perspectives on East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine'' (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2002, {{ISBN|9971-69-259-7}}) p. 15.</ref> Shen also wrote that since petrified bamboos were found underground in a dry northern climate zone where they had never been known to grow, climates naturally shifted geographically over time.<ref name="chan clancey loy"/><ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) p. 618.</ref>
==Forensics==
Early concepts in [[forensic science]] were pioneered in China during the Song dynasty. When there was a suspected murder, sheriffs would visit the scene to determine if the death was caused naturally, by accident, or by foul play. If the latter determination was made a prefectural official would investigate, draw up an [[inquest]] that included sketches of potential injuries on the deceased body, and have it signed by witnesses for presentation in a court of law.<ref>McKnight, 155–157.</ref> Details of these efforts are preserved in written accounts such as the ''[[Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified ]]'' by the judge and physician [[Song Ci]] (1186–1249), whose work documents various types of death (strangulation, drowning, poison, blows, etc.) and how physical examinations in [[autopsies]] can distinguish between murder, suicide, or accident.<ref name="gernet 170">Gernet, 170.</ref> Song provided information on [[first aid]] for victims close to death, including the use of [[artificial respiration]] for those who drowned.<ref>Gernet, 170–171.</ref> In an early case of [[forensic entomology]], a villager was hacked to death with a sickle, so the local magistrate assembled villagers in a town square to lay down their sickles to observe which one would attract [[Blow-fly|blow flies]] to unseen remnants of the victim's blood; when it became apparent which sickle was used as the murder weapon, the confessing murderer was arrested.<ref>Haskell (2006), 432.</ref>
==See also==
{{Portal|China|Technology and applied sciences}}
*[[History of science and technology in China]]
*[[
*[[List of Chinese inventions]]
*[[List of inventions and discoveries of Neolithic China]]
*[[Science and technology of the Han dynasty]]
*[[Science and technology of the Tang dynasty]]
*[[Science and technology of the Yuan dynasty]]
== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist |colwidth = 30em}}
=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* Bowman, John S. (2000). ''Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture''. New York: Columbia University Press.
* Ebrey, Walthall, Palais, (2006). ''East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
* Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999). ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press''. {{ISBN|0-521-43519-6}} (hardback); {{ISBN|0-521-66991-X}} (paperback).
* [[Ainslie Embree|Embree, Ainslie Thomas]] (1997). ''Asia in Western and World History: A Guide for Teaching''. Armonk: ME Sharpe, Inc.
* Gernet, Jacques (1982). ''A History of Chinese Civilization''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Hartwell, Robert (1966). ''Markets, Technology and the Structure of Enterprise in the Development of the Eleventh Century Chinese Iron and Steel Industry''. Journal of Economic History 26.
* Haskell, Neal H. (2006). "The Science of Forensic Entomology," in ''Forensic Science and Law: Investigative Applications in Criminal, Civil, and Family Justice'', 431–440. Edited by Cyril H. Wecht and John T. Rago. Boca Raton: CRC Press, an imprint of Taylor and Francis Group. {{ISBN|0-8493-1970-6}}.
* Levathes (1994). ''When China Ruled the Seas''. New York: Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|0-671-70158-4}}.
* McKnight, Brian E. (1992). ''Law and Order in Sung China''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Morton, Scott and Charlton Lewis (2005). ''China: Its History and Culture: Fourth Edition''. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
* [[Joseph Needham|Needham, Joseph]] (1986). ''Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 3; Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 1, Physics''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 1, Paper and Printing''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology, the Gunpowder Epic''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Partington, James Riddick (1960). ''A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder''. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd.
* [[Nathan Sivin|Sivin, Nathan]] (1995). ''Science in Ancient China''. Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing.
* Unschuld, Paul U. (2003). ''Nature, Knowledge, Imagery in an Ancient Chinese Medical Text''. Berkeley: University of California Press.
* Wagner, Donald B. "The Administration of the Iron Industry in Eleventh-Century China", ''Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'' (Volume 44 2001): 175-197.
* Wright, David Curtis (2001) ''The History of China''. Westport: Greenwood Press.
* Wu, Jing-nuan (2005). ''An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica''. New York: Oxford University Press.
{{refend}}
== External links ==
; Gunpowder and 'fire-weapons'
* [http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/Chinese_fire-arrows.html Chinese Fire Arrows]
* [https://archive.today/20120710130211/http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blrockethistory.htm The History of Early Fireworks and Fire Arrows]
* [http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/miltech/firearms.htm Gunpowder and Firearms in China]
* [http://authors.history-forum.com/liang_jieming/chinesesiegewarfare Chinese Siege Warfare: Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity]
; Other
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120903075459/http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/chinahist/song.html Chinese Inventions and Technology]
* [http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/China/SongTech.html Technology in the Song]
* [http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/China/SongClock.html Su Song's Clock 1088]
{{Song dynasty topics}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Technology Of The Song Dynasty}}
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