Gunpowder warfare Advancements in weapons technology enhanced
by gunpowder, including the evolution of the early
flamethrower, explosive
grenades,
firearms,
cannons, and
land mines, enabled the Song Chinese to ward off their militant enemies until the Song's ultimate collapse in the late 13th century. The
Wujing Zongyao manuscript of 1044 was the first book in history to provide formulas for gunpowder and their specified use in different types of bombs. While engaged in a war with the Mongols, in 1259 the official Li Zengbo wrote in his
Kezhai Zagao, Xugaohou that the city of
Qingzhou was manufacturing one to two thousand strong iron-cased bombshells a month, dispatching to
Xiangyang and Yingzhou about ten to twenty thousand such bombs at a time. In turn, the invading Mongols employed northern Chinese soldiers and used these same types of gunpowder weapons against the Song. By the 14th century the firearm and cannon could also be found in Europe, India, and the Middle East, during the early age of
gunpowder warfare.
Measuring distance and mechanical navigation As early as the Han dynasty, when the state needed to accurately measure distances traveled throughout the empire, the Chinese relied on a mechanical
odometer. The Chinese odometer was a wheeled carriage, its gearwork being driven by the rotation of the carriage's wheels; specific units of distance—the Chinese
li—were marked by the mechanical striking of a drum or bell as an auditory signal. The specifications for the 11th-century odometer were written by Chief Chamberlain Lu Daolong, who is quoted extensively in the historical text of the
Song Shi (compiled by 1345). In the Song period, the odometer vehicle was also combined with another old complex mechanical device known as the
south-pointing chariot. This device, originally crafted by
Ma Jun in the 3rd century, incorporated a
differential gear that allowed a figure mounted on the vehicle to always point in the southern direction, no matter how the vehicle's wheels turned about. The concept of the differential gear that was used in this navigational vehicle is now found in modern automobiles in order to apply an equal amount of
torque to a car's wheels even when they are rotating at different speeds.
Polymaths, inventions, and astronomy Polymaths such as the scientists and statesmen
Shen Kuo (1031–1095) and
Su Song (1020–1101) embodied advancements in all fields of study, including
botany,
zoology,
geology,
mineralogy,
metallurgy,
mechanics,
magnetics,
meteorology,
horology,
astronomy,
pharmaceutical medicine,
archeology,
mathematics,
cartography,
optics,
art criticism,
hydraulics, and many other fields. Shen Kuo was the first to discern
magnetic declination of
true north while experimenting with a compass. Shen theorized that geographical
climates gradually shifted over time. He created a theory of land formation involving concepts accepted in modern
geomorphology. He performed optical experiments with
camera obscura just decades after
Ibn al-Haytham was the first to do so. He also improved the designs of astronomical instruments such as the widened astronomical
sighting tube, which allowed Shen Kuo to fix the position of the
pole star (which had shifted over centuries of time). Shen Kuo was also known for
hydraulic clockworks, as he invented a new overflow-tank
clepsydra which had more efficient higher-order
interpolation instead of linear interpolation in calibrating the measure of time. Su Song was best known for his horology treatise written in 1092, which described and illustrated in great detail his
hydraulic-powered, tall astronomical
clock tower built in Kaifeng. The clock tower featured large astronomical instruments of the
armillary sphere and
celestial globe, both driven by an early intermittently working
escapement mechanism (similarly to the western
verge escapement of true
mechanical clocks appeared in medieval clockworks, derived from ancient clockworks of classical times). Su's tower featured a rotating gear wheel with 133 clock jack
mannequins who were timed to rotate past shuttered windows while
ringing gongs and bells, banging drums, and presenting announcement plaques. In his printed book, Su published a celestial atlas of five
star charts. These star charts feature a cylindrical projection similar to
Mercator projection, the latter being a cartographic innovation of
Gerardus Mercator in 1569. The Song Chinese observed
supernovae, including
SN 1054, the remnants of which would form the
Crab Nebula. Moreover, the
Soochow Astronomical Chart on Chinese
planispheres was prepared in 1193 for instructing the crown prince on astronomical findings. The planispheres were engraved in stone several decades later.
Mathematics and cartography of
Xi'an. This squared map features a
graduated scale of 100
li for each rectangular grid. China's coastline and river systems are clearly defined and precisely pinpointed on the map.
Yu refers to the Chinese deity described in the
geographical chapter of the
Book of Documents, dated 5th–3rd centuries BCE.|alt=Inverted image of a stone rubbing, comprising a map of eastern China, complete with detailed rivers. The area of the map covered by land features a near perfect grid pattern, which because it does not overlap any text, is clearly the work of the original mapmaker. There were many notable improvements to
Chinese mathematics during the Song era. Mathematician
Yang Hui's 1261 book provided the earliest Chinese illustration of
Pascal's triangle, although it had earlier been described by Jia Xian in around 1100. Yang Hui also provided rules for constructing combinatorial arrangements in
magic squares, provided theoretical proof for
Euclid's forty-third proposition about
parallelograms, and was the first to use negative coefficients of 'x' in
quadratic equations. Yang's contemporary
Qin Jiushao (–1261) was the first to introduce the
zero symbol into Chinese mathematics; before this blank spaces were used instead of zeroes in the system of
counting rods. He is also known for working with the
Chinese remainder theorem,
Heron's formula, and astronomical data used in determining the
winter solstice. Qin's major work was the
Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections published in 1247.
Geometry was essential to
surveying and
cartography. The
earliest extant Chinese maps date to the 4th century BCE, yet it was not until the time of
Pei Xiu (224–271) that topographical
elevation, a formal rectangular grid system, and use of a standard graduated scale of distances was applied to terrain maps.
Following a long tradition, Shen Kuo created a
raised-relief map, while his other maps featured a uniform graduated scale of 1:900,000. A squared map of 1137—carved into a stone block—followed a uniform grid scale of 100 li for each gridded square, and accurately mapped the outline of the coasts and river systems of China, extending all the way to India. Furthermore, the world's oldest known terrain map in printed form comes from the edited encyclopedia of Yang Jia in 1155, which displayed western China without the formal grid system that was characteristic of more professionally made Chinese maps. Although
gazetteers had existed since 52 CE during the Han dynasty and gazetteers accompanied by illustrative maps (Chinese: ) since the Sui dynasty, the illustrated gazetteer became much more common during the Song dynasty, when the foremost concern was for illustrative gazetteers to serve political, administrative, and military purposes.
Movable type printing The innovation of
movable type printing was made by the artisan
Bi Sheng (990–1051), first described by the scientist and statesman Shen Kuo in his
Dream Pool Essays of 1088. The collection of Bi Sheng's original clay-fired
typeface was passed on to one of Shen Kuo's nephews, and was carefully preserved. Movable type enhanced the already widespread use of
woodblock methods of printing thousands of documents and volumes of written literature, consumed eagerly by an increasingly literate public. The advancement of printing deeply affected education and the scholar-official class, since more books could be made faster while mass-produced, printed books were cheaper in comparison to laborious handwritten copies. The enhancement of widespread printing and
print culture in the Song period was thus a direct catalyst in the rise of
social mobility and expansion of the educated class of scholar elites, the latter which expanded dramatically in size from the 11th to 13th centuries. The movable type invented by Bi Sheng was ultimately trumped by the use of woodblock printing due to the limitations of
Chinese characters, yet movable type printing continued to be used and was improved in later periods. The Yuan scholar-official
Wang Zhen () implemented a faster typesetting process, improved Bi's baked-clay movable type character set with a wooden one, and experimented with tin-metal movable type. The wealthy printing patron
Hua Sui (1439–1513) of the
Ming dynasty established China's first metal movable type (using bronze) in 1490. In 1638, the
Peking Gazette switched their printing process from woodblock to movable type printing. Yet it was during the
Qing dynasty that massive printing projects began to employ movable type printing. This includes the printing of sixty-six copies of a 5,020 volume long encyclopedia in 1725, the
Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China, which necessitated the crafting of 250,000 movable type characters cast in bronze. Due to European and American missionaries, the Western mechanical
printing press,
electrotype, and
lithography started to replace the old Chinese methods of movable type and traditional woodblock printing in
Qing dynasty China during the 19th century.
Hydraulic and nautical engineering The most important nautical innovation of the Song period seems to have been the introduction of the magnetic mariner's
compass, which permitted accurate navigation on the open sea regardless of the weather. The magnetized compass needle was first described by the scientist and statesman
Shen Kuo in his 1088
Dream Pool Essays. It was first mentioned in active use by sailors in
Zhu Yu's 1119
Pingzhou Table Talks. , a concept pioneered in 984 by the Assistant Commissioner of Transport for
Huainan, the engineer Qiao Weiyo.|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 afterward. There were other considerable advancements in
hydraulic engineering and nautical technology during the Song dynasty. The 10th-century invention of the
pound lock for canal systems allowed different water levels to be raised and lowered for separated segments of a canal, which significantly aided the safety of canal traffic and allowed for larger barges. There was the Song-era innovation of
watertight bulkhead compartments that allowed damage to
hulls without sinking the ships. If ships were damaged, the Chinese of the 11th century employed
drydocks to repair them while suspended out of the water. The Song used crossbeams to brace the ribs of ships in order to strengthen them in a skeletal-like structure.
Stern-mounted
rudders had been mounted on Chinese ships since the 1st century, as evidenced by a preserved Han tomb model of a ship. In the Song period, the Chinese devised a way to mechanically raise and lower rudders in order for ships to travel in a wider range of water depths. The Song arranged the protruding teeth of anchors in a circular pattern instead of in one direction. David Graff and Robin Higham state that this arrangement "[made] them more reliable" for anchoring ships.
Structural engineering and architecture Architecture during the Song period reached new heights of sophistication. Authors such as
Yu Hao and Shen Kuo wrote books outlining the field of architectural layouts, craftsmanship, and
structural engineering in the 10th and 11th centuries, respectively. Shen Kuo preserved the written dialogues of Yu Hao when describing technical issues such as slanting
struts built into pagoda towers for diagonal wind bracing. Shen Kuo also preserved Yu's specified dimensions and units of measurement for various building types. The architect
Li Jie (1065–1110), who published the
Yingzao Fashi ('Treatise on Architectural Methods') in 1103, greatly expanded upon the works of Yu Hao and compiled the standard building codes used by the central government agencies and by craftsmen throughout the empire. He addressed the standard methods of construction, design, and applications of moats and fortifications, stonework, greater woodwork, lesser woodwork, wood-carving, turning and drilling, sawing, bamboo work, tiling, wall building, painting and decoration, brickwork, glazed tile making, and provided proportions for
mortar formulas in
masonry. In his book, Li provided detailed and vivid illustrations of architectural components and cross-sections of buildings. These illustrations displayed various applications of
corbel brackets,
cantilever arms,
mortise and tenon work of tie beams and cross beams, and diagrams showing the various building types of halls in graded sizes. He also outlined the standard units of measurement and standard dimensional measurements of all building components described and illustrated in his book. Grandiose building projects were supported by the government, including the erection of towering Buddhist
Chinese pagodas and the construction of enormous bridges (wood or stone,
trestle or segmental
arch bridge). Many of the pagoda towers built during the Song period were erected at heights that exceeded ten stories. Some of the most famous are the
Iron Pagoda built in 1049 during the Northern Song and the
Liuhe Pagoda built in 1165 during the Southern Song, though there were others. The tallest is the
Liaodi Pagoda built in 1055 in
Hebei, towering in total height. Some of the bridges reached lengths of , with many being wide enough to allow two lanes of cart traffic simultaneously over a waterway or ravine. The government also oversaw construction of their own administrative offices, palace apartments, city fortifications, ancestral temples, and Buddhist temples. The professions of the architect, craftsman, carpenter, and structural engineer were not seen as professionally equal to that of a Confucian scholar-official. Architectural knowledge had been passed down orally for thousands of years in China, in many cases from a father craftsman to his son. Structural engineering and architecture schools were known to have existed during the Song period; one prestigious engineering school was headed by the renowned bridge-builder
Cai Xiang (1012–1067) in medieval
Fujian province. Besides existing buildings and technical literature of building manuals,
Song dynasty artwork portraying
cityscapes and other buildings aid modern-day scholars in their attempts to reconstruct and realize the nuances of Song architecture. Song dynasty artists such as
Li Cheng,
Fan Kuan,
Guo Xi,
Zhang Zeduan,
Emperor Huizong of Song, and Ma Lin painted close-up depictions of buildings as well as large expanses of cityscapes featuring
arched bridges, halls and
pavilions,
pagoda towers, and distinct
Chinese city walls. The scientist and statesman Shen Kuo was known for his criticism relating to architecture, saying that it was more important for an artist to capture a holistic view of a landscape than it was to focus on the angles and corners of buildings. For example, Shen criticized the work of the painter Li Cheng for failing to observe the principle of "seeing the small from the viewpoint of the large" in portraying buildings. There were also pyramidal tomb structures in the Song era, such as the Song imperial tombs located in Gongxian,
Henan. About from Gongxian is another Song dynasty tomb at Baisha, which features "elaborate facsimiles in brick of Chinese timber frame construction, from door lintels to pillars and pedestals to bracket sets, that adorn interior walls." The two large chambers of the Baisha tomb also feature conical-shaped roofs. Flanking the avenues leading to these tombs
are lines of Song dynasty stone statues of officials, tomb guardians, animals, and
legendary creatures.
Archaeology , such as this
bronze ding vessel.|alt=A heavily tarnished bronze bowl adorned with several carvings of squares that curl in on themselves at the bottom. It has three stubby, unadorned legs and two small, square handles coming off from the top rim. In addition to the Song gentry's antiquarian pursuits of art collecting, scholar-officials during the Song became highly interested in retrieving ancient relics from
archaeological sites, in order to revive the use of ancient vessels in ceremonies of state ritual. Scholar-officials of the Song period claimed to have discovered ancient bronze vessels that were created as far back as the
Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BCE), which bore the
oracle bone script of the Shang era. Some attempted to recreate these bronze vessels by using imagination alone, not by observing tangible evidence of relics; this practice was criticized by Shen Kuo in his work of 1088. Yet Shen Kuo had much more to criticize than this practice alone. Shen objected to the idea of his peers that ancient relics were products created by famous "sages" in lore or the
ancient aristocratic class; Shen rightfully attributed the discovered handicrafts and vessels from ancient times as the work of artisans and commoners from previous eras. He also disapproved of his peers' pursuit of archaeology simply to enhance state ritual, since Shen not only took an
interdisciplinary approach with the study of archaeology, but he also emphasized the study of functionality and investigating what was the ancient relics' original processes of manufacture. Shen used ancient texts and existing models of
armillary spheres to create one based on ancient standards; Shen described ancient weaponry such as the use of a
scaled sighting device on crossbows; while experimenting with
ancient musical measures, Shen suggested hanging
an ancient bell by using a hollow handle. Despite the gentry's overriding interest in archaeology simply for reviving ancient state rituals, some of Shen's peers took a similar approach to the study of archaeology. His contemporary
Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) compiled an analytical catalogue of ancient rubbings on stone and bronze which pioneered ideas in early
epigraphy and archaeology. During the 11th century, Song scholars discovered the ancient shrine of Wu Liang (78–151 CE), a scholar of the Han dynasty; they produced rubbings of the carvings and
bas-reliefs decorating the walls of his tomb so that they could be analyzed elsewhere. On the unreliability of historical works written after the fact, the epigrapher and poet
Zhao Mingcheng (1081–1129) stated "... the inscriptions on stone and bronze are made at the time the events took place and can be trusted without reservation, and thus discrepancies may be discovered." Historian R.C. Rudolph states that Zhao's emphasis on consulting contemporary sources for accurate dating is parallel with the concern of the German historian
Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886), and was in fact emphasized by many Song scholars. The Song scholar Hong Mai (1123–1202) heavily criticized what he called the court's "ridiculous" archaeological catalogue
Bogutu compiled during the Huizong reign periods of Zheng He and Xuan He (1111–1125). Hong Mai obtained old vessels from the Han dynasty and compared them with the descriptions offered in the catalogue, which he found so inaccurate he stated he had to "hold my sides with laughter." Hong Mai pointed out that the erroneous material was the fault of Chancellor
Cai Jing, who prohibited scholars from reading and consulting
written histories. ==See also==