SONG DYNASTY (960 – 1279 AD) – Part 5/6

September 29, 2010

Porcelain from China during the Song Dynasty made China famous.

The invention of movable type also helped make China famous. The “Dream Pool Essays” by Shen Kuo records most of the scientific achievements of the time, which included knowledge of petroleum and geological changes. The most important achievement recorded in the ancient encyclopedia was the invention of movable type by Bi Sheng.

The entire process used in movable type printing was described in detail.

The first printed characters were engraved in tiny cubes of baked clay.

The age of paper in the history of human civilization began in China.

Papermaking had been developed during the Han Dynasty about 2,000 years ago. However, the quality of this paper wasn’t that good and was not ideal for writing.

Later, papermaking techniques were improved to a high level during the Song Dynasty.

Then Song era books were printed in large numbers. Even today, Song Dynasty books tell the world about the innovations and achievements of this era. At the time, Hangzhou was the greatest printing center in the world.

Return to Song Dynasty – Part 4

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar

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SONG DYNASTY (960 – 1279 AD) – Part 4/6

September 28, 2010

Under the sands of a beach in the city of Quanzhou City in Fujian Province, a well preserved secret was discovered–a boat built during the Song Dynasty.

It is the oldest, fully intact wooden boat unearthed in the world with a load capacity of 200 tons.

It was not the largest boat constructed during that time. The largest had a load capacity of more than 1,000 tons.

Experts say the construction of these ships with hermetic compartments made safe navigation possible and these methods that were developed a millinea ago are still used today in modern ship construction.

During the Song Dynasty, the trading port of Quanzhou was considered one of the two largest in the world. Egypt’s Alexandria was the other one.

As an important seaport for trade at one end of the Maritime Silk Road, Quanzhou had close ties with Korea and Japan in the east and as far as  northeast Africa in the west.

At the time, the Indian Ocean was called the Western Seas, which explains the story of Zheng He’s Voyage to the Western Seas” in the Ming Dynasty.

There were two major kinds of trade goods–silk and porcelain. Some scholars say that porcelain should be considered the fifth great Chinese invention.

Return to Song Dynasty – Part 3

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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SONG DYNASTY (960 – 1279 AD) – Part 3/6

September 28, 2010

Agricultural science during the Song Dynasty fertilized land that was not suitable for growing crops.

Then two or three annual harvests were possible leading to a green revolution, which supported the population of China to exceed one-hundred million—at that time the largest population in the world.

One scientist discovered that petroleum made better ink for writing and predicted that petroleum would be used greatly in the future.

Although China’s four greatest inventions came long before then, it wasn’t until the Song Dynasty that papermaking, the large-scale application of printing, the compass and gunpowder made their mark.

In fact, the German inventor Johannes Gutenberg wouldn’t invent his printing press until 1440 AD.

Before the Song Dynasty, the primitive compass invented centuries earlier was not accurate.

However, the compass was improved for navigation making it less likely for ships get lost at sea and allowed ships to travel farther from China.

To preserve these innovations, Shen Kuo published his Dream Pool Essays in 1088 AD, a huge encyclopedic book that covered a wide range of subjects, including literature, art, military strategy, mathematics, astronomy, meteorology, geology, geography, metallurgy, engineering, hydraulics, architecture, zoology, botany, agronomy, medicine, anthropology, archeology, etc.

Return to Song Dynasty – Part 2

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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SONG DYNASTY (960 – 1279 AD) – Part 2/6

September 27, 2010

I’ve read many criticisms that the Chinese today cannot innovate without the level of freedom that exists in America and other Western republics and democracies.

If that were true, explain how the Chinese were so far ahead of the West for two thousand years while being ruled by autocratic, imperial governments where the law was often swift and harsh under legalism.

For example, during the Song Dynasty in 1092 AD, Su Song was the inventor of a hydraulic water powered astronomical clock tower. He was also known as a statesman, calligrapher and botanist.

In addition, fifteen hundred years ago, famous mathematician Zu Chongzhi calculated that the approximate value of pie was 3.1415926.

It would take a thousand years for a foreigner to break that record. In fact, China led the world in astronomy for more than a thousand years.

The world’s largest and earliest star chart is carved on a stele in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. Today’s astronomers find it incredible because it is so accurate and detailed.

During the Song Dynasty, a calendar was created that was as accurate as the Gregorian calendar used today—four centuries before the Gregorian calendar.

During the Song Dynasty, a new type of canal lock was invented. Four hundred years later in 1373 AD, a similar lock was invented in Europe.

Astronomical observations were used to help agriculture. Due to this, the Song Dynasty grain yield was ten to twenty times that of Medieval Europe.

Return to the Song Dynasty – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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SONG DYNASTY (960 – 1279 A.D.) – Part 1/6

September 26, 2010

Fifty-three years after the Tang Dynasty collapsed, Zhao Kuangyin, a general in the latter Zhou Dynasty (951-960) led a mutiny resulting in the Song Dynasty being established in Kaifeng City, Henan Province that would survive for 319 years.

During the Song Dynasty, China experienced developments in science and technology.

For example, the four great inventions of China were developed during the Song Dynasty—paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder

The Song Dynasty is considered a great period in ancient China and a continuation of what took place during the Tang Dynasty.

A striking feature of Song politics was the way greater importance was attached to civil administration than to military arts.

Under such circumstances, education, merit, and talent were encouraged and the imperial examination system was improved.

Astronomy was also an area where advances were made.

In July 1054, an unknown nova appeared in the sky. The sudden appearance of this nova alarmed the bureau of astronomy. A year later, the star vanished.

The nova was important because astronomers discovered the Crab Nebula near Taurus and careful records were kept during the Song Dynasty that benefits science today.

By the year 1072, Shen Kuo had been appointed head of the bureau of astronomy, and he took charge of the design of astronomical instruments leading to further scientific advances in this field

See the Tang Dynasty

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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