Science and technology in ancient China. Fundamentals of Chemistry in Ancient China Development of Technology in Ancient China
Science of Ancient China was applied in nature. Mathematics has made great strides. In the II century. BC. a treatise "Mathematics in nine books" was compiled - a kind of guide for surveyors, astronomers, officials, etc. In addition to purely scientific knowledge, the book also presented everyday information: prices for various goods, indicators of agricultural crop yields, etc. Significant achievements of the ancient Chinese in the field of astronomy are associated with the development of mathematics. The solar-lunar calendar of the ancient Chinese was adapted to the needs of agricultural production.
The Chinese improved the plow, created a mechanical engine that uses the power of falling water (water-lifting pump). Early writings contained descriptions of bed crops, systems of variable fields and rotation of crops, various methods of fertilizing the soil and pre-sowing impregnation of seeds, and there were special guidelines for irrigation and melioration. The pinnacle of ancient Chinese scientific knowledge in the field of biology was the cultivation of silkworms and the creation of sericulture technology.
Medicine has developed significantly. Ancient Chinese doctors in the IV-III centuries. BC. began to use acupuncture and moxibustion, developed a guide to dietetics and therapeutic exercises, compiled a collection of various recipes, which contained 280 prescriptions for the treatment of 52 diseases. Among the recommended remedies, along with medicines, some magic tricks are mentioned. However, in later writings, magical methods of treatment are not found. By the 3rd century BC. the use of local anesthesia by the famous doctor Hua Tuo for abdominal operations.
The achievements and discoveries of ancient China far outstripped the scientific thought of the West. Many researchers believe that the key to such success is the special view of its inhabitants on nature. The scientific thought of the East was looking for a harmonious synthesis of the activity of man and nature, which was expressed in a special, highly moral perception of the surrounding world.
China has priority in many technical discoveries and inventions, improvement of technical processes. For example, the technology of smelting copper ore, non-ferrous metal ores (obtaining alloys - for example, bronze) has reached a high level. Already in the IV century. BC. the Chinese made special furnaces for smelting iron ore and were able to produce cast iron; they approached the smelting of steel earlier than other peoples of the world. High level shipbuilding has reached: the Chinese rightfully belong to the most developed maritime peoples of antiquity; they sailed their ships in the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Considerable attention was paid in China to the construction of an irrigation system. An outstanding hydraulic structure is the Great Chinese Canal, built in the Qin era (III-II centuries BC). This canal reached 32 kilometers and connected the Huang He and Yangtze rivers. Thanks to him, year-round navigation was carried out on inland waterways with a total length of more than 2000 kilometers.
The achievements of the ancient Chinese in architecture are evidence of advanced construction techniques. The Great Wall of China was built in the 3rd century. BC. on the site of ancient fortifications that existed from the 5th century BC. BC. The wall was made of clay mixed with wicker and faced with stone. During its construction, 300,000 people (convicts and soldiers) worked simultaneously. In 10 years, 750 kilometers of the wall were built. In the future, its length exceeded 4000 kilometers. The Great Wall of China was 8 meters high and 10 meters wide. Towers rose every 100 meters and there were passages with gates. The wall was supposed to protect against barbarian nomads, hostile spirits, and also from the desert (steppe) approaching the cultivated lands of China. She demonstrated the greatness of the Chinese empire. In addition, the wall served as a unique communication system connecting the coastal provinces of China with Tibet. State mail (imperial decrees) was delivered through it, troops were transferred.
A feature of Chinese construction technology was the frame method of buildings: pillars were erected, or columns that formed the base, longitudinal beams were placed on them, and then a gable roof was installed. In the IV century. BC. a bracket was invented that made it possible to make roofs with curved corners: this was how a new type of architectural structure was created - the pagoda. The roof of the pagoda created an ideal air exchange in the dwelling, and also provided the best drainage of rainwater. Road construction is an important indicator of the development of Chinese civilization. During the Qin era, 8,000 kilometers of roads were built. Most of them led to the capital, which was considered the mystical center of the country. The miracle of ancient Chinese engineering was the use of oil and natural gas. Wooden tanks were built to store hydrocarbon raw materials, bamboo gas pipelines were made. There were gas lamps in the cities. Gas heating of dwellings was used. No less surprising is the familiarity of the ancient Chinese with pyrotechnics, various explosive and powder mixtures that were used to make fireworks. Pyrotechnics were used even more widely in ritual practice, in sacred ceremonies, sacrifices, etc.
China has priority in many technical discoveries and inventions. In particular, the technology of smelting copper ore, non-ferrous metal ores, in the production of alloys, such as bronze, has reached a high level of perfection. For firing ceramics and porcelain, kilns were made, in which, already in antiquity, temperatures of 1150 - 1250 ° C could be pumped. From the 1st millennium BC, the Chinese knew the processing of iron. In the 4th century BC, they made special furnaces for smelting iron ore and were able to produce cast iron; The Chinese approached steel smelting earlier than other peoples of the world. Since the Neolithic times, the ancestors of the Chinese have known the potter's wheel, wheel, lathe and weaving machines. With regard to the wheel, the opinion is sometimes expressed that this invention was borrowed by the ancestors of the Chinese from neighboring Western peoples. Shipbuilding has reached a high level, and the Chinese rightfully belong to the most developed maritime peoples of antiquity. Chinese sailors sailed on their ships in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In China, considerable attention was paid to the construction of an irrigation system. The Yellow River was one of the most turbulent rivers that strongly influenced the landscape. In ancient Chinese literature, it is no coincidence that it was called "the river that tears the heart." Already in the Shang and Yin eras, colossal efforts were made to streamline the channel of this river, along which masonry was laid out, dams were erected, and numerous irrigation canals were brought up. The most outstanding hydraulic structure is the Great Canal of China, built in the Qin era. This canal reached 32 km and connected the Huang He and Yangtze rivers. It carried out year-round navigation on inland waterways with a total length of more than 2000 km. The achievements of the ancient Chinese in architecture are impressive, which is the result of the high development of building technology. Here, first of all, it is necessary to say about the Great Wall of China. It was erected during the reign of Qin Shi Huangdi on the basis of ancient fortifications in the form of a moat and rampart that existed from the 5th century BC. The wall was made of clay mixed with wicker and faced with stone. At the same time, 300,000 people worked on its construction - convicts and soldiers. In ten years, 750 km of the wall were built. In the future, its length exceeded 4000 km. The Great Wall of China was eight meters high and ten meters wide. Towers rose every hundred meters, there were passages with gates. The wall was supposed to protect against barbarian nomads, hostile spirits, the impending desert and steppe on the cultivated lands of China, and was supposed to demonstrate the greatness of the empire and emperor. In addition, the wall served as a unique communication system connecting the coastal provinces of China with Tibet. State mail, imperial decrees were delivered through it; troops moved across it.
A feature of Chinese construction technology is the frame method: pillars, or columns, were erected to form a frame; longitudinal beams were laid on them and a gable roof was installed on them. This technique was already known in the Yin era. The construction of buildings on a high clay platform was practiced. Already in ancient times, three-tiered towers (low), pavilions, and temples were built. In the 4th century BC, a bracket was invented that made it possible to make roofs with curved corners; so a new type of architectural structure was created - the pagoda. The roof of the pagoda created an ideal air exchange in the dwelling, and also provided the best drainage of rainwater. Road construction was also an important indicator of the development of Chinese civilization. During the Qin era, 8,000 km of roads were built. Most of the roads led to the capital, which was considered the mystical center of the country. Mile signs were installed on the roads, stations were arranged where one could rest and change horses.
The miracle of ancient Chinese engineering was the use of oil and natural gas. Wooden tanks were built to store hydrocarbon raw materials, bamboo gas pipelines were made. There were gas lamps in the cities. Gas heating of dwellings was used. No less surprising is the familiarity of the ancient Chinese with pyrotechnics, various explosive and powder mixtures that were used to make fireworks. Pyrotechnics were used even more widely in ritual practice, in sacred ceremonies, sacrifices, etc.
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INTRODUCTION
The centuries-old traditions of the great Chinese culture in the turbulent era of the Middle Ages were not only not interrupted, but, on the contrary, were enriched with new content. Buddhism, which came to China from India in the 1st century BC, had a great influence on the whole system of life. AD and acquired here a special national coloring. The era of the Classical Middle Ages was the time of the highest rise of Chinese culture - the "golden age" of literature and painting. During the years of the rule of the Mongol dynasty, when China became part of the vast empire of the conquerors, cultural ties developed especially intensively, and the centuries-old isolation of the Chinese people collapsed. The culture of the Mature Middle Ages came to the limit of the development of its centuries-old traditions, undergoing inevitable transformations and turning its face back to the origins. folk life, the depths of national consciousness.
1. ERA EARLYMIDDLE AGES
General characteristics of the period
The era of political fragmentation, which opens the history of Medieval China, did not interrupt the tradition cultural development countries. After the Han Empire, swept away by the popular uprising of the "yellow bandages", the three kingdoms(220 - 280): three independent states were formed - Wei, Shu and U. It was a time of wars, epidemics, famine, peasant unrest. The confrontation of the three kingdoms ended with the victory of the successor of Wei - Jin empire(280--316). And although the country was formally united during these years, however, strife and coups continued. The decay of the imperial order made China an easy prey for nomadic tribes who poured into the northern and western regions of the state. Under their pressure, the Chinese fled south, across the Yangtze River. This is how the country was divided into northern and southern parts, which lasted from 316 to 589. and entered into history under the name period of the Northern and Southern dynasties. This isolation became one of the key moments in the history and culture of China in the 3rd-6th centuries.
Religion
The political situation affected the spiritual structure of the era and gave rise to such new phenomena as religious Taoism and Chan Buddhism. Taoism was closely associated with mystical sects. The priests who led them, most often from commoners, claimed to possess the revelations sent down to them personally from Heaven. Traffic "celestial guides" originated in Northern China, from the 4th century. began to intensively penetrate into the south of the country along with refugees. By the end of the century, folk Taoism had all the hallmarks of an organized religion. Remaining an elitist teaching, at the same time, it provided wide sections of society with access to the most diverse types of shamanic services in everyday life. Popular in this environment were the ideas of the near end of the world.
Date of arrival Buddhism in China is considered 65 AD. e., when the famous monastery of Baimasy (White Horse) was erected near the city of Luoyang. According to legend, it was on a white horse that the first Buddhist writings were delivered to China from India - Sutra(lit. - thread, genre of works, consisting of aphorisms). The fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 weakened the position of that part of the nobility that advocated traditional Confucianism, which favorably affected the spread of Buddhism in China. The ruling dynasties, which often replaced each other, saw Buddhism as their support. So, in only one V century. 17 thousand places of worship were founded. The cities of Luoyang, Chang'an and Nanjing became recognized centers of Buddhism.
Tao, which combines three "Taoist jewels": energy - qi, seed - jini, spirit - shen
Buddhism in China quickly adapted to national traditions. Buddhism was established here first in the form of a teaching Nagarjuna, and then in a mystical variety of teaching Bodhidharma(1st half of the 8th century AD, Ch. Damo).
Over time, Buddhism found some unique relationship with Taoism, and later with Confucianism, which allowed it to organically enter the flesh and blood of Chinese culture.
Thus, initially Buddhism was perceived in China as a form of Taoism. By the VI century. Buddhism became the dominant ideological trend in China and acquired the status of a state religion. Buddhist monasteries turned into large landowners. In combination with Confucianism and Taoism, Buddhism formed a syncretic unity "three religions" in which each teaching, as it were, complemented the other two.
Within a rather short period of time, in the second half of the 6th century, the main schools of Chinese Buddhism proper were formed, which influenced the Buddhist traditions of the entire Far East. Among them, the most widespread chang zong schools, who preached a view of the world as a perfect whole and affirmed the possibility of saving all living beings in this life. To this day, the great influence that took shape at the end of the 6th century. school"Pure Land", promising salvation by faith in the Buddha Amitabha. This doctrine, accessible to the understanding of the broad masses and promising a person a better fate after death, did not require knowledge of the sutras and the performance of complex religious rites, called for “thinking about the Buddha”, argued that only pronouncing the name of Amitabha with faith can give a person rebirth in a blissful kingdom.
In the middle of the VI century. Indian preacher Bodhidharma was founded chan school, What does contemplation mean? It was her adherents who refused to study the sutras and any ritual. Unlike other schools, Chan teachers highly valued physical labor, especially in a team. They also interpreted meditation in a new way - as a spontaneous self-disclosure of the true nature of man in the course of his existence. Being the most sinicized form of Buddhism, the Chan school had a great influence on national art.
Literature
Literature in China has occupied a place of unique significance since ancient times. The literary talent shown at the state examinations gave the student the right to apply for the highest positions in the empire. The leading place in Chinese classical literature was occupied by poetry, its basis was lyric poetry, the essence of which the Chinese saw in the expression of feelings.
Genre of literary poetry III-VI centuries. went through several stages of development. By the end of the II - the first third of the III centuries. refers to the work of poets from the family Dao and the Pleiades "Seven Jiang'an Husbands". About 300 poems by poets of that time have survived to this day. Their work was characterized by the imitation of a folk song, the strengthening of elements of realism and personal beginning, the pathos of unifying ideas, sympathy for the troubles of the people.
An event in the history of Chinese poetry was the birth of a five-word verse -- ugh, which replaced the four-word one that dominated earlier. The fifth hieroglyph brought poetic language closer to colloquial speech, the folk song from which it developed. The "golden age" of fu began with Kong Rong(153--208) and Cao Zhi (192--232). Best Poems the most daring of Kong Rong's poets were written in prison, where he was imprisoned for criticizing the founder of the Wei Dynasty. Through all the work of Cao Zhi, the image of a wandering warrior dreaming of heroic deeds passed.
The next step in the development of five-word poems was made by seven friends of writers - "The Seven Wise Ones from the Bamboo Grove". They marked the beginning of poetic professionalism in China. Poems of two representatives of this poetic community have survived to this day - Ruan Ji(210--263) and Ji Kang(223--262). The work of Ruan Ji was distinguished by deep lyricism and tragedy of attitude. His spirit of resistance was expressed in the experience of the impermanence of everything that exists, the variability of everything, even "the sun and moon appear and disappear." Exposing the greed of those in power in Ji Kang's Poems of Hidden Indignation, which he wrote in prison, cost the poet his life. A petition expressing sympathy for the executed was signed by 3,000 people, which was an unprecedented precedent.
IV century passes under the sign of domination "Poetry of mysterious sayings" -- fashionable among aristocrats of poems on the topics of Taoist philosophy. The contrast was the work of the great national poet of China TooYuan-ming(365--427), who lived in the south of the country, the author of 160 poems that have come down to us. His poems affirm the ideal of simplicity and spiritual freedom:
I call my wife, we take the children with us,
And on a good day for us, we go far for a walk.
The poet himself accomplished the feat of breaking away from the prosperous life destined for him by birthright. He began public service at the age of 29, and left it at the age of 41, resigning from the post of head of a small county. Having chosen the truth of simple existence, along with it, he received poverty in addition. One of the best in Chinese poetry is his poem from the cycle "For wine":
mountain skyline
so beautiful at sunset
When the birds are above her
flying home!
This is everything for me
the real meaning
I want to tell,
and I already forgot the words.
On the 5th century flourishing landscape lyrics("Poems about mountains and waters"). Its discoverers are poets of the south from the Se family - Xie Lingyun(385 --433) and Xie Tiao(464--499). Xie Lingyun peers and listens into nature, being in constant anticipation of the moment when the outlines of the mountains will reveal to him the meaning of the universe. Xie Tiao's poetry already in many ways anticipates the "golden age" of Tang poetry. It became more and more objective and clear, although it still retained a touch of refinement, due to the tastes of the environment and time. From the end of the 5th century the formation of the court style began, which dominated Chinese poetry for the next two centuries. He was characterized by concern for the euphony of the verse, a narrow set of given topics, and verbal etiquette.
Along with literary poetry in III-VI centuries. the genre of folk song developed. The works have come down to us thanks to the work of a special public institution -- music chamber, who was in charge of collecting song texts and melodies among the people. Most of the songs belong to the genre love lyrics that arose among the citizens. Northern poetry, unlike southern poetry, is more diverse in content. There are many military songs in it, in style it is more rough and direct.
Chinese prose III-VI centuries. continued to be multi-genre. Historical and geographical writings became more and more scientific. Among them were the works Chen Show (233--297) History of the Three Kingdoms by Fan Ye (398--445) History of the Later Han by Li Tao-yuan(?-- 527) "Comment to Book of Waters" and To Pu (276 -- 324) "Commentaries on the Book of Mountains and Seas".
The leading prose genre of the era was rhythmic philosophical prose close to poetry, born around conversations and disputes on religious topics: "Breakup Letters" treatises "On longevity", "Refutation of the theory of natural love of learning."
The period of troubled times is marked by the birth in China of "stories of the amazing" artistic narrative prose. Such writings were instructive in nature, asserting, with the help of collected examples, belief in evil spirits, Taoist immortals, and the power of the Buddha's teachings. Interest in such stories in society was huge, they were collected and distributed in the form of collections, such as Spirit Records by Tan Bao(III-IV centuries), "Lives of Saints and Immortals" by Ge Hong(III-IV centuries).
Stories about worldly events and people, including historical anecdotes, as a special genre of prose literature also appeared in the 4th-6th centuries. Such narratives were always laconic and contained a record of only one event. The most popular became "Tales of World Events" by Liu Yi-ching(403--444), divided into headings: deeds, language, government, deeds. The division was not random. The author created, as it were, an artistic illustration for a treatise of the 3rd century BC. Liu Shao "Description of People" giving assessments of human character traits.
Art
Despite the obvious literary centrism of the cultural development of the Early Middle Ages, the centuries-old traditions of art not only were not interrupted, but, on the contrary, were enriched with new content. At the junction of trade routes, the rapid construction of grandiose rock Buddhist monasteries with numerous caves decorated with statues, reliefs, frescoes. Among others, monasteries stand out near Dunhuang -- Yungang, Longmen and Qianfodong. It is customary to build in holy places pagodas(Chinese bao-ta - treasure tower) - multi-tiered memorial reliquary towers.
In the visual arts, images of celestials and young intercessors for humanity, marked by elongated proportions and graceful execution, occupied a central place. The sculpture of cave monasteries was dominated by heavy and static, colossal statues of Buddha, fused with the mass of rock, sitting in a strictly frontal pose with a hand raised in a gesture of teaching.
In the south of the country, where ancient traditions were not interrupted by a foreign invasion, a type not related to Buddhist themes was developed. illustrated story on horizontal scrolls. They were made with ink and mineral paints, but by means of expressiveness, a variety of linear strokes, they were clearly close to art. calligraphy. From the 5th century the oldest surviving treatise on painting, the spiritual purpose of art and aesthetic norms has come down to us "The Six Rules of Painting". Its author Xie He(c. 500) was a fundamental influence on the theory visual arts China. The first two laws of Xie He contained the philosophical principles of painting - the postulate of spiritualized rhythm and plastic dynamics, the remaining four outlined particular aspects of technology - similarity, color, composition, copying.
Science and technology
The period of political fragmentation did not stop the development of science and technology in China. The great achievement of Chinese mathematics was the results of calculations made in the 5th century BC. father and son Zu Chongzhi and Zu Genzhi. Using methods unknown to us, they got the exact number up to the tenth decimal place. This achievement was recorded in the annals, while the works themselves disappeared without a trace.
The Chinese discovered a way to measure physical bodies at a distance, they came to the conclusion that "the earth has a shape, and the sky is devoid of a body." For the first time in the history of the calendar in China, the precession 11 From Late Lat was used. praecessio - moving forward. , knew about one and a half thousand stars. They developed diagnostics of diseases: based on the doctrine of the dark and light principles, they explained the relationship between physiology, pathology and disease, and discovered methods of biological control of plants.
In the 5th century a process was developed for alloying metals, in which cast iron and malleable steel were melted to obtain new steel. 11 In Europe, this process was discovered in 1863 by Marten and Siemens. .
In the III century. for the first time in world practice, the Chinese learned how to cast metal stirrups of perfect shape. They were brought to the west by the warriors of the Zhuan-Zhuan tribe, which became known as the Avars. A navigational “cybernetic device” appeared, operating on the principle of feedback. It was called the "south-pointing wagon". This device had nothing to do with a magnetic compass and was just a wagon topped with a jade figurine of a sage. Wherever the wagon turned, even if it went in circles, the outstretched hand of the sage always pointed south.
One of the most amazing items created by Chinese craftsmen were "magic mirrors". They already existed in the 5th century. The convex reflecting side of the mirror was cast from light bronze and polished to a shine. The reverse side was covered with cast bronze drawings and hieroglyphs. Under the bright rays of the sun, through the reflective surface, one could look through and see patterns reverse side as if the bronze was becoming transparent. The mystery was unraveled only in the 20th century, when the microstructure of metal surfaces became available for study.
In the VI century. The first matches appeared in China. It is believed that they owe their appearance to the siege of the imperial palace in 577 in the northern kingdom of Qi. When all the tinder came out of the besieged, someone came up with the idea of dipping small pine sticks in sulfur and, after drying, keep them ready. At first, this wonderful invention was called “a slave that brings fire”, and later, when matches began to be sold, a new name appeared - “lighting sticks”.
2. THE AGE OF THE CLASSICALMIDDLE AGES
General characteristics of the era
The era of the Classical Middle Ages (VII-XIII centuries) begins with the reign of the dynasty Tan, lasting almost 300 years (618-907). As a result of the unification of the principalities that were at war with each other, a powerful state was created with its capital in Changwan, a city with a million inhabitants. After the fall of the Tang dynasty and several decades of interregnum (907-960), the dynasty came to power soong(960--1275). Sung China with its capital Kaifeng, weakened by recent civil strife, was forced to continuously fight off the nomads who were pressing on it. In 1126, the nomads inflicted a crushing defeat on the Sung troops, capturing the emperor, and with him the whole of Northern China. The Suns still managed to hold out for a century and a half (1127-1279) in the south of the country (the capital of Hangzhou), until all of China became the prey of new conquerors - the Mongols.
Religious-philosophical tradition
New History Page Chan Buddhism in China begins with the activities of the sixth patriarch Huineng(638--713). He is considered the founder of the southern Chan school, which adhered to the principle of "sudden enlightenment", based on the fact that gradual approach to it is impossible. Huineng is credited with the authorship of the famous "The Altar Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch", which is the key among the sacred texts of Ch'an Buddhism.
Huineng taught that instead of trying to purify the mind, one should only give it freedom, for the mind is not something that can be mastered. To free consciousness means to let go of the flow of thoughts and impressions, to give them the opportunity to come and go, not to interfere in their course, not to suppress them and not to hold back. After the death of Huineng, the school split into two directions - North and South. The latter managed to consolidate around Huineng's teachings and became the leading one in the Ch'an tradition. From the middle of the 8th century in the monasteries of this school, the practice of Q&A(wenda, Japanese. mondo). As a rule, the teacher gave an unexpected, most often illogical answer to the student's question. The answer could be expressed both by a gesture (a blow, a raised finger) and a cry. Questions and answers were the main material for stories from the life of the Ch'an patriarchs. Many of these collections have been passed down from generation to generation. The two most famous collections were compiled in the 11th-13th centuries: "Outpost without a gate" and "Notes at the Turquoise Rock".
Until the middle of the IX century. Buddhism enjoyed the patronage of the imperial court. In 845 the emperor Wu Zong with In order to undermine the economic power and independence of Buddhist monasteries and reduce their numbers, he initiated severe persecution of Buddhism. Soon begins the slow but steady decline of Buddhism in China, it merges with folk religion.
folk religion born in the 11th century. from an alloy of the cult of ancestors, sacrifice to spirits, belief in ghosts and demons, divination, mediumship, supplemented by the Buddhist concepts of karma and reincarnation, as well as the Taoist doctrine of the hierarchy of the gods. This religion initially and to this day does not have professional clergymen. The costs of maintaining the temples were borne by local residents. Almost all gods are deified spirits of dead people. At the head of the hierarchy of gods - Jade Sovereign (Yu Di). In opposition to the gods are demons, the restless souls of people who died a violent death. Their expulsion constitutes the main ritual of the religion. On behalf of some powerful deity, the medium makes an inscription on the talisman, which is an order to the evil forces to immediately leave the body. After reading aloud, it is burned. It is believed that the smoke conveys a message to the sky.
Concerned about the growing popularity of Buddhism, some officials and thinkers began to create new Confucian philosophy. They borrowed ideas from Taoism and Buddhism, combining them into a new system with a predominance of Confucian values. The most famous Neo-Confucian was Zhu Xi(ISO--1200). He argued that the duty of every person is to fill life with meaning and order, strengthen them and contribute to the ordering of the family, society and the state. This combination of personal self-improvement with social responsibility pleased the government with neo-Confucianism. The stability of society was directly dependent on the fidelity of each person to his social role. Later, already in the 14th century, the government ordered that Zhu Xi's interpretations of the Confucian classics be the basis of the program state exams. Since then, every educated person should have studied them.
Literature
The Tang era is considered the "golden age" of Chinese poetry. This time was the heyday of five-word and seven-word poems with a two-line rhyme. Prominent poets were Wang Wei, Li Po, Du Fu and Bo Juyi. The flowering of poetry was facilitated by the appearance in the 7th century. first large dictionary literary language, which included 12158 hieroglyphs.
The first in a series of great classics of the Tang era Wang Wei(699--759) - not only a wonderful poet, but also a talented painter. He managed to make his poems voluminous, bringing them closer to the picture, and the pictures to the verse. In his work great place occupied by nature. Li Bo(701--762) belonged to those few geniuses whose work expressed the innermost spirit of the Chinese people. More than 900 of his poems have survived. The life of the poet did not fit into the framework of the standards of his position. He left home, wandered, developing the ideal of freedom. However, there was not a hint of arrogance in Li Bo's greatness.
With poetry Doo Fu(712--770) the theme of compassion for a person, denunciation of injustice, shame of the prosperous in front of the afflicted, the motive of self-sacrifice are connected. In one of the poems of recent years, Du Fu dreams of a huge house in which all the poor of the Celestial Empire would find salvation from bad weather.
In the second half of the VIII century. the talent of the last of the great Tang poets is revealed Bo Ju-yi(772--846). If his famous predecessors determined their discord with society by their very lives, then Bo Ju-yi embarked on the path of a state career and risked it with every independent word. Among the accusatory verses of the poet, the central place is occupied by "New Folk Songs" and "Qin tunes".
In the Tang era, a new prose genre appears - short stories -- chuan qi(lit. convey the amazing). 79 stories were recognized as Tang stories. They are small in size, entertaining in plot, instructive in character and dynamic in action. Feature- the attraction to the "historical accuracy" of the narrative, which is provided by frequent references to the personal acquaintance of the authors with the friends of the characters. The theme of love makes up more than a third of the short stories that have come down to us, because, according to the ideas of the storytellers, love reigns supreme in the world and finds its victims everywhere. A large group consists of stories about dreams. It is curious that not a single bright negative hero is given in the short stories. The conquest of the genre was the dialogue, which brought the short story closer to the drama.
The Sung epoch in the history of Chinese literature (X-XIII centuries) was the last to adequately complete the period of its heyday. Enrichment means of expression poetry was associated with the development of a new poetic genre - romance -- tsy. Born in close connection with music, this genre has acquired independence. It was distinguished by its diversity associated with the multiplicity of melodic samples. Another feature of the romance was the use of lines of different lengths in the poem. On the whole, romance was a freer poetic form than previous genres of poetry. However, at first it was distinguished by the narrowness of the subject - mainly love content.
The renewal of the literature of the Song period was one of the facets of the struggle for reform. It was headed by an outstanding Chinese reformer, scientist, writer and poet (craftsmen) Wang Anshi(1021--1086). The creativity of the lyricist is connected with public searches. Liu Yuna(987--1052), who created a new, larger form of romance. Another poet Su Dongpo(1037--1101) contributed to the separation of romance from music and the transformation of tsy into an independent genre. The greatest master of qi was a poetess Li Tssh-zhao (1084--1151).
Since the conquest of the Song Empire by the Jurchens in 1127 and up to the Mongol invasion in the second half of the 13th century. Chinese poetry was devoted to the theme of the motherland and the struggle for its liberation. The ideal of an active creative person with a heightened sense of dignity and love of freedom was formed.
The conquest of the Classical Middle Ages was "prose of the ancient style", reached its peak in the Song Dynasty. She was distinguished by a free manner of presentation, an increase in her personal beginning, a combination of lyricism with topicality. The initiator of the renewal of prose was a representative of the political elite Ouyang Xiu(1007--1072), author « new history Tan" and "History of the Five Dynasties". No one before in Chinese historiography has been able to write the history of an entire era from their own personal point of view. Ouyang Xu was the first to undertake a revision of the interpretation of the Confucian canon. An outstanding contemporary of Ouyang Xiu was Sima Guang(1019--1086), author "Mirrors of the universal, helping in management." It was a chronicle of the history of China from ancient times to the tenth century. - the first example of a large form of historical prose of connected narrative.
In the Sung time, a new genre is born - folk story, which replaced the Tang novel. This genre was formed in the process of collective creativity of storytellers who spoke on the streets of cities. Unlike the short story, the story was created on the basis of the spoken language and was more democratic. The main characters were previously despised estates - farmers and merchants. At that time, wealth and rank remained decisive in assessing a person, but the personal qualities of the hero are already becoming important. The language of the story was also new, which became the basis of the language of modern Chinese fiction and retained folklore elements, reproducing the features of lively colloquial speech. Conditional literary language interspersed only in the speeches of officials and in documents. Thus, the folk tale of the Sung time made a decisive turn towards the mass reader and listener.
Music
The Tang and Song eras were marked by an extraordinary rise in all kinds of arts, which were under the auspices of the ruling dynasties. In the 8th century Five special educational institutions were opened, including the Court School and the Pear Orchard Conservatory. Special offices were in charge of music and orchestras. Since the X century. in Nanjing, the imperial Academy of Painting. In the XII century. At the Kai-Feng court, a museum-repository of more than 6,000 works of painting and calligraphy was organized.
Since ancient times, music has occupied one of the most honorable places in Chinese traditional culture. It was included in the six Confucian examinations. Due to its ambiguity, sound, especially valued by the Chinese, acquired the ability to subjugate all other art forms. Such a figurative-emotional structure of Chinese spirituality is largely determined by the nature of the national language, in which a word pronounced with different intonations can have different meanings.
There was a popular saying "Words can deceive, people can pretend, only music cannot lie." Music brought the Chinese not only aesthetic pleasure, but also awe. Since ancient times, it has been revered as one of the most powerful varieties of magic. art painting sculpture china
In the Tang era, court music was represented by two genres:
music on outdoors and music played in the room. In the homes of educated people, the tradition of chamber music playing on strings began to spread. (harp, kunhou, qin) and brass (flute di) tools. The verses set to music were performed by the singers to the accompaniment lutes. In the IX-X centuries. in the cities, song tales and recitations to the music of excerpts from Buddhist canonical books became widespread.
In the Song era, the performing arts became popular: song tales played out in booths with instrumental accompaniment, multi-part dramas, and southern musical dramas.
Architecture
Pantheistic 11 Pantheism (from pan... and Greek theos - god) is a religious and philosophical doctrine that identifies God and the whole world. the worldview of the Chinese in architecture manifested itself as an ancient practice Feng Shui("wind-water"), which was a system of orientation and platform
nirovki cities, parks, buildings in accordance with the favorable location of the luminaries, rivers, mountains, the direction of air currents. According to these rules, the main facade of the building was a longitudinal wall oriented to the south. Thai architecture was characterized by the spirit of monumental grandeur and festivity. The cities were powerful fortresses rectangular in plan, surrounded by walls and ditches, with straight streets and quarters divided into sections for protection from fires and raids. The size of each city building was strictly regulated. The solemn appearance of the city was given by almost devoid of decorations brick and stone pagodas, triumphal gates made of stone or wood, the spans of which were formed by carved pillars and covered with curved roofs. They were erected at the entrance to a temple, a funeral ensemble, a park, or in honor of rulers and heroes. The most common type of palace and temple construction in medieval China was the post-and-beam system. dian. A one-storey, single-room, quadrangular pavilion under a wide, one- or two-tiered roof curved upwards, was erected on a high stone platform, divided by columns into three naves parallel to the facade, and surrounded from the outside by a bypass gallery formed by a row of lacquered columns. The most important decorative element of the facade of the buildings was a system of painted and lacquered multi-colored wooden brackets that supported the ceiling.
In the Sung period, multi-story buildings with bypass galleries on each floor became widespread in palace and temple architecture. The pagodas were more elongated and had lighter forms. At a time when the power of the state was undermined, architecture acquired a more intimate and refined character, began to be perceived as part of nature. There was a principle landscape compositions. AT southern cities small backyard gardens began to be created, reproducing in miniature all the diversity of the surrounding nature. An indispensable attribute of landscape architecture was a wooden walk-through gallery on a low stone plinth. It was crowned with a roof laid out with glazed tiles, supported by lacquered pillars. Garden arbors were built on the same principle.
Sculpture
With the advent of Buddhism in China, sculpture develops. It was made of wood, stone, loess clay, cast iron, bronze. Chinese craftsmen were distinguished by high casting technique. They succeeded in fine modeling of the face and clothes. Images of Buddha and other deities were popular. The earliest Buddhist sculpture is represented by reliefs and sculptures from cave monasteries. The most famous is carved in the 7th century. in the rocks of Longmen 17-meter statue Buddha Vairochana(lords of the cosmos). sculptural composition "Bodhisattva and Ananda" cave Buddhist temple Qianfodong near Dunhuang (VIII century) is made of loess clay and painted.
Tang and Sung masters achieved great success in funeral plastic. Small colorful statuettes made of glazed ceramics were placed in the burials of noble people: war horses in the heat of battle, a bent slave, a scientist immersed in thought, or a graceful dancer. With the extinction of Buddhist monasteries, sculpture more and more gave way to painting, which flourished in the Sung period.
Painting. Calligraphy
Chinese painting, like music, is unusually attractive, but for the European consciousness it is difficult. The main thing for a Chinese artist is not what is drawn, but what is hidden behind the visible. They do not look at the Chinese picture, but peer, each time discovering and comprehending new meanings. Therefore, it is not customary to hang them out, hence the shape of the picture - horizontal or vertical. scroll. The works of Chinese traditional painting were based on a combination of pictorial and graphic techniques, with the inclusion of a calligraphic poetic inscription in the composition of the painting. With the help of a brush, paintings were created on silk or special paper with ink or water-based paints. At the same time, a strictly limited set and combination of colors were used. By the dominant tone of the picture, one can determine not only the historical era, but also the nature of the event being described. Line, spot and background are the main means of expression, each of which, thanks to an individual manner, makes the picture unique and needs to be declassified. Thus, amazing ambiguity was achieved with a minimum of funds. 11 Modern Chinese painting with water colors on silk and paper scrolls is called guohua(Chinese - national painting). .
In alliance with painting, as well as as an independent art form, calligraphy -- shufa. In the Middle Ages, four main styles of shouf stood out: a business letter with jagged wavy lines; statutory letter with the balance of all elements of the hieroglyph; style, transitional from statutory to cursive; cursive with a rapid movement of lines, gravitating towards continuity.
In the Tang era, a turning point occurred in the aesthetic theories of painting. The spiritual concept of painting was affirmed, theoretical treatises on painting appeared. One of the most significant artists and theorists of painting in the first half of the 10th century. was Zing Hao. He lived alone in a mountain hut and painted for his own enjoyment. In the short treatise he left, representing a conversation between a mysterious old man and a young artist, the goal of painting is not beauty, but truth, the true meaning of which lies in how it captures the essence of things, and not their external forms.
In the second half of the XI century. (1074) appeared the most important work Go Ruo-hsuya on the history of art of the Song era - “Notes on painting: what I saw and heard. He was the author of the aristocratic concept of painting. Painting was considered by him not as a craft, but as the highest manifestation of a person's inner impulse. The value of a work, therefore, was a direct consequence of the culture and spiritual height of its creator.
In the VII-VIII centuries. The main subjects of painting were images of Buddhist paradise, the images of which covered the walls of cave monasteries. Court secular painting paid special attention to the scenes of feasts, games, walks of noble beauties, and poetry meetings. Became popular among the people splint -- christmas pictures, depicting characters of folk and Taoist mythology.
Iconography of the supreme deity of folk religion -- Jade Emperor developed around the 10th century. In folk prints, he was depicted on a throne in a royal headdress and a robe embroidered with dragons, with a jade tablet in his hands, a symbol of law and a fair trial.
In the IX-X centuries, when the predominant development was monochrome Painting, three leading genres took shape: painting people, landscape painting and flowers-birds. Genre evolution painting people marked by a transition from legendary historical plots to real scenes of palace life. From the 12th century motifs of children's games, landscape and architectural backgrounds are introduced into painting.
An outstanding achievement of Chinese culture during the Tang and Song era was landscape Painting, who took everything best achievements fine arts of previous eras.
The landscape, depicting mountains and rivers as the most revered sacred elements of nature, was compositionally built in accordance with the dark and light forces opposing in the Universe. Washes of black ink created the impression of the unity of all nature. Air breaks, a strip of fog or a water surface between landscape plans located one above the other and a point of view unifying the composition from above gave the illusion of grandiose distances. The abundance of free space caused an association with the infinity of the universe. The famous master of the landscape in a sketchy manner was the great poet Wang Way.
Along with the landscape genre, the leading genre was the genre - bird flowers. Free compositions of flowers, birds, plants, fruits, insects placed on a clean background, accompanied by calligraphic inscriptions, reflected the Taoist-Buddhist ideas about the duality of the forces of the Universe. Benevolent compositions were widely used, in which human qualities were compared with the features of the depicted objects. Special place occupied the image of the so-called "four noble" plants: orchids, wild plum meihua, bamboo and chrysanthemum. So, meihua symbolized nobility, purity and steadfastness. In one of their treatises on painting, it is said about her like this:
Small flowers, and there is no abundance of them - this is grace. A thin barrel, not a thick one - that's finesse. At an age not particularly young - that's elegance. The flowers are half open, not in full bloom - that's sophistication.
Arts and Crafts
Among the areas of decorative and applied arts, such as embroideries, fabrics, varnishes, enamel, inlaid furniture, porcelain and ceramics took the leading place. The secret of making porcelain was discovered in China in the first centuries of our era, much earlier than in other countries, since the Chinese master managed to find suitable clay and get a high (1280 °) temperature for sintering it. The components of porcelain, along with plastic clay, are kaolin, feldspar and quartz. The secrets of porcelain production in China were strictly guarded. The famous center of porcelain production, where the imperial workshops were located and products from snow-white porcelain were created, was Xingzhou. In the Tang period, tricolor green-yellow-brown rounded vessels were famous. In the Sung era, bluish-green vases and bowls, nicknamed in Europe, became widespread. celadon. Their decor was often complemented by light cracks in the glaze, called crackle. White vessels, as a rule, were decorated with delicate floral patterns in relief, yellowish vases were decorated with black calligraphic ornaments. Subsequently, porcelain was painted with cobalt and covered with transparent glaze on top. Five-color painting with enamel paints over glaze also appeared. The drawing gradually became more complicated, but always emphasized the shape of the product.
Along with porcelain in Medieval China, as well as beyond its borders, multicolored fabric paintings, performed according to the drawings of famous painters, - cases. They were created on small hand looms from raw silk (warp threads) and silk (weft threads). It took several months of hard work to make one such painting. In the technique of kesa, fabrics for the clothes of the courtiers were also woven.
A well-known type of applied art was silk embroidery, -- "painting with a needle". She decorated panels, screens, clothes.
Science and technology
The great discoveries of medieval China were unthinkable without the development of scientific knowledge. Through the efforts of mathematicians, the foundations of Chinese algebra were created by the inventions of a Buddhist monk And the Son(683--727) it became possible to measure the speed of movement of celestial bodies. The development of medicine was facilitated by the creation of a medical administration in the Tang era, with the help of which the teaching of various specialties of medical practice was laid. The flourishing of geography is associated with the appearance of records about the mountain and river systems of China and the Western Territory. Was created "Map of the Chinese and Barbarians Residing Within the Four Seas".
Outstanding discoveries were typography, gunpowder and the compass. In the ninth century the first book was printed from carved boards. In the middle of the XI century. mobile clay appeared typesetting hieroglyphic font, and around the 12th century. -- and multicolor printing. These achievements led to the creation of the first major libraries and newspapers. The experiments of Chinese alchemists ended in the tenth century. invention gunpowder. In the XII century. Chinese sailors were the first in the world to use compass.
The invention was also of general cultural importance. paper money -- banknotes. They appeared in the country at the end of the 8th century. and were then called "flying money", as the wind easily carried them out of their hands.
In the tenth century concept vaccination, when smallpox vaccination began to be practiced.
China also took the lead in inventing mechanical watches. They were made by Yi Xing, and improved in 976 by Zhang Xixun. Their inventions became steps towards the creation "Space Machine" -- the greatest Chinese clock of the Middle Ages, built Su Sunom in 1092. They were an astronomical clock tower 10 meters high. The principle of Su Song's clock formed the basis of the first mechanical clock in Europe.
The miracle of engineering technology of its time was the first arch bridge 37.5 m long, called by the Chinese to this day the Great Stone Bridge. It was built in 610. Lee Chun across the Jiao River in the foothills of Shanxi on the outskirts of the Great Plain of China. China's most famous medieval gently sloping arch bridge is named after Marco Polo because he was described in detail during a trip around the country and called "the most wonderful in the world." This bridge was built across the Yongding River in 1189 to the west of Beijing. It is still in operation and consists of 11 arches, each with a span of 19 m and a total length of 213 m.
Another Chinese marvel of foundry and engineering is the octagonal column, the so-called "Axis of Heaven". In 695, 1325 tons of cast iron were used for its construction. The column (32 m in height and 3.6 m in diameter) rested on a foundation with a circumference of 51 m and a height of 6 m. At its top was a "cloud vault" with four bronze dragons (each 3.6 m high) supporting a gilded pearl.
The largest solid cast iron structure has survived to this day. This is a six meter statue "The Great Lion of Zangzhou". The achievement of Chinese metallurgy was the 13-meter cast-iron pagoda yuquan in Danian. In the 70s of the XIII century. a 13-meter stone tower was built, which Chinese astronomers considered the center of the world. It was intended to measure the shadow during the winter and summer solstices.
3. MONGOLIAN ERACONQUESTS OF CHINA
General characteristics of the era
China was conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century. step by step. In 1234, the independence of North China fell. In 1280, all of China was conquered. The period of domination of the Mongols throughout the country covers about 70 years. In the 50s of the XIV century. the central and southern regions actually separated from the ruling Mongolian Yuan dynasty, the final overthrow of which took place in 1368. In the Yuan era, the Mongolian city was an equal capital Karakoram, Beijing and Kaiping. The transfer of the official residence of the Mongol conquerors from Karakoram to Beijing in 1264 became the date of birth of a new dynasty of Chinese emperors -- Yuan.
The devastating war and foreign oppression seriously deformed the traditions of Chinese culture. However, there were also positive moments. In the vast Mongol empire, cultural ties began to actively develop, crafts and trade flourished, and cities grew.
Religion
The religious tolerance of the Mongol court, as well as the loss of the status of the dominant ideology by Confucianism, contributed to the democratization of life. From the middle of the XIII century. becomes the official religion of the Mongolian court lamaism -- Tibetan variety of Buddhism. The administration of Tibetan affairs and the lamaist church was created at the emperor's headquarters. Khan Khubilai's acceptance of the imperial form of governing China inevitably led to an appeal to Confucian teaching, which was closely merged with the state. And although the leading position of Confucianism was not restored under Yuan, however, in 1315 an examination system was introduced for selection, officials, Academy of the sons of the fatherland -- forge of the highest Confucian cadres of the country.
More and more penetrating into the country is Islam, which enjoyed the patronage of the Mongols. The first Muslim communities then appeared on the Central Plain and in Yunnan. A good reception was also met by the first Christians, mostly Nestorians. and asserting that Christ, born of man, only later became the son of God (the messiah). Condemned as heresy at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Influenced until the 11th century. in Iran and from Central Asia to China. , immigrants from Syria. They had adherents mainly among the non-Chinese population from among the foreigners admitted into the country to assist in trade and administration.
Under the Mongols, several Italian Catholic missionaries lived in China and built temples. With the expulsion of the Mongols, Christians also disappeared from the country.
A characteristic feature of religious life was the emergence of numerous sects that were born on the basis of Buddhist and Taoist creeds. Some of them were recognized by the authorities, others were persecuted. They were created, as a rule, by monks-preachers. Buddha of the coming world order gained particular popularity Maitreya(Chinese Milefo, literally - bound by friendship), whose imminent coming was to transform the world and make people's lives happy.
Among the sects that awaited the coming of the new Buddha and preached "monasticism in the world", the most famous was the White Lotus sect, which predicted an imminent world catastrophe and the advent of the era of the White Sun.
Literature. Art
An attempt by the Mongolian court to introduce an official alphabetic letter (the so-called square letter) failed. The development of Chinese literature of the Yuan era was facilitated by the improvement of the national hieroglyphic tradition, which was enriched in the 20-50s of the XIV century. a number of new phonetic dictionaries.
Poetic lyric poetry, which for almost a millennium was the leading genre of Chinese literature, from the 13th century. inferior to the primacy of dramaturgy and prose.
The brightest page in the literary life of Yuan China was dramaturgy. In total, about 600 plays were written during this era (170 have come down to us).
The North Chinese drama was characterized by a clear division into four acts, each of which corresponded to a cycle of arias of the same key and rhyme. The arias were sung by only one character, while others conducted a prose dialogue in a language close to colloquial speech, or recited poetry. Interludes were inserted at the beginning of the play and between acts. This form was designed for the perception of the broad masses of the urban population.
The harsh laws of the Mongols did not allow the truth to be told directly about the disasters of the Chinese in the era of foreign yoke. Therefore, the tradition of transferring contemporary events into the past, turning to historical and fantastic plots, which, however, did not deprive the plays of topicality.
In the history of drama, it is customary to distinguish two main periods: early and late, the boundary of which is the beginning of the 14th century. The early period is marked by the work of the most famous playwrights - Guan Hanqing, Wang Shifu, Ma Zhiyuan and Bo Pu.
If in the Tang era the prose genre of the short story was born, in the Song era - the urban story, then in the Yuan years, folk books, based on oral history. They were often illustrated with engravings that occupied the top third of each page. This ratio of text and image is believed to go back to Buddhist tales, which were often based on pictures painted on the walls of cave temples. In 1320, in a language close to the common people, five folk books were published at once in one series. They were united according to the principle of construction and imitated the famous chronicle of Sima Guan "Mirror universal, helping in management" of the 11th century. Brighter than others in folk books reflected the Buddhist doctrine.
The visual arts of the Yuan era did not differ in originality. Artists mostly imitated the painting of the Tang and Song eras. The most talented landscape painter who sought to develop the traditions of Song painting was Ni Zan. Among the works of the portrait genre, the greatest interest in their artistic expressiveness presented paintings depicting the Yuan emperors. Indian and Tibetan influence increased in sculpture and architecture. From the 14th century In the Buddhist architecture of South China, a new type of brick temple with a semicircular duct vault began to spread. In residential architecture, as before, the type of planning of the estate with four or three pavilions on the sides of a rectangular courtyard still prevailed.
Science and technology
In the Yuan era, some improvements were introduced: a foot-operated spinning wheel, a new version of the silk loom. New types of field irrigation were introduced using bamboo water pipes and a water wheel with scoop buckets. A new field crop, sorghum (kaoliang), spread. Some elements of Mongolian clothing, saddle designs, bowed instruments began to enter everyday life. In the 40s of the XIV century. three new dynastic histories were written.
The most famous scientific discovery the Yuan era was calendar, in which the duration of the year was 365.2425 days, which was only 26 seconds different from the time during which the Earth makes one complete revolution around the Sun. This coincides with the current Gregorian calendar, which appeared 300 years later.
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Over its more than three thousand years of history, the Chinese people have made a significant contribution to the development of science and technology. Many important discoveries and inventions were made in China several centuries earlier than in other countries, incl. European (the invention of the compass, seismoscope, speedometer, paper, gunpowder, printing, etc.). The era of the formation of sciences in ancient China VI-III centuries. BC is extremely interesting for researchers of the cultural history of this country.
Introduction
1. The development of science in ancient China
2. The development of technology in ancient China
The work contains 1 file
Introduction
1. The development of science in ancient China
2. The development of technology in ancient China
Page 3 |
Introduction.
Over its more than three thousand years of history, the Chinese people have contributed
significant contribution to the development of science and technology. Many important discoveries and
inventions were made in China several centuries earlier than in
other countries, incl. European (the invention of the compass, seismoscope,
speedometer, paper, gunpowder, typography, etc.). Age of Formation
Sciences in Ancient China VI-III centuries. BC is exceptionally interesting for
researchers of the cultural history of this country. Wealth of philosophical
thought apparently affected the development of any branch of knowledge, you can
trace their influence both in astronomy and mathematics. Doctrine
Confucius, who created the cult of knowledge and education, who revered
harmony and music, in mathematics was reflected in the fact that
calculations of the musical scale, which demanded from scientists a good
mastering the numerical field within a rational number. Doctrine of the Tao
stimulated to know the nature of abstract concepts used in
mathematics, and the pragmatism of the Legalists directed the path of applied science,
improvement of computing techniques, which, in turn, allowed
it is better to advance in the theoretical field of knowledge. Logic from the school of Mo
Zi and sophists (Gongsun Lun, Zhuang Zi, etc.) encouraged to comprehend
subtle and controversial places in studies of the concepts of a new nature, such as
square circle, infinite fractions, calculation of the volume of the pyramid, ball,
which were associated with the concept of infinity. Natural Philosophical Quest
explanations of movement, changes in the nature of things were used in
development of number-theoretic problems: the doctrine of even and odd,
positive and negative numbers, circle and rectangle, etc.
It should be assumed that in other sciences: alchemy, medicine, astronomy and
botany, similar interactions took place.
The relevance of the work. Many inventions of ancient China
are used even today. And it is possible that the fruits of some scientific
and cultural discoveries that could be used now,
Page 4 |
undeservedly remained in the shadows, and it is possible that they are still unknown. That's why
the study of ancient Chinese achievements in the field of science is relevant as
today as well as in the future.
The purpose of the work is the study of science and technology of ancient China.
1. The development of science in ancient China. In ancient times, when
canonical Chinese texts, writing already played an important role
(classic
literature
always
needed
at
preparing
intellectual elite), but mathematics has not yet become that section
knowledge to which separate works are devoted. However, he played his
role in the emergence of a phenomenon called "rational divination".
At first, the predictions associated with divination on a turtle shell,
bones of various animals and yarrow, were based on the interpretation
variety of natural phenomena, especially meteorological and
astronomical (rainbows, winds, meteorites, eclipses, sunspots,
the location of the stars, etc.). However, this abundance of signs did not interfere
apply purely rational methods of studying the world:
soothsayers, not without success, used their observations in
compiling numerical and arithmetic tables, with the help of which
only the events of the past were recorded, but it was also predicted
repetition of some of them in the future. certain prophecies,
associated with regularly repeating celestial phenomena,
were confirmed: this is how the calendar and astronomy appeared, based on
on mathematics. As a result, a whole staff of courtiers was formed.
"keepers of time", who played the role of both historians and chroniclers, and
astrologers who spent a lot of time searching for methods
predictions of celestial phenomena (approach of celestial bodies, eclipses
sun and moon, etc.).
During the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), a new
branch of mathematics. Special guidelines have been drawn up
Page 5 |
outlined the tasks and ways to solve them, grouped into chapters in
depending on the possible practical application. Moreover, the actual
the accuracy and reality of the situations presented in them are so great that
the content of the tasks, you can recreate the whole picture of the social and
economic life of China of a particular era. Not one is forgotten
practical detail, whether it is tax collection, labor management
force, land and water transportation, policing and supplying troops. On the
such collections were studied by many generations of officials-mathematicians,
required by the imperial bureaucracy. In the era
Three Kingdoms (220-265) the greatest Chinese mathematician Liu Hui
developed a method of rigorous mathematical proofs.
Despite the difference in civilizations, the laws of mathematics and
natural-scientific thinking are basically the same, which explains
parallelism and the possibility of borrowing. For example, Chinese zero,
first appearing in astronomical tables around 1200 as
a small circle (so it has survived to this day), perhaps has
Indian origin. Math Games both ancient and
medieval - Greek, Indian, Arabic, European and Chinese,
often strikingly similar. Many similar mathematical methods
existed in parallel in Greece and China: after Euclid, the volume
pyramids were counted by Liu Hui (3rd century), who also followed Archimedes
calculated the volume of the body formed at the intersection of two orthogonal
cylinders. And there are many such examples.
Along with astronomy and mathematics, significant developments have been made in
China geographical knowledge and medicine. So, for several centuries BC.
the Chinese went to the marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean, sailed in this area and
made a number of geographical discoveries. Zhang Qian's travels in 138–126
gg. BC. to Central Asia marked the beginning of the study by the Chinese of the countries and
peoples living west of China, and the emergence of caravan trade
between China and Central Asia along the so-called Great Silk
Page 6 |
way. In 629, the traveler and philosopher Xuanzang traveled
to the mouth of the Ganges, south of India
The history of medicine in China has about 3 thousand years. Observations
physicians summarized (presumably) by the physician Bian Cao in the most ancient
world medical book "Neijing" (VI century BC), played an important role in
development of Chinese medicine. Medicine has made great strides in
period of the Second Han Dynasty (25-220). At the end of this period, the doctor
Rong Feng wrote the world's first "Pharmacology" (" ben cao»).
Significant were the achievements of surgery: in the Han period already
operations were performed with the use of sedatives (general
anesthesia). In the medical books of the Song period, instructions appeared on the method
treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion ( zhen ju therapy).
Chinese pharmacology differed from European breadth of use
medicinal agents.
In the field of philosophy, the attention of European scholars was attracted by
first
turn
Confucianism.
Confucius
has gained
reputation
enlightened sage, creator of ethical and political doctrine.
2. The development of technology in ancient China. Chinese civilization has contributed
significant contribution to the world treasury of scientific and technical
knowledge and their great inventions in the field of technology.
It was in China that the properties of magnetic
the arrows turn in a certain direction of the world. Apparently, in the VI century.
BC. The Chinese became aware of the phenomenon of attraction of iron and iron ore
naturally magnetized pieces of magnetite. Later they turned
attention to the ability of natural magnets to orientate, erroneously
attributing it to the influence of the stars. From these observations, techniques have grown
divination on a special device. It consisted of an iron plate on which
could slide freely due to its spherical surface
"Spoon" from a natural magnet. The signs of the Zodiac are on the plate.
Page 7 |
The handle of the "spoon" was oriented in a magnetic field. In the I-III centuries. this device
began to be used as compass and was called the "pointer to the south." By the 3rd century
refers to the description of a magnetized figurine mounted on a wagon
Chinese inventor Ma Jun. Then the Chinese began to use
"south sign" on ships. Later, a compass appeared with a floating in oil or
rotating on the tip of a wooden fish or turtle with a built-in
them a natural magnet. Empirically, an elongated
form - an arrow appeared.
Another important achievement was the invention in the III century. device for
distance traveled measurement speedometer as
carts. Zhang Heng (2nd century) invented the world's first seismoscope- device,
pointing to the epicenter.
The development of practical chemistry in China is evidenced by the fact that
The Chinese were the first in the world to learn how to use a mixture of saltpeter and sulfur to
production gunpowder. Experiments on the study of these substances led to the fact that in
6th century workshops for the manufacture of small gunpowder appeared in China
rockets for fireworks and other pyrotechnic purposes.
Invention paper(II century) was the largest contribution of the Chinese
people into world civilization. In the IV century. paper completely supplanted earlier
bamboo plates and silk used for writing. paper out
China was brought (through Korea) to Japan, as well as to Central Asia and
Persia. As a result crusades secret art
papermaking became known in Western.
Story typography in China dates back to the 5th-6th centuries. Initially
the text of the book was carved on stone and then reprinted on paper. This
process led to the development lithographs. Later, gradually
switch to printing from engraved boards ( woodcut), which received
distribution in the ninth century.
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List of used literature
1. V.V. Petrik, Chinese Culture: tutorial; Tomsk
politechnical University. - Tomsk: Tomsk Publishing House
Polytechnic University, 2010. - 156 p.
Paper and porcelain, compass and gunpowder, various types of weapons and multi-tiered masts - this is not a complete list of discoveries made by Chinese scientists and reached Europe through the Great Silk Road. These discoveries were also made by Western scientists, but much later.
Consideration of the topic “Technology and inventions of Ancient China” seemed interesting to get an answer to the question: Why, if Ancient China was much ahead of other civilizations in its time, at the subsequent stage of development it found itself isolated from the world scientific and technological progress? Apparently, the reason should be sought in the difference between the social and economic systems of Ancient China and the Western world. Of great importance is the fundamental difference between the continuously transforming European society and the conservative Chinese society. In Europe, for some time, military-aristocratic feudalism dominated: the knights, who had peasants under their control, themselves obeyed the barons, and the king reigned over all. Quite different was the feudal society in China, which from time immemorial has been in a bureaucratic status. Since the time of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (3rd century BC), numerous tribal feudal clans were persecuted and methodically destroyed, and administration was carried out with the help of an apparatus of civil servants, in scale and complexity unthinkable for the small kingdoms of Europe. Nevertheless, the development of technology in ancient China is amazing.
A wide variety of sources allow modern historians to study the centuries-old history of the great Chinese people. Of particular importance in this regard is the fact that Chinese writing, dating back to the origins of ancient Chinese statehood, has preserved an unbroken thread of historical tradition. Today it seems possible to restore not only the general contours, but also the basic facts of the history of ancient China.
Origin of the name "China"
The word "China" for the name of the Asian state is used only among the Slavs and Turks, and comes, as if from the Tungus people of the Kitans (Khitans), who conquered this country in the 10th century AD, but this use arose no earlier than the 17th century. Prior to this, modern China in Russia was called the "Bogdo Khanate."
In Latin, the country is called "China" or "Sinae", and the peoples inhabiting it are Seri or Sini. There is a hypothesis that the name Chin originated in honor of the ancient Qin dynasty (allegedly the 3rd century BC). AT New Chronology it is assumed that this word is a distorted name of the "Blue Horde", the Far Eastern part of the Russian-Horde state, with its capital in Beijing (named after the Pegoy Horde).
The Chinese themselves never called their country either China or China, but built the name according to the template “Great-such-and-such a dynasty-state”: Dai-qing-guo, Dai-ming-guo, Dai-yuan-guo. Or they used a geographic description of their country:
- Tianxia (Celestial Empire)
- Si-hai (Four Seas)
- Zhong Hua Guo (Middle Blooming State)
- Zhong Yuan (Middle Plain)
- Zhong-guo (Middle State)
Nickname "China" was widespread in Russia in the pre-Roman era. According to " Kyiv Synopsis» 1674, China was the name of the holy Prince of Vladimir Andrei Bogolyubsky, the son of Grand Duke Yuri Dolgoruky. The same nickname was worn by the boyar of Ivan III Vasily Ivanovich (Feodorovich) Shuisky. Kitay-gorod was also called the middle part of Russian cities, adjacent to the citadel, the citadel, the Kremlin, which served as its second defensive fence. One of the meanings of the Russian word "china" is "fortress".
Compass
Presumably compass was invented in China in 2000 BC and was used to indicate the direction of movement through the deserts.
The oldest and most common instrument is the magnetic compass. More than 2 thousand years ago, China already used permanent magnet to determine the north-south direction. In Europe, the Compass appeared no later than the 12th century; it was a magnetic needle mounted on a cork floating in a vessel with water. At the beginning of the 14th century The compass was improved: a magnetic needle was placed on the tip, which was located in the center of a paper circle (card), equipped with divisions for ease of orientation. The circle was divided first into 16 and then into 32 equal sectors. In the 16th century to reduce the impact on the Compass mechanical vibrations(for example, sea pitching) began to use gimbal suspension.
"In ancient China, a magnificent automaton was created, called" a stroller with a figure pointing to the south ... Some legends attribute this invention to the 23rd century. BC." But in the 1960s, Dr. J. Needham and his Chinese collaborators "..discovered that the oldest reference to such a wheelchair dates back to the 3rd century AD."
Preserved copper plate compass with the divisions of the First Han Dynasty (206 BC - 25 AD) applied to it. At the beginning of the 3rd c. Ma Jun created a compass and other structures designed to be mounted on a wagon."
"What is least properly valued is the antiquity outstanding invention made by the Chinese. Two thousand years ago they had already invented a primitive working compass. Apparently, a ladle was cut out of a piece of magnetite. When it was placed on a stone board with a smooth polished surface, it must have rotated until the "handle" pointed to the south... This unusual device, called SINAN (Fig. 3), is mentioned in the book, dated 80 AD e., which contains other references, possibly dating back to the 4th century BC. "
This design is also mentioned and cited from an unnamed Chinese source about the death of Emperor Wang Mang in 23 AD: "The astrologer positioned the divination board so that it corresponded to the day and hour. Then the emperor turned his seat, following the handle ladle, and so sat down" on the basis of which, apparently, this device was made. There are variants of stories where a polished bronze board is used.
Differential
"The human figure ... was connected to the wheels by a complex chain of drives ... Such gears, known today as differential, allow the wheels of the car to move at different speeds. However, as Needham pointed out, such a mechanism could only work if every detail was made with the highest precision ... Not only the wheels, but also other drives had to be made with the highest precision, which allowed Needham to call the carriage "the world's first cybernetic mechanism ". "Reconstruction" of a "cybernetic" wheelchair on display at the Science Museum, London.
No later than the 3rd century, a navigation device appeared in China that used the feedback principle. It was called "a wagon pointing south." This device had nothing to do with a magnetic compass and was just a wagon (3.3 m high, the same length and 2.75 m wide), crowned with a jade figure of a “wise man”. His outstretched hand always pointed south wherever the wagon turned. Even if she drove in a circle, the figure rotated, and the hand was extended exclusively to the south. It is possible that the device appeared much earlier, maybe 1200 years before that. In the official chronicle of 500, it is written: “The south-pointing wagon was first built by the ruler Zhou (early 1st millennium BC) to serve as a guide for ambassadors returning home from distant lands.”
If the device did not use the principle of a magnetic compass, then how did it work? Perhaps the wagon had a differential, about the same as on modern cars. In 1965, Needham published a book on mechanisms, where he suggested that it was the Chinese who invented the differential and first used it in the "south-pointing cart."
Crossbow
One of the most sensitive inconveniences of the bow was the need to keep the string taut while aiming. Naturally, the idea arose to somehow fix it - to store energy. But, it was not enough to invent a mechanism capable of reliably holding a tight bowstring in a taut state, and then, when the trigger was pressed, release it, it was also necessary to establish mass production of such mechanisms.
For the first time these problems were solved, apparently, in Magna Graecia (Syracuse) in the 5th century BC. The Greek crossbow was called a gastrofete (abdominal bow), since its design already provided not only a trigger mechanism, but also a cocking lever mechanism (and one had to lean on the lever with the stomach). In the II century BC. e. (and according to other sources as early as the 4th century BC) regardless crossbows were invented in China.
Archaeological finds of trigger mechanisms, coupled with documentary evidence, suggest that crossbow weapons appeared in China around the 5th century BC. or earlier. According to Chinese scientists, for the first time it became widespread in the southern principalities of the Zhou state. After the finds of crossbow parts, the chronicle "Chronicle of the principalities of Wu and Yue" looks more authentic, which names the principality of Chu, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, as the place of the invention of the crossbow. The found archaeological materials are made of bronze devices of a certain weapon throwing arrows. The well-known dictionary "Shi Ming" (The Interpretation of Names), compiled by Lu Xi during the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century BC, mentions that the term "ji" is used in relation to this type of weapon resembling a crossbow.
In this way, crossbows have a very ancient history. However, the fate of this invention was very difficult. In China, the crossbow, having played a prominent role in the fight against the Huns during the Han Dynasty, was later forgotten, which allowed it to be reinvented with great fanfare in the 11th century.
It should be noted Chinese shop crossbows. They appeared in the XII century and were used by the Chinese army until the end of the XIX century. According to the design of the cocking mechanism, magazine crossbows were classified as lever crossbows and were rather weak - the energy did not exceed 90 J, but the effective lever made it possible to cock them quickly and with little force.
Mechanical watches
The palm in the invention of mechanical clocks belongs to China, but water clocks were common in Babylon, and the Chinese borrowed them in a roundabout way from this more ancient civilization Middle East. The first mechanical clock was made by Yi Xing (683–727), a Buddhist monk and mathematician. Here is how their contemporary I Sina described them: “The clock looked like a celestial sphere with the image of the phases of the moon, located in strict sequence, the celestial equator and graticule. Water, poured into ladles mounted on a wheel, set the sphere in motion, making one full revolution per day. Outside, it was surrounded by two hoops, on which images of the Sun and the Moon were fixed, rotating in circular orbits. The whole structure was half placed in a wooden case, the surface of which depicted the horizon. Using such an instrument, it was possible to accurately determine the time of sunrise and sunset, the periods of the full moon and new moon, as well as the magnitude of the precession. In addition, the clock had a bell and a drum - the first rang every hour, and the second beat quarters of the hour. All this was set in motion with the help of wheels, spindles, hooks and wheel gears hidden inside the body (in other words, using an anchor mechanism).
In the next clock known to us, created by Zhang Xixun in 976, water was replaced by mercury. Their mechanism was much larger and much more complex.
All these inventions were stepping stones on the way to the creation of the “Space Machine”, the greatest Chinese clock of the Middle Ages, built by Su Song in 1092. Like its predecessors, it was an astronomical clock tower 10 meters high. However, its difference was that at the top of Su Song's tower was placed a huge bronze astronomical instrument with a mechanical drive, the so-called armillary sphere, which served to observe the position of the stars. The celestial globe placed inside the tower rotated synchronously with this sphere, and it is said that the results of observations using the sphere and the demonstration globe completely coincided. In front of the tower was a five-story pagoda. At certain intervals, doors were opened on one or another floor, and figures appeared from there, beating bells or gongs and holding boards with the indication of time. All this was set in motion by the same huge clockwork, which simultaneously rotated the celestial globe and the armillary sphere. Two centuries later, the principles used in Su Song's watches formed the basis of the first mechanical watches in Europe.
The wheelbarrow apparently appeared in Southwestern China in the 1st century BC. BC e., and invented its legendary Guo Yu. The oldest surviving image of a wheelbarrow dates back to about 100 AD. On the relief frieze of the tomb, discovered during excavations near Suzhou (Jiangsu), a wheelbarrow and a person sitting in it are clearly visible. There are several other images from the same period of the Han Dynasty, showing that wheelbarrows were becoming more widespread.
The ingenuity of the Chinese in the use of wheelbarrows was limitless: they even put sails on them, with the help of which the speed of movement on land or on ice reached 60 km per hour. The designs of wheelbarrows were very diverse: some had wheels located in the center and the weight fell entirely on the axle, while others had them in front. Some wheelbarrows had small wheels, others had huge ones. Sometimes additional small wheels were placed in front to facilitate passage through potholes and other obstacles. In China, you could find a wheelbarrow of any kind and size.
stirrups
For long history Riding people did without footholds. Ancient peoples - Persians, Medes. Romans, Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks - stirrups were not known. The horsemen of Alexander the Great crossed the whole of Central Asia without resting their feet. When galloping or overcoming obstacles, they had to cling to the mane so as not to fall off the horse. The Romans invented something like a handle on the front pommel of the saddle, which allowed at least a kick to stay in it when riding fast, but the riders' legs still dangled if they were not firmly pressed to the sides of the horse.
Approximately in the III century. the Chinese managed to find a way out. By that time they were already quite skilled metallurgists and began to cast stirrups from bronze and iron. The name of the inventor has not been preserved. For the first time, such loops could appear in China, India, or among the nomads of Central Asia neighboring China. Thus, it is likely that the stirrups were invented by the inhabitants of the steppes, who spent their whole lives in the saddle. In the III century in China they learned to cast metal stirrups of perfect shape. The earliest image of a stirrup that has come down to us on a clay figurine of a rider, discovered in one of the burials in Changsha (Hunan), dates back to 302.
This invention was brought to the West by the warriors of the Zhuan-Zhuan tribe, which became known as the Avars. The success of their cavalry is due to the fact that it was equipped with cast iron stirrups. Approximately in the middle of the VI century. the Avars settled between the Danube and the Tisza. By 560 they also posed a serious threat to the Byzantine Empire, which had to completely reorganize its cavalry to resist them. In 580, Emperor Mark Tiberius issued the military charter "Strategikon", which outlined the basics of cavalry equipment. It also emphasized the need to use iron stirrups. This was the first mention of them in European literature.
Subsequently stirrups- thanks to the Vikings, and maybe the Lombards - spread throughout Europe. One Avar-type children's stirrup was even discovered during excavations in London, where the Vikings brought it. However, among European peoples (with the exception of the Byzantines and Vikings), for reasons that are not entirely clear, the spread of stirrups was very slow. Apparently, they appeared in the regular armies of European states only in the early Middle Ages.
Harness
On a 4th century BC lacquer box. of those times, a horse is depicted in a harness, where a solid collar across the chest of the animal is connected with shafts with traces. It was soon replaced by a much more comfortable chest strap - the "post-line harness". The neck of the horse was no longer tightened by a belt, and the main load fell on the chest and collarbones.
To establish the relative effectiveness of different types harness experiments were carried out. Two horses in a harness of a neck and girth can carry a load weighing half a ton. And in a soft collar harness, one horse carries a load of one and a half tons. Harnesses with traces are not much less efficient. After some time, the Chinese came to an even simpler type of collar harness: the lines coming from the collar began to be attached directly to the wagon. It is in this form that this harness is used today around the world.
The first device capable of capturing vibrations earth's surface, was invented in 132 by the Chinese astronomer Zhang Heng. The device consisted of a large bronze vessel with a diameter of 2 m, on the walls of which eight dragon heads were located. The jaws of the dragons opened, and each had a ball in its mouth. Inside the vessel was a pendulum with rods attached to the heads. As a result of an underground shock, the pendulum began to move, acted on the heads, and the ball fell out of the dragon's mouth into the open mouth of one of the eight toads sitting at the base of the vessel. The device picked up tremors at a distance of 600 km from it. In Europe, the first seismograph was installed on Mount Vesuvius in 1856.
Grand Canal
The world's first contour (using the terrain) Magic Canal, 32 km long, was built in China in the 3rd century BC. BC e. The author of this unique hydraulic structure was the engineer Shi Lu, who built it by order of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The construction of the canal was caused by the need to supply the troops deployed in 219 BC. e. to the south of the country to conquer the Yue people. The canal is unusual in that it connects two rivers flowing in opposite directions. By the 9th century, 18 locks were built on it, and in the 10th-11th centuries. the number of people needed to tow barges has been reduced. The magic channel began to be called sacred, the dragon was considered its guardian. The channel continues to operate today.
Currently Grand Canal- one of the oldest existing hydraulic structures in the world. Shipping canal in China. At present, it is one of the most important inland waterways of the PRC, connecting the country's major ports of Shanghai and Tianjin. The length of the canal is 1782 km, and with branches to Beijing, Hangzhou and Nantong - 2470 km. The width in the narrowest part in the provinces of Shandong and Hebei is 40 m, in the widest part in Shanghai - 3500 m. The depth of the fairway is from 2 to 3 m. The canal is equipped with 21 locks. The maximum handling capacity is 10 million tons per year.
The canal connects the Huang He and Yangtze rivers, including the channels of such rivers as Baihe, Weihe, Sishui and others, as well as several lakes. The Great Canal consists of several sections built at different times. The southernmost section was laid in the 7th century, the northernmost in the 13th century, and part of the central section from Huaiyin to Jiangdu runs along the ancient Hangou Canal.
Cast iron
The technology of iron smelting has been known in China since at least the 4th century BC. BC Coal, which provides heat, has been used as a fuel since the 4th century, and possibly even earlier. One of the methods of smelting pig iron was as follows: iron ore was stacked in stacks in elongated tube-shaped melting crucibles, which were lined with coal. Then the coal was set on fire. This technology, among other things, excluded the presence of sulfur.
From cast iron they made plowshares, hoes and other agricultural implements, iron knives, axes, chisels, saws, and awls. Food was cooked in cast iron, even toys began to be made from cast iron. Skill in iron smelting allowed the Chinese to make pots and trays with very thin walls, which could not be achieved with other technologies. This was especially important for mass production salt by evaporation, for which only such trays were suitable. To obtain brine, from which salt was extracted, they began to drill deep wells and stumbled upon natural gas. Salt mining, along with iron production, was monopolized by the Han dynasty in 119 BC. e. Iron smelting stimulated the development of the salt and gas industries.
by the most majestic buildings of cast iron are a cast-iron pagoda and an octagonal column, the so-called "Heavenly Axis, which marks the virtue of the Great Zhou Dynasty with its host of lands", built about one and a half thousand years ago.
Steel
The Chinese have learned to receive from cast iron steel. The technology was developed by at least the 2nd century BC. e. and formed the basis of the Bessemer process, discovered in the West in 1856. However, in 1852, William Kelly, a resident of a small town near Eddyville (Kentucky), was ahead of Henry Bessemer. In 1845, Kelly invited four Chinese steelmakers to Kentucky and adopted from them the production technology used in China for more than two thousand years, making several improvements of his own.
The Chinese invented two ways to get steel, one of which was the process of decarburization by blowing oxygen into cast iron, as evidenced by the work of the Chinese classic "Huai-nanzi" (about 120 BC). This method was also called the hundredfold cleaning method, since it was repeated many times and the steel became stronger with each processing cycle. Swords made from such steel were highly valued. The blade was made of soft malleable steel, and the blade was made of hard steel. The carbon content was controlled by the amount of oxygen blown into the molten iron.
In ancient China, a method was practiced steel hardening – annealing, that is, the instantaneous cooling of a red-hot or white-hot metal in a liquid medium. This makes it possible to preserve the internal metal microstructure, which is disturbed by slow cooling in natural conditions. Around the 5th century, China developed a process of "fusion" of metals, in which cast iron and malleable steel were smelted to produce "some kind of medium", that is, new steel. In fact, the same process was developed by Marten and Siemens in 1863. The Chinese have been using it for 1400 years.
- Student: Ababkova L.V.
- Head: Barmin A.V.
Many of the most important inventions of modern society came to us from ancient China. The Chinese invented original technologies in the field of mechanics, hydraulics, mathematics, applied to the measurement of time, metallurgy, astronomy, agriculture, mechanical design, music theory, art, navigation and warfare.
- Ancient China;
- compass;
- differential;
- crossbow;
- mechanical watches;
- stirrups;
- harness;
- cast iron;
- steel.
- TSB 1970-77 Electronic version.
- P. James N. Thorp "Ancient Inventions", "Potpourri", Minsk, 1997
- A.P. Kovalenko "Adventures of a guiding arrow", "Science and periodicals", M. 2001
- http://historic.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000054/index.shtml
- http://www.inauka.ru/blogs/article48074/print.html
- http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossbow
- http://chronology.wikia.com/wiki/Ancient China - Chronology.
- The displacement is called the vector connecting the start and end points of the trajectory The vector connecting the beginning and end of the path is called
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