A New Phase of Systematic Development of Scientific Theories in 2021

History of Science
and Technology in China
Xiaoyuan Jiang Editor
A New Phase
of Systematic
Development of
Scientific Theories
in China
History of Science and Technology
in China
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History of Science and Technology in
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Xiaoyuan Jiang
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A New Phase of Systematic

Development of Scientific
Theories in China
History of Science and Technology in
China
Volume 4
With 163 Figures and 16 Tables

Editor
Xiaoyuan Jiang
School of History and Culture Science
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai, China
Translated by
Jianping Yu Yang Kong
East China University of Xiangcheng Industrial Culture Research Institute
Science and Technology Suzhou, China
Shanghai, China
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Contents
1 Pottery-Making in Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Wenjie Li
2 Porcelain Techniques in Ancient China ..................... 51

Wenjie Li
3 The Invention and Evolution of the Compass ................ 77

Zengjian Guan and Xin Bai
4 Overview of Textile Technology in Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Feng Zhao
5 Ancient Chinese Food Technology and Food Materials . . . . . . . . . 131

Yifang Fang
6 Pouring and Lifting: Two Different Papermaking Technique

Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Xiaocen Li
7 Liquor Making and Folk Customs in Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Yifang Fang
8 Chinese Ancient Loom and Textile Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Feng Zhao
9 The Silk Road and East-West Textile Culture Exchange . . . . . . . . 257

Feng Zhao
10 Invention and Evolution of Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Qi Han
11 Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient China ................. 335

Cheng Zheng
v
vi Contents
12 Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》): Heyday of Agriculture and

Handicraft Industry in Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Wusan Dai
13 Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) and Xu Guangqi . . . . . . . . . 415

Xiongsheng Zeng
Contributors
Xin Bai Elementary Education College, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
Wusan Dai Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
Yifang Fang School of History and Culture Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong Univer-
sity, Shanghai, China
Zengjian Guan School of History and Culture Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong
University, Shanghai, China
Qi Han School of Humanities, University of Chinese Academy Science, Beijing,
China
Wenjie Li National Museum of China, Beijing, China
Xiaocen Li Institute of History of Science and Technology, Nanjing University of
Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
Xiongsheng Zeng The Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Feng Zhao China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou, China
Cheng Zheng The Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy
of Sciences, Beijing, China
vii
Pottery-Making in Ancient China
1
Wenjie Li
Contents
1.1 Early Neolithic Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.1 Raw Materials for Pottery-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1.2 Forming of Clay Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1.3 Firing of Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.1.4 Various Origins of Pottery Worldwide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2 Middle Neolithic Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.1 Raw Materials for Pottery-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.2 Pottery-Making with Mat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.3 Origin of the Slow Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.4 Rise of Pottery Kilns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3 Late Neolithic Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.3.1 Hunan as the Center of White Pottery-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.3.2 Origin of the Fast Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.3.3 Development in the Making of Painted Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.3.4 Improvement of the Updraft Trench Kiln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.4 Early Chalcolithic Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.4.1 Disparate Development in Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.4.2 Moulding Method of the Miaodigou Culture at Excavation Stage 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.4.3 Highly Advanced Technique of Painted Pottery-Making in Upstream Yellow
River Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.4.4 Reducing-Atmosphere Firing with Updraft Shaft Kiln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
W. Li (*)
National Museum of China, Beijing, China
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 1

X. Jiang (ed.), A New Phase of Systematic Development of Scientific Theories in China,
History of Science and Technology in China,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_1
2 W. Li
1.5 Late Chalcolithic Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

1.5.1 The First Climax of Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.5.2 Popular Moulding Method in Midstream Yellow River Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.5.3 Maturity of Reducing-Atmosphere Firing and Carburization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.5.4 Development in Painted Pottery Craftsmanship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.6 Xia and Shang Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.6.1 Decline of Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.6.2 Development in Pottery Li Made by Moulding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.6.3 Emergence of Printed Hard Pottery and Primitive Porcelain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.6.4 Emergence of Cross-Draft Kilns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1.6.5 Rapid Development in Craftsmanship of Painted Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1.7 Spring and Autumn Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1.7.1 Forming Process of Pottery Wares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1.7.2 Popularity of Printed Hard Pottery in Western Zhou Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1.7.3 Shaping Up of the Mantou Kiln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.8 Warring States Period and Qin Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
1.8.1 The Terracotta Figures Are the Epitomization of Pottery-Making Techniques
in Qin Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
1.8.2 Social Cause of the Unprecedented Development in Pottery-Making as Seen
on Qin Terracotta Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
1.8.3 Forming Method of Hollow Bricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
1.9 Han Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
1.9.1 The Second Climax in Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
1.9.2 External Moulding as the Replacement of Internal Moulding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
1.9.3 Painted Pottery as the Highlight of Decorating Techniques in Han Dynasty . . . . 40
1.9.4 Emergence of Low-Temperature Lead-Glazed Pottery in Western Han
Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1.9.5 Noteworthy Advance in Mantou Kilns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1.10 Northern Wei Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
1.10.1 Restoration of the Slow Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
1.10.2 The Characteristic Hidden Pattern of Northern Wei Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
1.10.3 Cultural Amalgamation Reflected in Pottery-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
1.10.4 The Xianbei Invention of Low-Temperature Double-Firing Lead-Glazed
Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
1.11 Tang Sancai (Tri-color Glazed Pottery of Tang) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
1.11.1 Fast Wheel in Tang Sancai Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
1.11.2 Body Material of Tang Sancai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
1.11.3 The Invention of Braid-Moulding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
1.11.4 Glaze Materials of Tang Sancai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
1.11.5 Double-Firing Method of Tang Sancai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
1.12 Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Abstract
The ancient history of China can be divided into the following ages according
to the tool used: the Paleolithic Age, the Neolithic Age, the Chalcolithic Age,
the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Prior to the invention of pottery, people
used tools that were made of natural materials such as stonewares,
woodwares, bonewares, etc. With pottery utensils, people started settling
down and collecting, thus giving birth to primitive agriculture and husbandry.
1 Pottery-Making in Ancient China 3
Furthermore, the firing technique used in pottery-making led to the smelting

of metals and then the production of bricks and tiles, with which came the idea
of engineering. And finally, pottery-making became porcelain-making. The
history of pottery-making in ancient China can be divided into 12 periods, and
this chapter introduces the main achievements of each period.
Keywords
Pottery-making · Neolithic Age · Chalcolithic Age · Molding method · Xia and
Shang Dynasties · Spring and autumn period · Tang Sancai · Double-firing
method
Tool-wise, the ancient history of China can be divided into the following ages:
the Paleolithic Age, the Neolithic Age, the Chalcolithic Age, the Bronze Age,
and the Iron Age. In the Paleolithic Age, there were only chipped stone tools,
whereas in the Neolithic Age, polished stone tools also emerged. The Neolithic
Age can be subcategorized into three periods: Early, Middle, and Late. In the
Chalcolithic Age, though bronze tools came into use, stone tools still domi-
nated at that time. So far, bronze tools have only been discovered in few
locations and small numbers. For example, the copper bell was excavated in
the Taosi Ruins in Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province, or the six daggers, also
made of copper, were excavated in the Huangniangniangtai Ruins in Wuwei
City, Gansu Province. The Chalcolithic Age can be subcategorized into two
periods: Early and Late. The Bronze Age lasted from Xia to Zhou dynasty. Iron
tools emerged in the Warring States Period and the Iron Age began from Qin
and Han dynasties.
What exactly is archeological culture? It is the generic term for ruins and
relics created by the human community in the course of production and living as
well as military and religious activities. Differences in time and location have
given birth to a variety of archeological cultures, each with their own character-
istics, and behind those cultures are different human communities. A human
community refers to an organization like a tribe or alliance of tribes. One
archeological culture must include a series of typical ruins and relics with shared
features that distinguish it from other archeological cultures. An archeological
culture is usually named after the place where it’s first discovered. For example,
Yangshao Culture is named after Yangshao Village, Mianchi County, Henan
Province; Longshan Culture is named after Longshan Town, Zhangqiu City,
Shandong Province; and Daxi Culture is named after the Daxi Ruins in Wushan
County, Sichuan Province. Remains of ancient civilizations can be divided into
ruins and relics. Ruins include houses, cellars, pottery kilns, and tombs, whereas
relics refer to the likes of pottery and porcelain tools, stone tools, bone tools,
bronze tools, iron tools, etc. Among those, pottery tools are the most common
4 W. Li
Table 1.1 Periods and types of pottery-making in ancient China

中文英文中文英文
年代 Era 贾湖 Jiahu
公元前 BC 裴李岗 Peiligang
公元 AD 磁山 Cishan
分期 Period 师赵村一 Shizhao Village at
期 excavation Stage 1
北方类型 Northern types 仰韶 Yangshao
南方类型 Southern types 马家窑 Majiayao
甘青文化区 Gansu-Qinghai region 菜园 Caiyuan
中原文化区 Central China 齐家 Qijia
山东文化区 Shandong 庙底沟二 Miaodigou at
期 excavation stage 2
燕辽文化区 Yan-Liao region 陶寺 Taosi
长江中游文化 Middle Yangtze River region 河南龙山 Longshan, Henan
区
江浙文化区 Jiangsu-Zhejiang region 兴隆洼 Xinglongwa
华南文化区 Southern China 赵宝沟 Zhaobaogou
公元前 BC 红山 Hongshan
新石器时代 Neolithic Age 小河沿 Xiaoheyan
早期 Early 仙人洞 Xianrendong
中期 Middle 彭头山 Pengtoushan
晚期 Late 城背溪 Chengbeixi
铜石并用时代 Chalcolithic Age 皂市下层 Lower level of Zaoshi
早期 Early 大溪 Daxi
晚期 Late 屈家岭 Qujialing
夏商 Xia and Shang dynasties 石家河 Shijiahe
西周、春秋 Western Zhou dynasty, Spring and 马家浜 Majiabang
Autumn Period
战国、秦 Warring States Period, Qin dynasty 崧泽 Songze
汉 Han dynasty 河姆渡 Hemudu
三国—隋 The Three Kingdoms, Sui dynasty 良渚 Liangzhu
唐 Tang dynasty 庙岩 Miaoyan
五代—清 Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms 玉蟾岩 Yuchanyan
Period, Qing dynasty
虎头梁 Hutouliang 鲤鱼嘴 Liyuzui
南庄头 Nanzhuangtou 甑皮岩 Zengpiyan
转年 Zhuannian 老官台 Laoguantai
discoveries most likely because they were used on a daily basis. Pottery tools
bear the following characteristics: (1) easy to make, (2) easy to break, and
(3) easy to innovate. Evolutions in technique and design are normally reflected
in pottery tools; therefore, they often bear the prominent features of different
times and cultures. That’s why archeological cultures are normally distinguished
by characteristic of pottery wares: (4) easy to keep. Pottery tools are made
through firing so they become erosion-resistant. Even when they are broken,
the original crafts can be restored by putting the pieces back together.
Prior to the invention of pottery, people used tools that were made of natural
materials such as stonewares, woodwares, bonewares, etc. However, pottery wares
are different from all of those, for pottery wares are artifacts made by firing clay,
which, when mixed with water, became a malleable material that the green body is
made of. After drying and firing, during which time a series of physical and chemical
changes take place, it becomes pottery, the very first man-made substance that did
not exist in nature.
As for how pottery was invented, archeologists have not yet found the answer
due to the lack of discovery of pottery wares at their primitive stage. According to
the author’s calculation, it was during the Late Paleolithic Age that people started
forming clay body into different shapes, and those, after being dried, became the
very first clay crafts. The invention of pottery could be inspired when seeing the
ground becomes red and hardened while barbecuing food over clay soil. Once
people started throwing clay crafts into fire, the most primitive form of pottery
came into being. There were first clay crafts, then fired pottery, and then slips and
threads of pottery, and finally pottery utensils such as bowls, caldrons, and jars.
With those vessels came cooking, so human beings could absorb nutrition from
food more efficiently, which made us stronger and smarter. And with pottery
utensils, people started settling down and collecting, thus giving birth to primitive
agriculture and husbandry. Furthermore, the firing technique used in pottery-
making led to the smelting of metals and then the production of bricks and tiles,
with which came the idea of engineering. And finally, pottery-making became
porcelain-making.
The history of pottery-making in ancient China can be divided into 12 periods
(see Table 1.1). The main achievements of each period are as follows:
1.1 Early Neolithic Age
There are over a dozen ruins (see Table 1.2) from the Early Neolithic Age
(13,000–7,000 BC): Miaoyan, Guilin, Guangxi; Yuchanyan, Dao County,
Hunan; Xianrendong and Diaotonghuan, Wannian County, Jiangxi; Dalongtan
(Liyuzui), Liuzhou, Guangxi; Hutouliang, Yangyuan County, Hebei;
Nanzhuangtou, Xushui County, Hebei; Zhuannian, Huanrou, Beijing; Donghulin,
Mentougou, Beijing; Zengpiyan, Guilin, Guangxi; Dayan, Lingui County,
Guangxi; Niulandong, Yingde, Guangdong; etc. And pottery crafts have been
found in all those ruins.
6 W. Li
1.1.1 Raw Materials for Pottery-Making
Bisques of pottery caldrons from Yuchanyan Ruins are made of mixed materials
consisting of naturally polished river sand and smashed quartz with sharp edges,
which proves that potteries discovered in the ruins are not primitive or newly
invented. The technique is obviously more advanced than in the earlier stage when
materials were simply taken from random soil. Instead, the location was selected. If
it was random, there wouldn’t be smashed quartz in the soil.
1.1.2 Forming of Clay Body
Pottery jar (see Picture 1.1) discovered in Guilin’s Zengpiyan Ruins was formed
using the slip-attaching technique: the jar was formed from bottom to mouth by
8 W. Li
Table 1.2 Carbon-14 dating data of the Early Neolithic Age

实验室编号 Lab no. 广西柳州市大 Dalongtan
龙潭(鲤鱼嘴) (Liyuzui),
Liuzhou, Guangxi
遗址名称 Name of ruins 下层人骨 Human bones
found in the lower
level
测定物质 Dating matter 河北阳原县虎 Hutouliang,
头梁 Yangyuan County,
Hebei
实测C14年代(按 Era as measured by carbon-14 犀牛骨化石 Rhinoceros fossil
5730年计) dating (half-life period 5730
years)
距今 BP 河北徐水县南 Nanzhuangtou,
庄头 Xushui County,
Hebei
公元前 BC 淤泥 Silt
广西桂林市庙岩 Miaoyan, Guilin, Guangxi 木炭 Charcoal
陶片 Pottery slips 淤泥 Silt
陶片 Pottery slips 木头 Wood
湖南道县玉蟾岩 Yuchanyan, Dao County, Hunan 木头 Wood
陶片基质 Matrix of pottery slips 木头 Wood
木炭 Charcoal 木头 Wood
陶片上的腐殖酸 Humic acid from pottery slips 北京市怀柔区 Huairou, Beijing
江西万年县仙人 Xianrendong, Wannian County, 木炭 Charcoal
洞 Jiangxi
木炭 Charcoal
The Miaoyan and Xianrendong data are cited from “Early Pottery and Oryza Phytolith in Wannian
Jiangxi” (江西万年早期陶器和稻属植硅石遗存) by Zhang Chi (张弛); the Yuchanyan data are
cited from “Rice and Pottery in Yuchanyan of Dao County, Jiangxi 10,000 Years Ago” (湖南道县
玉蟾岩—万年以前的稻谷和陶器) by Yuan Jiarong (袁家荣). Both articles are printed on Crops,
Pottery and the Origin of Cities (《稻作、陶器和都市的起源》), the 2000 edition, edited by Yan
Wenming (严文明) and Kiken Yasuta (安田喜宪), published by Cultural Relic Press. The
Hutouliang and Dalongtan (Liyuzui) data are cited from A Collection of Carbon-14 Dating Data
(1965-1991) of Archeology in China (《中国考古学中碳十四年代数据集》), published by Cultural
Relic Press in 1991. The Nanzhuangtou data are cited from Archeology (《考古》), page 965, issue
11, 1992. The Zhuannian data are cited from Cultural Relics (《文物》), page 91, issue 6, 1996
attaching clay slips to one another. It is speculated that in potter-making of that time,
tree leaves were put between the clay body and the ground to prevent adhesion.
1.1.3 Firing of Pottery
In the Early Neolithic Age, pottery was fired at low temperatures which often
resulted in uneven color and floppy fragile texture. For example, measuring shows
that pottery slips from Guilin’s Zengpiyan Ruins were fired at 68020 degrees
Celsius. According to conjecture, pottery wares were first fired out in the open
Picture 1.1 Pottery jar from

Zengpiyan Ruins, Guiling,
Guangxi
without a kiln. Then there were wares produced from pit-firing, which was a
transition to kiln-firing. The first two methods are known as bonfire-firing.
1.1.4 Various Origins of Pottery Worldwide
Pottery slips dating back to 13,000 to 14,000 BC were discovered in Japan, though some
of the slips were fired at a temperature as low as 400–500 degrees Celsius, so they are
not actually pottery but earthenware. Pottery slips from before 10,000 BC were discov-
ered in Russian Far East and Mongolia. Pottery wares from 9,000–8,000 BC were
discovered in India. The earliest pottery wares in West Asia were from around 7,000
BC. Early pottery wares from around the globe differ in shapes and decoration,
implicating various origins of pottery in different parts of the world. Based on existing
materials, pottery occurred in China rather early, the very first batch being from Miaoyan
Ruins in Guilin, Guangxi, which dates back to 13610500 BC and 13710260 BC.
1.2 Middle Neolithic Age
Cultural remains from the Middle Neolithic Age (7,000–5,000 BC) include the
Chengbeixi Culture in Hubei; the Jiahu Culture and the Peiligang Culture in Henan;
the Laoguantai Culture (aka Dadiwan) in Shaanxi and Gansu; the Pengtoushan
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Culture, the Gaomiao Culture, and lower level of the Zaoshi Culture in Hunan; the
Cishan Culture in Hebei; the Xinglongwa Culture in Inner Mongolia; the Houli Culture
in Shandong; the Zhenjiangying Culture in Beijing at excavation stage 1; etc.
1.2.1 Raw Materials for Pottery-Making
The common fusible clay was the main material. White pottery was found in the
Gaomiao Culture and lower level of the Zaoshi Culture in Hunan and the Chengbeixi
Culture in Hubei. Two raw materials are normally used in the making of white
pottery: one is high-alumina refractory clay (kaolinite) and the other is high-
magnesium fusible clay (steatite).
1.2.2 Pottery-Making with Mat
It was speculated that wooden mats occurred in the Middle Neolithic Age. Potters
cut tree trunks into mat-shaped pieces and then set one on the ground as the base
upon which pottery wares were built by pinching and coiling. With the mat, the
potter can rotate the clay body by turning the mat around with his hand while
sitting still, which makes the mat a tool for pottery-making. However, the mat
stumbles as it spins for there is no axis, so, as a result, some clay bodies would slant
out of shape. For example, the jar-shaped kettle (see Picture 1.2) from Jiahu Ruins
in Wuyang County of Henan was created from bottom to mouth using the back-
ward pinching method. A total of 17 clay slips were used to form the body, and the
bottom is not paralleled to the mouth. Measuring shows that there is a 4.5-degree
angle between the center of the bottom and the central axis of the kettle, so it
appears crooked. The round-belly kettle (see Picture 1.3) from Jiahu Ruins was
created using the coiling method. Trace of clay coils can be seen on the inside of
the kettle. Among the wares of Jiahu Ruins, less were made by pinching, while
more were made by coiling, showing a gradual trend of the latter method replacing
the former.
1.2.3 Origin of the Slow Wheel
Over the long course of mat-base pottery-making, potters found that by setting the
mat on a tree stump, they could spin it by hand. And by gouging a hole in the center
of the mat’s bottom and putting it upon a wood stake planted in the ground, the mat
spins more easily. The mat and the stake then became the most primitive form of the
slow wheel. Later the mat was replaced by a wheel and the stake an axle. Then some
potters found that while spinning, the slow wheel stumbles with the edge of the
wheel wiggling up and down. As a solution, they installed a cylinder underneath the
bottom of the wheel. At first it was made of bamboo and later wood. With the
cylinder casing the axle, the slow wheel rotates steadily. It’s because the cylinder has
a certain length and is fixed vertically to the wheel. At first, pottery was made on
Picture 1.2 Jar-shaped kettle from Jiahu Ruins, Wuyang County, Henan
Picture 1.3 Round-belly kettle from Jiahu Ruins, Wuyang County, Henan
wooden wheels, but then some potters found that wooden wheels were susceptible to
water, so they made a pottery disk and put it upon the wooden one to separate the
moist clay body and the wood. The flat top of the pottery disk then became where
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pottery was made. The evolution of pottery-making from the mat base to the slow
wheel was a long-lasting process.
Relics of the Jiahu Ruins are divided into three periods. Pottery wares of all three
periods were made on mats. The Dagang Ruins, which is located 6 kilometers away
from Jiahu, dates back to a time later than Jiahu Ruins at excavation stage 3, so it was
in the late period of the Jiahu Culture. The capped pottery disk, a component of the
slow wheel, was excavated in Dagang. The disk is made of argillaceous red pottery,
and it is the earliest capped pottery disk discovered in China so far. A wooden slow
wheel normally consists of three components: the wheel, the cylinder, and the axle.
Unfortunately, no trace of those was found due to decaying. What must be empha-
sized here is that in slow-wheel pottery-making, clay body was shaped by the coiling
method, which means it was still a hand-powered pottery production instead of
throwing. Yet, changes had taken place in the trimming of the body. The slow wheel
was used in the process, with the potter trimming the body by hand or with a scraper
while turning the wheel by hand or by foot. The slow-wheel trimming gives the body
a regular shape and even thickness all over. The mouth and the bottom are parallel
with no obvious slanting. The process tends to leave narrow-ringed trails on the
surface of pottery wares. For example, the pottery basin (see Picture 1.4b) from
Dagang Ruins has such trails on the inside around the mouth and in the middle part
of the vessel. It is the earliest pottery ware ever discovered in China that was trimmed
using the slow wheel. Painted wares like the painted pottery jar (see Picture 1.4c)
were found in Dagang, as well. Fifteen rings of parallel red stripes were painted on
the upper-middle part of the jar by rotating the slow wheel. It is the earliest painted
pottery ever discovered in China that was painted by using the wheel.
The simultaneous emergence of the capped pottery disk, the trimmed basin, and
the painted jar corroborates each other, proving the use of the slow wheel in pottery-
making during the last period of the Middle Neolithic Age in China, which indicates
the entering into the era of mechanical pottery production.
Picture 1.4 Pottery wares from Dagang Ruins, Wuyang County, Henan. (a) Capped pottery disk.
(b) Pottery basin. (c) Painted pottery jar
1.2.4 Rise of Pottery Kilns
As was stated earlier, pottery wares were produced through bonfire-firing in the
Early Neolithic Age; specific methods include open-ground firing and pit-firing.
By the Middle Neolithic Age, pottery kilns occurred, like the ones in the Jiahu
Culture and the Peiligang Culture. Thus, the era of kiln-firing began. For
example, there are two types of kilns in Jiahu Ruins: one is pit kiln (see
Picture 1.5), which is a hole dug in the ground with hays in it. The clay body
was put in and then covered by more hays before the pit was sealed by mud on
top, and the fire was lit from the side. The other is trench kiln (see Picture 1.6),
which has a firing platform in the middle of the trench where the clay body sits.
There are flame paths on both sides of the platform. At one end of the trench,
there are a fire hole and a combustion chamber and at the other end a flue and a
smoke outlet. Fire is lit through the fire hole, and then the flame spreads from the
combustion chamber, going through and heating the clay body, to the outside via
the flue and the outlet. Pit kilns were the transition between bonfire-firing and
trench kilns. Both types of kiln have an underground structure that is thermally
insulated to increase the temperature at which pottery wares are fired. For
example, measuring shows that the two pottery slips with a rather rigid texture
discovered in Jiahu Ruins were, respectively, fired at 920 and 960 degrees
Celsius.
Picture 1.5 Pit kiln in Jiahu

Ruins, Wuyang County,
Henan
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Picture 1.6 Trench kiln in Jiahu Ruins, Wuyang County, Henan
1.3 Late Neolithic Age
The remaining Late Neolithic (5000 BC–3000 BC) cultures in China are as follows: the
Beixin Culture in Shandong; the Dawenkou Culture in Shandong and Anhui; the
Shizhaocun Culture at excavation stage 1 (similar to the lower level of Beishouling
Ruins) in Gansu and Shaanxi; the Yangshao Culture in Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi; the
Tangjiagang Culture in Hunan; the Xiantouling Culture in Guangdong; the Daxi
Culture in Sichuan, Hubei, and Hunan; the Hemudu Culture in Zhejiang; the Majiabang
Culture in Zhejiang and Jiangsu; the Songze Culture in Shanghai and Jiangsu; the
Zhaobaogou Culture in Inner Mongolia; and the Hongshan Culture in Inner Mongolia
and Liaoning. The Late Neolithic Age is also known as the Yangshao Age in the
Chinese archeological circle.
1.3.1 Hunan as the Center of White Pottery-Making
Hunan abounds with high-alumina refractory clay and high-magnesium fusible clay.
Convenient resources had established Hunan as the birthplace and center of white
Picture 1.7 White pottery tray with foot ring and white-coated red tray with foot ring from
Tangjiagang Ruins, Anxiang County, Hunan
pottery-making. High-alumina refractory clay is characterized by low silicon mon-

oxide, high aluminum oxide, and low flux agent, whereas high-magnesium fusible
clay is characterized by low silicon monoxide, depleted aluminum oxide, and
augmented magnesium oxide. Both types of clay are low in iron oxide, so pottery
wares made from them appear to be white in color. Decorating technique for white
pottery is quite complicated. For example, the white pottery tray with foot ring from
the Tangjiagang Culture in Hunan (see Picture 1.7) is decorated with fine-toothed
comb pattern and, on the external bottom, with octagonal pattern. Fine-toothed comb
pattern was printed on the clay body by a double-edged fine-toothed comb made of
bamboo. According to the author’s measuring, there are at least five to seven
quadrate pits per square centimeter. And there is the white-coated red tray with
foot ring, which was made by applying white mud to a red clay body. Craftsmanship
of Hunan white pottery had a far-ranging influence that spread northward to the
Yangshao Culture in Shaanxi and southward to the Xiantouling Culture in Guang-
dong, as well as eastward to the Majiabang Culture in Zhejiang.
1.3.2 Origin of the Fast Wheel
The slow-wheel pottery-making was the dominant technique during the Late
Neolithic Age, when the pinching method was replaced by the coiling method.
For example, the capped pottery wheel (see Picture 1.8e) from the Yangshao
Culture was an additional component fastened to the wheel. And the small-
mouth bottle with pointed bottom (see Picture 1.9) has trails of clay strips on
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Picture 1.8 Pottery wares from the Yangshao Culture in Bancun Ruins, Mianchi County, Henan
Picture 1.9 Small-mouth

bottle with pointed bottom
from the Yangshao Culture in
Bancun Ruins, Mianchi
County, Henan
the inside. Over the long-term use of the slow wheel, potters then had been able to
gradually improve its structure to achieve faster speed. Finally, at the last stage of
the Late Neolithic Age, the fast wheel was developed. The fast-wheel pottery-
making technique, also known as throwing, refers to the process of using the
centrifugal force and inertia created by the spinning wheel to throw raw clay into a
shaped body as required. What must be emphasized here is the substantial
difference between fast-wheel making and slow-wheel trimming. Had the body
been roughly processed, spiral trails could be left on the inside or even the
exterior. Or it could leave swirl grains, made by cutting with strings, on the
external bottom.
Existing materials show that in China, the fast-wheel pottery-making technique
originated in multiple regions and cultures. One is the Dawenkou Culture (middle-
late period) in the lower Yellow River region, for example, the upper and lower
levels of the Xixiahou Tomb in Qufu, Shandong. Another is the Daxi Culture (late
period) in middle Yangtze River region, like the Guanmiaoshan Ruins in Hubei from
the Daxi Culture at excavation stage 4 or the late Songze Culture of lower Yangtze
River region, like the middle level of the Songze Tomb in Shanghai at excavation
stage 3 and the gray-black soil in the Fuquanshan Ruins. There are no carbon dating
results for the Xixiahou Ruins, but the earliest of the rest (see Table 1.3) dates back to
3606 to 3142 BC and the latest 3360 to 2944 BC.
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Table 1.3 Carbon-14 dating data for late period of the Daxi Culture and late period of the Songze
Culture
实验室标本号 Sample no. 上海青浦县福泉山 Fuquanshan, Qingpu
County, Shanghai
遗址 Ruin 灰黑土层 Gray-black soil layer
单位 Unit 崧泽文化晚期 Late period of the Songze
Culture
文化性质及分 Culture and 炭化木 Carbonized wood
期 excavation stage
标本物质 Sample substance 湖北枝江市庙关山 Miaoguanshan, Zhijiang
City, Hubei
测定年代(14C Measured date 属于T76③层的一个 A shaft of the T76③ level. It
半衰 (half-life period 柱坑,它打破③H180 broke the ③H180 and the
期5730) 5730 years) 和④BF30的北火塘 north fire pit of ④BF30
树轮校正年代 Tree-ring 大溪文化第四期 The Daxi Culture at
calibrated date excavation stage 4
按达曼表 According to ③层柱坑内的炭化 Column of carbonized wood
Daman table 木柱 in the shaft at level ③
按高精度表 According to high- 上海青浦县崧泽中 Middle level of the Songze
precision table 层墓葬第三期 Tomb at excavation stage
3, Qingpu County, Shanghai
湖北枝江市关 Guanmiaoshan
庙山
大溪文化第四 The Daxi Culture 人骨 Human bones
期 at excavation stage
4
木炭 Coal
A few small-sized pottery wares made by throwing were found in tombs at lower
and upper levels of Xixiahou Ruins. Some of the caldrons (see Picture 1.10b) have
spiral trails on the inner bottom, left by fast-wheel forming; some goblets (see
Picture 1.10c) have narrow-ringed trails on the inside, left by slow trimming using
the fast wheel; and some cylindrical bottles have swirl grains on the bottom, left by
potters cutting the vessel with strings. All those traces indicate the process of wheel-
throwing.
Pottery wares made by throwing from the Daxi Culture of Guanmiaoshan Ruins
at excavation stage 4, like the bowl-shaped cylindrical bottle (see Picture 1.10d),
have distinct spiral trails on the inside and some faint trails on the outside; another
bottle (see Picture 1.10e) has some trails on the inside, as well.
The pottery cup (see Picture 1.10f) from the middle-level tomb of Songze Ruins
at excavation stage 3 has distinct wheel trails, with lines showing the irregular
surface of the inner bottom. The pottery jug (see Picture 1.10g) from the gray-
black soil layer of Fuquanshan Ruins has such trails too, with lines showing the same
irregularity. Another jug (see Picture 1.10h) has spiral trails all over the bottom and
the inside.
Picture 1.10 Pottery wares made by wheel-throwing

(a)–(c) from Xixiahou Ruins, (d) and (e) from Guanmiaoshan Ruins, (f) from Songze Ruins, and
(g) and (h) from Fuquanshan Ruins
Picture 1.11 Painted pottery wares from the Daxi Culture, excavated in Guanmiaoshan Ruins,
Zhijiang City, Hubei
(a) Cylindrical bottle, (b) Pottery jar, (c) Pedestal
The fast wheel was the most advanced body-shaping tool in the Late Neolithic
Age. The use of it had improved the productivity of pottery-making considerably,
having a lasting and profound influence on ceramics manufacturing in later
generations.
1.3.3 Development in the Making of Painted Pottery
The Miaodigou type of Yangshao Culture, also known as the Miaodigou Culture, in
midstream Yellow River region produced painted pottery with a typical pattern – the
concave-edged triangle – the influence of which is so far-reaching that a cylindrical
bottle (see Picture 1.11a) from the Daxi Culture in midstream Yangtze River region
has the same design, which is also a proof of cultural exchanges between the south
and the north of China.
The eggshell-painted pottery bowls [see Picture 1.12a,c,d] and the eggshell-
painted pottery cups with single handle from the Daxi Culture have walls that are
as thin as 0.7–1.5 millimeters. They were all shaped by hand before being scraped
thin by tools. The exterior is decorated with red and black dots as well as curves and
curvy grid. Those eggshell-painted pottery wares, dating back to 5830–5940 years
ago, are outstanding artworks of the Daxi Culture (Picture 1.13).
20 W. Li
Picture 1.12 Painted pottery bowls excavated in Guanmiaoshan Ruins, Zhijiang City, Hubei
(a), (c), and (d) are eggshell-painted pottery
Picture 1.13 Eggshell-painted pottery cups with single handle excavated in Guanmiaoshan Ruins,
Zhijiang City, Hubei
Picture 1.14 Pottery kilns from the Yangshao Culture in Banpo Ruins, Xi’an City, Shaanxi
1.3.4 Improvement of the Updraft Trench Kiln
The prominent improvement is the separation of the combustion chamber and the
fired-ware chamber. For example, in the pottery kiln (see Picture 1.14) of the
Yangshao Culture in Banpo Ruins, Xi’an, Shaanxi, the combustion chamber at the
front and the kiln chamber at the back are connected by the flame path and the fire
hole. Pottery wares produced in improved kilns were fired at a temperature of 1,000
degrees Celsius. The oxidizing-atmosphere firing technique reached its peak in the
Yangshao Age, and that’s why most pottery wares from that period appear red in color.
1.4 Early Chalcolithic Age
The remaining early Chalcolithic Age cultures in China include the Majiayao
Culture in Gansu and Qinghai; the Caiyuan Culture in Ningxia; the Miaodigou
Culture at excavation stage 2 in Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi; the Qujialing Culture
in Hubei and Hunan; etc. The Early Chalcolithic Age was considered a transition
between the Yangshao Age and the Longshan Age for two reasons: one, it was
during this time that the shaping method of clay body transferred from hand-
powered to wheel-throwing and, two, it was during this time that the firing technique
of pottery transferred from oxidizing-atmosphere firing to reducing-atmosphere
firing.
1.4.1 Disparate Development in Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making
The Qujialing Culture in midstream Yangtze River region was in the lead in fast-
wheel pottery-making, while only a few pottery wares made by wheel-throwing
were discovered in the Miaodigou Culture at excavation stage 2 in midstream Yellow
River region, showing a disparity in development of pottery-making between the
south and the north.
1.4.2 Moulding Method of the Miaodigou Culture at Excavation

Stage 2
This is a new forming method using a pottery mould to make the pillars of Jia
(a ritual vessel used to hold wine), for example, the Jia (see Picture 1.15b) from the
Miaodigou Culture at excavation stage 2 in Guchengdongguan Ruins, Yuanqu
County, Shanxi. The vessel was made by hand with the coiling method, and the
pillars were shaped by moulding. The pillars have vertical intaglio lines on the
inside, printed by the relief lines on the internal mold.t
1.4.3 Highly Advanced Technique of Painted Pottery-Making

in Upstream Yellow River Region
The Majiayao Culture can be divided into four types: Shilingxia, Majiayao,
Banshan, and Machang. The painted pottery wares of the Majiayao Culture were
made with state-of-the-art technique, for example, the painted pottery urn of the
Majiayao type discovered in Sanping Village, Yongjing, Gansu. The urn, with a
staggering height of 49.3 centimeters, is known as “the king of painted pottery.” It is
painted with black swirl grains. Another painted pottery urn of the Machang type
discovered in Tugutai, Lanzhou City, Gansu, is painted with black and red frog
patterns.
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Picture 1.15 Pottery wares from the Miaodigou Culture at excavation stage 2 in
Guchengdongguan Ruins, Yuanqu County, Shanxi
1.4.4 Reducing-Atmosphere Firing with Updraft Shaft Kiln
This is an innovation in firing technique. For example, the two pottery kilns (see
Pictures 1.16 and 1.17) of the Miaodigou Culture at excavation stage 2 in Ningjiapo
Ruins, Yuanqu County, Shanxi, are both built on the bluff beside a huge trench. The
kiln is composed of a combustion chamber, a flame path, a kiln chamber, a door, and
a smoke outlet. The door is sealed after greenwares are put in the kiln, leaving only a
hole for observation.
烧结面红烧土 Sintered soil 生土 Raw soil
This kind of pottery kiln can produce both oxidizing-atmosphere and reduc-
ing-atmosphere. Speculated method of reducing-atmosphere firing is as follows:
after the process of oxidizing-atmosphere firing is complete, most part of the fire
hole is covered, leaving only a small opening for adding firewood, ventilation,
Picture 1.16 Pottery kiln of

the Miaodigou Culture at
excavation stage 2 in
Ningjiapo Ruins, Yuanqu
County, Shanxi

the Miaodigou Culture at
excavation stage 2 in
Ningjiapo Ruins, Yuanqu
County, Shanxi
and removing ash; then the smoke outlet is sealed with a piece of stone plate or
pottery ware before coating it with a mixture of grass and soil. After that, a shaft-
shaped pool with earth dike is built before the process of reducing-atmosphere
firing begins. The observation hole on the kiln door serves as a temporary smoke
outlet. The flame within the kiln flows backward as soon as it reaches the sealed
top, heating the clay body. Smoke exits the kiln through the observation hole.
After reducing-atmosphere firing, most iron in the greenware transforms from red
iron oxide to gray iron protoxide. Then both the observation hole and the fire hole
are to be sealed completely. Water that is slowly poured into the pool, after
infiltrating the coating and entering the kiln, vaporizes in the high-temperature
environment and becomes mist, which isolates the pottery ware from the outside,
24 W. Li
preventing it from re-oxidation. Pottery wares produced in such process appear

gray and taupe in color. The taupe ones are the result of insufficient reducing-
atmosphere firing.
1.5 Late Chalcolithic Age
The remaining Late Chalcolithic Age (2,500–2,070 BC) cultures in China include
the Taosi Culture in Shanxi; the Longshan Culture in Henan and Shandong; the
Shijiahe Culture in Hubei; the Liangzhu Culture in Zhejiang; the Keshengzhuang
Culture in Shaanxi at excavation stage 2; the Qijia Culture in Gansu, Qinghai, and
Ningxia; etc. Late Chalcolithic Age is also known as the Longshan Age in the
Chinese archeological circle.
1.5.1 The First Climax of Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making
The first climax of fast-wheel pottery-making occurred in the middle and lower
reaches of the Yellow River as well as the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze
River. Coastal areas of Shandong were where the technique reached its peak, for
example, Gui (a bowl-shaped ancient Chinese ritual vessel) [see Picture 1.18a,b] and
Yan (a caldron-shaped ancient Chinese ritual vessel) [see Picture 1.18c,d] from late
period of the Longshan Culture in Shandong. The tripod is shaped backward by
wheel-throwing, leaving spiral trails on the inside and the exterior. The three pillars
of the tripod constitute the lower part of the vessel, which is to be united with the
upper part that is also shaped by wheel-throwing. The thin-body goblet, also known
as the eggshell black pottery goblet, manifests the highest level of wheel-throwing
technique of the Longshan Culture in Shandong.
The 31 thin-body goblets (see Picture 1.19) from the Sanlihe Tomb in Jiaozhou
share the following features:
Picture 1.18 Pottery wares made by wheel-throwing of the Longshan Culture in Shandong
Structure-wise, they can be divided into 3 types: type A, goblets with the base
connected to the upper part (see Picture 1.19a-d), 5 pieces, accounting for 13% of the
total number; type B, goblets with the lower part of the container inside the base (see
Picture 1.19e-h, j-l), 24 pieces, accounting for 77.42% of the total; and type C,
goblets with the container entirely inside the base (see Picture 1.19i), 2 pieces,
accounting for 6.45% of the total. Type B and type C add up to 26 goblets with an
inside container and a shell, accounting for 83.87% of the total. These two-layer
goblets are structurally innovated pottery vessels composed of wheel-thrown parts.
The inside container is shaped backward and then conglutinated to the other parts in
a seamless fashion.
Pattern-wise, few of the vessels have string pattern on the body, while most
of them have string pattern or bamboo pattern on the base. These patterns were
made during the fast-wheel trimming process. Some vessels appear to have
been scratched or pierced, which are made so by design after the trimming.
Such features show that thin-body goblets are sophisticatedly decorated pieces
or art.
And also, in terms of size, thickness, and weight, all of the vessels have a diameter
between 9 and 15.3 centimeters, averagely 12.43; a height between 12 and 22.7
centimeters, averagely 16.60; and a thickness between 0.3 and 1.5 millimeters,
averagely 0.72. The most typical one (see Picture 1.19g) has a diameter of 14.2
centimeters and a thickness of 0.3 millimeters, weighing less than 40 grams. Thus, it
can be seen that an average thin-body goblet has a moderate diameter and height,
with an extremely light body as thin as eggshell. This requires a high-precision fast
wheel that rotates fast but steadily. This kind of exquisite technique was a complete
one-off in history.
Picture 1.19 Thin-body goblets of the Longshan Culture in Sanlihe, Jiaozhou City, Shandong
26 W. Li
1.5.2 Popular Moulding Method in Midstream Yellow River Region
The swollen-legged Li (a caldron-like ancient Chinese vessel) (see Picture 1.20)

from the Taosi Culture in Taosi Ruins was shaped by hand and has scattered dots all
over the inside, printed by a pottery mat. The three legs were shaped by moulding
and have well-aligned dots all over the inside, printed by the internal mould. The
three legs blend into the bottom of the upper body. Three holes were cut out from
within, so the inside of the body is connected to the hollow legs. Another example is
the slim-legged Li (see Pictures 1.21b-e and 1.22), and the three legs were made as a
whole using a tripod mould (see Picture 1.21a).
Picture 1.20 Swollen-legged Li from the Taosi Culture in Taosi Ruins, Xiangfen County, Shanxi
Picture 1.21 Slim-legged Li from the Taosi Culture in Taosi Ruins, Xiangfen County, Shanxi
Picture 1.22 Slim-legged Li from the Taosi Culture in Taosi Ruins, Xiangfen County, Shanxi
1.5.3 Maturity of Reducing-Atmosphere Firing and Carburization
Thanks to popularization and maturity of reducing-atmosphere firing, a great

number of pure-color gray potteries were produced. Compared with red pot-
tery fired in an oxidizing atmosphere, gray potteries, which were fired in a
reducing atmosphere, have stronger resistance against acid and alkali; there-
fore, they are of better quality. That’s the importance of matured reducing-
atmosphere firing technique. Coastal areas of Shandong were where the car-
burization technique reached its peak. The black eggshell pottery goblets,
which are thoroughly carburized, represent the highest level of the carburiza-
tion technique. Tiny particles of coal penetrated into the pores of the
greenware and filled them, preventing the liquid inside the pottery ware from
leaking. That’s how significant the maturity of the carburization
technique was.
1.5.4 Development in Painted Pottery Craftsmanship
Painted pottery was made by applying colors to fired pottery wares as decoration, for
example, the painted pottery plate from the Taosi Tomb in Xiangfen County, Shanxi.
A red dragon is painted on carburized black pottery with cinnabar, which, along with
calcite, was often used to paint red and white animal patterns on black pottery
kettles.
1.6 Xia and Shang Dynasties
Xia dynasty (2,079–1,600 BC), Early Shang dynasty (1,600–1,300 BC), and
Late Shang dynasty (1,300–1,046 BC) altogether lasted for over a thousand
years. The earliest evidence of slavery in China dates back to Xia dynasty.
During Xia and Shang dynasties, Henan was the cultural center of the country.
Typical cultural remains from that period include Erlitou and Shangcheng in
Yanshi, Shangcheng in Zhengzhou, and Yinxu in Anyang, as well as the printed
hard pottery from Zhengyao Ruins in Mianchi County, Henan; lower level of the
Xiajiadian Culture in Dadianzi, Aohanqi, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia;
Shangcheng in Yuanqu, Shanxi; and Panlongcheng in Huangpi, Hubei, and
Jiangxi.
1.6.1 Decline of Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making
During Xia and Shang dynasties, fast-wheel pottery-making reached a trough,

whereas the slow wheel and coiling reclaimed the dominance. For example, pottery
wares (see Picture 1.23) from Zhengyao Ruins in Mianchi County have distinct trails
of clay strips on the inside.
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Picture 1.23 Pottery wares made by coiling from Zhengyao Ruins in Mianchi County, Henan
Picture 1.24 Pottery wares made by moulding from Erlitou Ruins in Yanshi, Henan
1.6.2 Development in Pottery Li Made by Moulding
The Li (see Picture 1.24b) from Erlitou Ruins in Yanshi is the example. The three
legs are made by moulding, and together they form the lower body, with a solid heel
attached to the tip of each foot. The upper body was shaped by hand and then
attached to the lower part.
1.6.3 Emergence of Printed Hard Pottery and Primitive Porcelain
Printed hard pottery first occurred in Xia dynasty and primitive porcelain in Shang
dynasty. Ever since then, pottery-making started its transformation toward porcelain-
making. The entire transition period from Xia dynasty to Han dynasty lasted for
more than 2000 years.
Printed hard pottery wares are decorated with patting or rolling prints and have a
hard texture, for example, the printed hard pottery Dou with patting print of lighting
pattern discovered in Huangtulun Ruins in Minhou, Fujian, and the hard pottery Zun
(an ancient Chinese ritual vessel) (see Picture 25l) of Shang dynasty from
Panlongcheng, Huangpi (Picture 1.25).
Picture 1.25 Hard pottery and glazed pottery of Shang dynasty from Panlongcheng, Huangpi,
Hubei
Printed hard pottery is made from high-silicon clay, which has a rich content of
monox and low content of flux, so it has a rough texture that is highly refractory.
Because of its rough texture, it can only be shaped by coiling instead of wheel-
throwing. In order to consolidate the clay body, a considerable amount of patting and
rolling are needed, which result in the patting and rolling prints. And because of its
highly refractory nature (the internal reason) and the fact that it’s fired in a cross-draft
kiln (the external reason), printed hard pottery with a hard texture and low water-
absorption rate is produced at a high temperature (1,150 degrees Celsius). The
pottery bat (see Picture 1.26b) and the pottery clubs (see Picture 1.26a,c) of Shang
dynasty from Jiaoshan Kiln, Yingtan City, Jiangxi, were used as tools to decorate the
clay body with patting or rolling prints. While patting the surface, the inside is
stuffed with a pottery cushion (see Picture 1.26d,e) to prevent the body from caving.
1.6.4 Emergence of Cross-Draft Kilns
A cross-draft kiln is more commonly known as a dragon kiln, for example, the cross-
draft kiln (see Picture 1.27c) of Shang dynasty in Wucheng, Qingjiang County
(today’s Zhangshu City), Jiangxi. This bar-shaped kiln has on its stove side nine
fire holes that separate the combustion chamber, so clay bodies in all part of the kiln
are evenly heated. The cross-draft kiln of Shang dynasty (see Picture 1.27d) in
Lijiashan, Shangyu County, Zhejiang, is also bar-shaped. The kiln’s bottom tilts at a
16-degree angle, so the incoming draft is strong, and the temperature rises fast. The
cross-draft kiln maintains reducing atmosphere more easily; therefore, it produces
pottery wares of better quality.
1.6.5 Rapid Development in Craftsmanship of Painted Pottery
The tomb at the lower level of the Xiajiadian Culture in Dadianzi, Aohanqi, dates
back to between Xia dynasty and Shang dynasty. A total of 420 pieces of painted
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Picture 1.26 Pottery-making tools from Jiaoshan Kiln, Yingtan City, Jiangxi: (a) and (c) pottery
clubs, (b) pottery bat, (d) and (e) pottery cushions
Picture 1.27 Kilns of Shang dynasty

Picture 1.28 Painted pottery

from the lower level of the
Xiajiadian Culture in
Dadianzi, Aohanqi, Inner
Mongolia
pottery (see Picture 1.28) were excavated here, accounting for 25% of all grave
goods (1,683 pieces in total). Cinnabar and hematite powder are used as paint, and a
brush is the tool of choice. Intricate patterns are painted on the surface of carburized
black vessels fired at low temperatures. Painted pottery wares are products of
meticulous craftsmanship; however, they were fired in a rather negligent fashion.
The firing temperature was between 600 and 700 degrees Celsius, so the wares came
out with low hardness and broke easily. They are called mingqi (inferno wares) and
were specially made to be buried with the dead.
1.7 Spring and Autumn Period
During Western Zhou dynasty (1,046–771 BC) and Spring and Autumn Period
(770–476 BC), China was still a slave society. Cultural remains from that time
include the Zhangjiapo Tomb of Western Zhou dynasty in Chang’an District, Xi’an
City, Shaanxi; the Tianmaqu Village Ruins and Tomb in Quwo County and Yicheng
County, Shanxi; the Shangma Tomb in Houma City, Shanxi; etc. King Wen of
Western Zhou established the capital in Fengyi, and King Wu after him expanded
the territory to Gaojing. The Zhangjiapo Tomb is located in the Fenggao Ruins.
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Picture 1.29 Pottery jars of Spring and Autumn Period from Tianmaqu Village in Quwo County
and Yicheng County, Shanxi
Tianmaqu Village was where the capital was in Early Jin dynasty, and the Shangma
Tomb dates back to the Late Jin dynasty.
1.7.1 Forming Process of Pottery Wares
Coiling was still the dominant method during this time. For example, the pottery jar
(see Picture 1.29) discovered in Tianmaqu Village has trails of clay coils on the
inside. The pottery Li vessels in Zhangjiapo Tomb are all made by hand. The pottery
Li (see Picture 1.30) from Shangma Tomb also has trails of clay coils on the inside. It
was formed by building a clay cylinder backward and then folding it. Handmade
pottery Li vessels were widely promoted by the Zhou people, making it the most
iconic artifact of Zhou dynasty. A total of 877 pieces of pottery Li vessels were
excavated in Shangma Tomb, accounting for 90.88% of the 965 pieces of pottery
wares buried in the tomb, which, therefore, is nothing short of an underground Li
museum.
The fast-wheel technique was still at a low ebb. Thin-stem Dou vessels (see
Picture 1.31) of the Late Spring and Autumn Period from Tianmaqu Village Ruins
have spiral trails and twisted wrinkles on the inside; both are distinctive features of
pottery wares made by wheel-throwing. Those vessels are direct evidence that the
fast wheel was used. Furthermore, there are decorative hidden patterns on the inside
of the Dou’s container and the exterior of the stem.
1.7.2 Popularity of Printed Hard Pottery in Western Zhou Dynasty
For example, the printed hard pottery jar from the Fushanguoyuan Tomb in Jurong
County, Jiangsu, has grid patting patterns on the surface, and another piece, the
printed hard pottery Bu (an ancient Chinese water vessel), has zigzag patting patterns
on the surface.
Picture 1.30 Zhou dynasty pottery Li vessels made by coiling from Houma City, Shanxi
1.7.3 Shaping Up of the Mantou Kiln
For example, the mantou kiln (see Picture 1.32) of the Middle Spring and Autumn
Period from Tianmaqu Village Ruins consists of a door, a combustion chamber, a
kiln bed, a fully sealed dome, and a vertical chimney on the back wall. It belongs
to the type of kilns where the combustion chamber and the kiln chamber share the
same burrow. The mantou kiln can maintain a reducing atmosphere more easily,
so it produces pottery wares that have better quality than those fired in an updraft
kiln.
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Picture 1.31 Pottery Dou vessels of the Late Spring and Autumn Period from Tianmaqu Village
Ruins in Quwo County and Yicheng County, Shanxi
Picture 1.32 Pottery kilns of the Middle Spring and Autumn Period at Tianmaqu Village Ruins in
Quwo County and Yicheng County, Shanxi
1.8 Warring States Period and Qin Dynasty
Feudalism in China began with the Warring States Period (475–221 BC). Then
Emperor Qin Shi Huang united the country after his army conquered the other six
states (Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi) and ended the time of separatist regimes.
Qin (221–207 BC), a united kingdom and a dynasty under the feudal system, was
established. Three pits containing Qin terracotta figures were discovered on the
eastside of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb in Lintong, Xi’an. The pits turned out
to be part of the Emperor’s mausoleum, where a total of 1,179 terracotta figures of
soldiers and another 132 of horses were excavated.
1.8.1 The Terracotta Figures Are the Epitomization of Pottery-

Making Techniques in Qin Dynasty
A typical terracotta figure is built with two layers. The inner one is made of
arenaceous pottery and the outer one clay-based pottery. The two-layer structure
provides firmness as well as beauty. It was an innovation in materials. Normally, the
figure was formed by coiling and moulding. For example, trails of clay coils can be
seen on the inside of the figure’s torso (see Picture 1.33a,c). And the head was
formed by joining two moulds (see Picture 1.34). The torso and head of the horse
figure were formed by putting together multiple clay slips, and the legs were also
formed by joining two moulds (see Picture 1.35). The terracotta figures are painted
pottery, with a variety of colors applied to the surface after firing.
Picture 1.33 Terracotta figures from Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb in Lintong, Xi’an City,
Shaanxi
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Picture 1.34 Heads of terracotta soldiers from Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb in Lintong, Xi’an
City, Shaanxi
Picture 1.35 Terracotta horses from Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb in Lintong, Xi’an City, Shaanxi
1.8.2 Social Cause of the Unprecedented Development in Pottery-

Making as Seen on Qin Terracotta Figures
The development in pottery-making in Qin dynasty was twofold: the first is favor-
able social conditions. A united kingdom facilitated the development of productivity.
Concentration of resources availed large-scale construction of the mausoleum. It is
evident that greater comprehensive national power was the most significant social
condition for the production of terracotta figures. With China transforming from a
slave society to a feudal one, the trend of burying pottery and wooden figures,
instead of living human beings, with the dead came to rise. Thus, it can be seen that
the terracotta figures were a product of revolution in social system and burial
customs. The ruling class and administrators and workers in the pottery-making
industry all felt the need to regard the terracotta soldiers and horses as real, created as
a tribute to Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s accomplishments in uniting the nation.
Therefore, the terracotta figures were also a product of the Zeitgeist of the time.
And the second is effective management. According to Master Lü’s Spring and
Autumn Annals, all handicrafts produced in Qin dynasty, especially those from
government-owned workshops, must have the artisan’s name carved on the artifact
as a proof of the artisan’s commitment. Should there be any improper conduct, the
party at fault would be held responsible so as to the extent of being sentenced.
Evidently, the mandatory signature was in fact an accountability system. So far, a
total of 249 names have been found on the terracotta figures, representing 80 artisans
disregarding the repetition. As a matter of fact, the mandatory signature system had
successfully guaranteed the quality of the terracotta figures.
1.8.3 Forming Method of Hollow Bricks
Hollow bricks are pottery materials used for large buildings. They are square bricks
that are hollow on the inside, often used to build steps of palaces or the guo (outer
coffin) as a replacement of traditional wooden guo. Hollow bricks were an innova-
tion by potters during the Middle and Late Warring States Period. The design has
drawn attention of Chinese and foreign scholars for it is based on the theory that
hollow objects can withstand the same amount of pressure as solid objects.
Hollow bricks originated in Qin during the Warring States Period and were later
manufactured elsewhere, too, for example, the hollow bricks (see Picture 1.36) of the
Late Warring States Period from Zheng and Han Ruins in Xinzheng, Henan. The
Picture 1.36 Hollow bricks of the Late Warring States Period from Zheng and Han Ruins in
Xinzheng, Henan
38 W. Li
bricks were shaped by putting together plates of clay, a method similar to moulding.
The plates were a transitional form between raw material and the clay body before
they were put together one by one, using a rectangle wooden mould box (see Picture
1.37b) and a double-layer pallet (see Picture 1.37c). According to conjecture, the
mould box was composed of a rectangle baseplate with plug-in bars attached to all
sides. The merit of this design is it’s easy to assemble or dismount. The pallet
consists of two rectangle boards (top and bottom) and two wooden cubes (pillars).
It is in fact a dismountable and removable internal mould. The double-layer pallet
occurred as the solution to creating the hollow inside the brick. These bold yet well-
founded conjectures, once verified, can lead to an important conclusion: that hollow
bricks were a product of the combination of external moulding and internal mould-
ing and they represent the highest level of brick-making technique in the Warring
States Period and Qin dynasty.
1.9 Han Dynasty
Han dynasty, including Western Han (206 BC–25 AD) and Eastern Han (25–220
AD), was a time when feudalism thrived. Cultural remains from that time include the
Shaogou Tomb in Luoyang, Henan; the Pingshuo Tomb in Shanxi; the Chang’an
kiln in Xi’an, Shaanxi; etc.
Picture 1.37 Restored

models of the hollow brick,
the external mould, and the
pallet
1.9.1 The Second Climax in Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making
In Han dynasty, pottery-making had become a major industry, along with iron
smelting and lacquering. There were private- and government-owned pottery work-
shops. With growth of market demand, the fast-wheel pottery-making technique
reached its second climax. A great many of wheel-thrown pottery wares were
produced. Those wares, with a larger capacity, were fired at high temperatures. Far
from the way it was, mingqi vessels then were fired at 1,000 degrees Celsius in a
reducing atmosphere, so they came out with a pure gray color. Scale of the second
climax in fast-wheel pottery-making far surpassed the first one occurring in the Late
Chalcolithic Age (the Longshan Age). Sheer magnitude of the 12,000 pieces of
wheel-thrown pottery wares of Han dynasty in the Shuozhou City Museum of
Shaanxi are the living proof of it.
1.9.2 External Moulding as the Replacement of Internal Moulding
Some pottery vessels (e.g., cups) or components (e.g., lids, handles, tripods)
were formed by external moulding, which can be subcategorized into two
methods: single moulding and joined moulding. Merit of the moulding method
is that the clay body, which shrinks after drying, will automatically demould
itself. In Han dynasty, external moulds were already equipped with standard-
issue components. An outstanding example was the Boshan lid, as shown in
Picture 1.38b. A popular folktale of that time depicted three sacred mountains,
including the legendary Penglai, off the East Sea. Inspired by the tale, the lids
were made in the shape of a mountain, symbolizing the fairyland of Penglai.
Standard-issue components made with one external mould could be used as part
of a set of pottery wares or installed on different wares as attachments. The
Boshan lid was made in the following method: first, a master mould was formed
Picture 1.38 Painted pottery wares from the Pingshuo Tomb in Shuozhou, Shanxi
40 W. Li
and fired; then, it was used to make an external mould, which was also fired;
finally, the body of the lid was formed by stuffing clay in the external mould.
Such a master mould could be used to make multiple external moulds, which
can then be used to make multiple end products. Thanks to the invention of
standard-issue components, mass production of pottery wares in unusual and
complicated shapes like the Boshan lid was possible. Furthermore, those wares
were compatible and replaceable with one another, so the cost was lowered and
productivity increased.
1.9.3 Painted Pottery as the Highlight of Decorating Techniques

in Han Dynasty
The painted dragon-pattern pottery kettle from the Shaogou Tomb of Western Han
dynasty in Luoyang is an example. And, some 800 pieces of painted pottery (see
Picture 1.38) were discovered in the Pingshuo Tomb of Han dynasty, accounting for
6% of total pottery wares (12,000 pieces). The painted wares are in seven different
colors, white, black, gray, red, yellow, green, and blue, showing that decorating
techniques of painted pottery reached its peak in Han dynasty.
1.9.4 Emergence of Low-Temperature Lead-Glazed Pottery

in Western Han Dynasty
The owl-shaped green glazed Zun (an ancient Chinese wine vessel) of Han dynasty
discovered in Sanmenxia City, Henan, and the painted brown-red glazed kettle of the
Late Western Han dynasty from the Tanjiacun Tombs in Baoji City, Shaanxi are the
examples. Low-temperature lead glaze is fired in an oxidizing atmosphere using lead
oxides as flux and copper as coloring agent with a firing temperature of 900 degrees
Celsius.
1.9.5 Noteworthy Advance in Mantou Kilns
For example, the pottery kiln of Chang’an (see Picture 1.39) has a fire-blocking wall
in the kiln chamber, so the flame can enter the chamber through holes on the wall.
And there is another wall segmenting the kiln chamber into two divisions, with flame
flowing evenly through holes on the wall. There are three smoke inlets where the kiln
wall meets the kiln bed. The three inlets and the three chimneys in the back converge
into one main chimney through which exhaust gas is discharged. Such measures
guarantee even temperature in all parts of the kiln chamber, preventing under-firing
or over-firing in certain parts. As a result, conformity rate and quality of pottery
wares were considerably improved.

Han dynasty Chang’an in
Xi’an, Shaanxi
1.10 Northern Wei Dynasty
Account of pottery-making in Northern Wei dynasty (386–534) was scarce. In

398 AD, Tuoba Gui led the Tuoba clan, a tribe of Xianbei, to migrate from Shengle
(today’s Lin’ge’er County, Inner Mongolia) to Pingcheng (today’s Datong, Shanxi)
42 W. Li
and established a new capital. For nearly a century, Datong had been the capital of
Northern Wei dynasty till King Xiaowen relocated it to Luoyang in 494. The
Northern Wei Tombs in the suburbs of south Datong are cultural remain of the
Tuoba clan. A total of 196 tombs were excavated along with 754 pieces of earthen-
ware, among which 93.37% are plain pottery (see Pictures 1.40, 1.42, and 1.43) and
6.63% are glazed pottery (see Pictures 1.44 and 1.45).
Picture 1.40 Handmade pottery from the Northern Wei Tombs in the suburbs of south Datong,
Shanxi
Picture 1.41 Restored

Northern Wei slow wheel
Picture 1.42 Handmade pottery wares from the Northern Wei Tombs in the suburbs of south
Datong, Shanxi
Picture 1.43 Handmade

pottery wares from the
Northern Wei Tombs in the
suburbs of south Datong,
Shanxi
Picture 1.44 Wheel-thrown glazed pottery from the Northern Wei Tombs in the suburbs of south
Datong, Shanxi
44 W. Li
Picture 1.45 Handmade glazed pottery from the Northern Wei Tombs in the suburbs of south
Datong, Shanxi
1.10.1 Restoration of the Slow Wheel
The slow wheel was the main tool used by Xianbei potters, with the fast wheel being
an alternative. While using the slow wheel, there was no separation layer between
the bottom of clay body and the wheel itself. Instead, the body was set upon the
wheel directly, a major difference in method from Han potters. Provided the clay
material contains less water, the slow wheel tends to leave trails on the bottom of the
product, including trails of tenons, pegs, pivot, and surface of the disk, based on
which restoration of the Northern Wei slow wheel is possible. Picture 1.41 shows a
restored model of the wheel, consisting of a disk, a cylinder, and a stake, as well as a
pit. There is a dent at the center of the cylinder’s tenon, used to pinpoint the center of
the disk. The slow wheel has some obvious flaws comparing to the fast wheel. For
example, the direct contact between the inside of the cylinder and the stake results in
larger contact area and stronger friction, which limits the increase of rotational speed.
That’s why the slow wheel is unable to shape the clay material by throwing.
1.10.2 The Characteristic Hidden Pattern of Northern Wei Pottery
Hidden patterns are fine lines carved on a clay body with low water content
by pressing hard tools (like bone artifacts) with a blunt and smooth tip on the
surface. The pattern will only show in direct light. The hidden pattern (see
Pictures 1.40a,b,d,e, 1.42, and 1.43b) is the most common, the most diverse, and
the most Xianbei-iconic decorative pattern on handmade pottery wares of the
Northern Wei dynasty. The most noteworthy feature is the “openness” of hidden
patterns (including vertical, diagonal, and zigzag patterns) on the body of the vessel.
Bottom edges are often uneven, without being closed or restrained by horizontal
lines. Xianbei was a tribe of nomads. The vigorous and boundless nature of the
patterns is the perfect reflection of Xianbei people’s raw boldness. Among the
682 handmade pottery wares, 419 pieces are decorated with hidden patters, account-
ing for 61.44% of the total.
1.10.3 Cultural Amalgamation Reflected in Pottery-Making
Some pottery wares have Chinese characters carved on the surface. For example, the
kettles in Picture 1.42a,b both have the character “Sheng” (life), and on the jar (see
Picture 1.43a), there is the character “Er” (son), except the character is misdrawn
with two extra strokes. The Chinese characters on those pottery wares are proof that
Xianbei potters were not only learning pottery-making technique from Han people
but their culture, too.
1.10.4 The Xianbei Invention of Low-Temperature Double-Firing

Lead-Glazed Pottery
Judged by raw material and forming method, all 49 pieces of glazed pottery were
made locally by Xianbei potters. Color-wise, those which are glazed in reddish
brown or yellowish brown account for 95.92% of the total. Both used iron as a
coloring agent. Other pieces, which are glazed in greenish colors or turquoise,
account for 4.08% of the total. Both used copper as a coloring agent.
There are two firing methods of glazed pottery. One is called single-firing, in
which the glaze is applied to the greenware directly before the firing process. For
example, with some glazed pottery wares (see Picture 1.44e), the body’s surface and
the glaze are simultaneously torn off by the calcareous concretion (more commonly
known as the ginger stone) in the body, leaving a dent with a tiny dot at the center,
which is where the calcareous concretion originally was. The body is exposed at the
dent with no glaze, evidence of the single-firing method being used. The other
method is called double-firing. First, the body goes through a process known as
biscuit firing, at a temperature of approximately 1,000 degrees Celsius. Then glaze is
applied to the clay body, now called the biscuit body, before it’s glaze-fired at a
temperature between 900 and 950 degrees Celsius. For example, with some pottery
wares (see Picture 1.45b,c), the body’s surface is torn off by the calcareous concre-
tion, leaving a dent with a tiny dot at the center, which is where the calcareous
concretion originally was. Then, glaze is applied to both the surface and the inside of
the dent before the glaze-firing process, leaving glaze layers within both the surface
and the dent, evidence of the double-firing process being used.
Low-temperature lead-glazed pottery has a long history in ancient China. The
single-firing method was exclusively used in Han dynasty, while in Northern Wei
dynasty, both single-firing and double-firing were practiced. The tri-color glazed
pottery in Tang, Song, and Liao dynasties was made by double-firing. Northern Wei
dynasty was a key period in the transition from single-firing to double-firing.
Compared to the single-firing method, double-firing has the following advantages:
46 W. Li
waste products produced in the biscuit firing (first) process are discarded and then
glaze is applied to a fine-quality greenware before the glaze-firing (second). Through
this procedure, expensive glaze material is saved, and the average quality of final
products is greatly improved. That’s why the Xianbei invention of low-temperature
double-firing lead-glazed pottery was so important.
1.11 Tang Sancai (Tri-color Glazed Pottery of Tang)
Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) was the peak of Chinese civilization during feudal
times. Low-temperature lead-glazed pottery from Han and Northern Wei are only
glazed in a single color (green or yellow), whereas Tang Sancai (tri-color glazed
pottery of Tang) wares have so much more options such as yellow, green, white, or
blue, among which yellow, green, and white are most commonly used. And that’s
how the name came to be. Most Tang Sancai wares were discovered in Shaanxi and
Henan, especially the Tang Tombs in Xi’an and Luoyang. Majority of the wares are
mingqi vessels buried with the dead. Lead glaze is toxic but it was never consid-
ered a health hazard since lead-glazed wares were not for daily use, for example,
the tri-color rider figurine from the tomb of Li Hui (689 AD) in Mijiaya, Majiawan
Township, Gaoling District, Xi’an City, Shaanxi; the tri-color musician on camel
figurine from the tomb of Xianyu Tinghui (723 AD) in Xi’an City, Shaanxi; the
tri-color Dou vessel, bottle, and camel from the Tang Tombs in Luoyang; and the
tri-color pagoda-shaped jar with cap from the Tang Tomb (851 AD) of Beiyaowan,
Gongyi City, Henan. Tang Sancai kilns that have been discovered so far include the
Dahuangzhi and Xiaohuangzhi kilns in Gongyi and the Huangbao kiln of Tang
dynasty in Tongchuan City, Shaanxi.
1.11.1 Fast Wheel in Tang Sancai Workshops
A Sancai workshop, consisting of seven rectangle caves, was discovered in the

Huangbaoyao kiln of Tang dynasty. The fast wheel is the most important tool in the
kiln. According to the excavation report, the fast-wheel device was restored (see
Picture 1.46). The wheel is composed of a round wooden disk, a wooden cylinder, a
wooden axle, an iron swinging hoop, an iron axle cap, an iron disk attachment, a
porcelain disk rotator, a wooden rotating stake, and a porcelain disk head. In the
throwing process, first set the clay body upon the center of the disk head, and then
insert the rotating stake into the slot of the disk rotator, which allows the potter to
rotate the disk fast. Compared to the slow wheel, the fast wheel has the following
advantages: the axle only makes contact with the swinging hoop installed on the
inside of the cylinder and the axle cap installed on the inside of the top. Smaller
contact area means less friction and therefore stronger inertia, which results in faster
rotation speed (90–100 times per minute). While in fast rotation, the clay body
transforms faster and is in better shape when an external force is applied. That’s how
the fast wheel forms the clay body by throwing.
Picture 1.46 Restored fast

wheel of the Huangbaoyao
kiln of Tang dynasty,
Tongchuan City, Shaanxi
1.11.2 Body Material of Tang Sancai
The body of Tang Sancai was usually made of high-alumina refractory clay (kao-
linite) and less often common fusible clay. With the latter, the body was coated with a
layer of white “dressing clay” (elutriated kaolinite slurry).
48 W. Li
1.11.3 The Invention of Braid-Moulding
Tang Sancai ceramics were made by moulding, wheel-throwing, as well as hand-

carving. The braid-moulding technique, in particular, was a unique forming method.
Pottery wares made by braid-moulding are a rare type of glazed pottery, for example,
the braid-moulded glazed pottery jar with cap from Hansenzhai in the suburbs of east
Xi’an, Shaanxi. The vessel stands 5 centimeters tall, with a diameter of 2.2 centi-
meters. It is decorated with various shades of brown wood grains, and the cap was
shaped by a different mould. The braid pattern was created by intertwining red and
white clay materials, so the pattern was in fact of an interlayer between the two types
of clay. The vessels were coated with a transparent low-temperature lead glaze,
through which the braid pattern is visible (the author made a duplicate of this jar).
1.11.4 Glaze Materials of Tang Sancai
Quartz powder, kaolinite, minium, or slag from lead-smelting was made into a
transparent base glaze, which was then applied to biscuit-fired greenwares. And
after the glaze-firing process, white glaze was made; yellow glaze was produced by
adding iron oxide into the base glaze, whereas green glaze was produced in the same
method except with copper oxide, and blue glaze, a new invention of Tang potters,
was made with cobalt oxide.
1.11.5 Double-Firing Method of Tang Sancai
The first time was biscuit firing, taking place in a large-sized mantou kiln at a
temperature of 1,150 degrees Celsius. The second time was glaze-firing, taking
place in a small-sized mantou kiln (see Picture 1.47) at a temperature of 950 degrees
Celsius. The glaze-firing was carried out in an oxidizing atmosphere.
燃烧室 Combustion chamber 烟孔 Smoke outlet
窑室 Kiln chamber 烟囱 Chimney
1.12 Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties
Tri-color glazed pottery produced in Northern Song dynasty (960–1127 AD) and
Liao dynasty (916–1125 AD) are, respectively, called Song Sancai and Liao Sancai.
Liao was a local regime established by the Qidan tribe in the north. The body and the
foot ring of the Song Sancai bottle were separately shaped by wheel-throwing and
then put together. The Liao Sancai dish, shaped by internal moulding, originated
Picture 1.47 A small-sized mantou kiln of Tang dynasty in Huangbaoyao, Tongchuan City,
Shaanxi
from characteristic Qidan woodwares. Neither Song Sancai nor Liao Sancai were
coated with blue glaze, a distinct difference from Tang Sancai. The Gangwa kiln (see
Picture 1.48a) of Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, used firewood as fuel for firing Liao
Sancai, while the Daguantun kiln (see Picture 1.48b) in Fushun, Liaoning, used coal.
The Yaozhou kiln of Song dynasty in Tongchuan, Shaanxi, used coal as fuel for
firing porcelain. Prior to Song and Liao dynasties, firewood was the only fuel used
for firing ceramics, and it was still used even after coal was introduced in Song and
Liao dynasties. For example, both the Jun kiln and the Jingdezhen kiln of Song
dynasty used firewood in the making of porcelain.
Pottery-making was approaching its end during by Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynas-
ties. The only development was in the making of purple sand stoneware, colored
glaze pottery, Fahua pottery, and Shiwan pottery. Purple sand stoneware was exclu-
sively made in Yixing, Jiangsu, of local purple sand/clay. They were first produced in
Song dynasty and became famous for the teapots by Ming dynasty, for example, the
Gongchun teapot, made by a famous potter in Yixing. Purple sand teapots have
excellent air permeability, so the tea doesn’t go sour overnight as usual. Colored
glaze pottery was a type of low-temperature lead-glazed pottery derived from Tang
Sancai, mostly used in architecture. According to historical documents, colored
glaze pottery was first used in building royal palaces of Pingcheng (today’s Datong,
Shanxi) in Northern Wei dynasty. Archeological findings have shown that the
earliest colored glaze pottery can be dated back to Tang dynasty, for example, the
colored glaze bricks and tiles discovered in the Huangbaoyao kiln of Tang dynasty in
Tongchuan, Shaanxi. During Yuan dynasty, colored glaze pottery was mainly pro-
duced in south Shanxi, whereas in Ming dynasty, Nanjing and Beijing were produc-
ing them, too. For example, Beijing’s Liulichang Street used to be a factory
producing colored glaze tiles, and then the production was relocated to Liuliqu
50 W. Li
Picture 1.48 Mantou kilns of Liao dynasty

(a) Gangwa kiln, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia; (b) Daguantun kiln, Fushun, Liaoning
Village in Mentougou. Production and popularity of colored glaze pottery thrived in

Ming and Qing dynasties, with materials widely used in palaces, gardens, residence,
and temples. The Wall of Nine Dragons in Datong, Shanxi, stretches 45.5 meters in
length and stands 8 meters tall, with a thickness of 2.02 meters. The wall, built in the
25th year of Hongwu in Ming dynasty (1392 AD), was entirely constructed with
colored glaze bricks. It remains to this day as the oldest and the largest and the most
intact colored glaze screen wall in China. The Forbidden City in Beijing was the
royal palace during Ming and Qing dynasties. The entire architectural complex was
an outstanding example of the combination of colored glaze-firing technique and
engineering marvel. Fahua pottery, mainly produced in south Shanxi, first occurred
in Yuan dynasty and thrived in Ming dynasty. It was a new variety of colored glaze
pottery. And like the original colored glaze pottery, Fahua pottery used iron, copper,
cobalt, and manganese as coloring agents. Except that with Fahua pottery, lead oxide
was partly or fully replaced by potassium nitrate as flux. Products of Fahua pottery
include vases, incense burners, animal figurines, etc. Shiwan pottery, originally
produced in the Shiwan kiln in Foshan, Guangdong, first occurred in Yuan dynasty.
Shiwan pottery is a type of low-temperature lead-glazed pottery, using coper and
iron as coloring agents. The main products include bowls and jars in Ming dynasty
and figurines and mock-ups of fruits and vegetables in Qing dynasty.
Porcelain Techniques in Ancient China
2
Wenjie Li
Contents
2.1 Protoporcelains in Shang and Zhou Dynasty Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.1.1 Raw Material of Protoporcelains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.1.2 Glaze on Protoporcelains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.1.3 Difference Between Protoporcelains and Potteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.1.4 Difference Between Primitive and Mature Porcelains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.2 Celadons in the South in Han and Jin Dynasty Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.2.1 Mold of Yuejiao Kiln Celadons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.2.2 Glaze on Yuejiao Kiln Celadons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.2.3 Kiln Furnace Used for Sintering Yuejiao Kiln Celadons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.3 Porcelains in Southern and Northern Dynasty Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.3.1 Celadons in the South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.3.2 Celadons in the North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.3.3 White Porcelains in the North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.4 Porcelains in Sui and Tang Dynasty Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.4.1 Yuejiao Kiln Celadons of Tang Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.4.2 White Porcelains of Xingjiao Kiln in Tang Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2.4.3 Blue and White Porcelains by Gongxian Kiln in Tang Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . 58
2.4.4 Underglaze Color Porcelains by Shajiao Kiln in Changsha in Tang Dynasty
Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.5 Porcelains in Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.5.1 Dingjiao Kiln Porcelains in Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.5.2 Cizhou Kiln Porcelains in Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.5.3 Porcelains of Yaozhou Kiln During Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.5.4 Porcelains by Rujiao and Ruguan Kilns during the Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . 62
2.5.5 Porcelains Made by Junjiao Kilns During Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.5.6 Longquan Kiln Porcelains in Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.5.7 Porcelains Made by Official Kilns in Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
2.5.8 Porcelains of Jingdezhen Kilns in Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
W. Li (*)
National Museum of China, Beijing, China

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_2
52 W. Li
2.5.9 Porcelains Made by Shuiji Kilns in Jianyang in Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . 67

2.5.10 Porcelains of Jizhou Kilns in Song Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
2.5.11 Porcelains from Lingwu Kilns in West Xia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
2.6 Porcelains in Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasty Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
2.6.1 White-Glaze Black-Pattern or Brown-Pattern Porcelains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
2.6.2 Blue and White Porcelains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
2.6.3 Underglaze Red Porcelains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
2.6.4 Contrasting Color Porcelains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.6.5 Five-Color Porcelains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.6.6 Plain Tricolor Porcelains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.6.7 Pink-Colored Porcelains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
2.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
2.7.1 Five Milestones in History of Porcelain Techniques in Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . 75
2.7.2 Four Great Breakthroughs of Porcelain Techniques in Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Abstract
Porcelain techniques in ancient China has reached a very high level. The main
achievements of porcelain techniques in ancient China are summarized as Five
Milestones Four Great Breakthroughs. This chapter makes a detailed illustration
on them.
Keywords
Porcelain techniques · Protoporcelain · Primitive and mature porcelains ·
Celadons · Song Dynasty · Glaze
Porcelains stemmed from potteries but were fundamentally different from potteries.
After porcelains emerged, the techniques for making porcelains and potteries bifur-
cated into two different systems.
The history of porcelain-making techniques in ancient China can be divided
into six periods. The main achievements in each of these periods are described as
follows.
2.1 Protoporcelains in Shang and Zhou Dynasty Periods
Protoporcelains emerged in the Shang Dynasty period, such as the protoporcelains

in Wucheng, Qingjiang County, Jiangxi (present-day Zhangshu Prefecture) dating
back to the early period of the Shang Dynasty in the Central Plains (1600–1300 B.
C.). The Zhou Dynasty period saw the development of protoporcelains, such as the
protoporcelains of the West Zhou Dynasty period unearthed in Tawan, Luoyang,
Henan Province, with green glaze coatings on the inner and outer walls and the
exteriors of the ring legs; the celadon teapot of the West Zhou Dynasty period
unearthed at Tomb No.6 in Liutaizi Village, Jiangji Township, Jiyang County,
Shandong, had green glaze all over the exteriors and within the mouth of the
teapot. Protoporcelains were mostly made in the south, especially in Jiangxi and
Zhejiang.
2 Porcelain Techniques in Ancient China 53
2.1.1 Raw Material of Protoporcelains
Porcelain clay or kaolin was used as the raw material for protoporcelains. Porcelain
clay is a mixture of kaolin, quartz, and feldspar. The main chemical ingredient of
porcelain clay and kaolin is aluminum silicate. Only under a high temperature can
protoporcelains be sintered, and the temperature required for sintering is typically
between 1100 and 1200 degree Celsius.
2.1.2 Glaze on Protoporcelains
The glaze on protoporcelains is glass-like high-temperature lime glaze, with calcium

oxide as the flux. The glaze is made in the following way: A proper amount of calcite
powder or plant ash is added into ordinary fusible clay to make lime glaze slurry,
which is then applied to the body surface. As glaze contains iron oxide and is
sintered in a reducing atmosphere, iron oxide becomes ferrous oxide, and, as a
result, the glaze has a light green color.
2.1.3 Difference Between Protoporcelains and Potteries
Protoporcelains are characterized by three elements: Porcelain clay or kaolin is used

as the raw material; the surface is coated with glass-like glaze; the sintering temper-
ature is between 1100 and 1200 degree Celsius. These elements are essentially
different from those of potteries.
2.1.4 Difference Between Primitive and Mature Porcelains
Compared with subsequent mature porcelains, the primitiveness of protoporcelains

is demonstrated in three aspects: First, the raw material used for mold making is not
well processed and has high iron content; second, the glaze coating is unevenly
thick, and the glaze is loosely connected with the mold and may easily fall off; third,
as the sintering temperature is not high enough, the adhesion between the glaze and
the mold is loose.
2.2 Celadons in the South in Han and Jin Dynasty Periods
In the Han and Jin Dynasty periods (206–420 B.C.), China invented mature porce-
lains, and thence chinaware emerged across the world.
In the late period of the East Han Dynasty (25–220), Yuejiao Kiln celadon was
successfully made, such as the green glaze-patterned urn porcelain pieces of the late
East Han Dynasty period unearthed in Xiaoxiantan, Shangyu, Zhejiang. These pieces
have grid patterns printed on the surface of the belly and are coated a thin layer of green
glaze; the celadon urn of the East Han Dynasty period unearthed in the Zhongzhou
Road, Luoyang, Henan, has grid patterns printed on the shoulder and belly and is
coated with a thick layer of green glaze, with indistinctly visible grid patterns.
54 W. Li
Fig. 2.1 Distribution of prominent ancient kilns
Yuejiao Kilns were distributed in Shaoxing, Shangyu, Yuyao, Cixi, Ningbo, and
Yinxian in northeastern Zhejiang (see Fig. 2.1) and were founded during the East
Han Dynasty period, prospered during the Tang Dynasty period and the Five
Dynasties period, and declined during the Song Dynasty period.
2.2.1 Mold of Yuejiao Kiln Celadons
The mold of the celadon pieces unearthed in Xiaoxiantan, Shangyu, contains only
1.64% of iron oxide, the colorant in the mold, and 0.97% of titanium dioxide.
Therefore, the porcelain mold is light-colored; the sintering temperature is quite

high, reaching 1310 degree Celsius. As a result, the mold has high strength and low
water absorption, meeting the standards of mature porcelains.
2.2.2 Glaze on Yuejiao Kiln Celadons
As a vessel, porcelains must be coated with a layer of glass glaze. In the case of
Yuejiao Kiln celadons, the glaze is made of calcium, with calcium oxide as the main
flux. As glaze contains certain amounts of iron oxide and titanium oxide, the glaze
turns grayish yellow or greenish gray as the sintering atmosphere changes.
2.2.3 Kiln Furnace Used for Sintering Yuejiao Kiln Celadons
The Longjiao Kiln of the East Han Dynasty period discovered in the Zhangzi
Mountain, Shangyu (see Fig. 2.2), has a full length of 10 m and a large slope at
the bottom, with a front segment of 28 degrees and a rear segment of 21 degrees.
Fig. 2.2 Longjiao Kiln of

East Han Dynasty period in
Zhangzi Mountain, Shangyu,
Zhejiang
56 W. Li
Given the large slope, the kiln is highly effective in pumping air, which helps reach a
high sintering temperature and high porcelain quality. The successful sintering of
Yuejiao Kiln celadons is closely related to the improvement of the furnace.
2.3 Porcelains in Southern and Northern Dynasty Periods
In the Southern and Northern Dynasty periods (420–589), the sintering of celadons
was prevalent. And white porcelains emerged in the north.
2.3.1 Celadons in the South
Celadon production burgeoned in Zhejiang and Jiangsu. For example, a green glaze
urn with lotus petal patterns (see Fig. 2.3) made during the East Jin and Southern
Dynasty periods was unearthed at the Subei Electrical Machinery Factory in Hailing
District, Taizhou, Jiangsu. The mold has a greige color, with green yellowish glaze
applied to both the interior and exterior. The glaze layer is thin, with tiny, dense
cracks on the surface, forming cracked glaze, which is also known as cracked ice
patterns.
2.3.2 Celadons in the North
A group of celadons were unearthed in the tombs in Jingxian County, Hebei.

According to tests, these were made by sintering of porcelain clay in the north,
such as the lotus celadon made during the Northern Dynasty period, which has an
Fig. 2.3 Green glaze urn

with lotus petal patterns of the
East Jin and Southern Dynasty
periods unearthed at the Subei
Electrical Machinery Factory
in Hailing District, Taizhou
Jiangsu
evenly thick glaze coating and good surface glossiness, a top-quality masterpiece
among celadons in the north. Another example is the celadon vase with a dish-
shaped mouth made during the Northern Zhou Dynasty period and unearthed at
Zang Dugu’s tomb in Xi’an, Shaanxi, which has a white mold and light green glaze,
which does not reach the bottom.
2.3.3 White Porcelains in the North
A milestone of northern porcelains is the emergence of white porcelains, which are

the foundation and prerequisite for the subsequent creation of colored porcelains (the
underglaze color, overglazed colors, blue and white colors, contrasting colors, five
colors, three plain colors, and pink color). White porcelains are porcelains where the
mold is coated with a layer of colorless glaze or the white engobe is coated with a
layer of colorless glaze. Early white porcelains are mostly engobe white porcelains.
For example, white porcelains were found in the relics of the Northern Dynasty
period at the relic site of the Xingjiao Kiln in Neiqiu County, Hebei. Another
example is the white porcelain green-colored vases made in the sixth year of
Emperor Wuping’s reign during the Northern Qi Dynasty period (575) unearthed
at Fan Cui’s tomb in Anyang, Henan. These vases have fine white molds and milky
green glaze, and only spots with thick glaze are green, especially the green strips in
the belly. These are the earliest white porcelains found to date.
2.4 Porcelains in Sui and Tang Dynasty Periods
In the Sui and Tang Dynasty periods (581–907), the raw materials used for making
porcelains in the south and north were different: porcelains with high iron oxide and
titanium content abounded in the south, and green glaze porcelains emerged; kaolin
with low iron oxide and titanium content abounded in the north, and white porcelains
emerged. As a result, green porcelains predominated in the south, and white porce-
lains predominated in the north. Southern green porcelains (celadons) were
represented by the Yuejiao Kiln, and northern white porcelains were represented
by the Xingjiao Kiln.
2.4.1 Yuejiao Kiln Celadons of Tang Dynasty Period
In the Tang Dynasty period, the Yuejiao Kilns were mostly located around the
Shanglin Lake in Cixi County (present-day Cixi Prefecture). The celadons made
by the Yuejiao Kiln during the late Tang Dynasty period were finely made and
became imperial treasures, called “secret color porcelains.” In 1987, 13 secret color
porcelains consecrated in the 15th year of Emperor Xiantong’s reign (874) were
unearthed in the underground palace of the Famen Temple of the Tang Dynasty
period in the Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province, such as the porcelain dishes with
58 W. Li
secret color petals (five petals from the wall to the mouth). According to the Annals
of Yuyao County in the Ming Dynasty period: “Secret color porcelains were first
made in the kilns around the Shanglin Lake, and official kilns were set during the
Tang and Song Dynasties periods.” That is to say, the Shanglin Lake in Cixi was the
place of origin of the “secret color porcelains,” which were the best of celadons. The
“secret color” referred to green, which was a rare and mysterious hue. Only in the
strong reducing atmosphere in the Longjiao Kiln could porcelain glaze, which had
high iron oxide and titanium oxide content, turn green. Therefore, the “secret color
porcelain” was very difficult to make. The green glaze on the inner wall and inner
bottom of the porcelain dish appeared even more mysterious and pleasant to the eye.
2.4.2 White Porcelains of Xingjiao Kiln in Tang Dynasty Period
The Xingjiao Kilns were located in the intersection of Lincheng and Neiqiu Counties
in Hebei, with the central kiln located in the ancient city gate of the Neiqiu County.
The Xingjiao Kilns began to produce green glaze porcelains and white porcelains in
the late Northern Qi Dynasty period. As white porcelains prospered in the Sui and
Tang Dynasty periods, the Xingjiao Kilns became the representative of northern
white porcelains and declined in the Song and Yuan Dynasty periods.
In the Tang Dynasty period, the sintering technique for white porcelains matured.
For example, the sintering temperature for the white porcelains made by the Xingjiao
Kilns reached 1260–1370 degree Celsius. Examples include the white porcelain
flask unearthed in Houchuan, Shanxian County, Henan, and the white porcelain lotus
petal lantern unearthed in a Tang tomb in Liujiaqu, Shanxian County, which had
delicate molds, thin glaze layers, and pure white glaze.
2.4.3 Blue and White Porcelains by Gongxian Kiln in Tang Dynasty

Period
Blue and white porcelains are the most distinctive porcelains in the history of
China’s porcelains. In 1975, a piece of a blue and white porcelain pillow was
unearthed in the relic site of an ancient Tang City in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, and a
coin bearing character “Kai Yuan Tong Bao” was unearthed in the same layer. This
blue and white porcelain piece has a white mold, a gray bottom, bluish patterns on
the front white bottom, and scattered broken leaves and diamond patterns. In 1983,
another 12 blue and white porcelain pieces were unearthed in the relic site of an
ancient Tang City in Yangzhou (see Fig. 2.4). These are the earliest blue and white
porcelain pieces found to date. Many blue and white porcelain pieces were also
found in the kiln sites in the Gongxian County, Henan. The Gongxian County kiln
sites are located in the Big Huangye Village and the Small Huangye Village in the
Gongxian County (present-day Gongyi Prefecture). According to chemical analysis,
the blue and white porcelain pieces unearthed in Yangzhou were produced by the
Fig. 2.4 A blue and white

porcelain piece unearthed in
the relic site of Tang City in
Yangzhou, Jiangsu
Gongxian County kilns. Blue and white porcelains are underglaze color porcelains,
where cobalt oxide is used as the pigment to paint patterns on the body, which is then
coated with a layer of transparent glaze and sintered under a temperature of 1200
degree Celsius. Given the blue patterns beneath the transparent glaze layer of the
vessel, these porcelains are called “blue and white pattern” porcelains.
2.4.4 Underglaze Color Porcelains by Shajiao Kiln in Changsha

in Tang Dynasty Period
The Changsha Kilns, also known as the Changsha Tongguan Kilns, were located in
the Tongguan Town, Wangcheng County (present-day Wangcheng District), Chang-
sha, Hunan. These kilns were founded in the mid-Tang Dynasty period, prospered in
the late Tang Dynasty period, and declined in the Five Dynasties period. The
underglaze color porcelains of Changsha Kilns include brown and green porcelains.
For example, in the case of the green-yellow glaze porcelain dish with brown
patterns unearthed in the relic site of the Tongguan Kilns, iron oxide, which would
not disperse under high temperatures, was used as the pigment for the brown color
and used to draw the lines, and copper oxide, which would disperse under high
temperatures, was used as the pigment for the green color and used to color the
voids. Protected by the glassy glaze layer above, the colors stay bright.
2.5 Porcelains in Song Dynasty Period
In the Song Dynasty period, there were “five prominent kilns,” namely, Ru, Jun,
Guan, Ge, and Ding. In fact, there were also Cizhou Kilns, Yaozhou Kilns,
Jingdezhen Kilns, Jianjiao Kilns, and Jizhou Kilns, as well as the Lingwu Kilns in
the West Xia Kingdom. The achievements of the kilns are described as follows.
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2.5.1 Dingjiao Kiln Porcelains in Song Dynasty Period
The central kiln of the Dingjiao Kilns was located in the Jianci Village and East/West
Yanshan Villages in the Quyang County, Hebei. These kilns emerged during the
Tang Dynasty period, prospered in the Song Dynasty period, and declined after the
Yuan Dynasty period. Dingjiao Kilns mostly made porcelains for private customers
and also made porcelains for the Court or governments in the late Northern Song
Dynasty period. The porcelains made were mostly white porcelains, such as the lotus
petal bowl, the white glaze “Guan” character cicada-pair dish unearthed in Dingzhou
and made in the 2nd year of Emperor Taizong’s reign of the Northern Song Dynasty
period (977) (with “2nd year of Tai Ping Xing Guo” indicated on the outer bottom),
the five-legged white glaze censer (censers were used to burn incenses, with a round
smoke hole in the cover, and upon incense burning, the smoke was slowly
discharged through the smoke hole), the bland and white glaze porcelain, the
white glaze lotus pattern flask unearthed south of Murong’s tomb in Dingzhou,
and the dragonhead bottle with lotus patterns. The porcelains made by the Dingjiao
Kilns had delicate, white yellowish molds.
The Dingjiao Kilns made porcelains by using the reverse burning method, where
the vessel was reversely placed in the sagger (a kiln instrument used to prevent
porcelains from being polluted by the smoke), and the bottom was coated with glaze,
while glaze was scraped off the mouth to make dry edges (glaze-free dry edges could
prevent adhesion between the mouth and the sagger), which were called “unglazed
rims.” To cover the defects of unglazed rims, gold, silver, and copper rims were
embedded to the unglazed rims, wrapping the dry edges while serving decorative
purposes. For example, the bowl with cloud and dragon patterns made by the
Dingjiao Kilns was coated with white glaze all over, and its mouth was wrapped
with a copper rim by porcelain craftsmen.
2.5.2 Cizhou Kiln Porcelains in Song Dynasty Period
Cizhou Kilns are located in the Cixian County, Handan Prefecture, Hebei, with the
central kilns located in the Guantao Town and Pengcheng Town. Emerging in the
early Northern Song Dynasty period, these kilns prospered until the Ming and Qing
Dynasty periods. Cizhou Kilns also include the Dengfeng Kilns in Henan. Their
products were utensils for everyday life, mostly white porcelains, especially the ones
with white glaze and black patterns.
Inferior raw materials were used by the Cizhou Kilns to make molds, containing a
lot of carbon. The molds were mostly gray and coarse and were made white with a
layer of engobe, which was white slurry made by the cleansing of kaolin. Calcium
alkali glaze was used for the glaze, and a limonite called “variegated stones” was
used as the colorant for the black pigment or black glaze, containing a small amount
of hematite. The sintering temperature was between 1160 and 1260 degree Celsius,
and the sintering atmosphere was primarily oxidation flames.
Cizhou Kilns used two kinds of decorative techniques:
The first was the white-background “rust glaze” technique. The white-
background “rust glaze” was an underglaze color. Examples include the vase with
a white background and entangled black floral branches and the white-glaze and
black-pattern vase made by the Cizhou Kilns in the Northern Song Dynasty period.
The decoration procedure is as follows: the body is coated with a layer of engobe;
then, the “variegated stone” pigment is used to paint on the engobe (in this case, the
“variegated stone” is directly used as the pigment); a layer of colorless glaze is
applied. And sintering is complete under a high temperature. Given the different iron
contents of “variegated stones” or the different sintering temperatures, the porcelains
can be of a white-background and black patterns or a white-background and brown
patterns. The higher the iron content or sintering temperature, the more dark-colored
the flower patterns. The flower patterns are embossed, with a distinct contrast
between black and white (or brown and white) and clear patterns.
The second was the pattern engraving technique. The decoration procedure is as
follows: A layer of white engobe is applied to the body; then, a layer of “variegated
stone” glaze is applied to the engobe layer (where “variegated stones” are mixed into the
glaze as the colorant); pattern decorations are drawn on the glaze layer, which is pattern
engraving. As engraving is carried out at different spots, two flower patterns form after
the engraving, one of which is white-background black flowers, such as the black-glaze
jars with engraved patterns made during the Northern Song Dynasty period. On these
jars, the part of the “variegated stone” glaze layer without patterns is scraped off to
expose the white engobe layer, and a layer of colorless engobe is applied to the surface
and sintered under a high temperature, with the black flower patterns in relief. The other
is black-background white flower patterns, such as the teapots with engraved flower
patterns unearthed in the Dengfeng Kiln of the Northern Song Dynasty period, where
the part of the “variegated stone” glaze layer with patterns is scraped off to expose the
white engobe layer, and a layer of colorless engobe is applied to the surface and sintered
under a high temperature, with concave white flower patterns. These jars feature a
distinct contrast between the background and patterns and clear patterns.
Besides, the pearl-background pattern technique of Cizhou Kiln is also distinc-
tive. An example is the flask with double-tiger patterns on a pearl background from
the Dengfeng Kiln of the Northern Song Dynasty period. First, double-tiger patterns
are engraved on the body, then grass patterns are engraved around the tiger patterns,
and densely arranged small circle patterns are made with a tubular tool in blank space
to make the pattern of a string of pearls, which is why this decoration technique is
called pearl-background patterns. Finally, a layer of colorless glaze is applied and
sintering is complete one-off under a high temperature.
2.5.3 Porcelains of Yaozhou Kiln During Song Dynasty Period
In terms of Yaozhou Kilns, the central kiln was in Huangbao Town, Tongchuan,
Shaanxi. These kilns originated in the Tang Dynasty period, burgeoned during the
Song Dynasty period, and continued into the Jin and Yuan Dynasty periods. Products
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were mostly green-glazed porcelains, which had an olive color and yellowish green
color or a ginger or tea yellow color if the sintering atmosphere is oxidized.
Two decoration techniques were used by Yaozhou Kilns: The first is the engrav-
ing technique. Patterns are first engraved (directly) on the body, and glaze is applied.
An example is the celadon flask with flower patterns and olive glaze unearthed in the
relic site of a Yaozhou Kiln of the Song Dynasty period; another example is the
carrot bottle with patterns in relief made by the Yaozhou Kiln during the Song
Dynasty period, and the glaze is ginger yellow. Another technique is the pattern
printing technique. An example is the bowl mold used by Yaozhou Kilns during the
Northern Song Dynasty period to print chrysanthemum patterns. This is an inner
mold used upon bowl making. The inner mold has chrysanthemum patterns, which
can be (indirectly) impressed to the inner wall of the bowl body; the glaze bowls of
Yaozhou Kilns during the Northern Song Dynasty period have ripple and swimming
four-tailed fish patterns impressed to the inner wall, and the glaze is olive.
2.5.4 Porcelains by Rujiao and Ruguan Kilns during the Song

Dynasty Period
Rujiao Kilns, also known as Linru Kilns, were distributed across the Linru County,
Henan, represented by the Yanhedian Kilns, which were private kilns. These kilns
originated in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty period and prospered until the Jin
Dynasty period. The Qingliang Temple Kiln in Fengxian County, Henan, was a
“Ruguan Kiln” making imperial celadons.
The glaze of the Rujiao and official Rujiao Kilns is a type of opalescence glaze,
which is also known as opaque glaze and has a sense of opaqueness. The darker glaze
is called “Sky Blue,” a lighter type of glaze is called “Sky Green,” and an even lighter
type is called “Moon White,” of which Sky Green is the most expensive. Official
Rujiao Kilns are characterized by the use of ice crack patterns for decorations. An
example is the gooseneck flask in the mid- and late-Northern Song Dynasty period,
bearing patterns of lotuses with fractured branches and Sky Blue glaze and full of
cracks; the small-mouth thin-neck flask of the late-Northern Song Dynasty period has
Sky Green glaze and is full of cracks; the cut-edge bowl of the early and mid-Northern
Song Dynasty period has Moon White glaze; the red-colored bowl of the late Northern
Song Dynasty period has Sky Blue glaze; the bowl of the late Northern Song Dynasty
period has Sky Green glaze; and the Rujiao Kiln porcelain bowl of the Northern Song
Dynasty period has Sky Green glaze and full of cracks.
Rujiao Kilns mostly used the fluxing material of feldspars with high sodium for
the glaze. Official Rujiao Kilns once used abate powder as the raw material for the
glaze and replaced quartz with it to make more luxurious porcelains than those made
by private kilns. Under a high temperature of 1000 degree Celsius, the iron oxide in
the Sky Blue glaze has a reduction reaction, and the glaze turns even greener as the
reduction atmosphere deepens and the temperature rises. The higher the temperature,
the darker the color. The sintering temperature of porcelains made by Rujiao Kilns is
above 1250 degree Celsius.
2.5.5 Porcelains Made by Junjiao Kilns During Song Dynasty Period
Junjiao Kilns were located in the Yuxian County, Henan, and the porcelains made by
the Baguadong Kiln were the most representative. These kilns originated in the Tang
Dynasty period, reached their heyday in the late Northern Song Dynasty period, and
continued in the Jin and Yuan Dynasty periods. Junjiao Kilns first developed around
Shengou Town, Yuxian County, and attracted the attention of the Court after
successfully making the copper red glaze. During Emperor Huizong’s reign in the
late Northern Song Dynasty period (1101–1125), official kilns were set up at
Baguadong within the northern gate of the Yuxian County to make porcelains for
the Court. In addition to celadons with Sky Blue, Sky Green, and Moon White glaze,
these official kilns also made purple-red porcelains with copper red glaze, and the
“Rose Purple” and “Begonia Red” glazes are the most typical examples. Instruments
include flower pots and flower pot holders made for the Court, such as the Rose
Purple Begonia flower pot made by a Junjiao Kiln, which has four petals from the
wall to the edge and has a main hue of rose purple mixed with red, which is bright-
colored.
Junjiao glaze is calcium alkali glaze made of feldspar, limestone, porcelain
stones, quartz, and plant ash, and the glaze contains oxides such as copper,
iron, tin, and phosphorus. Copper red glaze uses copper powder as the
colorant.
In terms of furnace, the Junjiao Kilns used two types of furnaces, namely,
round single kilns and rectangular double-connected kilns. Single kilns, also
known as single-chamber kilns, consisted of a fire chamber (combustion cham-
ber) and a kiln chamber (sintering chamber), which were connected, such as the
horseshoe-shaped up-and-down draught kilns in the Yuxian County in the early
Northern Song Dynasty period (see Fig. 2.5); double-connected kilns, also
known as connected chamber kilns, consisted of two fire chambers (combustion
chambers) and a kiln chamber (sintering chamber), which were connected, such
as the double-combustion-chamber up-and-down draught kilns in the Yuxian
County in the late Northern Song Dynasty period (see Fig. 2.6). Both kilns
were earthy kilns dug in the ground, with advantages such as good temperature
preservation performance that makes it easy to form a reduction atmosphere and
the use of firewood as the fuel, which results in a lasting flame, a stable
atmosphere, and freedom of sulfide contamination. Both kilns used the
two-step sintering method: The first step is low-temperature heating to make
the body into a crude mold, to which glaze is applied multiple times, and the
glaze layer has a thickness of up to 3 mm. The second step is high-temperature
heating of the glaze.
烟囱 Chimney 焚口 Glut arch
吸火孔 Suction hole 烧成室 Sintering chamber
燃烧室 Combustion chamber 黑门 Black gate
排气孔 Vent 红烧土屋 Braised earth house
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Fig. 2.5 Single kilns in early Northern Song Dynasty period in Yuxian County, Henan
The glaze made by Junjiao Kilns has three characteristics: First, Junjiao Kiln
glaze is high-temperature glaze, with the sintering temperature reaching over 1300
degree Celsius; second, Junjiao Kiln glaze is opalescent glaze, which has a sense of
opaqueness; third, Junjiao Kiln glaze is a kind of glaze whose color changes in the
kiln. A pure-colored vessel to which glaze is applied becomes multicolored after
exiting the kiln. The variety of colors of porcelains made by Junjiao Kilns was
complimented by ancient poetry.
Here’s why the color changes: the copper in the glaze is a valence-changing metal
highly sensitive to the sintering atmosphere. Once the atmosphere in the kiln
changes, the state of existence of copper in the glaze immediately changes, and the
copper may exist in three forms: The first is the ion state, including two-valence
copper and one-valence copper, the former of which is blue, and the latter colorless;
the second state is copper metal particles; and the third is copper compound particles,
such as red cuprites and black tenorites. Therefore, any slight change in the atmo-
sphere in the kiln causes one or more colors to disappear while generating one or
more different colors. As can be seen, when the atmosphere in the kiln changes, the
valence of the copper changes, which is the fundamental cause of change in the glaze
color. Such occasional change in the glaze color in the kiln had been mastered by
porcelain craftsmen in the Song Dynasty period.
Fig. 2.6 Double-connected

kiln in late Song Dynasty
period in Yuxian County,
Henan
By the way, some scholars believe the furnishing porcelains of Junjiao Kilns were
made in the late Yuan Dynasty period and early Ming Dynasty period, and some
might even have been made in the mid-Ming Dynasty period. Evidently, the
academia has differing opinions on the date of the furnishing porcelains of Junjiao
Kilns, which remains under discussion.
2.5.6 Longquan Kiln Porcelains in Song Dynasty Period
Longquan Kilns were located in the Longquan County, Zhejiang, with kilns in
Dajiao and Jincun making the best porcelains. These kilns originated in the early
Northern Song Dynasty period, reached their heyday in the mid-Southern Song
Dynasty period, and gradually declined after the mid-Ming Dynasty period. Their
products were mostly celadons used in everyday life and were widely sold across the
country and overseas. The plum celadons and pink celadons in the late Southern
Song Dynasty period marked the culmination of celadon glaze.
66 W. Li
The plum celadons and pink celadons are made by mixing plant ash into the
limestone glaze. As the glaze is highly adhesive and insusceptible to flowing under a
high temperature, glaze can be applied multiple times and thick glaze can be applied.
Sintered with strong reducing flames, the glaze is as green as green plum and is
translucent as jade. Examples include the green-glaze pierced-handle vase and
censer made by the Longquan Kiln in the Southern Song Dynasty period unearthed
in Suining, Sichuan, and the double-fish celadon censer made by the Longquan Kiln
in the Southern Song Dynasty period unearthed in Wuxing County, Zhejiang
(present-day Huzhou), both of which had plum green glaze and a jade-like texture.
The ladle bottle with branch-entangling peony patterns made by the Longquan Kiln
in the Southern Song Dynasty period has pink-green glaze.
Ice cracking patterns form on the surface of the Longquan Kiln celadon glaze and
become “golden silk and iron thread patterns” when contaminated or artificially
dyed. People called porcelains with “golden silk and iron thread patterns” “Gejiao.”
An example is the Gejiao fish-ear porcelain censer of the Song Dynasty period,
which has yellow glaze and “golden silk and iron thread patterns.” The cracks on
glaze appear because of the different expansion coefficients. If the difference is great,
the cracks are dense and small, and if the difference is small, the cracks are sparse,
such as the Gejiao fish-ear censer.
2.5.7 Porcelains Made by Official Kilns in Song Dynasty Period
Official kilns were kilns built by the government itself and made products for the
Court only, mostly porcelains for everyday life and furnishings. So far only one
Southern Song Dynasty official kiln was unearthed around the Tortoise Mountain in
the southern suburb of Hangzhou, called the “Jiaotan Official Kiln.” In the late
Southern Song Dynasty, official kilns began to pursue jade-like textures when
making celadons. The two-step sintering method was adopted: First, the body was
heated under a low temperature, and then three or four layers of glaze were applied to
the plain mold to form thick glaze, which was typically over 2 mm thick; finally, the
glaze was heated under a high temperature. Celadon molds used by official kilns had
high iron oxide content, which became ferrous oxide in a reducing atmosphere, and
as a result, the rims appeared gray or grayish purple where the glaze was thin. Glaze
was scraped off at the bottom to expose the mold, which appeared black brown or
dark gray. Thus, “purple rims and iron legs” came into shape. An example is the
porcelain vase made by a Southern Song official kiln, which has “purple rims and
iron legs,” and the large cracking pieces emerged on the glaze surface.
2.5.8 Porcelains of Jingdezhen Kilns in Song Dynasty Period
Jingdezhen Kilns were mostly located southeast of the Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, and the
Hutian Kiln was the largest and most representative one. These kilns originated in
the Tang Dynasty period and sold products nationwide and even overseas during the
Southern Song Dynasty period. The bulk of these was porcelains for everyday use,
most of which were green and white porcelains, which had pure white and delicate
texture, and the glaze color was between green and white, which mingled with each
other, and the glaze was as clear as lake water. With good transparency and
glossiness, the glaze could mirror and was therefore called “mirroring celadons”
by subsequent generations. An example is the vase with green and white glaze and
branch-entangling peony patterns made by the Jingdezhen Kiln in the Southern Song
Dynasty and unearthed in the Jinyu Village, Suining Prefecture, Sichuan, which has
white mold, green and white glaze, and ring legs without glaze, which exposed the
mold. Another example is the mirroring green sitting sculpture of Avalokitesvara
made by the Jingdezhen Kiln in the Southern Song Dynasty and unearthed in a well
of the Song Dynasty period in downtown Changzhou, Jiangsu. Mirroring green
glaze was applied to the outer clothing and sitting spot, with tiny, dense ice cracking
patterns and small cracking pieces, and the rest was glaze-free with the mold
exposed.
There is a mountain by the name of Kaolin Mountain 45 km northeast of
Jingdezhen Prefecture, and there is a village by the name of Kaolin Village at the
foot of the mountain. A kind of clay resistant to high temperatures abounded in the
Kaolin Mountain and could be used to make porcelain raw materials, called “kaolin
clay” by the villagers.
There are only two kinds of porcelain raw materials used by the Jingdezhen Kiln
in the Song Dynasty period: The first kind is china stones. These stones are minerals
containing mostly quartz and sericites. Hard as they are, these stones have to be
cracked with a hydraulic trip hammer and washed several times before being usable.
The Jingdezhen Kilns in the Song Dynasty period had not used kaolin clay yet and
used china stones alone as the raw materials for making the mold, called the “one-
ingredient formula.” The second kind is glaze stones and ash. The glaze stones are a
kind of unweathered or lightly weathered china stones, which had high content of
fluxing agents, namely, potassium oxide and sodium oxide. The glaze ash was made
by heating pure limestone and dicranopteris linearis (a fern plant), whose main
ingredient was calcium carbonate. White glaze was made by mixing glaze ash and
stones, and calcium oxide served as the main flux and was therefore called calcium
glaze or lime glaze.
Upon sintering porcelains, Jingdezhen Kilns always used masson pine firewood
as the fuel, which was called “kiln firewood” by the workers.
2.5.9 Porcelains Made by Shuiji Kilns in Jianyang in Song Dynasty

Period
Jianyang Shuiji Kilns, or Jianjiao Kilns for short, were located in Shuiji Town,
Jianyang County (present-day Jianyang District), Fujian, and were private kilns.
These kilns originated in the Tang Dynasty period, began to mass produce black-
glaze tea bowls in the early Song Dynasty period, and stopped production in the late
Yuan Dynasty period. The black-glaze and black-mold tea bowls of Jianjiao Kilns
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were authentic black porcelains, and bowls with yellow stripes that resembled hare
hair on the black glaze were called “hare hair bowls.” An example is the hare hair
bowl unearthed at the site of a Jianjiao Kiln of the Song Dynasty period, with vertical
yellow hare hair-like stripes on the inner and outer walls. This was crystallized glaze
and the legs were glaze-free, with the mold exposed. The brown glaze bowls of the
Jianjiao Kiln had yellow dotted hare hair patterns on the inner and outer walls, and
these dots roughly constituted vertical dotted lines. This was also crystallized glaze,
and the legs were glaze-free, with the mold exposed.
The mold and glaze of products made by the Jianjiao Kiln have high content of
iron oxide. The glaze was applied in the following way: The inner wall was
subjected to glaze shaking, and the outer wall was subjected to glaze dipping,
which was called half glazing.
The hare hair patterns of the Jianjiao Kiln were made as such: The glaze of the
Jianjiao Kiln was typically sintered in a reducing atmosphere under a temperature of
1300–1350 degree Celsius. The ferric oxide from the raw material was partially
reduced into ferroferric oxide and released oxygen, and small bubbles were retained
in the glaze liquid. When rushing to the surface, the bubbles bring ferric oxide
particles to the glaze surface. When the temperature reached over 1300 degree
Celsius, the glaze layer flowed and caused the part rich in iron to become stripes,
from which hematite crystals separated out upon cooling and formed yellow hare
hair-like stripes. In porcelain-making techniques, such hare hair glaze that naturally
forms during sintering in the kiln is called “crystallized glaze.”
2.5.10 Porcelains of Jizhou Kilns in Song Dynasty Period
Jizhou Kilns were located in the Yonghe Town, Ji’an Prefecture, Jiangxi (ancient
names: Luling and Jizhou). These kilns originated in the late Tang Dynasty period,
developed in the Northern Song Dynasty period, reached the heyday in the Southern
Song Dynasty period, and gradually declined after the Yuan Dynasty period. These
were private kilns, whose most distinctive product was black porcelains and the
representative work was a kind of glaze similar to hawksbill turtle and composed of
the mixture of two glaze colors of black and yellow. Besides, these kilns created the
first leaf patterns. Black glaze is a collective term for dark-colored glaze, which is
called “Tenmoku Glaze” by the Japanese and has multiple colors such as plain black
and brown, and iron oxide was the main colorant. Examples include the black-glaze
rain hat bowl and black-glaze teapot of the Jizhou Kiln in the Song Dynasty period,
which have plain black glaze and glaze-free legs, where the mold is exposed.
The black glaze made by the Jizhou Kiln has a high content of alkaline metals
(potassium and sodium) and alkaline-earth metals (calcium and magnesium) and low
content of aluminum oxide and iron oxide. Therefore, crystallization is not easy (it is
not easy for small hematite crystals to separate out during the production process).
That is to say, it is not easy to form crystallized glaze in the kiln. As can be seen, the
black glaze of the Jizhou Kiln is obviously different from that of the Jianjiao Kiln,
and it is fair to say there is essential difference between the two. Under this
circumstance, the porcelain craftsmen of the Jizhou Kiln could only use the two-step
glaze application method: In the first step, a layer of black glaze was applied; in the
second step, white or yellow glaze was applied by spraying glaze and paper cut to the
black glaze. After sintering, speckle glaze, hawksbill turtle glaze, and hare hair glaze
formed, all of which were manually made by the craftsmen.
Upon glaze spraying, milk white glaze of different shades was sprayed to the
black glaze, and milk white speckles formed upon completion of sintering. An
example is the black-background glaze bowl of the Jizhou Kiln, where milk white
speckles of different sizes were scattered on the inner wall; another example is the
green- and yellow-background glaze bowl with tadpole patterns. On the inner wall
are four pieces of milk white glaze tadpole patterns, and on each piece, the tadpole
heads toward the lower right, and its tail is toward the upper left. The four pieces
interlace and were supposedly made by separate spray of glaze, and the different
orientations of the tadpoles resulted from the different directions in which the
glaze drops flowed upon spray. The milk white glaze drops on the outer appear-
ance show no signs of flowing and are not tadpole patterns. In the case of the
black-glaze bowl with hawksbill turtle patterns of the Song Dynasty period, some
yellow glaze was sprayed to the black glaze to imitate the speckles on hawksbill
turtle shells with two colors of black and yellow. The yellow speckles are mostly
big chunks, and some connect into stripes. Hawksbill turtles are reptiles in tropical
and subtropical oceans. They look like turtles and their shells are yellowish
brown, with black speckles. There is an exhibition of hawksbill turtles at the
Haikou Zoo right now.
In the case of paper cut and glaze spray, paper was pasted to the black glaze to
block the glaze sprayed, and after sintering, and white or yellowish brown glaze was
absent where paper was pasted, and black patterns formed. An example is the bowl
with caltrop patterns made by the Jizhou Kiln in the Song Dynasty period. On the
black glaze on the inner wall, three pieces of paper were pasted to the black glaze of
the inner wall and arranged into a triangle formation, and yellowish brown glaze was
sprayed. After sintering, three black caltrop patterns were formed where the paper
was pasted, and yellowish brown radiating hare hair patterns were formed elsewhere.
Glaze was sprayed to the surface to form some yellowish brown speckles. It is
noteworthy that the hare hair patterns of the Jizhou Kiln were made by the spray of
glaze and were different from the crystallized glaze of the Jianjiao Kiln (naturally
forming during sintering in the kiln). If these hare hair patterns were crystallized
glaze, there would be crystallized glaze on the paper pasted on the inner wall and on
the outer wall.
The wooden leaf decoration was a glaze application technique invented by the
Jizhou Kiln. In the Southern Song Dynasty period, wooden leaf black bowls became
a new precious type of black glaze. The glaze application procedure is as follows:
The wood leaves were fermented and decayed until only veins were left on the
leaves, which were dipped in white glaze or transparent yellow glaze. The extra
glaze in the vein grids was shaken off and pasted to the black glaze. After sintering at
a high temperature, black-glaze leaf vein patterns formed. An example is the black-
glaze bowl with leaf patterns made by the Jizhou Kiln in the Song Dynasty period,
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with leaf patterns on the inner wall, and the shapes and veins of the leaves are clearly
visible. Transparent yellow glaze is present on the veins.
2.5.11 Porcelains from Lingwu Kilns in West Xia
West Xia (1038–1227) was a local regime established by the Dangxiang people in
the northwest and successively coexisted with Song (960–1279), Liao, and Jin. The
Lingwu Kilns were kilns located in Lingwu County, Ningxia. The white glaze was
made by mixing limestone and clay; the black glaze was made with a kind of local
glaze clay, and the colorant was iron oxide. The glaze was sintered with oxidizing
flames at a temperature of around 1260 degree Celsius. The white glaze was mostly
whitish yellow.
Most vessels made by the Lingwu Kiln were decorated with carved patterns, and
the procedure is as follows: A layer of white engobe was applied to the body; then, a
layer of black or brown glaze was applied; and flower patterns were engraved, and
the black or brown glaze elsewhere was scraped off to expose the white engobe and
create convex flower patterns on black or brown glaze. An example is the West Xia
flat porcelain pot with brown glaze and engraved patterns. At the center of one side,
there is large black-glaze circle pattern, and on both sides of the large circle is a
convex pattern of a black-glaze branch-entangling peony. An example is the West
Xia vase with engraved flower patterns unearthed at the site of the Lingwu Kiln,
which has black-glaze and branch-entangling peony patterns in the belly. The peony
pattern is placed within a window. The West Xia brown-glaze reel vase with peony
patterns had two openings in the belly, with one on the front and one on the back. In
each opening, there is a brown-glaze peony pattern, and brown-glaze wave patterns
are engraved outside of the openings.
2.6 Porcelains in Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasty Periods
In the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasty periods (1271–1911), the Jingdezhen Kilns in
Jiangxi boasted a full range of porcelain-making techniques of the country and were
famous for producing colored glaze porcelains and colored pattern porcelains.
During the Yuan Dynasty period, the Porcelain Bureau was set up at Jingdezhen,
which led to a conspicuous improvement of white porcelain techniques; during the
Ming Dynasty period, porcelain plants were set up at Zhushan, Jingdezhen, called
“official kilns,” which made imperial porcelains. Thence, Jingdezhen became a hub
of porcelain production in China and even the world. Since Emperor Yongle’s reign
(1403–1424) during the Ming Dynasty period, porcelains produced by the official
kilns had borne the reign titles of the ruling emperors; during the Qing Dynasty
period, imperial ware plants were set up at Jingdezhen to produce the porcelains used
in imperial palaces, and their techniques reached a culmination during the reigns of
Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, gradually declining afterward. As
said, Jingdezhen Kilns still used the “one-ingredient formula” for making porcelains
and molds during the Song Dynasty period, when china stone was used alone and
Kaolin clay was not yet used. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasty periods, Jingdezhen
Kilns began to use the “two-ingredient formula” for making porcelains and molds:
During the Yuan and Ming Dynasty periods, china stone was the main ingredient,
which was mixed with a small quantity of Kaolin clay and sintered at a temperature
of about 1250 degree Celsius; in the Qing Dynasty period, a large quantity of Kaolin
clay was added, and the sintering temperature was around 1300 degree Celsius. The
“two-ingredient formula” boasted the following advantages over the “one-ingredient
formula”: In terms of chemical composition, the content of silicon oxide was lower
and the content of aluminum oxide increased; in terms of the microscopic structure
of the mold, the content of quartz decreased, and mullite, a crystal from aluminum
and silicon forming under a high temperature, gradually increased and served as the
skeleton of the mold. As a result, the porcelain molds made by Jingdezhen Kilns
gradually approached the standards of modern hard porcelains. During the Yuan and
Ming Dynasty periods, the potassium oxide and sodium oxide contained in the glaze
of the white glaze porcelains made by Jingdezhen Kilns could serve as a fluxing
agent along with calcium oxide, and the glaze was called calcium alkali glaze.
Sometimes, potassium oxide and sodium oxide even played a greater role than
calcium oxide, and such glaze was called alkali calcium glaze.
Here’s an introduction to the main achievements in various porcelains during the
Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasty periods:
2.6.1 White-Glaze Black-Pattern or Brown-Pattern Porcelains
Iron-containing minerals were used as pigment to paint patterns on white engobe, to

which transparent glaze was applied, and colored porcelains with black or brown
patterns were then made through sintering. Examples include the white-glaze por-
celain jar with patterns of black flowers and infants frolicking and the white-
background bottle with patterns of dragons and phoenixes made by Cizhou Kilns
and found near a Yuan Dynasty period wreck under the sea at Sandaogang, Suizhong
County, Liaoning. Another example is the white-glaze bottle with brown flower
patterns made by Cizhou Kilns during the Yuan Dynasty period.
2.6.2 Blue and White Porcelains
These are also a kind of underglaze porcelains. First, patterns were drawn on the
body with “cobalt materials,” namely, cobalt minerals, then transparent glaze was
applied, and the porcelains were made through one-off sintering at 1350 degree
Celsius. As the cobalt materials were blue, these were called blue patterns. Cobalt
minerals were divided into domestic and imported ones. Cobalt minerals produced in
Yunnan were called “asbolite,” which consisted of manganese oxide, cobalt oxide,
and other minerals. Imported cobalt minerals were from the Western Regions, called
“smalt” or “Mohammedan blue materials.”
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Examples of blue pattern porcelains made during the Yuan Dynasty period
include the prunus vase with blue flower and seawater dragon patterns, the teapot
with blue flower and lion ball patterns, and the flat teapot with blue flower and
double-dragon patterns unearthed at South Yonghua Rd., Baoding.
Examples of blue pattern porcelains of the Ming Dynasty period include the blue
pattern dish with branch-entangling flower patterns, which was a masterpiece during
Emperor Yongle’s reign. The blue pattern dish with lotus patterns was a product
made by a Jingdezhen official kiln during Emperor Xuande’s reign. In the case of the
blue porcelain flask with seawater, cloud, and dragon patterns made during Emperor
Xuande’s reign and the blue porcelain dish with patterns of a phoenix getting
through a lotus made during Emperor Jiajing’s reign, the “Mohammedan blue
materials” of the Western Regions were used for the blue patterns. The blue pattern
jar with double-dragon and “shou” (longevity) character patterns made during
Emperor Jiajing’s reign was a top-quality large blue pattern porcelain of the Ming
Dynasty period. The “Mohammedan blue materials” of the Western Regions were
also used for the blue pattern jar with cloud and dragon patterns made during
Emperor Longqing’s reign. The blue pattern brush pot with person patterns was a
representative piece of work during Emperor Chongzhen’s reign in the late Ming
Dynasty period.
A large number of blue pattern porcelains were made during the Qing Dynasty
period, and the cobalt minerals produced in Zhejiang were used. An example is the
“Ode to Red Cliff” blue pattern bowl made during Emperor Kangxi’s reign (the full
text of the Ode to Red Cliff by Shi Su of the Northern Song Dynasty period was
inscribed on the bowl).
2.6.3 Underglaze Red Porcelains
Underglaze red porcelains were porcelains with red patterns beneath glaze and were
first made by the Jingdezhen Kilns during the Yuan Dynasty period. The red pigment
was made by processing the “copper pattern,” which was the thin and crispy copper
scraps that fell off when copper was heated and oxidized. The processing procedure
is as follows: The “copper pattern” is first grinded into powder; then, water is added
and stirred to make slurry, which becomes red pigment. Patterns are drawn on the
body with copper red pigment, transparent engobe is applied, and sintering is
complete in a reducing atmosphere of 1350 degree Celsius. Copper red pigment is
highly sensitive to the atmosphere and can be sintered into pure red only in a strong
reducing atmosphere. Therefore, few were made and passed down. Examples
include the underglaze red porcelain vase with branch-entangling chrysanthemum
patterns made during the Yuan Dynasty period, the underglaze red dish with branch-
entangling lotus patterns made during the Ming Dynasty period, and the underglaze
red gourd vase with “shou” character patterns made during Emperor Qianlong’s
reign in the Qing Dynasty period.
2.6.4 Contrasting Color Porcelains
Contrasting color porcelains are a kind of colored porcelains that combine under-
glaze blue and overglaze colors, of which blue is the major color. These were
luxurious colored porcelains made by the Jingdezhen Imperial Factory during the
Ming and Qing Dynasty periods, and the products made during Emperor Chenghua’s
reign in the Ming Dynasty period were the best of them. The procedure is as follows:
Patterns are drawn on sintered blue porcelains with pigment containing iron oxide
red and copper, and secondary sintering is complete in an oxidizing atmosphere. Iron
oxide red, also known as allite red, consists of iron vitriol as the raw material and is
made through calcinations and rinsing, and iron oxide is used as the colorant.
2.6.5 Five-Color Porcelains
“Five-color” means “colorful” and does not necessarily refer to all of the five colors.
In fact, all colored porcelains with three or four colors are also called “five-color”
porcelains. The procedure is as follows: Complete patterns are drawn on sintered
porcelains with red, green, yellow, blue, and purple colors; then, secondary sintering
is carried out in an oxidizing atmosphere at a lower temperature, and the sintering
temperature is around 800 degree Celsius.
Five-color porcelains can be divided into two types: The first is blue pattern five-
color porcelains, where patterns are drawn on sintered underglaze blue pattern
porcelains, which are subject to secondary sintering, such as the porcelain jar with
five-color waterweed patterns made during Emperor Jiajing’s reign in the Ming
Dynasty period; the other is on-glaze five-color porcelains, where patterns are
drawn on sintered white-glaze porcelains, which are subject to secondary sintering,
such as the five-color club vase with people patterns made during the Qing Dynasty
period and the five-color dish with flower and bird patterns made during Emperor
Kangxi’s reign, the latter of which had four openings, where four characters of
“wan,” “shou,” “wu,” and “jiang” (translator’s note – “longevity for all eternity”)
were inscribed, and on the rim of the dish, five bats were drawn, implying “great
blessings” (translator’s note – in Chinese, the term “bat” is pronounced in the same
way as “blessings”). The white-background five-color dish with dragon patterns
made during the Qing Dynasty period is a top piece of work among five-color
porcelains.
2.6.6 Plain Tricolor Porcelains
In ancient China, celebrations such as weddings and birthday banquets for senior
members of the family were called “colorful” events, where the red color was used,
and events such as funerals were called “colorless” events, where the red color was
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prohibited. Therefore, porcelains with at least three colors and without the red color
were called “plain tricolor” porcelains. An example is the plain tricolor brush pot
with seawater and dragon patterns made during the Qing Dynasty period. Using only
three colors of white, green, and yellow, it was a top piece of work among plain
tricolor porcelains during Emperor Kangxi’s reign.
2.6.7 Pink-Colored Porcelains
In the late period of Emperor Kangxi’s reign during the Qing Dynasty period,
imported pigment materials were used to make the pioneering pink-colored porce-
lains, which were increasingly mature during Emperor Yongzheng’s reign and
afterward replaced five-color porcelains to become the mainstream of Qing Dynasty
on-glaze color porcelains. Pink-colored porcelains derived their name from the
arsenic-containing white pigment in the glaze (the “glass white”). Patterns are
painted with pink pigment on the porcelains sintered at a high temperature; then,
secondary sintering is complete at a low temperature of 750 degree Celsius. Due to
the opacifying effect of arsenic oxide, various colors are made pinkish. For example,
red turns into pink, green turns into light green, and blue turns into light blue.
Besides, each color is given abundant layers. Compared with five-color porcelains,
pink-colored porcelains require a lower temperature for secondary sintering and
have softer colors, therefore also called “soft colors.” After sintering, the arsenic
oxide in the glaze has basically volatilized, and its toxicity has basically disappeared
and has little impact on human health. Pink-colored porcelains, such as the pink
color goblet with deer patterns made during Emperor Qianlong’s reign, have abun-
dantly layered colors. Another example is the pink-colored dish with butterfly
patterns made during Emperor Yongzheng’s reign, which is a top piece of work
among pink-colored porcelains; the pink-colored dish with patterns of servant girls
teasing infants made during Emperor Yongzheng’s reign is a representative piece of
work of pink-colored porcelains; the pink-colored dish with branch-crossing peach
patterns made during Emperor Yongzheng’s reign is a masterpiece among pink color
porcelains made by official kilns; the pink-colored lantern goblet with chrysanthe-
mum patterns made during Emperor Qianlong’s reign was a masterpiece among
pink-colored porcelains; and the flattened angle pink-colored flower pot with pat-
terns of various flowers made during Emperor Qianlong’s reign represented the
technique of pink color.
While porcelains were one of the great inventions in ancient China, historical
works on porcelain-making techniques were numbered. The earliest work was Tao Ji
(《陶记》) by Qi Jiang, written in the Southern Song Dynasty period (1127–1279) and
later included in the Fulian County Annals published in the 21st year of Emperor
Kangxi’s reign (1682). And there was Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) by Yingxing
Song in the tenth year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign (1637). These works recorded
the porcelain-making technique of Jingdezhen and were translated into foreign
languages and introduced to the West. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
Chinese porcelain workers and technicians also went abroad to make porcelains, and
as a result, the porcelain technique of Jingdezhen was spread overseas.
2.7 Conclusion
The main achievements of porcelain techniques in ancient China are summarized as

follows:
2.7.1 Five Milestones in History of Porcelain Techniques in Ancient

China
(1) In the late Old Stone Age, humans invented potteries, which were the first
artificial items that had not existed in nature. The invention of potteries brought
about significant changes in humanity’s life and production.
(2) In the Xia Dynasty period, hard potteries with patterns emerged, and in the
Shang Dynasty period, primitive porcelains emerged, marking the transition
from pottery-making to porcelain-making techniques.
(3) Yue Kiln celadons, a kind of mature porcelains, emerged during the Eastern Han
Dynasty period, ushering in the era of porcelain making.
(4) White porcelains emerged during the Northern Qi Dynasty period, and white
porcelain production techniques were mature in the Tang Dynasty period,
forming the landscape of “southern celadons and northern white porcelains.”
White porcelains were the foundation and prerequisite for subsequent genera-
tions’ creation of colored pattern porcelains.
(5) From the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty periods, colored glaze porcelains
and colored pattern porcelains achieved glorious achievements: Examples of
colored glaze porcelains include the copper red-glaze porcelains by Junjiao
Kilns and the black-glaze porcelains by Jianjiao and Jizhou Kilns and Lingwu
Kilns of West Xia in the Song Dynasty period and the red-glaze (including bright
red, gem red, and coral red), yellow glaze, and green glaze after the Ming
Dynasty period; color pattern porcelains include porcelains with white glaze
and black patterns or brown patterns, blue patterns, glaze red, contrasting colors,
five colors, plain tricolors, and pink colors.
2.7.2 Four Great Breakthroughs of Porcelain Techniques in Ancient

China
(1) A breakthrough in the selection of the raw material for the mold. In the past,
ordinary fusible clay was used as the raw material for making potteries,
restricting the sintering temperature. Starting with primitive porcelains, heat-
resistant materials were used. In the Shang and Zhou Dynasty periods, porcelain
clay was used. In the Song Dynasty period, Kaolin was used by northern kilns as
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the raw material, and china stone was used by southern kilns as the raw material,
called the “one-ingredient formula.” In the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasty
periods, Jingdezhen Kilns used china stone and Kaolin clay as raw materials,
which were called the “two-ingredient formula.” With the use of the “two-
ingredient formula,” the porcelain mold gradually approached the standards of
modern hard porcelains.
(2) A breakthrough in the method of body forming. This breakthrough was demon-
strated in the wheel method and the mold method: On the one hand, the fast
wheel pottery-making technique emerged in the final stage of the late New Stone
Age and reached its first culmination in the late period of the era when bronze
and stones were used together and its second culmination in the Han Dynasty
period; on the other hand, the inner mold method emerged during the late period
of the era when bronze and stones were used together, and the outer mold
method emerged during the Warring Kingdoms period and reached the level of
component standardization in the Han Dynasty period. The use of the wheel
method and the mold method quickly improved the productivity of pottery
handicraft industry.
(3) A breakthrough in kiln construction and sintering temperature.
The breakthrough in kiln construction began with the half up-and-down
draught kilns and the flat draught kilns that emerged in the Shang Dynasty
period, and both types of kilns improved and developed during the Zhou and
Han Dynasty periods. The breakthrough in the sintering temperature started with
the primitive porcelains in the Shang and Zhou Dynasty periods, reaching 1100
to 1200 degree Celsius; in the case of Yue Kiln celadons in the Eastern Han
Dynasty period, the sintering temperature reached 1310 degree Celsius, and the
porcelain technique was mature; the Xingjiao Kilns’ white porcelains in the
Tang Dynasty period had a sintering temperature of 1260 to 1370 degree
Celsius, and with the increase in the sintering temperature, the hardness,
mechanical strength, and density of porcelains increased accordingly.
(4) A breakthrough in glaze formation and development. This breakthrough was
made in high-temperature and low-temperature glaze. On the one hand, high-
temperature calcium glaze appeared on primitive porcelains in the Shang and
Zhou Dynasty periods; on the other hand, low-temperature lead glaze emerged
in the Western Han Dynasty period. Porcelain craftsmen added all kinds of metal
oxidants into the glaze as the colorant and colored glaze porcelains formed;
besides, all kinds of metal mineral pigment were used on or under the glaze for
painting, and colored pattern porcelains formed.
The Invention and Evolution
of the Compass 3
Zengjian Guan and Xin Bai
Contents
3.1 The Discovery of Magnetic Directivity and Polarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3.2 Looking for New Magnetized Materials and the Discovery of Declination . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.3 The Compass and How to Erect One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.4 Discussion on Compass Theory by the Ancient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3.4.1 The Induction Theory Based on Yin-Yang and the Five-Element Theory . . . . . . . 89
3.4.2 Influence of Azimuth Coordinate System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
3.4.3 The Compass Theory Born Under the Influence of Western Learning . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.4.4 The Chinese Narration of the Western Compass Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.4.5 Ferdinand Verbiest’s Compass Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
3.4.6 The Influence of Ferdinand Verbiest’s Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
3.5 The Application and Dissemination of the Compass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Abstract
The compass is an important invention of ancient China that reflects the ancients’
emphasis on direction. The ancients used compasses in military affairs, naviga-
tion, and divination. This chapter illustrates the discovery of magnetic directivity
and polarity, as well as the application and dissemination of the compass.
Keywords
Compass · Ancient China · Direction · Dissemination of the compass · Polarity
Ferdinand Verbiest’s theory · Navigation technology
Z. Guan (*)
School of History and Culture Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
X. Bai
Elementary Education College, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_3
78 Z. Guan and X. Bai
The compass is an important invention of ancient China that reflects the ancients’
emphasis on direction. The ancients used compasses in military affairs, navigation,
and divination. Later on, the compass was introduced into Europe and played an
irreplaceable role in the great discovery of navigation in Europe; this is a universally
recognized historical fact. Therefore, the compass is known as one of the four great
inventions of ancient China. In the history of navigation technology, the compass,
which is also the oldest instrument in electromagnetic research, is the single most
important invention – all kinds of modern meters can be traced back to it. After the
invention of the compass, the Chinese also explored the compass theory, the
development of which was influenced by Western science in the late Ming and
early Qing Dynasties. Although the world recognized that the compass was invented
in ancient China, there are still many controversies in the academic circle about the
process and time of its invention. This chapter sorts out the history behind the
invention and evolution of compass, hoping to help readers understand this problem.
3.1 The Discovery of Magnetic Directivity and Polarity
In ancient society, the compass was originally made of lodestone. In order to invent
the compass, one must first understand the magnet and the related magnetic phe-
nomena, especially the magnetic directivity and polarity. The ancient Chinese knew
about magnets long ago; for a long time, they called them “loving stones.” Later, the
word “ci” (慈 loving) was changed into the word “ci” (磁 magnetic), indicating that
it was a special ore. Some also call magnets “xuanshi” (玄石 mysterious stone),
where “xuan” means “magic,” but the name is not commonly used.
People realized first that magnet can attract iron. The term “loving stone” means
that the magnet’s ability to attract iron is like a loving mother attracting her children.
Most of the early legends about magnets are about magnets attracting iron. It is said
that in the Qin Dynasty’s imperial palace of Chang’an, special doors made of
magnets were used to capture assassins with iron blades. Many ancient books have
recorded the observation and explanation of the phenomenon of magnet attracting
iron, for example, Lv Shi Chun Qiu (《吕氏春秋》), which was written in the Warring
States Period, mentioned magnetic attraction. Huai Nan Zi (《淮南子》), a book
written in the Western Han Dynasty, expanded on the attraction of magnets to
iron: “The lodestone can attract iron, but you cannot make it attract pieces of
pottery,”(Huan Nan Zi Lan Ming Xun) and “the lodestone can attract iron but has
no effect on copper.” (Huan Nan Zi Shuo Shan Xun) The author of the book
mentioned in another place that a small piece of magnetite could be attracted by
iron when it is held above it.
The ancients not only observed the phenomenon of magnetic attraction but also
discussed its causes. In Lun Heng (《论衡》), Wang Chong (王充) of the Eastern Han
Dynasty mentioned the phenomenon of “corresponding to the same qi (气),” indi-
cating that objects such as magnetite, hawksbill, and amber can “interact” with
certain objects. Wang Chong believed that the existence of these phenomena can
prove the rationality of “induction,” an idea of the action at a distance.
3 The Invention and Evolution of the Compass 79
It is easy to understand that the ancients were able to discover the attraction of
magnets to iron; magnets have two different poles, which are easy to find, and if you
take two magnets and play with them for a long time, you can always find the two
poles. However, we do not know how the ancients discovered the polarity of
magnets – after all, in the era when the compass was invented, the Chinese did not
even have a grasp of how the earth worked. How could they find the corresponding
relationship between the magnetic poles and the geography of the south pole and
north pole? The ancients did, however, discover that magnets have the specific
property of directivity. What we can do now is search ancient books in order to
roughly understand when the ancients discovered this characteristic of the magnet
and thus have direction in making the original magnetic pointer.
The original form of magnetic pointer was sinan (司南, south-pointer or south-
controller). These records can be traced back to the pre-Qin period; the oldest one is
the reference in Gui Gu Zi (《鬼谷子》). It says:
When the people of Zheng go out to collect jade, they ride south-pointing carriages so as not
to lose their way. People assess abilities, probabilities, and situations in the similar way as
that to use a sinan. (Gui Gu Zi Mou)
Wang Zhenduo (王振铎), a mechanical expert and an ancient historian of science

and technology, has made an inquiry into this record of Gui Gu Zi. Wang argues that
the word “carriage” here has a unique meaning – he regards this as a typical case where
scribes or editors, unskilled in geomancy, had heard only “the carriage” and thought
that every reference to south-pointing must refer to that. Thus, it can be seen that the
meaning of this passage from Gui Gu Zi is “putting sinan on the carriage,” not “a
carriage using sinan to point out directions,” that is, it is not referring to a south-
pointing carriage. Things that can be pulled by a car, moved around, and determine
direction, under the technical conditions at that time, could only be pointing devices
made of magnets. Therefore, if the record of Gui Gu Zi is credible, the Chinese
discovered magnetic directivity and polarity as early as the pre-Qin period.
There are also some remarks about sinan in Han Fei Zi (《韩非子》), in which Han
Fei (韩非) wrote: “Subjects encroach upon the ruler and infringe on his prerogatives
like creeping dunes and piled-up slopes. This makes the prince forget his position
and confuse west and east until he really does not know where he stands. So the
ancient kings set up a south-pointer, in order to distinguish between the directions of
dawn and sunset.” (Han Fei: Han Fei Zi You Du)
Because the expression “set up” is used in this sentence and the magnetic pointer
does not need to be “set up” to be used, Han Fei’s remark may also refer to the method
of measuring the azimuth by using a vertical rod to measure the shadow. On the other
hand, in ancient literature, sinan can also refer to a south-pointing carriage, so there
needs to be special explanation that sinan is not the proper name for a magnetic pointer.
Out of various documents that refer to sinan, a passage by Wang Chong (王充) of
the Eastern Han Dynasty deserves special attention:
When a spoon-like sinan is thrown to the ground, its handle will point south. Sinan with this
type of property can only be a magnetic pointer. (Wang Chong: Lun Heng Shi Ying Pian)
However, is it true that the magnet will point south by itself after being made into
the shape of a spoon and put on the ground? The answer is no, because there is too
much friction on the ground. In fact, the word “ground” here does not refer to the
earth but refers to the earth-plate of the ancient diviner’s board. The diviner’s board
was invented by people from the Qin and Han Dynasties and can be used for games
and divination. It consists of upper and lower plates, i.e., a square “earth-plate”
(symbolizing earth) and a round “heaven-plate” (symbolizing heaven). The “heaven-
plate” can pivot around the center, with 24 directions engraved around it and a
symbol of the Big Dipper engraved in the center. There are also 24 directions
engraved on an inner ring of the “earth-plate.” Therefore, people would polish the
lodestone into a spoon-shaped sinan and put it on the site when using it. After the
rotating sinan is stabilized, its long handle “di” (柢 root) will point south.
The fragments of two diviner’s boards were unearthed in a Han tomb. They were
carved out of wood and painted with lacquer. One of the heaven-plates was marked
with a date, indicating that the time of the plate’s burial with its owner was not earlier
than 69 AD. This happened in the same era as Wang Chong’s mention of the
sinanshao (司南勺, south-controlling spoon). There were also spoons in the tomb.
Although these spoons were not made out of magnets, they were easy to rotate when
balanced, with the bottom part facing downward. According to these records, Wang
Zhenduo successfully restored the sinan of the Han Dynasty (see Fig. 3.1).
In addition to Wang Chong’s records, Wei Zhao (韦肇) also wrote Piao Fu (《瓢
赋》) during the Tang Dynasty. In this book, he said that if one places such a spoon on
the platform and it rotates, it will indicate the direction due south. This shows that
people at that time were already using sinan that were made of magnets.
The kind of sinan recorded by Wang Chong has not been unearthed so far, but
there are pictures of suspected spoon-shaped sinan on some portrait stones from the
Han Dynasty (see Fig. 3.2), which confirms the credibility of Wang Chong’s records
from one perspective.
Because there was no magnetization technology at that time, sinanshao can only
be a spoon made out of magnet rather than a magnetized iron spoon. Although such
spoons can overcome resistance and rotate on the earth-plate (see the model in
Fig. 3.1), they also need certain conditions to happen. For example, the results are
better when they rotate on bronze earth-plates, while the effect is poor if put on
hardwood earth-plates. Moreover, even on bronze earth-plates, the friction between
the bottom of sinanshao and the earth-plate will affect pointing accuracy to a large
Fig. 3.1 Sinan model of Han

Dynasty restored by Wang
Zhenduo
Fig. 3.2 The main body of the Han Dynasty stone relief hidden in Zurich’s Ritzburg Museum
shows jugglers and acrobats performing. The figures in the top row are the imperial audience. On
the small square table in the top right corner is a large ladle, suspected to be made out of sinan (see
the small illustration next to the picture). A kneeling person is observing it. This picture is taken
from Joseph Needham’s Science and Civilisation in China, Physics Volume
extent. Therefore, the use of this magnetic directing device is greatly limited. To
have a suitable magnetic sinan, the people must improve it.
3.2 Looking for New Magnetized Materials and the Discovery

of Declination
To improve the pointing effect of sinan, magnetized materials must first be

improved. The ancients began by looking for magnets with stronger magnetism. In
order to determine the mass of magnets, the Chinese in the fifth century began to
describe them quantitatively when measuring their magnetic strength. Lei Gong Pao
Zhi Lun (《雷公炮炙论》), a specialized book on medicine, states:
For any magnetic stone of 500 grams, one that attracts 500-gram iron pieces is called
“yanniansha” (延年沙); one that attracts 400-gram iron pieces is called “xumoshi” (续末
石); one that attracts 250-gram iron pieces is called “cishi” (磁石 magnet).
As can be seen, the ancients realized that different magnetic stones had different
powers of attraction. Sinan made from stones with a strong attraction power will
have a better guiding effect. As a result of the exploration, the ancients found a
method of estimating magnetism by measuring the weight of the attracted iron; this
undoubtedly had reference value for sinan production.
However, even if the spoon-shaped sinan is polished from a magnet with strong
attraction power, its pointing effect is difficult to guarantee. Moreover, sinan of this
shape is easily demagnetized by vibrations and other factors; once demagnetized, the
people were unable to magnetize it under their ancient conditions. Therefore, it was
imperative to find new magnetized materials.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, Grand Councilor Zeng Gongliang (曾公亮)
led the compilation of a military book, Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》), which
mentioned a device called “the south-pointing fish.” The book explicitly mentioned a
method of magnetizing iron:
When troops encountered gloomy weather or dark nights and the directions of space could not
be distinguished, they let an old horse go before them and take the lead; or else they made use
of the south-pointing carriage, or the south-pointing fish to identify directions. Now the
carriage method has not been handed down, but in the fish method a thin leaf of iron is cut
into the shape of a fish two inches long and half an inch broad, with a pointed head and tail. It is
then heated in a charcoal fire, and when it has become thoroughly red-hot, it is taken out by the
head with iron tongs and placed so that its tail points due north. In this position it is quenched
with water in a basin, so that its tail is submerged for several tenths of an inch. It is then kept in
a tightly closed box. To use it, a small bowl filled with water is set up in a windless place, and
the fish is laid as flat as possible upon the water-surface so that it floats, whereupon its head will
point south. (Zeng Gongliang: Wu Jing Zong Yao (First Album, the 15th Volume))
The record of Wu Jing Zong Yao contains rich scientific connotation. From the
perspective of modern scientific knowledge, an iron sheet is not magnetic on the
outside, because the arrangement of small magnetic domains contained in it is
disordered. When the iron sheet is heated in a fire and the temperature reaches the
Curie point (600–700 degrees Celsius), the small magnetic domains contained in the
iron sheet disintegrate, and the iron sheet becomes a paramagnetic body. While the
iron sheet cools sharply under this condition, the small magnetic domains will be
regenerated, arranging and fixing themselves along the direction of the geomagnetic
field while it is in action. At this point, the iron sheet becomes wholly magnetic to the
outside world. Therefore, Zeng Gongliang’s record shows that the people actually
used the geomagnetic field to magnetize the iron sheet, which was a major break-
through in the search for new magnetized materials. Considering that the Chinese
people in this era did not even know the shape of the earth and its geomagnetic field,
it is really incredible that they were able to make such an invention.
Although the production of the south-pointing fish recorded in Wu Jing Zong Yao
is rich in scientific principles, it is rather weak in magnetism, and the pointing
accuracy of its round fish heads is also greatly limited. In this way, it has the same
defects as the spoon-shaped sinan.
A magnetization method with real practical value was recorded by Shen Kuo
(沈括), who was of the same generation as Zeng Gongliang, in his book Meng Xi Bi
Tan (《梦溪笔谈》). Shen Kuo’s method is simple to use and can generate good
magnetization effects. Additionally, its pointing accuracy can be ensured by pointing
with a needle. From then on, sinan became a compass, or a south-pointing needle, in
the true sense of the word; moreover, the practice of pointing with a needle was also
inherited and carried forward by later generations. To this day, except for the digital
instrument panel, all kinds of instruments still use a pointer to indicate measurement
results.
Because of the high pointing accuracy of the pointer, people found out immedi-
ately after the compass was invented that its pointing direction was sometimes not
due south, which led to the discovery of magnetic declination. After recording the
magnetization method of “grinding the needle front with a magnet,” Shen Kuo then
described that “it often points slightly to the east rather than pointing completely due
south,” and what he described was the declination.
Actually, Yang Weide (杨维德), who lived earlier than Shen Kuo, had already
recorded the existence of the compass and magnetic declination in his book Ying
Yuan Zong Lu (《茔原总录》), written in the first year of Qingli (1041). He wrote that
when the magnetic needle is at rest, it points to the areas between positions bing (丙)
and wu (午) of the 24 positions (Yang Weide: Ying Yuan Zong Lu (Volume 1)) – this
is equivalent to 7.5 degrees southeast, as it is now called. This is consistent with Shen
Kuo’s meaning of “slightly to the east,” but Yang Weide’s statement predates Shen
Kuo’s and is more accurate in describing the declination.
A while ago, some scholars pointed out that the understanding of the declination
should come from no later than the Huang Chao Uprising in the Tang Dynasty. At
that time, the court of the Tang Dynasty was in chaos, and one of the officials in the
Directorate of Astronomy, Yang Junsong (杨筠松), was stranded among the people.
He had first proposed that the meridian pointed to by the magnetic needle was
inconsistent with what was measured by the guidepost; this discovery predates Meng
Xi Bi Tan by 200 years. (Wang Lixing: “Fang Wei Zhi Du Kao,” Zhong Guo Tian
Wen Xue Shi Wen Ji (Volume 5), Science Press, 1989). However, due to the unknown
origin of Yang Junsong and the fact that these legends were mostly from geo-
mancers, making it hard to believe, the statement that Yang Junsong invented the
magnetic needle and discovered the declination can only be regarded as a legend.
Kou Zongshi (寇宗奭), who came later than Shen Kuo, also mentioned in his
work Ben Cao Yan Yi (《本草衍义》) that:
Magicians rub the point of a needle with the lodestone; then it is able to point to the south.
But it always inclines slightly to the east, and does not point directly at the south. It is best to
suspend it by a single cocoon fibre of new silk attached to the center of the needle by a piece
of wax the size of a mustard-seed—then, hanging in a windless place, it will always point to
the south. Put the needle across the lamp center and make it float on the surface of water, and
it also points south—but it often deviates from the position of bing. The reason might be that
bing refers to a big fire while gengxin (庚辛), which stands for gold, is restrained by it. This
shows the mutual influences of things. (Kou Zongshi: Ben Cao Yan Yi (Volume 5))
In response to the remarks of Kou Zongshi, Dr. Joseph Needham, a British

historian of science, points out clearly that “at first sight this passage seems to be
but a repetition of what Shen Kuo had said thirty years earlier, but two things were
added. Kou Zongshi gives what was long supposed to be the earliest known
description of the water compass, so characteristic of all the oldest (but later)
European accounts. Secondly, he not only gives a quite precise measure of the
declination, but adds an attempted explanation for it.” (Joseph Needham, translated
by Lu Xueshan et al. Science and Civilisation in China (Volume IV, Part I), Science
Press, 2003: 235). This passage mentions not only the magnetization method but
also the discovery of the declination, as well as the method of erecting a compass.
Over time, the declination was reflected in the compass design of the Chinese.
They were distributed on concentric circles and have been preserved to this day. In
the records and discussions of Shen Kuo and Kou Zongshi, they had general
descriptions of the directivity of magnets, as well as descriptions of the declination
phenomenon. With regard to the literature on the declination, Chinese scholar and
sinologist Alexander Wylie, in the second half of the nineteenth century, attributed
the honor of observing the declination for the first time to Monk Yixing (一行), who
was believed to discover it in 720 AD. Unfortunately, the documents that he cited
have not been found. However, two other documents mentioned that the magnetic
needle pointed to the east. One is Guan Shi Di Li Zhi Meng (《管氏地理指蒙》),
which was written in the late Tang Dynasty. In this document, we can see:
The lodestone follows a maternal principle. The needle is struck out from the iron (originally
a stone) and the nature of mother and son is that each influences the other, and they
communicate together. The nature of the needle is to return to its original completeness.
As its body is very light and straight, it must indicate straight lines. It responds to the chhi by
orientation, being central to the earth and deviating in various directions. (To the south) it
points to the Hsüan-Yuan constellation, hence to the hsiu Hsing (and therefore to) the hsiu
Hsü (in the north), along the axis Ting-Kuei.
According to this passage, it can be seen that the declination was some 15 E.
Another early document that has mentioned magnetic declination is Jiu Tian Xuan
Nu Qing Nang Hai Jiao Jing (《九天玄女青囊海角经》), which was written in the
second half of the tenth century.
Wang Ji (王伋), a contemporary of Shen Kuo, has also mentioned the declination. He
wrote in one of his poems that “Between Xu and Wei points clearly the needle’s path, but
to the south there is Zhang, which rides upon all three.” (Wu Wanggang: Luo Jing Jie,
introduction part). The direction referred to in this verse is clearly the astronomical north-
south, but it can be seen by looking at a geomantic compass that the southern Zhang is so
broad that it can include all the three “souths.” Therefore, the specific figures in his
references of the declination still need deliberation. Wang Ji, whose main works
appeared between 1030 and 1050, was the founder of the Fujian School of Geomancers.
In 1189, Zeng Sanyi (曾三异) of the Song Dynasty wrote in his book Yin Hua Lu
(《因话录》) that there must be some place on the earth’s surface where the declina-
tion is found to be zero. His argument was quite insightful, and, in fact, there is a line
of null declination. Even so, what he said was only an inspired guess and was of little
help to the later generations for understanding the theories of the declination.
We know that the slow change of the declination with time was not clearly
understood until the eighteenth century. It is now clear that, in the sixteenth century,
people during the Ming Dynasty had come to the understanding that the declination
was different in different locations. However, it was not until the eighteenth century
that a clear record of the declination also changing with time existed.
3.3 The Compass and How to Erect One
After the ancients made the compass, the first consideration was how to erect it. After
describing the above methods, Shen Kuo tried several different installation methods,
also known as the famous Shen Kuo Four Methods (see Fig. 3.3). Among the four
Fig. 3.3 The four compass erection methods tried by Shen Kuo
methods, the water floating method has been tried with the south-pointing fish by
Zeng Gongliang; the south-pointing fish recorded in Wu Jing Zong Yao was “lying
flat on the water to make it float.” It must have been that the maker made the iron
leaves in the shape of fish slightly concave in the middle so that it could float on the
water like a small boat. However, even so, it is difficult to avoid the defect that
“floating on the water causes more swaying,” mentioned by Shen Kuo. Shen Kuo
was most satisfied with the fourth method – that is, the silk suspending method – but
it did not have any practical value. Like the “water floating method,” it was not stable
enough. The people needed to explore new methods of compass erection.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, new progress was made for the erection of the
compass. Chen Yuanliang (陈元靓) of the Southern Song Dynasty described two
kinds of compasses in Shi Lin Guang Ji (《事林广记》) (written from 1100 to 1250):
They (the magicians) cut a piece of wood into the shape of a fish, as big as one’s thumb, and
make a hole in its belly, into which they neatly fit a piece of lodestone, filling up the cavity
with wax. Into this wax a needle bent like a hook is fixed. Then when the fish is put in the
water it will of its nature point to the south, and if it is moved with the finger it will return
again to its original position.
They also cut a piece of wood into the shape of a turtle, and arrange it in the same way as
before, only that the needle is fixed at the tail end. A bamboo pin about as thick as the end of
a chopstick is set up on a small board, and sustains the turtle by the concave under-surface of
its body, where there is a small hole. Then when the turtle is rotated, it will always point to
the north, which must be due to the needle at the tail. (Chen Yuanliang: “Shen Xian Huan
Shu,” Shi Lin Guang Ji (Volume 10))
The two devices recorded in the quotation are the forerunners of what later
generations called the “floating needle (floating compass)” and the “dry needle
(dry-pivoted compass)” (Fig. 3.4 shows the restoration diagram). The floating
水浮法 The water floating method

指爪法 The fingernail balancing method
碗唇法 The bowl-rim balancing method
缕悬法 The silk suspending method
放大 Enlarge
Fig. 3.4 The south-pointing fish and the south-pointing turtle described in Shi Lin Guang Ji (《事林
广记》)
中文英文
侧面 Side
木鱼 Wooden fish
蜡 Wax
磁石 The lodestone
剖面 Section
木龟 Wooden turtle
磁石 The lodestone
蜡 Wax
针 Needle
竹钉 Bamboo pin
木板 Board
compass (also known as the floating needle compass) was developed from the south-
pointing fish in Wu Jing Zong Yao. The fish here were woodcut and naturally had no
consequences with being swung on the water surface, so it was a relatively mature
structure. Since then, water needles have been popular in China. However, the
people used the method of putting small sticks on magnetic needles, replacing the
wood-carved fish and making it more practical.
The “south-pointing turtle” recorded in Shi Lin Guang Ji was the pioneer of the
dry-pivoted compass that came in later generations. It was also popular because of its
small friction level and flexible rotation with the support of a bamboo nail. Later on,
people developed it into a pivot bearing type, which then became a simple
dry-pivoted compass. In May 1985, in the tomb of Zhu Jinan (朱济南), Wenquan
Township, Linchuan County, Jiangxi Province, a 22.2-cm-high figurine named

“Zhang Xianren” (张仙人 Immortal Zhang) holding a compass was unearthed. As
shown in Fig. 3.5, the method used in the magnetic needle device of this compass
model is different from that of Song Dynasty’s floating needle in that it has an
obvious circular hole in the center of its rhombus needle, which vividly shows the
structure of pivot support. The burial time of the tomb was the fourth year of
Qingyuan in the Southern Song Dynasty (1198). It can be seen that shortly after
the advent of the dry-pivoted compass, the Chinese developed it into a pivot type.
The dry-pivoted compass was later introduced into Europe via Arabia and was
developed into maturity there; what Columbus and the others used on their ocean
voyages was the dry-pivoted compass. However, in China, where it originated,
sailors had been using the floating compass for many centuries, which may be
because it had become a habit. Additionally, it was easier to make a floating compass
than a dry compass, so the people always had a special liking toward the floating
compass.
The mariner’s compass was developed from the geomancy compass. The
ancient mariner’s compass looks like a bronze plate in the shape of a bowl, with
a hollow center to hold water so that the magnetic needle can float. The bowl is
inscribed with Chinese characters indicating the different directions. To determine
whether the ship is going along the given course, the helmsman must hold a
compass in his hand so that the direction of the ship’s travel is strictly in line
with the invisible axis of the compass surface, which was a straight line from the
bow to the stern (Fig, 3.6).
Fig. 3.5 The unearthed

porcelain figurine holding a
dry-pivoted compass, from
the Southern Song Dynasty
Fig. 3.6 A floating compass

of bronze, Ming Dynasty
(there are 24 compass points
on the outer band and 8 gua
(卦) on the inner. The south is
at the top
Although China had a description of the dry-pivoted compass as early as the

twelfth century, it was not applied to sea-going ships but was introduced into Europe,
who further improved it. For example, they installed a light card on a magnetic
needle supported by a pivot, which was marked with the direction the compass
needed to indicate, and then sealed them into a round box. When the magnetic needle
rotated, the card rotated along with it, which meant that the orientation marked on the
card was always centered on due south. This kind of card is called the compass card.
When navigating, the crew can read the ship’s course directly from the compass card
by looking at the angle between the magnetic needle and the ship’s central axis; it
was very convenient to use.
This form of the dry-pivoted compass was brought back to the East by the Dutch
and Portuguese after the sixteenth century and was reintroduced into China, its
birthplace; the compass card was also introduced along with it. In 1906, in order
to overcome the swing of the magnetic needle when the pivot-supported compass
was used, especially after the vibration of a fired gun, the British Royal Navy
removed the old-fashioned rotary compass and replaced it with various floating
compasses.
3.4 Discussion on Compass Theory by the Ancient
The Chinese not only invented the compass but also had a unique theoretical
discussion on it. These discussions have gone through different historical stages.
3.4.1 The Induction Theory Based on Yin-Yang and the Five-

Element Theory
It is still a mystery when the Chinese scholars began to discuss the compass
theory. What we know is that in the middle of the eleventh century, the great
scientist Shen Kuo said in Meng Xi Bi Tan that he was puzzled by the ability of the
compass to point south. (Shen Kuo: Meng Xi Bi Tan (Volume 24, Miscellaneous
Annal 1))
The reason why Shen Kuo did not understand the principle of the compass was
that he did not delve into it. However, the fact that Shen Kuo himself did not have an
in-depth discussion on the compass theory does not mean that people before him or
his contemporaries had not done any research on it. Perhaps such discussion had
already existed, but he did not know of it.
The earliest ancient book explaining the principle of the compass that can be seen
now is probably Guan Shi Di Li Zhi Meng (《管氏地理指蒙》). In the book, there is
an article entitled “Shi Zhong” (释中), in which we find the following:
The lodestone follows a maternal principle. The needle is struck out from the iron (originally
a stone) and the nature of mother and son is that each influences the other, and they
communicate together. The nature of the needle is to return to its original completeness.
As its body is very light and straight, it must indicate straight lines. It responds to the chhi by
orientation, being central to the earth and deviating in various directions. (To the south) it
points to the Hsüan-Yuan constellation, hence to the hsiu Hsing (and therefore to) the hsiu
Hsü (in the north), along the axis Ting-Kuei.
The original book has a note at the bottom of this passage. The logic behind it is
the magnetic needle is made of iron, which belongs to the element of gold.
According to the five-element theory, gold produces water, and the north belongs
to water. Therefore, the water in the north is the son of gold. Iron is produced by a
magnet, which is bred by the yangqi (阳气 sun’s qi), which belongs to fire and is
located in the south; thus, the south is equivalent to the mother of a magnetic needle.
In this way, the magnetic needle should not only care for the mother but also cherish
its children, naturally pointing to the north-south direction. In this explanation,
yangqi plays an important connecting role. Magnets are bred from the sun’s qi,
and producing iron from magnets also requires the sun’s qi, so sun’s qi is their
common mother. Since magnetic needles are interlinked with their nature and
inspired by yangqi, they naturally point to the position where yang is located, i.e.,
due south. In this way, magnetic needles will, of course, also point due south. As for
why some magnetic needles point to the north, it is because the magnet itself also has
an “orientation to yin and yang.” When the yin side of the magnet is placed in the
south position, its yang side will be in the north, which reverses the yin and yang;
then the magnetic needle milled with it will point the north. Obviously, the argument
of this passage is based on the theory that the same qi correspond with each other,
which was derived from the theory of yin and yang. Moreover, the decisive factor
here leading to the compass pointing south is in the sky, which is shown by the
phrases “along the axis Ting-Kuei” and “the sky is fixed and unchangeable.” This
was also a common characteristic of the compass theory in its early stages, both at
home and abroad.
From a physics perspective, the explanation of the compass principle in Guan Shi
Di Li Zhi Meng is completely fantastic: iron is smelted from iron ore, which is not a
magnet, and generating a magnet has nothing to do with the so-called qi of yin-yang.
Therefore, this record has no scientific value. However, when science develops to a
certain stage, people always explain the behavior of things by their properties; this is
a common practice in both China and the West. Since the yin-yang theory was
prosperous in ancient China, it was natural and not surprising at all for the people to
combine it with the explanation of the compass principle.
There are different understandings as to when Guan Shi Di Li Zhi Meng was
written. Joseph Needham thinks it may be a work of the late Tang Dynasty;
however, Liu Bingzheng (刘秉正) and others pointed out in response to Joseph
Needham’s statement that “no historical literature has ever recorded this book
except Song Shi Yi Wen Zhi (《宋史·艺文志》), which mentioned the book Guan Shi
Zhi Meng (《管氏指蒙》) and that it was annotated by Xiao Ji (萧吉), Yuan
Tiangang (袁天纲), and Wang Ji (all people in the Song Dynasty from the end of
the 10th century to the 11th century). It is very likely that Guan Shi Zhi Meng is
Guan Shi Di Li Zhi Meng. However, the book also mentioned Guo Shoujing (郭守
敬) of the Yuan Dynasty, so even if it was written in the late Tang Dynasty or early
Song Dynasty, it was at least tampered with by geomancers in the Yuan and Ming
Dynasties. Therefore, it does not follow that the contents are all from the Song
Dynasty.”
What Liu Bingzheng and others said seems to make some sense. If Guan Shi Di
Li Zhi Meng became popular in the late Tang Dynasty, then there was no reason for
Shen Kuo to say that he was “unable to understand the principle of the compass,”
because the book had answered the two questions that had puzzled him (i.e., why
does the magnetic needle point south? Why do some magnetic needles point north?).
Of course, it is also possible that the book did exist during the five dynasties, but
Shen Kuo had not read it. In any case, the book’s explanation of the compass
principle was no later than that of the Song Dynasty’s, because there were many
references to the compass principle in the works of the late Northern Song Dynasty,
some of which had obviously inherited the idea from Guan Shi Di Li Zhi Meng. On
the other hand, they had more explanations of the declination phenomenon, which
indicated that these works came out later than the compass theory in Guan Shi Di Li
Zhi Meng. Therefore, the above compass theory may have originated in the Northern
Song Dynasty.
Ben Cao Yan Yi (《本草衍义》), written in the late Northern Song Dynasty,
mentioned that:
Magicians rub the point of a needle with the lodestone; then it is able to point to the south.
But it always inclines slightly to the east, and does not point directly at the south. It is best to
suspend it by a single cocoon fibre of new silk attached to the centre of the needle by a piece
of wax the size of a mustard-seed—then, hanging in a windless place, it will always point to
the south. Put the needle across the lamp center, making it float on the surface of water, it also
points to the south, but it often deviates from the position of bing. The reason might be that
bing refers to a big fire, while gengxin (庚辛), which stands for gold, is restrained by it. This
is the mutual influences of things.
In response to these remarks, Dr. Joseph Needham points out clearly that “at first
sight this passage seems to be but a repetition of what Shen Kuo had said thirty years
earlier, but two things were added. Kou Zongshi gives what was long supposed to be
the earliest known description of the water compass, so characteristic of all the oldest
(but later) European accounts. Secondly, he not only gives a quite precise measure of
the declination, but adds an attempted explanation for it.” (Joseph Needham, trans-
lated by Lu Xueshan et al. Science and Civilisation in China (Volume IV, Part I),
Science Press, 2003: 235)
Dr. Joseph Needham’s statement is very reasonable, but his explanation of Kou
Zongshi’s theory is not so appropriate. He said: “According to the principle of
Mutual Conquest from the five-element theory, Fire dominates Metal, since metal
can be melted by fire. Kou Zongshi thought was that, while a metal needle should
naturally point to the west, the preponderant influence of Fire, which is associated
with the south, drew it off to that direction.” In fact, this passage by Kou Zongshi did
not intend to explain why the compass points south, but why the compass deviates
from due south and points to the position of bing, which is southeast. According to
his understanding, the compass belongs to Gold, while the due south position
belongs to Fire; since Fire dominates Gold and Gold fears Fire, the compass will
shift its direction eastward to avoid the due south position of Fire.
Compared to Guan Shi Di Li Zhi Meng, Kou Zongshi had further introduced the
five-element theory into the compass theory, combining it with the yin-yang theory
to explain the compass’ south-pointing and the declination phenomenon. Although
his explanation sounds reasonable, after careful deliberation, it cannot be fully
justified; if the compass really deviated from the position of wu (午) due to the
restraint of the “fire” in due south, it should point to the position of ding (丁) at
southwest because there is also the appeal of “gold” located in the position of
gengxin. However, at that time, the compass was known to often point “slightly to
the east” instead of to ding. Therefore, the theory of Kou Zongshi has not been
universally accepted by later generations.
In any case, it is very natural for the Chinese compass theory to develop into the
induction theory in its initial stage of development based on the yin-yang and five-
element theory. This is related to the ancient people’s traditional understanding of
magnets attracting iron. At the beginning, when discussing the reason why magnets
attract iron, the ancients used the theory of attraction between the same kinds, that is,
the induction theory. However, this theory alone is not enough to explain the
compass’ south-pointing phenomenon, because, in the process of pointing south,
the magnet did not exist. Since the interaction between a magnet and a magnetic
needle is expressed through the induction of qi, the compass’s pointing south should
also be a result of the induction of qi. As due south is the gathering place of yangqi,
the compass’s pointing south must be the result of yangqi action. In this way, the
traditional induction theory was improved with yin-yang theory. However,
the compass often points slightly to the east, which needed to be explained by the
five-element theory; hence, the theory of five elements was also added. The theory of
induction, the theory of yin-yang, and the five-element theory were thus organically
combined.
3.4.2 Influence of Azimuth Coordinate System
Most of the explanations of the compass principle by the people of the Southern
Song Dynasty revolved around the declination phenomenon, but at that time, the
basis of people’s argument had turned more to the coordinate system of geographical
positions. For example, Zeng Sanyi of the Southern Song Dynasty mentioned the
earliest compass, which not only has the needle between the true north-south axis
(the magnetic needle that determines the north and south directions of the geomag-
netic field) but also the seam needle between the bing-ren axis (the geographic south
and north directions determined by the sun’s shadow). The angle between the two
directions is called the declination.
Zeng Sanyi’s explanation is inseparable from the concept of the shape of the earth
in ancient China. The ancient Chinese believed that the earth was flat and that its size
was limited, so there must have been a center on the surface of the earth; they called
it dizhong (地中 the center of the earth). They first thought it was in Luoyang and
then in Yangcheng. In this flat earth concept, the north-south direction was the only
one, that is, the only meridian line passing through dizhong. In this way, if the
measuring point of the compass was not on the meridian line that passed through
dizhong, its direction would not be due north-south, so the “seam needle” was used
as a reference.
Although Zeng Sanyi’s theory sounds reasonable, it is not without flaws when
carefully considered. This is because, according to the induction theory, it is in the
nature of the compass to point south and its needle must point to the sun, the place
where yangqi originates. If the measuring site is located southeast of dizhong, the
compass, guided by the sun’s qi in the due south direction, should point to the
southwest. Why is there the phenomenon, as Shen Kuo said, that “it often slightly
points to the east but not entirely to the south”?
Because the interpretation of the declination with the concept of dizhong has its
own inconsistencies, two other interpretations have been recorded by Chu Yong
(储泳), who came several decades later than Zeng Sanyi. One of them, based on the
24-compass-point system and referring to the 8 diagrams of yin and yang, said that
the “southeast indicates yang,” while the “northwest indicates yin,” and that the
middle seams of renzi (壬子) and bingwu (丙午) are the locations of yin and yang,
respectively. Their connection line is in the due north-south direction through the
“center of the earth,” so “bingwuzhongzhen” (丙午中针) should be used, that is, the
due direction points to the southeast. On the other hand, the second explanation
combined the direction system with time measurement and stated that the position of
wu corresponded with due south in terms of the azimuth division. From the perspec-
tive of time, when the sun arrives at wu, it is noon and also corresponds to due south.
Therefore, the position of ziwu (子午) is in the due north-south direction. Defini-
tively, the compass should use ziwuzhengzhen (子午正针).
The two explanations recorded by Chu Yong are similar in essence. They both
claim that the compass points to the place of yang, which is due south, but they have
different understandings of what this due south is. The common starting point for
such explanations is still, obviously, the traditional induction theory that the compass
is guided by yangqi and the direction that the compass points in is where yangqi is
located. But different azimuth coordinate systems have different understandings as
to which position yangqi exists in.
During the Ming Dynasty, the compass theory underwent a change. The citation
in Ling Cheng Jing Yi (《灵城精义》), the 11th Volume of Si Ku Quan Shu Jian Ming
Mu Lu (《四库全书简明目录》), clearly correlated the compass’ south-pointing
property and the declination phenomenon with the different azimuth systems of
heaven and earth.(He Pu: Ling Cheng Jing Yi (last volume), Si Ku Quan Shu,
Wenyuange edition). The opinions expressed in it, which are different from the
previous generation, are actually the thoughts of scholars from the Ming Dynasty.
The direction of ziwu – that is, zhengzhen – is determined by the geodetic azimuth
system, while its declination is determined by the celestial azimuth dividing system.
Because the existence of the declination is objective, this statement actually claims
that the direction of the magnetic needle depends on the sky, which reflects the
contradiction between the yin-yang induction theory and the declination of the
traditional compass theory.
3.4.3 The Compass Theory Born Under the Influence of Western

Learning
At the end of the sixteenth century, a group of missionaries represented by Matteo

Ricci (1552–1610) came to China bringing Western science, which was completely
different from traditional Chinese science; they also influenced the theory of the
Chinese compass.
In Europe, British physicist William Gilbert (1544–1603) published a book On
the Magnet in 1600, giving a scientific explanation of why the compass pointed
south. “Gilbert further proved that the compass not only points roughly to the north
and south, but also proved that if the compass is suspended to make it move
vertically, its needle will point downwards toward the earth (the magnetic dip
angle). The inclination angle of the compass also indicated that it is close to a
spherical magnet, and that, at the magnetic pole of the ball, the magnetic needle
points vertically. Gilbert’s greatest contribution lies in his proposal that the earth
itself is a large spherical magnet, and that the compass points not to celestial bodies
(with which Pereg Linus agreed), but to magnetic poles on the earth.” (Asimov: Gu
Jin Ke Ji Ming Ren Ci Dian, The Science Publishing Company, 1988:48). Gilbert’s
theory has been generally accepted until today.
Gilbert’s theory was not introduced to China in time. Matteo Ricci came to China
in 1582; of course, he could not have known about Gilbert’s theory. There are signs
that the missionaries who came to China in the seventeenth century did not bring
Gilbert’s theory to China either. Even so, these missionaries still had an impact on
the evolution of China’s compass theory; this kind of influence was first manifested
through the establishment of a calendar.
After the missionaries came to China, they chose science and technology as a
breakthrough method to encourage the Chinese to accept Catholicism; when intro-
duced to science and technology, however, the Chinese were most interested in
making the calendar. To make a calendar, an observation must be made, and the
premise of the observation is determining the meridian direction of the observation
site, which relates to the compass. During the late Ming Dynasty, Xu Guangqi (徐光
启) was frequently in contact with missionaries and participated many times in their
observation work. In his opinion, to make an astronomical observation, one should
first “set the precise local meridian line as the foundation of timing. Then set up a
sundial to determine the time of the day, a star-dial to determine the time of the night,
and a compass to determine the meridian.” (Xu Guangqi: Xin Fa Suan Shu (Volume
1), Si Ku Quan Shu, Wenyuange edition). However, when using compass to deter-
mine meridian, there were some troubles, that is, it was found that the declination
was different in different locations, which could not be explained by the traditional
compass theory. In response, Xu Guangqi believed that the declination was definite
and could not vary from place to place; the reason why the declination was thought
to “vary from place to place” was due to irregularities in the manufacturing and
storage of compasses. In other words, it was a result of human error caused by
improper operation. It is for this reason that Xu Guangqi summed up the character-
istics of the five instruments – namely, the clepsydra, the compass, the watch, the
armillary sphere, and the sundial – and said: “The clepsydra can be used to measure
time because it has scales, and the compass can be used to measure direction because
of its properties; if there are any inaccuracies, it must due to human error. However,
the watch, the armillary sphere, and the sundial are dependent on natural occur-
rences, so they will not be influenced by any human techniques. Therefore, they can
serve as standards when making a calendar.” (Xu Guangqi: Xin Fa Suan Shu
(Volume 1), Si Ku Quan Shu, Wenyuange edition).
From the aforementioned quotation, we can see that Xu Guangqi’s understanding
of the compass theory was still, in essence, a traditional Chinese one. The phrase “the
compass can be used to measure direction because of its properties” is the concrete
manifestation of the traditional compass theory. Additionally, his statement that the
declination varies from place to place due to human error is completely wrong. By
“the needle put together with lodestone,” he meant a magnetic needle stored together
with a natural magnet (lodestone). This was originally a scientific method to keep the
magnetic needle magnetic, which people had summed up in their experience, but in
his view, it was a source of error. This shows that Xu Guangqi was not in touch with
the modern magnetic theory of the compass in his contact with missionaries.
From the Western science brought by missionaries, the spherical earth theory first
affected the development of the Chinese compass theory. The Chinese traditionally
believed that the earth was flat, while the spherical earth theory was gradually
accepted by the people with the arrival of missionaries. We know that, on the basis
of different geodetic models, people have different concepts of orientation, which are
closely related to compasses. The change of orientation concept inevitably affects
the change of the compass theory. The traditional compass theory was developed on
the basis of the concept of the flat earth theory. Once it was abandoned by people, it
became difficult to continue the various interpretations of the compass based on this
concept. Therefore, the popularity of the spherical earth theory was bound to lead
Chinese scholars into developing a new compass theory. This was clearly demon-
strated by a group of scholars headed by Fang Yizhi (方以智).
Influenced by the spherical earth theory, Fang Yizhi proposed a new compass
theory that was first pointed out by Mr. Wang Zhenduo. He said:
During the Ming Dynasty, due to the introduction of western geographical knowledge, a new
concept of the universe occurred in the academic world. The people’s explanation of why the
magnetic needle points south became influenced by western science—that is, its knowledge
about the earth. For example, Wu Li Xiao Shi Zhi Nan Shuo (《物理小识·指南说》) says,
“Why does the magnetic needle point south? Jing Yuan (镜源)’s explanation is that it is
because the magnet belongs to the yang. But in my view, diji (蒂极 the point of melon
pedicel) and qiji (脐极 the point of melon umbilical) form the axis, and ziwu does not move
but maoyou (卯酉) rotates. Therefore, when a needle fixed by wax is hung on a piece of
thread, it points south.” Jie Qi Yi (《节气异》), the first volume of the same book, also
recorded diji and qiji, which refer to the north and south poles of the earth, while “the
maoyou are rotating” refers to the equator of the earth. It explains the principle of
the suspending needle pointing south with the stillness of the poles and the movement of
the equator.
Wang Zhenduo’s insight is admirable, but it is inappropriate for him to interpret

Fang Yizhi’s “diji and qiji” as the rotation of the earth. “Guadi and guaqi” (瓜蒂, 瓜
脐 the melon pedicel and melon umbilical) refer to the two poles and equator of the
earth, according to Jie Qi Yi (the first volume of Wu Li Xiao Shi). Considering that
what we are talking about here is the sun’s travel, it seems more reasonable to
understand the equator in the quotation as the celestial equator. If so, the metaphor of
“guadi and guaqi” refers to the celestial sphere, not the earth. This latter understand-
ing is supported by circumstantial evidence from Wu Li Xiao Shi. In the article
“Huang Chi Dao” (《黄赤道》) from the first volume of this book, Fang Yizhi clearly
uses “guadi and guaqi” to describe the celestial sphere. Of course, it is worth
discussing whether “guadi and guaqi” here refers to the north and south poles of
the earth and the earth equator or to the corresponding parts of the celestial sphere. If
it refers to earth, then what Fang Yizhi said when explaining the compass principle
that “diji and qiji fix the axis, and ziwu does not move but maoyou rotates” refers to
the rotation of the earth. This is clearly Copernicus’s heliocentric theory, which is
exactly what Wang Zhenduo understood. However, we know that Fang Yizhi did not
agree with the Copernicus theory, although he had heard about it through the
missionary Jean Nicolas Smogolenski (1611–1656). Jie Xuan (揭暄), a student of
Fang Yizhi, clearly believed that the ground was still when he annotated the first
volume of Wu Li Xiao Shi. Therefore, Fang Yizhi and others here used the rotation of
the celestial sphere instead of the earth to explain the south-pointing ability of the
compass.
Jie Xuan and Fang Zhongtong (方中通), Fang Yizhi’s son, explained his theory
in detail, saying that the magnetic dip angle was due to the uneven distribution of the
compass’s center of gravity and explaining the compass’s north-south orientation
with atmospheric rotation. This approach is obviously based on mechanics rather
than the yin and yang properties of the compass. This was unprecedented in the
history of the evolution of the compass theory in China. Wang Zhenduo, at some
point, had explained the mechanical model of Fang’s compass; he thinks:
At that time, the Chinese people had mostly accepted the western theory that the earth was
round and the knowledge of the east-west rotation of the earth. Zhongtong used this as an
explanation and thought that the air layer on the earth’s surface rotates with the rotation of
the east-west, and that a long and round object is greatly pushed by the atmosphere in the
north-south direction, just as the sail must be stretched in the north-south direction when it is
subject to the east-west wind. Therefore, the magnetic needle pointing in the north-south
direction is also due to the east-west rotation of the atmosphere. Xuan’s statement that the
north and south are static while the east and west move was also derived from the earth’s
rotation. It means that, when the earth rotates in the direction of east and west, the rotation of
the north and south poles is slower than that of the equator. Objects are static and then fixed,
so the magnetic needle stops at the north and south.
Wang’s explanation, excluding the part about the earth’s rotation, reasonably explains
the way of Jie and Fang’s thinking. Then what did Zhongtong mean when he said “what
rotates in the direction of east and west is the atmosphere above the earth”? It is actually
the “driving theory” put forth by Fang Yizhi that explains the qiyao (七曜 a general term
of seven planets) movement. He thinks that the rotation of the celestial sphere is the
movement of qi, which drives the operation of qiyao. This movement of qi extends into
the vicinity of the ground, thus making the compass point south.
As for Jie Xuan’s remark that “any long sliver of bamboo, wood, gold, or stone
will point south if it can move by itself when hanging or floating on a surface of
water,” it is obviously a speculation. Likewise, when Fang Zhongtong said that “in
countries on the equator compasses do not point south,” it is his personal conjecture
and has no factual basis. Generally speaking, under the influence of the Western
earth theory, Fang Yizhi and others no longer used the traditional yin-yang and five-
element theories to explain the compass’ south-pointing phenomenon; instead, they
began to think about this problem from the perspective of mechanics and made their
own solutions. However, although their answer is better than the traditional compass
theory, it is still incorrect.
Since the influence of missionaries made the traditional compass theory’s yin-
yang and five-element theories out of fashion, and the new compass theory from
Fang Yizhi and others that was born under the inspiration of Western learning was
not satisfactory, some scholars tried to find another way to put forth new ideas. Fan
Yibin (范宜宾), who lived during the reign of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, was
one of them. He ridiculed the traditional compass theory that was based on the yin-
yang and five-element theories, believing that they were “all distorted conclusions.”
This evaluation is undoubtedly correct, but his own new theory was also the product
of farfetched inferences. The developmental trend of the compass theory was “from
heaven to earth,” which gradually transited from connecting the compass’s pointing
south with celestial bodies to only connecting it with the earth itself, and finally
became a theory similar to Gilbert’s. However, Fan Yibin’s theory was contrary to
this trend. Turning a blind eye to the well-known fact that the declination varies from
place to place, he not only connected the generation of the declination with celestial
bodies but also traced it back to the so-called Tang Yu era because of his ancient
worship, based on the precession phenomenon of astronomy. Such a theory was
extremely shallow and was doomed to be abandoned by the people.
3.4.4 The Chinese Narration of the Western Compass Theory
Under the influence of Western science that was brought by the missionaries,
Chinese scholars put forth some new compass theories. In this process, did Chinese
scholars come into contact with the Western compass theory? If so, did they come
into contact with Gilbert’s theory? Did they accept the Western theories they came
into contact with?
Xiong Mingyu (熊明遇), a scholar of the late Ming Dynasty, wrote a passage in
Ge Zhi Cao (《格致草》):
The reason why the needle of the compass points south is beyond comprehension. One day,
I found in a Western book that beichen (北辰 the Polaris) has the ability to attract magnets
upward, so compass needles must be ground and wrapped with magnets before it will point
south or north. I believe magnets and needles are both gold while north belongs to water, so
is it the mother cares about her child? However, what the needle of compass points to is not
due south or due ziwu, but often slightly to the east, or what is between the positions bing
and wu. I asked some sailors and they told me that in the west sea it points slightly west,
between the positions wu and ding, and that if we seek the true ziwu, we must set up a pole
and see its shadow. If it is true, then I suddenly find that it might not be proper for
geomancers to determine positions with compasses.
What was said in the Western book that Xiong Mingyu mentioned is, of course,
referring to the Western compass theory. However, what is introduced in the book is
not Gilbert’s theory: first, there was no way to verify the source of historical data;
second, in terms of content, only negative conclusions can be drawn. The statement
emphasizes that “beichen has the ability to attract magnets upward.” In China, the
concept of beichen refers to Polaris, which is referring to a celestial body rather than
the earth’s north pole; this is why the word “upward” was used in his statement. In
contrast, the main point of Gilbert’s theory is that the factors that determine the
compass’s south-pointing are in the earth itself, not in the sky, which is completely
different from what Xiong Mingyu said. Therefore, Gilbert’s theory could not have
been introduced in this “Western book.”
Although Xiong Mingyu did not quote Gilbert’s theory directly, his introduc-
tion of the theory is commendable, because it had a tendency to explain why
compasses point south in terms of magnetism. This tendency needed to be
affirmed, as this theory was also new to the Chinese. However, Xiong Mingyu
did not seem to agree with this theory; the reason why he disapproved was that the
declination varies from place to place. According to the statement “beichen has
the ability to attract magnets upward,” the compass should point only to the south,
and there should be no declination, let alone the fact that the declination varies
from place to place.
When Xiong Mingyu finally revised Ge Zhi Cao, it was the fifth year of Shunzhi
in the Qing Dynasty (1648). The writers of this article didn’t read the quotations of
other Chinese scholars on the Western compass theory before this; after this,
Emperor Kangxi introduced another Western compass theory when he expressed
his views on the compass theory. He believed that the existence of the declination
reflects the natural topography of the site being measured – in other words, the
orientation of the magnetic needle is exactly the same as the geographic orientation
when measured by other methods, which is determined by the inherent quality of
nature, while the orientation of the magnetic needle is consistent with that of the
building base for “flat and straight land.” Originally, the declination problem was not
complicated, but Kangxi’s explanation made it confusing. Does the compass refer to
the “true direction of due south” or the so-called geographical direction? Does the
declination really depend on the orientation of the houses built there? Kangxi linked
the declination with local topography and the orientation of houses. He broke
through the shackles of the traditional yin-yang and five-element theories, which
has its merit, but his theory itself is undoubtedly untenable. He also introduced
Western theories into China, saying that the two poles of a magnet, one pointing to
the center of the earth and the other to the equator, are the very nature of a magnet,
and that determines the abovementioned phenomena.
On the other hand, Kangxi’s statements also involved the problem of the mag-
netic dip angle. What was said by the “people from the west sea” that he quoted
reflects the interpretation of the magnetic dip angle by Western scholars. However,
this explanation is wrong in theory and is not in line with the actual situation. At the
earth’s equator, the magnetic dip angle is zero, which is completely different from
the phrase that “under the equator, the needle must point upward.” However, it is
self-evident that this explanation is not Gilbert’s theory.
Of course, there is a likelihood that Xiong Mingyu and Kangxi did come into
contact with Gilbert’s theory, but they were wrong when reporting it. If this is
indeed the case, then what was said by Wang Zhenduo should be a reasonable
explanation:
Since the years of Wanli, western studies such as astronomy, arithmetic, and geometry have
gradually entered China. The study and interpretation of these subjects became very
important throughout the country at that time, and the study of natural phenomena were
also popular. Reformers were disgusted with the old theory of the five elements and preferred
to interpret physics with the new theory of the west. Unfortunately, most of the books that
introduced western academics at that time were re-translated and thus incomplete; addition-
ally, the text was not explicit because of the language barrier between the east and the west.
Perhaps it is precisely because of these factors that we hold difficulties in our

judgment today.
3.4.5 Ferdinand Verbiest’s Compass Theory
Under the influence of Western science brought by missionaries, the compass

theories put forth by Chinese scholars were false, and the introduction of the Western
compass theory by Xiong Mingyu and Emperor Kangxi was vague and erroneous.
So, what was the missionaries’ systematic view on the compass theory?
Among the missionaries that came to China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,
Sabbathinus de Ursis (1575–1620) mentioned the declination and the explanation of
the compass theory in Jian Ping Yi Shuo (《简平仪说》). He said:
The compass is widely used nowadays to determine directions. The needle of the compass
does not point due south; instead, it has its own astronomical north-south. I have been to
Dalang Mountain, 50,000 miles southwest of China, and found that to the west of this place,
the needle points slightly west while, to the east of this place, the needle points slightly
east—it changes with the distance. When I arrive in China, it points to the direction between
bing and wu. I will make additional explanations on the reasons why. (Sabbathinus de Ursis:
Jian Ping Yi Shuo, Si Ku Quan Shu, Wen Yuan Ge edition)
The so-called Dalang Mountain theory does not conform to the reality of the
declination change, but this theory had been circulating in China for a long time.
Until the late Qing Dynasty, Zheng Fuguang (郑复光) specifically mentioned this
theory (see the following section), which shows its great influence. As for
Sabbathinus de Ursis’s additional theory, the writers of this article have not yet
read on it and thus cannot comment. However, in the writings of missionaries, the
detailed explanation on the principle of the compass by Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–
1688) has been found.
Ferdinand Verbiest, a Belgian Jesuit, set off for China in 1656, arrived in Macao
in 1658, and went to Xi’an in the following year to preach. Before long, he was
invited by Emperor Shunzhi to Beijing in 1660 to assist Johann Adam Schall Von
Bell in the administration of astronomy and the calendar. Later, he was assigned to be
in charge of the Directorate of Astronomy and was appointed to be vice-governor of
it. While he was engaged in the work of astronomy and the calendar, he wrote an
important book about Western knowledge and his personal experience, Ling Tai Yi
Xiang Zhi (《灵台仪象志》), which has been included in Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng Li
Xiang Hui Bian Li Fa Dian (《古今图书集成·历象汇编·历法典》). His opinion on
the principle of the compass is recorded in the article “Da Di Zhi Fang Xiang Bing
Fang Xiang Zhi Suo Yi Ran” (大地之方向并方向之所以然) from Ling Tai Yi
Xiang Zhi. All the quotations from him in this article are from it. The edition cited
is Li Fa Da Dian (《历法大典》), photocopied and published by the Shanghai
Literature and Art Publishing House in 1993, with quotations from Volume 90 of
the book, Yi Xiang Bu, Ling Tai Yi Xiang Zhi 2 (仪象部·灵台仪象志二).
Ferdinand Verbiest’s compass theory is based on his understanding of the char-
acteristics of the earth. The direction of the earth is mainly manifested in the north-
south direction, which is determined by the north-south pole of the earth. According
to his understanding, the north and south poles of the earth and the two poles of the
celestial sphere correspond to each other in distance and are constant. This fact fully
shows that the direction of the earth’s poles – that is, its north-south direction – is
constant. Therefore, it is entitled to become “the foundation of all directions.”
Ferdinand Verbiest demonstrated that the constancy of the earth’s direction and its
ability to automatically adjust and return to its original position are inherent attri-
butes of the earth. However, the phenomena that he summarized can only come from
hearsay and are not real. From a physics perspective, heating iron until red can make
the original small magnetic domains in the iron disintegrate. Then the iron is cooled
in the geomagnetic field, and the small magnetic domains regenerated in the cooling
process are aligned along the direction of the geomagnetic field under its force, so
that the iron is magnetized and points south. However, this magnetization method
has some technical requirements during operation, such as a fast cooling speed,
placing the long axis of the iron block along the direction of the geomagnetic field
during cooling, etc. The south-pointing fish recorded in Zeng Gongliang’s Wu Jing
Zong Yao was magnetized in this way. Zeng Gongliang has recorded in detail the
technical elements for making south-pointing fish, and the south-pointing fish made
according to the guidelines can truly point south. In contrast, Ferdinand Verbiest’s
description is vague. It is unlikely that the magnetization effect, according to his
description, can be obtained by heating and cooling iron and bricks with rust in
the wall.
The phenomena described by Ferdinand Verbiest are not true, but the idea he
wanted to express through his statement of these phenomena is crucial – that is, the
nature of the earth has a north-south orientation, and this nature can be transmitted to
the things it is born with, so that they also have the ability of natural north-south
orientation. His compass theory was based on this thought.
In order to explain the south-pointing principle of the compass, Ferdinand
Verbiest focused on the material distribution of the earth itself. He believed that
there were veins inside the earth that ran through the north and south, and these veins
contained the earth’s own “north-south qi,” which is the natural qi of pure soil in the
earth and is consistent with the qi of magnets. This consistency is the prerequisite for
the magnetic needle to be able to point south. The so-called pure soil here comes
from Aristotle’s “four elements” theory of ancient Greece. Ferdinand Verbiest
specifically emphasized this point, pointing out that it was different from the
“shallow soil” and “miscellaneous soil” near the surface of the earth and that only
“pure soil” was the key factor in determining the function of the compass pointing
south.
Then, how should the declination phenomenon be explained? Why is the decli-
nation so widespread? Ferdinand Verbiest believed that:
When a magnet touches an iron needle, it will transmit its natural force of rotating to the
north and south to the needle, just as iron refined by fire will get the heat of the fire. Iron
needles and magnets must influence each other; when a needle is pointing due south and
north, if there is another iron on its left or right or is above or below to attract it, the needle
must point away from north and south and toward east and west. Then the magnet rotates
itself towards the south and north poles, but with little deviation. Therefore, the iron needles
corresponding to it may deviate accordingly. Observe the magnets on the water’s surface in a
plate. The magnets are put on the north-south line, and you can clearly see they turn a little
east or west if needles are put on the opposite line. If you put a magnet at the bottom of the
plate, there will be more deviation. ...Therefore, the reason why the needles in the compasses
used by the sailors may point slightly to east or west is that the veins of seabed magnets
deviate to the east or the west. The same is true of needles on land. Based on this, it is clear
why the compass deviates and why it cannot determine the due north-south direction.
At this point, Ferdinand Verbiest’s compass theory had taken shape. Its basic
logic was that the earth itself has a constant north-south orientation, which depends
on the north and south poles of the earth. Inside the earth, there are veins running
through the north and south poles. These veins belong to the “pure soil” in nature,
which is one of the four basic elements that make up all things. They contain the qi to
the north and south poles. On the other hand, both iron and magnet are made out of
this kind of “pure soil” and, of course, contain the same north-south qi. Driven by
this kind of qi, the magnetic needle made of iron will naturally rotate to make its
orientation consistent with the local geographical vein. The angle between the
geographical vein and the horizon determines the local magnetic inclination. If
there is an east-west deviation of the geographical vein or an interference of iron
around it, there will also be a deviation in the direction pointed to by the compass,
and thus the declination will occur accordingly.
Ferdinand Verbiest’s theory has its merits. Firstly, it looks similar to Gilbert’s
theory in that they both assert that the factors determining the compass’s function of
pointing south are in the earth instead of in the sky. Ferdinand Verbiest’s “qi of the
earth’s vein” is also similar in form to the magnetic induction thought contained in
Gilbert’s theory. What’s more is that Ferdinand Verbiest also explained the phenom-
enon of magnetic change, believing that the surrounding iron would interfere with
the direction of the magnetic needle. However, there are also differences between the
two. For example, Gilbert claimed that the declination is formed due to the influence
of the irregular shape of the earth’s surface on the compass. “He speculated that,
although the earth’s magnetic poles coincide with the earth’s actual poles, the
compass changes due to the irregular surface of the earth where it is located, and
its needle deviates from the sea basin towards the land mass because water is
nonmagnetic.” (Abraham Wolf, translated by Zhou Changzhong: History of Science,
Technology and Philosophy in the 6th and 17th century (I), Commercial Press, 1995:
339). This is completely different from Ferdinand Verbiest’s explanation of the
declination. In addition, the biggest difference between Ferdinand Verbiest’s theory
and Gilbert’s is that, in the former theory, it is the geographic north and south poles
of the earth that decide the direction of magnetic needle. Gilbert, on the other hand,
thinks that there is a magnet in the earth itself. Although he argues that the poles of
the magnet coincide with the geographical poles of the earth, he approaches the
problem from the interaction between the earth’s magnetic poles and magnetic
needles and discusses it with the angle of magnetism. The magnetic theory of the
compass can only be established by discussing magnetism and its function. How-
ever, Ferdinand Verbiest’s practice is a modification of the traditional induction
theory in China. In such a doctrine, the theory of the attraction of opposites between
the compass and the earth’s magnetic poles cannot be developed.
In fact, the development of magnetism had not been smooth after Gilbert’s
magnetic theory was put forth. In Europe, “theories about the nature of magnetic
flux were vague and mystical in the first half of the 17th century, and intelligence was
generally considered to be the attribute of magnets.” Under such circumstances, it is
not surprising that missionaries came to China to introduce other European magnetic
theories to the Chinese instead of Gilbert’s.
3.4.6 The Influence of Ferdinand Verbiest’s Theory
Although Ferdinand Verbiest’s theory does not in essence belong to modern science,
it has spread in China for nearly 200 years due to various reasons and has exerted
great influence on Chinese scholars.
Ferdinand Verbiest is the most important missionary that came to China after
Johann Adam Schall Von Bell. After he came to China, he first assisted Johann
Adam Schall Von Bell in the administration of astronomy; then he was assigned to
be in charge of the Directorate of Astronomy and was at once appointed to be vice-
governor of it, thus becoming the most influential figure in the Chinese astronomy
circle at that time. Ferdinand Verbiest was versatile. The three types of artillery he
designed were selected into the national classics in the Qing Dynasty, Qin Ding
Da Qing Hui Dian (《钦定大清会典》). His book Shen Wei Tu Shuo (《神威图说》)
was an important monograph on artillery in the Qing Dynasty. He had a close
relationship with Emperor Kangxi and was greatly favored by him. After he died
of illness in Beijing in 1688, Emperor Kangxi personally wrote a memorial and
inscription for him, giving him the posthumous title “Qin Min” (勤敏 diligence
and sensitivity). Such a person and his words will naturally receive special
attention and trust.
Ferdinand Verbiest’s most important work in astronomy is Ling Tai Yi Xiang
Zhi, which was written in the 13th year of Kangxi (1674) and published under the
imperial edict of Emperor Kangxi in the following year. The book was deeply
loved by new Chinese scholars for its efforts in explaining Western science. It was
the standard work of Chinese scholars for learning Western astronomical instru-
ments and other related scientific knowledge. Ferdinand Verbiest’s compass theory
was included in the book and naturally spread to later generations as part of
the book.
It is for these reasons that Ferdinand Verbiest’s compass theory had been popular
in China until the middle of the nineteenth century. Here we will cite Zheng Fuguang
(郑复光) as an illustration.
Zheng Fuguang, otherwise known as Yuanfu or Huanxiang, was born in 1780 and
died after 1853. He had read extensively since he was a teenager and was good at
observation and thinking. Later, he devoted himself to natural science and wrote
many books. Among them, Fei Yin Yu Zhi Lu (《费隐与知录》) was published in
1842. In the book, his explanation of the compass was recorded in the form of
question and answer:
Q: The magnet can point south, but why is it slightly to the east in China? The westerners
said that, east of Dalang Mountain, it deviates to the west, while to the west of the mountain
it points slightly to the east. Only at Dalang Mountain does it point due south. Is it credible?
A: What the westerners said has not been seen in person, so no comment can be made. But it
is clearly found in books that, in China, the needle points slightly to the east—five degrees in
Jingdu and three degrees in Jinling—so it must be true. Besides, the declination is different
from place to place which, I realized from Yi Xiang Zhi Tu (《仪象志图》), is in accordance
with the vein of the earth. The extremes of the earth’s vein are at the north and south poles. It
is like plants pointing to the zenith when unearthed, but they cannot but bend slightly—they
are small and keep growing, so the degree of the curve is larger, while the earth is formed
once and for all and its vein is long, so the degree of deviation is smaller. At the same time,
the extremes of the earth’s vein can form only one line from the center of the earth, which is
the most straight line, but gradually curves a little as it reaches the ground. The needle is
pulled by the earth’s vein, so it has a little deviation.
The so-called Yi Xiang Zhi Tu is Ferdinand Verbiest’s Ling Tai Yi Xiang Zhi.
Zheng Fuguang not only responds to Sabbathinus de Ursis’s legend of Dalang
Mountain but also explains the formation of the declination. Comparing his narration
with that of Ferdinand Verbiest, we can see that his explanation is actually an
annotation of Ferdinand Verbiest’s theory, and the two can be pieced together.
Following this conversation, Zheng Fuguang set up another group of questions
and answers, which reflects his experimental spirit: he used experiments to challenge
the idea that iron needles can point south without magnetization; he used experi-
ments to test Shen Kuo’s statement; he again used experiments to deny the judgment
made in Gao Hou Meng Qiu (《高厚蒙求》). However, he firmly believed what was
said in Ling Tai Yi Xiang Zhi that the brick with rust in an old wall can point south
when it cools down after burning red and refused to give it a try. The book Fei Yin Yu
Zhi Lu contains 225 articles, of which only 2 are about compasses, and the basic
content of them is the development of Ferdinand Verbiest’s theory. Zheng Fuguang
was a scholar who paid close attention to nature and was good at observation and
thinking. After nearly 200 years, his explanation of the compass phenomenon still
follows Ferdinand Verbiest’s view, which shows the great influence of Ferdinand
Verbiest’s theory in China.
3.5 The Application and Dissemination of the Compass
There is a saying that the Chinese invented the compass, but they only used it to
observe feng shui (风水), while the Westerners used the compass for navigation,
which led to great geographical discoveries and promoted the development of
human civilization. This statement is not accurate. The Chinese used the compass
not only for the observation of feng shui but also in navigation; after all, the compass
is used to determine direction, and its use depends on the needs of the society. It is
the general trend of social development that determines the scope of the use of the
compass.
Ancient China was an agricultural civilization area. Before the Song Dynasty,
navigation had not been developed. Shipping was mainly carried out through rivers
and canals; a small amount of sea transportation was also carried out along the coast.
Additionally, the compass’s initial accuracy was not high, so it was difficult to meet
the needs of navigation orientation. In this way, it was difficult to use the compass in
ocean navigation after it came out.
The compass first appeared in the form of sinan. The first sinan was used to judge
the direction of the road, which the previous quotations from Gui Gu Zi refer
to. Volume 77 of Yi Wen Lei Ju (《艺文类聚》) contains the preface to the tablet of
Dingguo Temple, which also emphasizes the directional function of sinan.
Another important use of the compass was for the orientation of military activ-
ities. In ancient military activities, it is undoubtedly the most important thing to
distinguish directions. The birth of sinan is said to be related to the wars between the
two tribes Huang Di and Chi You. Although the sinan mentioned in the legend refers
to the south-pointing carriage, the urgent need to identify directions in ancient wars
revealed in the legend undoubtedly opened the door for the application of the
compass in ancient military activities. Compasses were often recorded in ancient
military books, among which Wu Jing Zong Yao is an example. This shows that
military activities are an important field of application for the compass; however, it
will not be explored here.
The compass had another important use: it was used in etiquette activities. The
compass will automatically turn to the south when there is no contact with other
objects, which gave the people a sense of magic. The spoon shape of sinan also
made people associate it with the mysterious Big Dipper. As a result of this
mysterious development, sinan became a tool for some ceremonial activities. In
the previously cited drawing of the Han Dynasty stone relief figures, the role of
sinan was obviously to be some kind of symbol. Extending from this purpose,
sinan began to combine with divination. When geomancers’ art stepped onto the
stage of history, sinan was naturally introduced into it and became a “treasure” of
feng shui.
In ancient times, the use of the compass spread very slowly, the reason of which is
easy to understand: the compass was difficult to manufacture in the beginning, its
orientation was not very good, and its application value was limited. When the
magnetic pointing device transited from sinan to the compass, its development speed
increased, and its application scope also enlarged. The compass developed into
maturity in the Song Dynasty, with extensive application then. Besides in military
and geomancy, compasses were also widely used in navigation. In documents that
are accurately dated, Chinese sailors first used compasses in navigation, while only
decades later did the Europeans learn of this technology. In terms of navigation, the
literature of the second century BC mentioned that the people would sail ships by
observing stars. Later on, the navigation records of Faxian (法显), a monk of the Jin
Dynasty, also contained similar content. In the Song Dynasty, the use of the compass
in navigation began to appear in their literature.
Ping Zhou Ke Tan (《萍洲可谈》) was written in the period of Huizong in the Song
Dynasty (1101–1125), but the events it mentioned began from 1086. Therefore, it
belongs to the same era as what Shen Kuo recorded in Meng Xi Bi Tan. Moreover,
there is no doubt that the author, Zhu Yu (朱彧), was very clear about what he said,
because his father was a senior official in the Guangdong port. Zhu Yu’s records are
as follows: “The boatman determines directions by watching the stars at night, the
sun in the day, and the compass in cloudy or gloomy days.” (Zhu Yu: Ping Zhou Ke
Tan (Volume 2)). This passage talks about the use of the mariner’s compass
100 years before Europe first mentioned it.
In the fifth year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty (1123), Xu Jing (徐兢), a member
of the Chinese mission to North Korea, recorded that ancient sailors brought
compasses to their ships. The records also mentioned the use of compasses in bad
weather and at night. (Xu Jing: Xuan He Feng Shi Gao Li Tu Jing (Volume 2)). From
the records, it can be clearly seen that, in the twelfth century, Chinese sailors became
accustomed to using compasses for navigation.
As for later documents, the most famous is Zhu fan Zhi (《诸蕃志》), written by
Zhao Rushi (赵汝适), a geographer of the Song Dynasty, in the first year of Baoqing
in the Southern Song Dynasty (1225). In the book, he wrote: “To the east of Hainan
are thousands of miles of islands. On the boundless sea, boats depend on compasses
to come and go. The boatman must observe it carefully day and night because a
minor mistake may lead to the loss of life.” (Zhao Rushi: Zhu Fan Zhi (Volume 2))
What is discussed here is the sailing situation near Hainan Island. Half a century
later, in a document by Wu Zimu (吴自牧) describing Hangzhou, he wrote: “The
water of the ocean is shallow near the reef, and ships will be destroyed if they collide
with the reef. All depends on compass, and a small mistake will drown us.”
(Wu Zimu: Meng Liang Lu (Volume 12))
Documents of the Yuan Dynasty, such as Zhen La Feng Tu Ji (《真腊风土记》) by
Zhou Daguan (周达观), began to record compass directions in addition to the
compass. This means that compass-directed maps that were used to mark the course
of navigation appeared in the Yuan Dynasty.
By the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (the middle of the fourteenth century),
there had been a large number of documents on navigation using the compass.
During Zheng He (郑和)’s voyages (1400–1431), there were more relevant docu-
ments on the topic. The time reflected in Shun Feng Xiang Song (《顺风相送》) was
roughly 1430, when Zheng He’s voyages had just ended. In a large amount of
information related to navigation (tide, sea wind, stars, compass directions, etc.),
the author also described the use of compasses. He wrote: “Set out in the northeast
wind, and we can reach Pengjiashan in the direction of jiamao (甲卯), or Diaoyuyu
along the route jiayin (甲寅), or just mao (卯).” (Proofread and annotated by Xiang
Da: Liang Zhong Hai Dao Zhen Jing, Zhong Hua Book Company, 1961:96).
Diaoyuyu here is what we now call Diaoyu Island. This book is the earliest historical
document that people found on Diaoyu Island. Interestingly, the prayer ceremony
held before the voyage was also recorded in the book. During the ceremony, the
compass was placed in a prominent position, and people prayed to a large number of
gods and saints.
It was in the twelfth century that knowledge of the compass spread to Europe and
Islamic countries. The magnet needle was called the “fish” in the earliest Arab
literature. Finally, the concept of head and tail produced from the sinan spoon was
used to explain new knowledge about magnetic poles even as late as the eighteenth
century.
Earlier, knowledge about the compass had spread from the east to the west. The
development from sinan to the compass in China was a long period of time, but after
it spread to the west, it developed rapidly. Before the thirteenth century, there had
been no clue that the compass was introduced into Europe through the transitional
regions of Arabia, Persia, and India. By the thirteenth century, Westerners had begun
to describe the application of the compass in navigation. The spread of compass
knowledge from China to Europe probably did not follow the route related to
navigation but was introduced by land with the help of astronomers and surveyors
who measured ziwu lines everywhere. Therefore, the compass was important for
drawing maps and adjusting sundials. The sundial had been the best timepiece used
by Europeans at that time; they described two kinds of sundials that had compasses.
It was not until the seventeenth century that the magnetic needle in the compasses
used by surveyors and astronomers was generally set to point south (as opposed to
the north-pointing needle used by sailors). This is the same as the application of
magnetic needles in China almost 1,000 years ago.
After it spread westward along the land, the compass used by Western sailors had
nothing to do with the floating needle used by Chinese sailors in navigation earlier;
the two developed independently of each other. In the tenth century, the people of
Central Asia were more likely to regard the compass as magic than science.
However, this kind of magic was not at all difficult in skill for them.
References
1. Bingzheng, L., & Yifeng, L. (1997). On the Invention Time of Magnetic Needle. Journal of
Northeast Normal University (Natural Science Edition), (4), 24.
2. Di, L. (1993). Kang Xi Ji Xia Ge Wu Bian Yi Zhu. Shanghai Classics Publishing House, 102–103.
3. Jinrong, F. (1997). Ming Mo Xiong Mingyu Ge Zhi Cao Nei Rong Tan Xi. Studies in the History
of Natural Sciences, 4, 304–328.
4. Xiong Mingyu (1995). Ge Zhi Cao Bei Chen Xi Ci Shi; Ren Jiyu, Zhong Guo Ke Xue Ji Shu Dian
Ji Tong Hui Tian Wen Juan (Volume 6), Henan Educational Press, 6-114
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655). Taipei Dingwen Book Company.
6. Wang, Z. (1948). Si Nan Zhi Nan Zhen Yu Luo Jing Pan (second). Journal of Chinese
Archaeology, 4, 174.
7. Zengjian, G. (1996). Wu Li Xiao Shi De Tian Wen Xue Shi Jia Zhi. Journal of Zhengzhou
University (philosophy and social sciences edition), (3), 63–68.
Overview of Textile Technology in Ancient
China 4
Feng Zhao
Contents
4.1 The Structure of Textile Industry in Early Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.2 Cultural Opportunity of Origin of Silk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.3 The Raw Materials of Textile and Its Warm-Keeping Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.4 Dress and Chinese Traditional Ritual System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.5 Three Main Development Stages of Chinese Textile Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.5.1 Classic System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.5.2 Traditional System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.5.3 Modern Industrial System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Abstract
Clothing, food, housing, and transport are basic necessities of life for human beings
in any time at any places. By guaranteeing such basic needs, textile technology has
become one of the most important components in our technological history. Textile
technology occupies an important position in Chinese history of science and
technology, among which silk technology particularly has made an extremely
important contribution to the whole world’s history of science and technology.
Keywords
Textile technology · Ancient China · Traditional ritual system · Raw materials ·
Textile industry
Clothing, food, housing, and transport are basic necessities of life for human beings
in any time at any places. By guaranteeing such basic needs, textile technology has
become one of the most important components in our technological history. As the
F. Zhao (*)
China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou, China

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_4
108 F. Zhao
rest of the world, textile technology also occupies an important position in Chinese
history of science and technology, among which silk technology particularly has
made an extremely important contribution to the whole world’s history of science
and technology, exerting significant impacts on development of the world’ technol-
ogy and culture.
4.1 The Structure of Textile Industry in Early Times
Cotton, wool, linen (fiber of hemp, flax, etc.), and silk are four main and general
kinds of raw materials of natural fibers. Ancient civilizations in different regions
had all created rich textile cultures in their own special natural environments. In
the course of history, various textile cultures gradually took shapes with distinc-
tive traits. Briefly speaking, the four great ancient civilizations in the Old World
coincidentally had obvious corresponding relations with four textile fiber raw
materials: flax widely used in Egypt, cotton mainly produced in India, wool
primarily produced in ancient Babylon, and silk dominantly produced in China.
Although it originated from the Near East, flax seemed to be utilized in textile first
in Egypt. Flax braided fabrics of 5000 BC were found in Fayum and Badari, which
were still quite crude. Besides, a massive volume of flax yarn and fabrics were found
in Robenhausen, the earliest Neolithic period site (3750 BC) found along the banks
of lakes of Alps located at the border of Switzerland and Italy.
Sheep and goats were first domesticated in the middle and lowest reaches of
Tigris and Euphrates of West Asia, but it was widely used in textile in different areas,
covering the whole West Asia, Central Asia, North Asia, and Europe in early
periods. However, wool textile in Central Asia might be introduced from West Asia.
In India, a country with profound history, cotton textile was developed from a
very early time. Cotton fibers and cotton textiles of 5500 years ago were unearthed
at Mohenjo-Daro site located in the valley of the Indus River in today’s Pakistan.
These cotton fibers were identified as fibers of cultivated cotton, proving that
cotton was the main textile raw material in India. But, shortly thereafter, cotton
textile technology was gradually introduced into Persia and Europe and Africa
before the Common Era and finally the northwestern areas of China around the
Common Era.
However, China, a country located in the east, mainly used silk as their textile raw
material. According to archaeological references, silk originated from the Yellow
and Yangtze River Valleys in China more than 5000 years ago. The earliest known
solid evidence of using silk was found in 1926, when Li Ji, one of the first
generations of Chinese archaeologists, excavated a site of Yangshao culture at
Xiyin Village, Xia County, Shan Xi, where half of a silkworm cocoon was
unearthed. After verification by many scholars, this half of a silkworm cocoon was
deemed as an important material evidence of the fact that silkworm cocoons and silk
were used in ancient China. Currently, this silk worm cocoon has been kept in
Taipei’s Palace Museum. In 1958, archaeologists in Zhejiang found a bamboo basket
at Liangzhu culture site at Qianshanyang in Huzhou. There were some textiles and
strip lines and other material objects in the bamboo basket, which were identified as
4 Overview of Textile Technology in Ancient China 109
tough silk sheets, silk thread, and ribbons by Zhejiang Textile Institute back then and
later by Zhejiang Technology University. Later, Archaeological Institute of Zhejiang
also found some silk ribbons which were made around 4000 years ago at this site.
The third material evidence was debris of silk and linen fabrics of around 5500 years
ago unearthed at the Neolithic site at Qingtai Village, Xingyang City, in the 1980s,
which was the most direct material evidence of ancient Chinese producing and using
silk 5000 years ago. According to the above findings, we can see that Chinese silk
boasts a history of at least 5000 years. China’ s silk was also introduced to other
countries afterward, such as Japan and South Korea, making it a key feature in the
textile culture of East Asia.
Besides the feature of using silk, China’ s textile raw material in the early time
also included a great amount of wool and hemp-fiber.
The majority of wool fabrics were found in Xinjiang, a place closely linked with
textile culture of Central and West Asia. A large sum of wool fabrics with different
varieties were found at sites of early Bronze Age (around 3000 years ago) in
Xinjiang discovered by archaeologists, including Xiaohe Cemetery in Lop Nor,
Wubao and Yanghai Cemeteries in Turpan, and Zagunluke Cemetery in Qiemo,
although these findings have yet to be appraised thoroughly.
Cellulose fibers of plants were also widely used in China in early times, and there
were many choices. For example, kudzu fabrics of around 5000 years ago were
unearthed at Caoxieshan Site in Wuxian County, Jiangsu, as said in Shijing-Zhou
Nan-Ge Tan (Classic of Poetry-Odes Of Zhou And The South-Ge Tan):
How the dolichos spread itself out,

Extending to the middle of the valley!
Its leaves were luxuriant and dense.
I cut it and I boiled it,
And made both fine cloth and coarse,
Which I will wear without getting tired of it.
Dolichos in the poem is the kudzu vine, with the Latin name of Pueraria lobata
(Willdenow) Ohwi. It’s a kind of perennial herbaceous liana of Leguminosae,
featuring thick and long stems. Besides, it’s a type of sarmentous plant, always
spreading on the ground or winding on other plants. Kudzu fibers can be extracted
through “Cutting off and cooking”; “Chi” (fine cloth) and “Xi” (coarse cloth) are all
fabrics made of kudzu fibers.
In addition, among hemp-fibers, Northern part of China mainly used hemp, which
has a scientific name of Cannabis sativa L. It’s a kind of annual dioecious herba-
ceous plant. Southern part of China, however, used ramie with the scientific name of
Boehmeria nivea (Linn.) Gaudich. As mentioned in Shijing-Chen Feng (Odes Of
Chen)-Dong Men:
The moat at the east gate, Is fit to steep hemp in.

That beautiful, virtuous, lady, Can respond to you in songs.
The moat at the east gate, Is fit to steep the boehmeria in.
That beautiful, virtuous, lady, Can respond to you in discourse.
The moat at the east gate, Is fit to steep the rope-rush in.
That beautiful, virtuous lady, Can respond to you in conversation.
110 F. Zhao
The “Ma” and “Zhu” in the poem refer to hemp and ramie, respectively, and
“steep” means a process of soaking skin of hemp in the water to obtain fibers. “Rope-
rush” in the last paragraph means sedge, a kind of cogongrass, which was used for
making rope back then.
4.2 Cultural Opportunity of Origin of Silk
The most distinctive fiber in the textile industry in early China, however, was silk fiber.
The main silkworm species used in Chinese textile history was Bombyx mori L., which
was a kind of economic insect feeding on leaves of mulberry trees and spinning their
cocoons, and also called mulberry silkworm. This is a kind of insect with complete
metamorphosis. It will go through four development stages in its life cycle: silkworm
egg, silkworm, chrysalis, and silk moth featured by completely different forms and
physiological functions (see Fig. 4.1). Silk egg is the stage when the embryo develops
and grows into a larva of silkworm. During the larva stage of silkworm, the silkworm
grows up by absorbing nutrition from food, commonly known as “Can” or “Can’er” in
Chinese. In the silkworm stage, or the caterpillar stage, the silkworm will go through
four skin molts. When it sheds its old skin, it will not eat; hence, it was also called
dormancy. After four times of dormancy, the silkworm is called a matured silkworm,
whose body becomes completely transparent, and it stops eating and begins to spin
itself in a silk cocoon. After the silkworm spins its cocoon, it sheds its skin and
becomes a chrysalis, and about seven days later, the silkworm moth, also known as the
adult silkworm, emerges from the cocoon, which is also the copulation stage when
male silk moths and female silk moths mate and female moths lay eggs for reproducing
offspring. Female silk moths lay eggs after copulation with male moths. Generally, one
Fig. 4.1 Four growing and

changing forms of silkworm
female moth can lay around 500 eggs. Cocoon silk span by the silkworm is used by
people for producing silk fabrics.
There are many legends of silk origin with long history. People worshiped many
kinds of silkworm gods, among which the most famous official legend was Leizu, Yuan
Fei of Yellow Emperor, who invented raising silkworms, while the most popular one
circulated among people was the story about Silkworm Horse Maiden (Matouniang).
The legend about Leizu raising the silkworm was first found in Lu Shi by Luo Mi
of the Song dynasty (960–1279): “Xilingshi, Concubine Yuan of the Yellow
Emperor, was named Leizu. She was the first one rearing silkworms and therefore
people worship her as the silkworm goddess.” It’s also recorded in Tong Jian Gang
Mu Qian Bian-Wai Ji by Jin Lvxiang: “Xilingshi or Leizu married Yellow Emperor
was Concubine Yuan. She was the first one who taught people to rear silkworms to
get silk from the cocoon for clothes, thus people needn’t worry about suffering from
cracked skin and chilblain, consequently, later generations deified her as the silk-
worm goddess.” Since Leizu or Xilingshi’s clan was located near the Xiling Gorge in
Sichuan, therefore it’s assumed that Leizu’s technology of breeding silkworms might
come from Sichuan.
Among various legends about the origin of breeding silkworms among the
people, the best known one was the legend of Silkworm Horse Maiden. Many
scholars also called it silkworm-horse story, which was first recorded in Sou Shen
Ji by Gan Bao of the Jin dynasty (265–420):
According to a very ancient myth, there was a father who traveled far away and left his
daughter at home who took care of a horse by herself. The girl lived a hard and lonely life,
missing her father very much, so she joked with the horse: I will marry you if you would
bring my father home. Hearing the words, the horse broke the reins and ran away to the
place where her father was. When her father saw the horse, he felt pleasantly surprised
and pulled the horse to ride on it. The horse looked at the direction where it came from,
keeping crying. Father said: this horse is crying, is there anything happens at my home!
Thus he urgently rode the horse back home. He thought that the horse had unusual feeling
and thus gave it more hay. The horse refused to eat it. Each time when the girl came in or
went out, it would spare no efforts to attack her happily and madly, which happened more
than one time. The father felt quite surprised and secretly asked his daughter. The girl told
her father what she said to the horse: “It must be this reason”. The father said: “Don’t
spread the words or it may bring disgrace to the family and you’d better not come out.”
Then he sneakingly killed the horse with a bow and arrow and dried the horse skin in the
yard. After the father was again off on his travels, his daughter was playing with a
neighbor girl by the horse skin, kicking the skin with her feet and mockingly said: “You’
re just an animal. How can you marry a human wife? You were killed and peeled for this
reason. You brought this on yourself, didn’t you?” Before she finished her words, the horse
skin suddenly engulfed her and whisked her away. The neighbor girl was very afraid and
dared not to save her. She ran to tell the girl’s father. The father returned and searched for
his daughter, but his daughter had lost. Several days later, he finally found that his
daughter and the horse already changed into a big white silkworm (with a horse shaped
head) that was spinning silk threads in a large tree. The silk cocoon was much stronger
and thicker than normal silkworm. A neighbor woman took the silkworm and harvested the
silk for several times. Thus the big tree was named mulberry. The Chinese character “sang
(mulberry) ” is pronounced the same as “Sang (mourning)”. Thus people all began to
plant this kind of tree, which become today’s trees for silkworms.
112 F. Zhao
As a matter of fact, the thrive of silk industry in China was due to several basic
elements. First of all, it’s resources. There were numerous wild mulberries and wild
silkworms in China which produced many kinds of wild silkworm cocoons. Sec-
ondly, China enjoyed developed ancient culture. Around 5000 to 7000 years ago, our
ancestors who lived in the Neolithic period had created relatively comprehensive
cultures in terms of clothing, food, housing, transport, production, religion, art, and
war, providing the environment for producing silk. Another condition was opportu-
nity. From tremendous data of archaeology, ethnonymics, and anthropology, we can
conclude that invention of silkworm-rearing technologies and silk industry originat-
ing in China was based on special Chinese culture.
Mulberry silkworm was a kind of creature possessing the most magical changes
in the nature. Such transforms amazed people in all ages. Silkworms go through four
forms from silkworm egg, silkworm, chrysalis, to silk moth. People always associate
the transformation between motion and station (including dormancy and waking up)
of silkworms with the most important issue back then—the heaven, the earth, the
life, and the death. Silkworm egg is the beginning of life. Hatching of silkworm
resembles the birth of life, while dormancy and wake-ups resemble different stages
of life. Chrysalis can be regarded as a kind of death, death of the original life, while
flying moth born out of chrysalis resembles human soul after death. Similar ideas can
also be seen in Bo Wu Zhi: “Chrysalis, another name of soul,” and LiJi-Tangong II:
“Confucius said that the making of the straw figures was good, and that the making
of the (wooden) automaton was not benevolent.” Figures here refer to wood figures,
mud figures, etc. Its original meaning might be related to chrysalis. In tombs of
Yangshao culture, nearly half of the dead were buried in urn coffins near the
foundations. It’s assumed that holes left on the urn were to let the dead’s soul freely
go up to heaven. This might also be originated from the association with chrysalis
changing into a moth and breaking through the cocoon after having been dead for
seven days. As urn coffins were mostly used for burying dead children who have
weak strength, it’s necessary to leave holes in advance. Later on, one of the
approaches for people to ascend to heaven and become immortals was called Yu
Hua (literally means to sprout wings), which can also be associated with chrysalis
becoming a moth.
The magical and important changes happened on silkworms also make their
crucial habitat—mulberry sacred. From legends of ancient history, the mulberry
forest, the habitat of silkworms, had a close relation with folk activities. There were
two types of activities in the mulberry forest: one was lovers secretly meeting each
other, offering a sacrifice to Gaomei God (who is in charge of marriage and
childbearing) and praying for children; the second was offering sacrifice to the
god and praying for rain. Praying for children was for descendants, and praying for
rain was for harvests. These top two important activities of humans in ancient times
were held in the mulberry forest, indicating the importance of mulberry to our
ancestors. The fact that the mulberry forest was the place where couples secretly
meet with each other can be verified in many historical data, among which the
records in Shijing were the most abundant, such as Wei Feng(Odes Of Wei)-Shi Mu
Zhi Jian:
Fig. 4.2 Picture of harvesting mulberry leaves on bronze wares
Among their ten acres, The mulberry-planters stand idly about.

'Come,' [says one to another], 'I will return with you.'
Beyond those ten acres, The mulberry-planters move idly about.
'Come,' [says one to another], 'I will go away with you.'
While the most obvious evidence is records in Yong Feng-Sang Zhong:
I am going to gather the dodder, In the fields of Mei.

But of whom are my thoughts? Of that beauty, the eldest of the Jiang.
Such kind of customs was also reflected in some artistic works of back then.
Images of picking mulberry leaves can be found on a large number of bronze wares
of the Warring States, depicting the very scene of men dating women in the mulberry
forest and offering sacrifice to Gaomei God (see Fig. 4.2). All these stories seemly
indicate that in the mulberry forest, it’s especially easy for gods to communicate with
humans; therefore, in Zhou dynasty(1046–256 BC), when men dated women in
forests of mulberry trees, they would usually offer sacrifice to God of childbearing,
Gaomei. The most famous example of the praying for rain in mulberry forest was
King Tang of Shang (1600–1046 BC) praying for rain in forests of mulberry trees.
Many documents recorded this story. For instance, it’s recorded in Lv Shi Chun
Qiu-Shun Min that: “In the past, Tang overthrew Xia dynasty (2070 BC-1600 BC)
and dominated China. The nation had been suffering drought and crops were lost for
five years. Then Tang prayed to God by providing his own body as the guarantee in a
forest of mulberry trees.” It’ s annotated in Huai Nan Zi by Gao You that: “The
mulberry forest was the place where people offered sacrifice and praying for rain.”
Due to importance of the mulberry forest, people further imaged a kind of sacred
tree based on mulberry trees which was called Fu Sang (a large mulberry), a place for
the suns to rest, as mentioned in Shan Hai Jing-Hai Wai Dong Jing: “There is Fu
Sang in Tanggu (where the sun rises) and the ten suns rest on Fu Sang.” The concept
of sacred tree Fu Sang was formed at least in the period from King Pangeng to King
Wuding of Shang dynasty. One of the bronze trees unearthed from Sanxingdui Site
of Shang dynasty in Guanghan, Sichuan, was confirmed as Fu Sang. Under the
bronze tree is a trumpet-shaped base, with nine branches on a straight tree trunk.
114 F. Zhao
Fig. 4.3 Image of Hou Yi shooting the sun on lacquer wares unearthed from Zeng Hou Yi Tomb
On each of the branches and the top of the tree, there stands a bird, with decorations
of bronze dragons, rings, flowers, and leaves hanging on the branch. Since then,
images of Fu Sang were commonly seen in artworks of Warring States, Qin and Han
dynasties. The image of Fu Sang was also found on the painted box unearthed from
Zeng Hou Yi tomb in Leigudun, Hubei province. On the box, Fu Sang is painted as a
giant tree, with ten suns in total: on both sides, there are two branches symmetrically
with one sun on each of the branch. Besides that, one is also on the top of the trunk,
and another one was shot by Hou Yi before it changed into a bird. Such image of
Hou Yi shooting the sun further illustrated and provided the proof of people’s
imagination of Fu Sang back then (see Fig. 4.3).
As a result, the silk obtained from this tree are not common fabrics, and wearing
clothes made of silk for clothes will surely facilitate communications between
humans and the heaven. Therefore, it’s not always a bad thing to spin a cocoon
around oneself. Instead, it could be the only route for soul ascending to the heaven.
As a result, the dead was wrapped with silk fabrics or silk floss, similar to using silk
materials to make an artificial cocoon so as to help the dead’s soul ascending to
heaven. The earliest known silk fabrics up to now were from an urn coffin of
Yangshao Culture site at Qingtai Village, Xingyang, Henan, which was used to
wrap children’s corpse. Later relevant records concerning burial customs found in Li
Ji-Li Yun also proved this use: “They dealt with the flax and silk so as to form linen
and silken fabrics. They were thus able to nourish the living, and to make offerings to
the dead; to serve the spirits of the departed and God. In all these things we follow
the example of that early time.” Weaving the hemp-fibers into cloth to nourish the
living and silk into fabrics to bury the dead indicates that people use cloth and silk
fabric for different purposes. Cloth was used for the living, while silk was used for
the clothing of the dead. It’s also confirmed in the burial customs unearthed from
No. 1 Tomb of Chu State in Mashan, Jiangling. As silk production gradually
developed, elderly people also began to wear silk clothes. It’s recorded in Meng
Zi-Liang Hui Wang that: “Let mulberry trees be planted about the homesteads with
their five mu, and persons of fifty years may be clothed with silk,” indicating similar
meaning. This sentence not only shows respect for the aged but also implies the
meaning of silkworm spinning itself in a cocoon when it gets old.
Apart from being used as clothes for the dead, in early times, silk was also used in
sacrificial garment, as recorded in Li Ji-Yue Ling that: “When this has been
completed, she apportions the cocoons, weighs out (afterward) the silk, on which
they go to work, to supply the robes for the solstitial and other great religious
services, and for use in the ancestral temple.” Not one is allowed to be idle, which
indicates that silk obtained by breeding silkworm was mainly used for clothes to
wear when people offered sacrifices to the god and ancestors at ancestral temple. Li
Ji-Ji Yi further elaborated the rite of breeding silkworms for cocoons and the purpose
of making clothes:
When the (silkworm) year was ended, the honourable ladies had finished their work with the
insects, and carried the cocoons to show them to the ruler. They then presented them to his
wife, who said, 'Will not these supply the materials for the ruler's robes?' She forthwith
received them, wearing her head-dress and the robe with pheasants on it, and afterwards
caused a sheep and a pig to be killed and cooked to treat (the ladies). This probably was the
ancient custom at the presentation of the cocoons. Afterwards, on a good day, the wife rinsed
some of them thrice in a vessel, beginning to unwind them, and then distributed them to the
auspicious and honourable ladies of her three palaces to (complete) the unwinding. They
then dyed the thread red and green, azure and yellow, to make the variously coloured figures
on robes. When the robes were finished, the ruler wore them in sacrificing to the former kings
and dukes; all displayed the greatest reverence.
People wear clothes made of silk when offering sacrifice to deceased monarchs
and ancestors. Similarly, silk was also used as sacrifice, such as silk manuscripts or
paintings on silk, which intended to use silk as a kind of carrier to convey the
information on silk manuscripts or transport things wrapped in silk to the other
world. The most famous silk manuscripts were unearthed from Zidanku, Changsha,
Hunan, which has characters written in the center and magical pictures painted
surrounded it (see Fig. 4.4). In addition, silk manuscripts were also used for covenant
between two states, as recorded in Zuo Zhuan-Ai Gong Qi Nian: “Da Yu held the
Fig. 4.4 Silk manuscripts in

the Warring States period
116 F. Zhao
conference of feudal princes at Tushan, and ten thousands of feudal princes came to
offer him jade objects and silk fabrics.” Another Chinese idiom also goes: “to
exchange weapons of war for gifts of jade and silk (turn hostility into friendship).”
Here jade and silk manuscripts were all materials for writing credential scripts which
would be buried into the ground or burned with fire after written, indicating that
these written words would be conveyed to the heaven.
As a kind of very delicate creature, silkworm is vulnerable to severe natural
environment. For sustainable raising of silkworms, our ancestors began to build
silkworm rooms to carefully breed them, hence giving birth to China’ s mulberry silk
industry against Chinese distinctive cultural background. After the Spring and
Autumn period as well as the Warring State period, as silk production increased
gradually, the mysterious feelings toward silk began to weaken. Meanwhile, Chinese
society also gradually moved toward a feudal society with ritual systems from an
early sorcery world focusing on unity of heaven and man; thus, the use of silk was
gradually combined with Chinese society’s ritual systems and became one important
part of ancient Chinese society.
4.3 The Raw Materials of Textile and Its Warm-Keeping

Function
Common textile materials, especially cotton, wool, and hemp, are mainly used to
make clothes for warm keeping in winter particularly. Generally speaking, people
usually wear cotton coats and cotton trousers in winter, and fairly wealthy people
may wear lined short gowns and trousers made of silk floss. But before cotton was
introduced into China, the materials of winter clothes worn by Chinese people were
distinctive in different regions. According to document records and unearthed
objects, in winter, ancient Chinese people worn fur coat, Maohe (short coat made
of animal hair and coarse hemp), Mianyi (clothes stuffed with silk floss or
cotton), etc.
Northwest China produces fur and wool. Fur coats and wool fabrics worn by
ancient people 3000 years ago unearthed in Xinjiang basically indicate that fur and
wool clothes were common for people to wear. But in inland area, the scarcity of fur
and wool made fur coat particularly precious, and mostly only kinsmen of the
emperor and rich families living in the north wore coats made of such material.
It’s frequently mentioned in Shijing that fur coats in those days were mostly made of
lambskin and raw fox skin. Zheng Feng, Tang Feng, and Hui Feng in Shijing all
included a poem titled Gao Qiu (Lambskin Coat), respectively. In Hui Feng-Gao
Qiu, it says: “In your lamb’s fur you saunter about; In your fox’s fur you hold your
court.” Wen Yiduo, a Chinese poet and patriotic fighter, explained it as “Senior
officials usually wore lambskin coats and when they went to court, they wore fox
skin coats.” Another poem titled Bin Feng-Qi Yue says: “And take foxes and wild
cats, to make furs for our young princes,” also talking about a kind of fox skin coat.
Such kind fur coat also can be seen on the wall paintings in the tomb of Xu Xianxiu
of the Northern Qi dynasty (550–577) in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, where the host of
the tomb was depicted as wearing a fur coat.
Maohe is a kind of coarse and thick fabric woven with hair fabrics (mostly wool
fabrics), which can also be used to keep warm and is commonly found in tombs
unearthed in Xinjiang in early time. Although it’s not compared with wearing fur
coat, Maohe was used by common people. As written in Bin Feng-Qi Yue: “Without
the clothes and garments of hair, how could we get to the end of the year?” It
indicates that people used to make clothes with such coarse wool fabrics to keep
warm in winter. In southern areas with warmer weather, clothes made of such coarse
wool fabrics can also be used to keep warm. Today’s Scotch tweeds may also be a
kind of Maohe, indicating that people all around the world use Maohe to keep out the
cold. Tao Yuanming, a writer and poet living in the Jin dynasty, used to live in
Jiangxi province, and his way of keeping warm was drinking and wearing Maohe.
Dilapidated house is accompanied by the moaning wind, seeing the court filled
with weeds. Get up with Maohe on the back and sit awake through the night, and it’s
difficult to wait for the daybreak coming.
(Yin Jiu-The Sixteenth of the Twenty Poems)
The most common winter clothes for ordinary people were lined clothes, which
were comprised of two layers, with thermal insulation materials filled between two
layers. It was called Fuyi (复衣, literally means double-layer clothes) or written as
Fuyi (複衣, homophone). Such clothes were invented to keep warm in areas without
fur or feather, which can be classified into the following categories according to
different materials or quality of the fillings.
The main category of filling materials was silk floss. Back then, silk floss had
many names in Chinese, such as Mian, Xu, and Kuang, possibly due to their quality,
but it’s difficult to distinguish. The best silk floss was made of cocoons directly, just
like rinsing silk floss today. The second level was of a little inferior quality, which
was silk floss made of leftovers of cocoons. The third level was used old silk floss.
Today, we also need to refresh and stretch the silk floss clothes after wearing it for
several years and refill the silk floss back in it. If the quality of old silk floss is too
poor, then new silk floss will be added. All these clothes stuffed with silk floss can be
classified as Mianyi, Xuyi, or Kuangyi. Ancient China began to levy silk and silk
floss as taxes since the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), indicating that in clothes in
real life, silk floss and silk were equally important. There are also many records
concerning Mianyi in ancient documents. Bai Juyi, a realistic poet of the Tang
dynasty (618–907), composed a poem with five characters to a line, named Xin
Zhi Bu Qiu (newly made cotton clothes):
Cloth woven with ceiba produced in Guiguan (today’s Guangxi) is as white as snow, silk
floss produced in Wujun (today’s Suzhou) was softer than cloud. The cloth and silk floss are
heavy and thick, keeping fading warmth after they have been made into fur clothes.
Wearing the fur coat, sit from morning to the evening, covered with it, sleep from evening
to the next morning. No one knows that in the cold winter, the body still feels as warm as in
spring.
118 F. Zhao
That is to say, Mianyi (cotton clothes) made of silk floss can make the body feel
warmth of spring in winter. In Tang dynasty, the central government provided spring
clothes and winter clothes for frontier troops. According to records of documents
found in Dunhuang, there were three kinds of winter clothes, including long-sleeved
clothes, coats, and trousers made of silk floss, all of which could be stuffed with silk
floss. There was also a story about Mianyi of frontier soldiers during Kaiyuan era of
the Tang dynasty (685–762). It’s recorded in Full Collection of Tang Poems that
some of the clothes made of silk floss (“Kuang Yi”) for frontier troops were made by
maids in the imperial palace. A solider accidentally found a poem in the clothes
(Poem in the Robe) by a maid in Kaiyuan era, Volume 797, Full Collection of Tang
Poems:
Dear soldiers defending the borders, you have worked very hard, are you asleep? I don’t
know who will wear the coat I made with my own hands. I deliberately put more silk yarns in
it and include all my affection. We have no chance to get together this life, I hope we can fall
in love with each other in the future life.
This soldier submitted this poem to the officer who then handed the poem over to
the court. Back then Emperor Xuanzong of Tang searched the palace with the poem,
trying to find out the writer of the poem. Finally, a maid admitted her guilt. Emperor
Xuanzong somehow had compassion for her and didn’t punish the maid, but instead
he married her to that soldier. Officers and soldiers of frontier troops all wore Mianyi
in the cold northwestern area, indicating that Mianyi was common clothes for people
to wear in winter back then.
However, since it’s not easy to breed silkworms and silk floss was expensive,
although it was main raw material for winter clothes back then, not all people could
afford it. Coarse hemp was inferior to silk floss, which was called Yun, as mentioned
in Shuo Wen: Yun, jumbled mass of silk or hemp, means coarse hemp. Clothes
stuffed with coarse hemp were called Yunpao. It’s recorded in Lun Yu(The Analects)-
Zi Han that: “The Master said, “Dressed himself in a tattered robe quilted with hemp,
yet standing by the side of men dressed in furs, and not ashamed - ah! It is you who is
equal to this! He dislikes none, he covets nothing - what can he do but what is good!”
Zi Lu kept continually repeating these words of the ode, when the Master said,
“Those things are by no means sufficient to constitute perfect excellence.” Xing Bing
explained Yun as “intermingling nettle hemp for making robes.” As Confucius said,
probably only Zi Lu would not blush when he wore Yunpao and stood together with
those wearing fur overcoat. Yunpao mentioned here means poor-quality winter coat,
and fox fur and raccoon fur coats were of good quality. Tao Yuanming also
mentioned Yunpao. He said in Ji Cong Di Jing Yuan Wen (A tribute to his deceased
brother Jingyuan) that “There are no coarse clothes in winter, and gourd ladle and
rice basket are urgently needed in summer.” All these show that the common
materials for winter clothes in the south were Yun and He, both of which were
inferior in quality and were not very good for keeping warm but comparatively
appropriate for south with higher temperature. Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei dynasty
(386–534) recorded using oakum to keep warm in the preface to Qi Min Yao Shu
(Essential Techniques for the Peasantry) that “Ci Chong held the post of prefecture
chief of Guiyang (in today’s Hunan). People in those days generally didn’t grow
mulberry trees and ignored matters on breeding silkworms, growing mulberry trees,
weaving, silk, hemp, thus they only wore very simple clothes.”
The next level inferior to hemp was using reed catkins as wadding. This can be
found in the story about Lu Yi Shun Mu by Min Ziqian in “The Twenty Four Filial
Exemplars.” This may be a special case, but the possibility still existed. It’s said that
Min Ziqian was from the Kingdom of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period and was
also a pupil of Confucius. The contents are as follows:
Min Ziqian’s father married a second wife, who gave birth to two sons. Min Ziqian
supported his parents and was obedient. Although his stepmother didn’t like him, he was
still very obedient and didn’t neglect them. His stepmother envied and hated him and gave
her own boys with cotton-padded clothes, but gave Ziqian clothes filled with reed catkins.
His father didn’t know this. In winter, his father asked him to drive the vehicle. Ziqian
couldn’t stand the cold and lost the bridle for several times. His father therefore scolded him
and Ziqian didn’t defend himself. His father watched him carefully and found that he was
pale in color, thus touched him with hand and found he wore thin clothes. His father tore up
his coat and knew that there wasn’t cotton fiber in it. But the two sons born by his second wife
wore pure cotton coats. His father felt very sad and wanted to drive his wife away. Ziqian
burst into tears and went up to persuade his father: if mother stays with us, only one son feels
cold; if mother leaves, nobody will take care of three sons, father, please think it over
carefully. His father was moved by his words and didn’t divorce his wife. His stepmother
corrected her mistakes and equally treated three sons, feeding and clothing them impartially,
and becoming a loving mother. (Dunhuang Version of Biography of Dutiful Son)
Therefore, the following conclusion can be drawn: in ancient China, before cotton
was used commonly, most people wore clothes filled with silk floss in different
quality, while very wealthy people and noblemen would wear fur coats. The poor
sometimes worn coarse Maohe and Yunpao stuffed with coarse hemp. Of course,
some people don’t wear coats or Maohe in winter, especially those in the southern
area where there’s no silk production.
4.4 Dress and Chinese Traditional Ritual System
About the relatively noble textiles, silk in particular, its relation with Chinese
traditional ritual system is more important. Buyi (cloth gown) was a notion in all
past dynasties of China, that is to say, those didn’t hold official posts could only wear
sackcloth, hence the name of Buyi. But silk was the mark of nobleness and identity.
Adding its rich colors and patterns, it can be used as a symbol of rank.
The highest rank was undoubtedly costumes for emperors. Records about 12 sym-
bols on ceremonial robes in early times can be found in Shang Shu (The Book of
Documents)-Yi and Ji. The number of 12 symbols was different and specific to
official’s ranks. In 59 AD (the second year of the reign of Xiaoming Emperor of
Eastern Han dynasty), it’s specified that 12 symbols, including the sun, the moon,
120 F. Zhao
Fig. 4.5 Kesi Gunfu (robes

worn by the emperor) with
12 symbols of Ming dynasty
and the star, were used for emperors; three dukes and feudal lords should use nine
symbols, including mountains and dragons; and nine ministers and officials with
lower ranks should use seven ornaments concerning pheasant. Twelve symbols in
early time were lost. The earliest ones we can see today were emperors’ pictures on
Dunhuang frescoes, but not all the 12 ones can be seen here. Material objects with
the 12 symbols were Kesi (silk tapestry with cut designs) Gunfu of Emperor Wanli of
the Ming dynasty unearthed from Dingling, Beijing (see Fig. 4.5).
The symbol of the dragon was also the pattern used exclusively on clothes worn
by emperors. According to historical records and archaeological findings, dragon
design was used on emperors’ clothes as early as Liao dynasty (907–1125) (see
Fig. 4.6). By Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), large dragon with five claws was specially
used for emperors’ clothes, while smaller dragon with three claws could still be used
for general costumes. Since Ming dynasty (1368–1644), there were dragons with
five claws and boas with four claws and flying fish and bullfights which were quite
similar to dragons. Apart from dragons with five claws, boas, bullfights, and flying
fish were all used on clothes granted to officials.
Apart from patterns, color was also an important factor in different ranks. It’s
recorded in history that court garments in the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) were black,
while in the Western Han dynasty (206 BC–25 AD), they were yellow and in the
Eastern Han dynasty (25–220) were red. During the Han dynasty, clothes’ colors
also varied in different seasons. It’s recorded in Hou Han Shu-Yu Fu Zhi that there
were five colors for court dresses in different seasons: blue for spring, scarlet for
summer, yellow for the last month of summer, white for autumn, and black for
winter. The nobles also worn purple at home as daily clothes, while common people
always worn green in their daily life. It’s mentioned in Jiu Tang Shu-Yu Fu Zhi that
when Emperor Gaozu of Tang ruled the country, he wore ochre yellow robes and
garments and forbade his people wear yellow and specified that princes and officials
of the third rank and above should wear purple silk robes and garments with big
Fig. 4.6 Dragon robe of Liao

dynasty
flowers; officials of the fifth rank and above should wear vermilion silk robes and
garments with small flowers; officials of the sixth rank and above should wear
clothes made of yellow silk and cloth decorated with double-silk ribbon; officials
of the sixth and seventh ranks wore green clothes. By the time Tai Zong of Tang
dynasty ruled the country, officials of the seventh rank should wear green court dress
made of damask silk decorated with tortoise shell and double giant geometry grain
silk, while officials of the ninth rank should wear clothes made of mixed damask silk
of blue silk and cloth. Generally speaking, using four colors—purple, deep red,
green, and blue—to imply different official ranks originated from the Sui (581–617)
and Tang dynasties (618–907). Since the middle of the Tang dynasty, the emperors
also granted brocade decorated with wild goose holding ribbon in the mouth and
brocade with decoration of Gu Zhou (a kind of bird mentioned in ancient books)
holding Rui Sha in the mouth to senior officials, such as surveillance commissioner
and provincial governors in charge of civil and military affairs, etc. Such pattern of
wild goosing holding ribbon on brocade was still used in Liao dynasty and was also
found in tombs of Liao dynasty (see Fig. 4.7). Color grades of official costumes in
Song dynasty were the same as those of the Tang dynasty, but there were some
differences in brocade patterns on clothes. According to Song Shi-Yu Fu Zhi, officials
of the first rank were granted with lantern decorative brocade, the second with
Cusipandiao thin brocade, the third with yellow lion exquisite brocade, the fourth
with Cuimao thin brocade, the fifth with red brocade, and the rest high-ranking
officers with narrow brocade gown, including Cuimao, Yinan, Yunyan, lion, lianque,
Baozhaoda, and Baozhaozhong brocade.
All the civil and military officials of the Ming (1368–1644) and the Qing
dynasties (1644–1911) used Buzi (Chinese traditional 12 kinds of decorative
122 F. Zhao
Fig. 4.7 Pattern of wild

goose mouth-holding ribbon
brocade in Liao dynasty
Fig.4.8 A group of Buzi in Ming dynasty
patterns on ceremonial dress and court dress) for different ranks. According to Ming
Shi-Yu Fu Zhi, in 1391 (the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Hong Wu), Buzi on
informal clothes was stipulated as follows (see Fig. 4.8):
Duke, marquis, earl, emperor’s son-in-law: kylin, Baize (white marsh);

Civil official: red-crowned crane for officials of the first rank, golden pheasant for the
second rand, peacock for the third rank, wild goose for the fourth rank, silver pheasant for
the fifth rank, egret for the sixth rank, Xichi (a kind of water bird) for the seventh rank, oriole
for the eighth rank and quail for the ninth rank;
Military official: lion for officials of the first and second ranks, tiger and leopard for the
third and fourth ranks, bear for the fifth rank, young tiger for the sixth and seventh ranks,
rhinoceros for the eighth ranks, sea horse for the ninth rank.
Paradise flycatcher for clerks other than officials.
Supervisor: Xiezhi (mythical Chinese unicorn)
There are two types of Buzi: round ones and square ones. The former mainly included
patterns of dragon, boa etc., used for kings, princes and aristocrats; and the latter was used
for officials of all ranks. The detailed descriptions are as follows:
Civil official: crane for officials of the first rank, peacock for the second and third ranks,
wild goose for the fourth rank, silver pheasant for the fifth rank, egret for the sixth rank,
Xichi for the seventh rank, quail for the eighth rank and paradise flycatcher for the ninth
rank;
Military official: kylin for officials of the first rank, lion for the second rank, leopard for
the third rank, tiger for the fourth rank, bear for the fifth rank, young tiger for the sixth rank,
rhinoceros for the seventh and eighth ranks, sea horse for the ninth rank.
In general silk patterns, silk art also changes in terms of popularity and fashion
style with times. Decorative patterns on bronze ware, pottery, lacquer ware, and gold
silver ware also followed the decorative style of silk, or influence each other
interactively, showing common characteristics of an era. For example, since the
middle of Bronze Age, small geometry grains such as fret and thunder pattern filled
into rims and gaps of animal patterns appeared on various sacrificial vessels, which
might be impacted by animal theme embroidery on shadow stitch fabrics with
geometry designs. After the Silk Road route was established, Chinese silk art
communicated with Western textile art and formed the most luxurious silk patterns
of the Tang dynasty, casting influence on the regions and countries along the Silk
Road. After Song and Yuan dynasties, we can always see designs of Jing Di Kai
Guang pattern, with Suo Wen of small geometric shape as the background, such as
Qushui pattern, Suojia pattern, Qiulu pattern, etc., and nest-shaped patterns with
rings as the theme. Such designs were undoubtedly inspired by silk pattern design,
and a lot of them appeared on almost all works of art, including pottery, metal ware,
lacquer ware, and architecture. In Ming and Qing period, silk patterns even became
an important means for people to express blessings. Important themes of silk patterns
include: “abundant harvest of all food corps”; “auspicious happiness in over mea-
sure”; “three durable plants of winter—the pine, the bamboo, and the plum”;
“abundant offspring, felicity, and longevity”; “having many offspring like Lotus”;
“love for all seasons”; etc. (see Fig. 4.9).
4.5 Three Main Development Stages of Chinese Textile

Technology
From the perspective of technologies for textile production, we can divide the history
of Chinese ancient textile industry into two major stages: the period of the classic
system, which is from Shang and Zhou period to the middle of Tang dynasty, and the
124 F. Zhao
Fig. 4.9 Auspicious pattern

on silk in the Qing dynasty
period of the traditional system, which is from the middle Tang dynasty to Song,
Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasty. To be more specific, the classic system can also be
divided into three phrases: Shang and Zhou period was the formation phase; Qin and
Han dynasties were the peak; and the period from Wei, Jin, and the Southern and
Northern dynasties to the middle of Tang dynasty was the transitional period when
classic system gradually broke down and integrated new technical factors. As for the
phase of the traditional system, the period from the late Tang dynasty to Song
dynasty was the formation phase, and in Yuan dynasty people learned from Western
textile technologies, and in the period of the Ming and Qing dynasty the traditional
system matured. Since the late Qing dynasty, traditional system begun to collapse
due to the impact of Western modern textile technologies. Modern technology
system of textile production was finally established in the Republic of China and
last today.
4.5.1 Classic System
Textile production in different regions is featured by silk products in the north and
Ma products in the south, and areas for silk production also include the northwest
and northeast. Back then, the center for silk production was the middle and lower
streams of the Yellow River, and the government established official silk production
organizations in the capital Chang’an and in main areas of producing silk such as Qi,
Chu, Shu, etc. Until the early Tang dynasty, central plains in middle and lower
streams of the Yellow River and Sichuan were still important silk production areas.
But silk production in the middle and lower streams of the Chang Jiang River,
particularly regions south of the Chang Jiang River, enjoyed rapid development after
An-Shi Rebellion (a catastrophic setback for Tang dynasty), thus basically forming a
situation of tree equally important areas in the late Tang dynasty.
Textile production is an important part of people’s life. Each household, if their
places were suitable for breeding silkworms, would obtain mulberry trees to raise
silkworms and paid thin silk as taxes. In places suitable for growing hemp, taxes
were paid by turning in hessian cloth. It’s recorded that in the Han dynasty, a total of
five million silk fabrics were given to the government as gold in a year. In Cao Wei
period (220–265), household regulation system was officially adopted, which lasted
until the early Tang dynasty when Zu-Yong System was adopted, which levy taxes of
silk and Ma fabrics. As for general circulation markets, silk was one of the important
currencies of block trade.
The mulberry trees were featured by tall branches, and silkworms were mainly
bivoltine type. As for silk reeling tools, in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, bronze yan
was used as silk reeling pot, and simple silk reeling tools were invented for reeling
silk in hot soup. Since around the Han dynasty, hand silk reeling machine had been
used for reeling silk until the Tang dynasty. Bast fiber manufacturing was conducted
mainly by means of retting, twisting, or weaving.
Later in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, textile
production had already seen two kinds of looms and weaving technologies. One was
pedal loom, the shedding of which was controlled by foot, used for weaving silk
fabrics and hemp fabrics. The second one was jacquard, which used Hua Ben
(similar to painting model, made with silk yarn and cotton thread on fabrics
according to dermatoglyphic pattern designed on the paper) or heddle to control
lifting patterns of organizes, which was only used for silk manufacturing. Structure
of silk fabrics was also an important part of weaving technologies. In this period,
plain weave was the basic structure, and there had no true twill weave yet. As for
leno fabric, a special four-and-complex gauze, also known as chainlike leno, was
popular back then. Besides, the warp-faced structure of jacquard fabrics, brocade in
particular, were warp-patterned, which means presenting decorative patterns by
showing colorful orsey silk in regular patterns on the surface of fabrics.
Traditional Chinese dyes are mainly vegetable dyes. From the Shang and Zhou
dynasties to the Northern and Southern dynasties, although some dyes were intro-
duced from the surrounding areas, most dyes were domestically produced. Red dyes
were mainly made of madder and zinnober in a large amount, a kind of mineral
dyestuff; as for blue dyes, indigo plant and woad were directly used for dyeing
without fermentation; and yellow was dyed with cotinus coggygria and cape jas-
mine. Mordant method was mostly adopted for dyeing, and the main mordant was
plant ash and iron-bearing materials. Printing technologies were originated from
hand painting, and the Han dynasty began to see true printings, which were made
with bronze block printing stencil in combination with hand painting. This method
had been used until Tang and Song dynasties, but new-type resist printing methods
also gradually emerged in Wei and Tang dynasties. Method of embroidery of this
period was basically lockstitch, which is delicate and intricate.
In addition, silk trade on the Silk Road also showed the characteristics of stages.
Exchanges between China and the West, both Grassland Silk Road in early times and
126 F. Zhao
Zhang Qian’ s mission to the Western region during the reign of Emperor Wu Di of
the Han dynasty, were relied on the route through China, Central Asia, West Asia, to
the Mediterranean regions. Governments on the central plains operating the Western
regions during the period of Han and Tang dynasties particularly made the Silk Road
in the Northwestern Area a crucial route that decorated with deserts and oases.
Compared to this silk road, although the maritime silk road had seen quite a lot of
development with North Korea and Japan, the proportion is still quite low.
4.5.2 Traditional System
Since An-Shi Rebellion, chaos caused by war in the north forced the government to
attach importance to silk production in the south. Southern migration of the emperor
of the Song dynasty made the south become the center of silk production, and the
scale of bast fiber manufacturing gradually decreased. Since the Yuan dynasty,
cotton planting began to become common around the country, and the story of
Huang Daopo was the true reflection of this historical fact. Silk production further
concentrated in the southern areas. Therefore, mulberry silk production of this period
was mainly in areas south to the Yangtze River. For example, state-owned weaving
and dyeing factory in Ming dynasty were mostly located in Jiangsu and Zhejiang
provinces, while state-owned fabric manufacture in Qing dynasty was concentrated
in Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, hence the name of Three Fabric Manufacturing
Areas in the southern areas. Massive volumes of silk were produced in the south and
consumed by the imperials in the north. Cotton textile industry maintained its
dominance in the private sector.
From the relations of textile and social economy, due to two-tax law coming into
force in the middle of the Tang dynasty, textile’s position in central finance greatly
decreased, and the currency role of silk had been weakened. Later generations
gradually pay taxes in money. Silk production in the folk, however, tended to be
more commercialized and specialized. Many cities and townships specialized in
textile, and professional markets relying on this were formed in the southern areas.
Great changes also occurred in foreign trade of silk. Due to Islamization of
Central Asia, the Silk Road in the northwestern area was blocked from time to
time, while the Maritime Silk Road in the south was prosperous. During the Song
and Yuan dynasty, a great number of port cities emerged in the southern coastal
regions, and silk products were transported to North Korea, Japan, and other
countries in Southeast Asia and then transferred to other countries by sea. The
magnificent feat of Zheng He leading his fleet to voyage to the Western Sea in
Ming dynasty especially composed the greatest chapter in the Maritime Silk Road.
In terms of technologies, the transferring of center of sericulture production to
regions south of the Yangtze River made the relevant technologies adaptive to the
environments of the south. The main types of mulberry trees were changed into those
with branches of medium and low height and large quantities of dense planting
mulberry fields of mulberry trees with branches of medium and low height. The
silkworm-breeding technology of “Chu Kou Gan” —increasing the temperature at
the time of mounting—not only benefited the reliability of reeling silk but also
guaranteed the style of thin silk produced in regions south of the Yangtze River.
Models of silk-reeling machines also enjoyed considerable improvement. Perfect
pedal silk-reeling machine had already emerged by Song dynasty, and experience of
“Chu Shui Gan” was also summarized for silk reeling techniques. Although tech-
niques for bast fiber manufacturing basically remained the same, technologies for
cotton textile were introduced into China from the North and the South and enjoyed
improvement and development in China. Multi-spindle pedal spinning wheel and
large spinning wheel invented by Chinese people have greatly improved textile
production rate.
Common looms already used two heddles widely in Song and Yuan period. At
first the looms were single-acting double-heddle and double-tread machines, and
interactive double-heddle and double-tread looms appeared in Yuan dynasty, taking
the place of axile-styled single-heddle looms in early time. As for models of jacquard
looms, Shuzong loom gained its dominate position in Song dynasty. Jacquard weave
was controlled by Hua Ben made of doubling thread, including small and large
flower pattern jacquard looms, hence marking one of the highest silk techniques of
ancient China.
The organization structure of fabrics also witnessed huge changes: Twill, satin
weave successively appeared in basic organizations, and chainlike leno in leno
weave gradually became less common; leno featuring fixed doup end organization
sprang up, and nap cloth begun to use shorn-pile method, while double weave used
more backed cloth fixed with ground retinervus and special tying-in; the method of
pattern-forming also evolved from warp threads to weft threads; thus, lots of fabrics
such as Kesi (silk tapestry with cut designs) and Zhuanghua (a kind of colorful
jacquard silk fabric) made by adopting shuttle-controlled techniques became popu-
lar. All mentioned above were the new factors of weaving technologies in this
period.
After the Tang dynasty, red dyes mainly used red flowers and hematoxylin
through acid dying and mordant methods. Blue dyes mainly prepared indigo blue
by fermenting lime and dying through reduction method. Few changes occurred to
yellow dyes; only more sophora flowers were used. As for mordant, most plant ash
was replaced by alums. In the Tang and Song dynasties, resist printings were
prevailed, except some other printing technologies, gray paste resist printing, wax
printing, Hui Xie (similar to today’s blue and white printing), and Jia Xie (knock-out
printing) became the mainstream. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, silk printing and
dying was on the wane, but blueprint cloth enjoyed rapid development, becoming
the most important mean for decorating cotton textile. Embroidery stitches also
experienced material changes in the late Tang dynasty. Plain stitch and its varied
methods were used a lot, and there even appeared a wide range of varied well-known
local embroidery techniques, including Gu embroidery, Su embroidery, and Jing
embroidery, but chain embroidery became extremely rare.
The Tang dynasty saw the most varied artistic styles of silk. Application of
precious flower pattern, in particular, changed themes of silk decoration from
animals to flowers, plants, birds, and insects. In Song dynasty, decorative styles
128 F. Zhao
showed hobbies of scholars, and painting flowers became the mainstream of silk
decoration. Various flowers such as peony, lotus, plum blossom, chrysanthemum,
peach blossom, and bamboo leaf were widely used on silk products. There were also
matching patterns of bee, butterfly, fish, insect, heron, egret, wild goose, magpie, and
modeling style of realism. During the Ming and Qing period, flower and plant
patterns were still pervasive in silk decoration, but its manifestation tended to be
stylization, and the themes were mostly conveyed through auspicious patterns,
implying auspiciousness in every word.
4.5.3 Modern Industrial System
In the late Qing dynasty, Western advanced textile technologies had exerted great
impacts on China. Many businessmen introduced new style power machinery
equipment and new-type raw materials and technologies from the West and
employed Western technicians to establish factories in China, hence forming the
modern Chinese mulberry silk industry and cotton textile industry, as well as modern
textile industry system.
China’s modern and contemporary silk industry started from industry of silk
reeling with machine at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1861, a British
businessman set up the Silk Reeling Establishment in Shanghai, which was
China’s first foreign silk enterprise. In 1872, Chen Qiyuan founded Ji Chang Long
silk reeling factory with steaming machines, China’s first domestic private silk
enterprise, in Nanhai, Guangdong (see Fig.4.10). These enterprises not only used
advanced industrialized silk production machinery but operated in production forms
of Western factories, bringing China the modern industrialized production system.
Later, other industries, including silk industry and printing and dyeing industry, also
began to adopt industrialized production mode successively.
Fig. 4.10 Silk reeling machines used by Chen Qiyuan

(a) Picture of complex steam silk reeling machine. (b) Picture of a single steamed machine
Rearing silkworm in a scientific way and reforming silkworm seeds improved

species of silkworms, and crossbreeding also improved quality of silkworm cocoons.
At first, Italian-style and French-style horizontal silk reeling machines were used for
reeling silk. Later Japanese-style vertical silk reeling machines were adopted, which
improved silk production and quality. Cotton textile and wool textile industry also
enjoyed rapid development, and a great number of modern spinning factories were
built around the center of Shanghai, Nantong, Wuxi, and other places. In addition,
various new-style artificial fibers were popular at that time, bringing huge changes in
the structure of raw material production.
As for weaving technology, China introduced flying shuttle machine at the end of
the nineteenth century, changing throwing and receiving shuttle with two hands into
throwing shuttle and pulling cord with one hand, which not only accelerated the
speed but also broadened the width of fabrics. Then gear drive was also used to finish
pacing of warp and batching. At the beginning of the twentieth century, ironwood
weaving machine and power looms were used. Components of weaving machines
were most made of iron, and the weaving machines were driven by electricity. As for
jacquards, wooden jacquards were introduced and later its needles were gradually
increased and the body of the machine was changed into iron one. Replacement of
these facilities marked the introduction of modern silk weaving technologies. By the
second half of the twentieth century, silk reeling machines, spinners, and looms
further developed toward automation and computer-aided intelligent textile
manufacturing machines.
With development of chemical industry, chemical dyes gradually took the place
of traditional vegetable dyes. Since the end of the nineteenth century, China has
already used massive quantities of chemical dyes for painting. At the beginning of
Fig. 4.11 China’s First Silkworm Academy

130 F. Zhao
Fig. 4.12 China National Silk Museum
the twentieth century, Chinese national capitalists established factories using machines
for dying yarns and cloth of various colors. Machine printing appeared in the 1930s
and roller printing machines were used first and then square screen printing machines
were used. Printing industry also saw watermark replaced by paste-printing; accord-
ingly, technologies of aging, washing, and finishing also improved.
The biggest difference between the production system of modern textile industry
and traditional system was that the former had a complete set of systematic scientific
research, education, and publishing organizations. In 1897, Hangzhou Silkworm
Academy founded by Lin Qi, prefecture chief of Hangzhou back then, set the
precedent of silk education in modern China (see Fig. 4.11). After that, silkworm
schools and silk industry schools were successively opened in many places, culti-
vating talents in urgent need for Chinese silk industry. By the twentieth century,
various schools, research institutions, and promotion institutions engaged in the
textile industry had been established around the country. Monographs and profes-
sional journals concerning textile were published, and a great number of professional
textile talents were cultivated. East China Institute of Textile technology in Shanghai
used to be China’s most important institution of higher education of textile, which
was renamed China Textile University later (today’s Donghua University). At the
end of the twentieth century, various textile museums, including Nantong Textile
Museum, Suzhou Silk Museum, and China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou,
were also built in the important textile production areas (see Fig. 4.12).
Ancient Chinese Food Technology
and Food Materials 5
Yifang Fang
Contents
5.1 The Stage of Stabilization of Food Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.2 The Stage of Prosperity of Food Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5.3 The Stage of Formation of Food Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Abstract
We all enjoy eating food naturally. For decades, many experts and scholars have
studied the history of Chinese food and yielded fruitful results. They have
provided new perspectives and fresh ideas for the development of modern food
technology. In this chapter, the author focuses on his professional field by
studying the history of science and technology and core issues based on historical
materials and deductive logic on food.
Keywords
Ancient Chinese food · Food technology · Food materials · Chinese civilization ·
Staple food
We all enjoy eating food naturally. Only qualified foodies will not waste their innate
digestive system. As a result, when it comes to food, experts and the public all can
share some of their opinions and experiences. Nevertheless, it will be quite difficult
if we want to systematically summarize a professional text and deliver a proper
speech on this subject with the same organ that we use for eating and talking.
For decades, many experts and scholars have studied the history of Chinese food
and yielded fruitful results. They have provided new perspectives and fresh ideas for
Y. Fang (*)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_5
132 Y. Fang
the development of modern food technology. Seeing this, someone even ambitiously
tried to sort out an all-in-one masterpiece of “Chinese food” but failed eventually.
After all, few people can master the food technology, folklore, philosophy, and
culture of thousands of years’ history at the same time. Considering this, the author
will not include all the aspects of food but instead only focus on his professional field
by studying the history of science and technology and core issues based on historical
materials and deductive logic.
When the author wrote this chapter, the surrounding environment of food security
was quite severe. Increasing amount of natural food was polluted, and genetically
modified food can be seen on the market due to lack of supervision. Several years
ago, the author invested in popular catering industry, trying to resist “hungry catering
mode” in our modern society. Currently, this advanced brand has been successfully
managed and made its way to the world stage of the Shanghai World Expo 2010.
After a few years, the author has taken responsibility of preserving the traditional
artificial hybridization technology, taking the lead in criticizing reckless promotion
of agricultural and commercial plans of genetically modified staple food in the
Chinese market of more than one billion people. In another words, a group of people
in real life are planning to clone genes of viruses, bacteria, and animals into
traditional rice, corn, and other staple foods, trying to stuffing these things into our
mouth while announcing that these are essence of science and technology and
scientific and technological progress should not be hindered.
For this reason, the research method adopted by the author is a careful and
moderate one between the traditional and pioneer. History warns all livings that
the development of modern food resources and the production of finished food
products are closely related to chemical technology and biotechnology. Decision-
makers and practitioners should not mortgage or gamble on the future of human
beings and our races or harm and sacrifice our health and life. They should not
advocate leap forward and rapid risk-taking measures on food issues and violate the
internal development laws. In the decision-making of major life scientific research
projects, the method of historical reflection and the paradigm of scientific experi-
ments shall have equal rational and moral weight.
5.1 The Stage of Stabilization of Food Resources
The basic physiological needs of the Chinese nation, such as food and clothing,
cannot be met without the continuous development of food resources, artificial
planting, and the support of fire, water, and technology.
In 2005, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region established the largest in situ
protection zone of wild rice in Yulin, Guangxi, with a total area of 632 mu (about
421,333 m2), preserving wild rice resources of more than 1.1 million, ranking the
first in the world. Wild rice is the ancient strain of modern cultivated rice, which
contains many heterotic genes, such as high yield, high quality, cold tolerance and
drought resistance, disease and insect resistance, etc. Guangxi is the largest natural
breeding place of wild rice in China, but most of them were destroyed. The existing
5 Ancient Chinese Food Technology and Food Materials 133
wild rice in situ protection zone distribution only accounts for 21.12% of the original
ones, which are extremely precious. They are not only the precious material basis for
biological research and new species cultivation but also the strategic material base
for resisting unnatural interference and ensuring food security. A large number of
evidence show that our ancestors in the south part of China have made independent
contributions to the origin of rice farming by accumulating technologies in food
utilization which have been tested through at least ten thousand years of field
planting and human evolutionary risks.
Through the long history of evolution, our human ancestors gradually evolved
from the relying on fishing, hunting, and gathering to survive to the historical stage
of settling down and living on farming. One of the earliest agricultural birthplaces in
the world in the Chinese civilization can be traced back to ten thousand years ago.
Despite vast land and various unearthed materials, the general layout of main grain
planting in China can be summarized as “millet in the north and rice in the south”
after analysis of the existing data. Due to the difference in staple food of the south
and the north, distinctive diet structures have been developed: rice, fish, and soup for
people living in the south and millet and meat for people living in the north. In the
primitive stage of human society, people barely had enough food to eat, and the food
was roughly cooked. At this stage, the common focus of food technology was to
store enough food materials to satisfy the biological need of eating enough food.
In terms of staple food planting, there were remains of rice of ten thousand years
ago in the sites found in the south, including Hemudu in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province;
Jiahu in Wuyang, Henan Province; Xianren Cave for thousands of years in Jiangxi;
Zengpiyan in Guilin, Guangxi Province; and 80 dang sites in Lixi, Hunan Province.
It’s amazing that other staple grains with similar long history, such as millet, proso
millet, wheat, and sorghum, were also unearthed in the sites found in the north,
including Peiligang culture sites, Yangshao culture sites, Longshan culture sites,
Qijia culture sites, Dadiwan of Qin’an in Gansu, Jiangzhai of Lintong in Shaanxi,
Linjia of Dongxiang and Qinggangcha of Lanzhou in Gansu, Haimenkou of
Jianchuan in Yunnan, Xijiawan in Baode and Zhaojialai in Wugong of Shaanxi,
Dahe Village in Zhengzhou of Henan, Jing Village in Wanrong of Shaanxi,
Donghuishan in Gansu, etc. In addition, there are signs that our ancestors in the
South and the North already started artificial cultivation, such as soybean, Coix, and
gourd. It is worth mentioning that all these artificial cultivated strains went through
complex procedures before becoming edible for our ancestors. The motivation of
artificial cultivation can be various. Besides meeting the growing demands of food
due to increased population, the development of food processing technology and the
pursuit of the stability of food sources are also important reasons which should not
be neglected.1 The screening, breeding, and cultivation of the abovementioned
species were in a slow, gradual, and natural process without obstructions, while
taking into consideration many factors that concern human safety, including human’s
1
The origin of agriculture theory: at present, in addition to the theory that the pressure of population
leads to agricultural development, there are other academic opinions challenging this view.
134 Y. Fang
gastrointestinal adaptation, immune response, health, and offspring, as human body

gradually adapts, digests, and absorbs different proteins in the food. Western archae-
ological and biological studies have found that the distant relatives, such as Nean-
derthals, who once accompanied modern humans along the history, were
disappeared in the history because they were unable to adapt to the changed
environment, diseases, and food. Modern food science should also consider this
important anthropological factor. The labor-intensive primitive farming technology
may not fundamentally change the quantity of food in the primitive society. How-
ever, this planting technology with a clear target has a strategic impact on the future
society and plays a decisive role in adjusting the dietary preferences of people in
certain regions.
The unearthed materials show that the food materials of prehistoric Chinese
ancestors include vegetables, fruits, aquatic products, and forest products that have
been identified and tried in the gathering era. Their source of animal protein was
expanding by hunting wild animals and raising domesticating livestock. In the list of
the initial raw materials of the Chinese people below, the earliest can be found in the
Zhoukoudian Site which can be traced back to 500,000 years ago, and the latest can
also be found in archaeological sites with thousands of years of history. The author
believes that the list here is based on material evidence and a large number of
possible food materials of ancient ancestors deduced by researchers through ethnol-
ogy and folklore are excluded. These ancient natural food includes hackberry seed,
acorn, wild jujube, pecan, fungus, alga, water chestnut, gorgon fruit, and lotus seed;
egg, insect, snail, small fish, shrimp, crab, snail, and tadpole; deer, raccoon dog, wild
cat, wild rabbit, badger, rat, black bear, Sumen rhinoceros, Asian elephant, buffalo,
musk deer, giant panda, wild boar, otter, Meles meles, macaque, red deer, peacock,
sika deer, elk, Swertia, wild horse, antelope, woolly rhinoceros, herring, and cor-
morant; dogs, pigs, sheep, cattle, chickens, horses, and reindeer; etc. Xia Xiaozheng,
the book which reflects the life of the primitive ancestors, keeps a relatively complete
evidence record, including the staple food, wheat, millet, and beans, and the
non-staple food, vole, fish, sheep, chicken, horse, beaver, jackal, deer, tuna (stur-
geon), Chinese chive (alligator), leek, white wormwood, Zhi (ginseng), date, rue,
plum, insect eggs, ice, apricot, peach, squash, etc., adding up to more than 30 kinds.
Harvesting abundant raw food materials does not mean that the era of deep
processing of human food arrives automatically. Generally speaking, cooking and
food refinement according to different raw materials are directly related to people’s
active use of fire. The technological revolution that our ancestors take in food after
the process of cooking or grilling has epic physiological and sociological signifi-
cance. For one thing, heating food and getting used to processed food will help
human beings to set apart from the wild animals in terms of intelligence and
psychology. For another crucial reason, eating cooked food that is heated and grilled
can greatly improve the digestion and absorption efficiency of the sugar, protein, and
fat of food in human cells, promoting the physiological evolution of the digestive
system, brain nervous system, and bone structure and preventing the harm of
parasites, bacteria, and viruses. As a result, bidding farewell to primitive age of
devouring raw meat and fowl of savages can also be seen as a starting point where
humans begin the innovation of food technology. Since then, with amazing creativ-
ity, our intelligent ancestors learned cooking food in animal stomach bag, stone
vessels, and pot without a teacher, slowly grasping the key cooking technology and
getting to taste the nutritional food. Cooking with tools, the second food innovation
after grilling, took another hundreds of thousands of years. Ever since the ancestors
of Chinese people began to cook food with water, the basic characteristics of Chinese
food production have demonstrated itself. The key concept of “mediating” in
cooking gradually becomes the core principle of Chinese food technology and can
be seen through all the technological and cultural processes of Chinese food prep-
aration and eating, benefiting the offspring for thousands of years. Similar to the
principle of “mediating,” vague languages such as “a little, a few, in a little while”
exclusively in Chinese cooking are also passed down for generations.
Chinese cooking technology originating from heating and boiling can be con-
firmed by concrete materials. Through visual recognition and instrumental analysis,
archaeologists clearly identified different rice, vegetables, freshwater dish, and
animal meat in the remains of the food in the pottery pots unearthed in Hemudu,
Yuyao of Zhejiang Province. There are no fundamental differences between the
homemade meals our ancestors had after hard working and popular hot pots with
various ingredients favored by modern white collars. The only difference is that our
ancestors failed to cook these meals separately due to technical restrains, since
claypot, stir-fried vegetables, braised freshwater fish, and fried steak require heat-
resistant utensils, while modern people are interested in returning to nature and enjoy
its original tastes. They choose to enjoy original warm hot pot family meal like our
ancestors did and give up cooking techniques of “mediating” different ingredients,
such as cooking slowly over a low flame, stir-frying, braising, and frying.
Our ancestors learned from roasting food on bush fires to cook food in one pot.
Since then, Chinese people have developed dozens of food cooking techniques and
methods, including boiling, gradual simmering, steaming, steaming thick soup,
quick frying, roasting and drying, pan frying, deep frying, stir-frying, and sauté
with thick gravy. All these cooking methods are not simple innovation of form;
instead, they are innovative achievements after fully integrating the accumulated and
thorough understanding of the civilizations of physics, chemistry, mechanics, anat-
omy, health, and medicine by Chinese ancestors. The notions that “food and
medicine coming from the same sources” and “treatment via food can preserve
one’s health” are frequently mentioned in in Chinese classics, such as Huangdi
Neijing, Lv Shi Chun Qiu, Zhou Li Zhu Shu, Huainanzi, Shennong Ben Cao Jing,
Jiuhuang Bencao, and Baopuzi. These opinions, as well as more comprehensive
traditional Chinese medicine treatment theories, are all based on historical summa-
rization and innovation but with theoretical limitations at the same time. For
example, nutritional supplement and food therapy—trace elements and vitamin
supplement obtained through herbal medicine decoration—adopted by Chinese
ancestors was based on their living environment, food resources, and the quantity
and nutritional status. The effect on the human body was beyond their cognitive
ability to understand. However, in the mass media of the twenty-first century, there
are still people who claim to be experts in food therapy and health preservation
136 Y. Fang
regardless of the crisis in reality, such as food contamination, excessive nutrition,

and unbalanced diet structure that bothered urban citizens. Taking in all the ancient
knowledge without distinguishing lacks a true understanding of ancient wisdom.
Modern cultural scholars are promoting the essence of Chinese food, such as
eight treasure food in the pre-Qin days, northwestern food in the Qin and Han
dynasties, night banquet in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and delicious food in the
capital city of Song and Yuan and in the Sui park of the Ming and Qing
dynasties, which is undoubtedly a kind of protection and inheritance of Chinese
tradition. Publishing special reports on refined food production process, foreign
integration, and cultural promotion is remarkable, though few articles have
discussed the close relationship between Chinese diet structure and the health
of their ancestors.
Traditional food archaeological projects and research on the history of food
science and technology often concentrate on the collection and listing of unearthed
evidence as mentioned above. While acknowledging these academic discoveries, we
must also look further ahead. Modern scientific research methods are changing
rapidly, with gaining focus on quantitative analysis and methods adopting digital
research perspective. Such academic ideas and methods will influence the traditional
ways of research on history of food technology. The school that advocates the
analysis of experimental data holds the belief that no matter how many unearthed
relics are listed, they only highlight the single dimension tendency of homogeniza-
tion. The similar horizontal distribution and point description in the literature review
are not conducive to the deep excavation and extension of the research topic. After a
long time, it will lead to the academic redundancy that lacks innovation. As
archeologist Waterlow pointed out, if there is no evidence provided by human
bone materials, we will lack quantitative data on recipes. In addition to the tedious
abstracts on what kinds of food are theoretically available to the inhabitants of the
ancient world, there’s no further information. Similar abstracts often look like this:
“in Greece and Rome, recipes of ordinary people include grains, beans, vegetables,
fruits, olive oil, milk, cheese and a small amount of fish and meat.” When Peter
Garnsey, a British scholar, attended the Third International Symposium on Ancient
World History held at Fudan University in 2005, he submitted the paper Bones and
History: a new method for the study of recipes and health in the ancient Mediter-
ranean region, which was one of the best in research of this kind. Through the
establishment of an experimental platform for the analysis of human skeletons, the
author has compiled Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World:
Responses to Risk and Crisis (1988) and Food and Society in Classical Antiquity
(1999), which revealed the correlation between the chemical composition of human
bone tissue and that of food intake through data comparison, hypothesis, and
deduction. It was found that food from different sources consumed by people in
ancient times showed differences in stable isotope composition, which was also
different in that of human bones. The isotopic value of human bone collagen protein
is correlated with that of protein in food. For example, after more than 10 years of
studies on about 2000 skeletons of the Greek and Roman classical period unearthed
in the Mediterranean region, basic conclusions about the consumption of various
kinds of food are as follows:
(1) In the sample (n ¼ 105), the Bordeaux diet is mainly composed of grains, but
marine food accounts for a large proportion.
(2) The most popular marine food is fish, rather than fish paste which was thought to
be common in their diet. The stable isotope 15 N in fish sauce is much lower than
that of fish in skeleton.
(3) The stable isotope 15 N value showed that fish consumed by ancient people were
carnivorous fish with higher nutrition, rather than the herbivorous fish with
smaller body size, no matter in the form of fish or processed paste.
(4) There are differences between different ages and genders: adult men eat a large
number of carnivorous fish, while younger people aged between 15 and
35, including children and women, eat less.
(5) There is no obvious correlation between diet structure and funeral type, which
means the isotopic values of bones from grand tombs or simple pottery bottles
are the same, and there is no statistical difference.
In the diet of the sample group, the proportion of marine food to land food is
roughly estimated as that fish provides 10–40% of the protein in the diet. The
conclusion is that the local Bordeaux people eat a lot of fish.
This Western research mode and conclusion of ancient nutrition show us a way to
conduct similar research in China. Despite that current Western-related research may
not be rigorous enough, it’s still more scientific compared with archaeological
research in China fulfilled with national pride. If we don’t improve the research
method of history of Chinese food, the origin of farming, and human health and
continue to simply state the fact without further analysis as before, the research
results and significance will be dragged behind and below the international level.
Only by attaching importance to experimental analysis in archaeological nutrition
research can we earn the respect from academic fields.
In recent years, the archaeological anatomy of the unearthed bones showed signs
of Chinese ancestors suffering from war trauma and disability caused by labor. Some
evidence even showed that our ancestors had the technology to conduct surgeries.
We already can trace the migration of Chinese through molecular biological analysis
technology. Therefore, the statistical analysis of the data about the ancient peoples’
food intake and nutritional status, disease distribution, and life span will help us to
reconsider the reconstruction of relationships between the food of animal and plant
found in archaeology and social population. With no other obstacles in the crucial
research technology and the improved research method, we can further understand
the wisdom and success of food selection of human in the evolution.
5.2 The Stage of Prosperity of Food Products
The overall progress of Chinese society drives the continuous progress of farm
implements and cooking utensils and promotes the communication between China
and foreign countries on food and food process technology. Food technology has
become an integral part of exchange and technology integration of Eastern and
Western civilization.
138 Y. Fang
In the 1960s, archaeologists discovered the earliest pottery of human history with
about 10,000 years of history from Xianrendong site in Wannian County, Jiangxi
Province. Since 2012, Chinese scholars, with cooperation of experts from Harvard
University and Boston University, have published the research results of this site in
Science, Archaeology, and other important magazines in the United States. The
information contained in these pottery shards—the pottery making technology
discovered at Xianrendong site in Jiangxi Province—may rewrite the existing
records of human pottery making to 20,000 years ago. The most conservative
estimate is that the history of making cooking utensils with clay by our ancestors
was at least 7000 years ago. The pottery unearthed from Hemudu site accurately
depicts the images of rice ears and domestic pigs. Similar archaeological discoveries
prove an important fact: the birth of the most primitive pottery making technology in
China accompanied the agricultural technology almost at the same time.
Xianrendong site, Hemudu site, and the remains of artificially planted rice present
undeniable facts. The birth of rice cultivation is accompanied by the birth of
ceramics, which provides researchers with a very noteworthy twofold information
on the history of Chinese science. On the one hand, people mixed a large number of
husks into clay on purpose, which means that people began to pay attention to the
complex relationship between soil expansion and fire temperature. On the other
hand, dependent relationships formed between food and different ceramic products
reflect the rise of technology in use, such as storage, cooking and sharing, and the
formation of social relationship in primitive society.
Restricted by the quality of the ancient low-temperature pottery products, ancient
people’ cooking methods at this stage were extremely limited. Heating and boiling
are the main steps in the production of cooked food, and it is very important to keep
enough liquid in the container so as to prevent the ceramic vessel from drying and
bursting. After a day’s hard work, our ancestors ate thick porridge and soft rice as
their staple food to keep hunger at bay, but still soon they would be hungry again.
Such stage lasted for a long time in the history for our diligent ancestors before the
advent of cooking technology—some space was designed to left at the bottom of the
pot or cauldron, and people began to use complex utensils composed of two parts:
the lower part and the upper part of the steamer. Finally, delicious rice can be well
cooked on the stove. The remains of crust of cooked rice brown in the pot unearthed
at Hemudu site are supposed to be a small accident in the production of dried rice
back then. You may argue that this should be specially cooked crust of cooked rice or
claypot, but such cuisine demands higher cooking skills and technology. It would be
another thousands of years until the invention of heat-resistant pottery or bronze
ware can they enjoy such kind of food.
In comparison, the production of wheaten food has relatively low demand for
cooking utensils. Thanks to the invention and improvement of millstones, the rice,
millet, and wheat later introduced can all be ground into powder and made into
wheat product, such as flatbread, boiled pasta dough, or other products using foreign
fermentation technology. Especially since the Han dynasty, the ethnic integration
greatly expanded the connotation and extension of popular “dough-making flat
cake” and generated one category as “dough products,” including noodles,
Fig. 5.1
dumplings, buns, buns made of corn, and many other products with processes of
kneading, rolling, and so on, whether they are boiled, or baked, or fried, or steamed
with high temperature.
In October 2005, Nature of England reported that a lump of noodles in the
pre-Qin period of China 4000 years ago was discovered. Researchers have identified
that the unearthed food was made of millet noodles, which undoubtedly earned its
name as the earliest noodles in China. This bowl of northwest popular food con-
firmed the diversity of Chinese food and the inheritance of food technology. There’s
only one thing, which is that we should call this bowl of noodles as soup bun in
conform to the thinking and habits of ancient Chinese. Thanks to the unique climate
in Xinjiang, organic ancient food enjoys a natural advantage for long-term preser-
vation (Fig. 5.1). Today, the museum of the autonomous region displays spring rolls
and dumplings of the Tang dynasty all the year round. This ancient “pie” shows the
unified system of Chinese food for later generations. Although wheat is a kind of
local crop in the western region, it is also widely planted in the eastern region and has
an impact beyond the ancient traditional five grains in the central China and becomes
one of the staple foods. The key for food forms like spring rolls and dumplings
gaining their roots in the central plains after transforming lies in the principle of
“mediating,” a notion that gained its popularity since the era of Shijing, or the Book
of Songs, which integrates different delicious fillings together, producing all kinds of
flavors.
High-temperature cooking technology was matured in the Bronze Age, which
means we were getting closer to an era when all good cooks expanded their
imagination of food and showed all kinds of cooking skills. That is to say, our
ancestors began to explore more than just getting enough food that had lasted for
hundreds of thousands of years. With the steady progress of farming technology and
140 Y. Fang
the continuous upgrading of farm implements and utensils, how to eat well was
going to be the major concern for the Chinese ancestors in the next few thousand
years. They spared no effort to explore more food resources and try to make
delicious food.
In the legend before the Qin and Han dynasties, Yi Yin compared ruling a large
nation to cook a small delicacy. Such ideal philosophy of governing has passed down
for thousands of years in China and was admired by influential officials in the past.
Yet what attracted those gluttons the most was delicacies recorded in the same period
such as “eight treasures” and “evocative spirits.” Satisfying their appetite and
cooking these dishes cannot be realized without high-temperature cooking technol-
ogy. “Eight treasures” in the Western Zhou dynasty include eight kinds of central
plain delicacies (or eight cooking methods), including Chun’ao (stewed meat sauce
and oil mixed dry rice), Chunmu (stewed meat sauce and yellow rice), Paotun
(stewed, fried, slow stewed, and roasted suckling pig), Pao (stewed, fried, and
slow stewed lamb), Daozhen (stewed beef, sheep, and deer ridge), Zi (slow stewed
beef and mutton with wine and sugar), Ao (dried and boiled spiced beef jerky), and
Gan (fried and roasted dog liver in net oil). The raw materials for “eight treasures” in
Western Zhou dynasty harvested from cattle, sheep, elk, deer, pigs, dogs, and wolves
may have issues of safety or legal concerns for modern people, making it difficult to
cook these foods. While the quantity of meat is not the only criteria for Chu people to
judge the delicacy of food, their tastes and food concept were more delicate. The
delicacies listed in lines in the Chuci-Zhaohun prove that the southern people pay
more attention to the flavors and textures:
All your household have come to do you honor; all kinds of good food are ready: Rice,
broom-corn, early wheat, mixed with yellow millet; Bitter, salt, sour, hot and sweet–there are
dishes of all flavors: Ribs of the fatted ox, tender and succulent; Sour and bitter blended in
the soup of Wu; Stewed turtle and roast kid, served up with yam sauce; Geese cooked in sour
sauce, casseroled duck, fried flesh of the great crane; Braised chicken, seethed terrapin,
high-seasoned, but not to spoil the taste; Fried honey-cakes of rice flour and malt-sugar
sweetmeats; Jade-like wine, honey-flavored, fills the winged cups; Ice-cooled liquor,
strained of impurities, clear wine, cool and refreshing; Here are laid out patterned ladles,
and here is sparkling wine.
For people in the modern time drowned in excessive nutrition expensive food,
they have already lost the ability to appreciate and enjoy these subtle physical
experiences. Social development also causes organ degradation, and the degradation
of instinct has become an indisputable fact, yet people still fail to acknowledge this
fact amidst technology of conceit.
After the Qin and Han dynasties, the unified social system facilitated the stan-
dardization of technology and communication. Such convenience provided later
generations with more opportunities to know the facts about their lives through
unearthed materials, records and portraits, and others. Before this, although planting,
raising food producing can be found in classics and history records collected in the
imperial court, these written records were mainly grapevines gathered by the
scholars which cannot truthfully reflect the actual technological process of the
operator in detail and emphasize the key points. The reform and popularization of
characters in the Qin and Han dynasties enabled more and more grassroots officials
and on-site operators collecting agricultural books, books of typical weather in a
given season, and books directly related to agricultural planting and food production.
With close contacts with farmers and craftsmen all the year round, or directly
participated in the agriculture, they left us with comprehensive, authentic, and
repeatable technical details of agriculture, cooking, and folk culture, of which the
content is reliable and suitable for spreading.
At present, books that contain the original description deemed by researchers
include some versions of Fan Shengzhi Shu (Fan Shengzhi’s book), Kao Gong Ji
(Records of Examination of Craftsman), Simin Yueling (Monthly decretes to the four
[groups of] people), and Qimin Yaoshu (Important methods to condition the people’s
living) before Tang and Song dynasties. In addition, four chapters in Lvshi Chunqiu
(Spring and Autumn of Master Lv)-Shangnong, Guanzi-Diyuan (Master Guan-
Categories of land), and Yantielun (Discussions on Salt and Iron) and other practical
documents also record information about agriculture and food technology. Among
the authors of the documents mentioned above, Fan Shengzhi was the opinion
official of the Western Han dynasty, similar to today’s grassroots technician in
agricultural science station. His job was to teach people to cultivate in Guanzhong
Plain area of Shaanxi Province. Although Fan Shengzhi Shu we have now is not the
complete version, we can still get a glimpse of the impact it has on Qimin Yaoshu, an
important masterpiece composed later. The content of Fan Shengzhi Shu was almost
integrated in the Qimin Yaoshu. The main author of the latter, Jia Sixie, was a senior
official who had firsthand experience on governance based on agriculture, enabling
him to leave a comprehensive agricultural book for later generations. If we compare
the abovementioned agricultural works in Qin and Han dynasties in China with On
Farming (De re rustica) written by Marcus Terentius Varro and other ancient Roman
works of the same period in the West, the readers will feel that the times produce
great works.
In the prosperous period of the Han and Tang dynasties, the farming technology
in the central plains, especially the smelting, forging of iron farming tools, and its
design and application, was spread to the Yangtze River Basin and even remote areas
like Lingnan, Xishu, and other underdeveloped areas in China, bringing about a new
wave of technological innovation and social development. Nevertheless, historical
records of dissemination of new farming methods have yet grabbed the attention
among traditional food history researchers. It is generally believed that these tech-
nologies were spread by the war-resulted social changes and population migration,
an unexpected benefit of war. However, since increasing number of natural science
researchers are engaging in the field of traditional humanities research, they find that
the periodicity and scale of the war itself were also related to intrinsic laws. Xu
Jinghua, academician of the Academia Sinica, drew the conclusion that climates
change the history.
The cold climate in China around the Christian era may be an external factor
directly stimulating the southward migration of Chinese population and frequent
wars. The decreasing temperature and the cold current in the north and central China
142 Y. Fang
prompted farmers to seek and cultivate warm and humid land suitable for farming in
the south. Computer simulation data shows that in several centuries BC, the suitable
climate in the central plains guaranteed smooth farming and relatively easy life for
people. The omen of extreme cold first appeared in 29 BC when it snowed in
September. Years that had early winter lasted until 18 BC. Cold current also brought
drought and famine, along with it were riots caused by hungry people and southward
migration. The Han dynasty experienced frequent little ice age of China, mainly in
the second century AD. Research data shows that it was extremely cold in winter in
164 AD and 183 AD, and then it blew northwest cold wind in summer in 193 AD.
However, the immigrants from the north, with the tough iron tools born in the
Warring States period, directly solved the viscosity problem of land reclamation in
the southeast region. Only then the name of the land of rice as mentioned nowadays
matches its reality back then.
The unearthed objects prove that the iron products in the early Western Han
dynasty were more valuable than the copper products. Most of the iron products
were used as production tools, and few were made into conventional weapons. That
is to say, the rational need for survival is often superior to the impulse of savage
killing. For example, in 1983, 519 pieces of bronze weapons were found in the King
of Nanyue’ s tomb at Xiangshangang in Guangzhou, but all of them were placed
outside the coffin. Only a few iron weapons were in the coffin, and an iron sword was
placed close to the waist, which indicates how much the ancient people cherish the
iron weapons. Among the 246 pieces of iron tools in this tomb, most of them were
used for shipbuilding, hunting, and farming. Dongyang field utensil records of the
Han dynasty unearthed in Luopowan, Guixian County, Guangxi, recorded the iron
agricultural implements introduced from the central China that were used for soil
plowing, weeding, land reclamation, and rice cutting. More than 500 agricultural
implements were recorded on one list. In Yinshanling cemetery of Pingle, 299 bronze
weapons were found compared with four iron ones. Meanwhile, the iron production
tools unearthed include tripod, cauldron, sickle, hoe, axe, adze, knife, chiseling, etc.
After Liu Bang’s death, his wife Empress Lv issued an order to “ban the trade of gold
and iron wares, horses, cattle and sheep in southern cities” to curb the rise of
separation. You can see the crucial relationship between iron and livelihood even
in the barbarian from the south in the farthest place at that time. On the other hand,
since the Han dynasty, the production of iron, its well-developed technology, and
promotion enabled the production of food materials.
The expansion of the territory of the Han dynasty, especially the flourish of the
desert silk road and maritime silk road, extremely enriched the food materials and
promoted the cooking methods. The integration of flavor of Chinese people with
different ethnic groups reached a peak in the Tang and Song dynasties after a
thousand years. Back to the five-flavor experience mentioned above in Chuci-
Zhaohun, the flavor of sweet tasted by our ancestors was mainly from collected
honey and brewed maltose. By the Song dynasty, Tangshuangpu (Frosting Spec-
trum) written by Wang Shao recorded the technical process of sugar from sugarcane
planting to molecular crystallization, which is undoubtedly a “sweet” historical
material of food technology exchanges between China and foreign countries.
Mr. Ji Xianlin made a huge contribution to the study by exploring this academic and
cultural exchange in Central Asia. His high-quality study unveiled the flavor changes
of Chinese people for the first time. The greater value of his work was providing
insights for new academic research areas by turning the focus from traditional
imperial history to the history of craftsmanship, the research results of which
impacted the stagnant academic field. Further studies later found that food products
that are addictive or psychedelic, such as sugar in the food, should expand its scope
and include many other agriculture products, such as alcohol, herbs, tea, spices,
coffee, tobacco, and opium. Civilization of human beings originated from the smoke
shrouded sacrificial sites. When consuming psychedelic products such as smoking
and drinking alcohol, men find ways to communicate with the heaven and reach a
higher level of religion, art, and philosophy. Research with true value cannot ignore
these products for they possess profound historical connotations and they are closely
related to human life.
The Chinese character for tea, Cha (茶), was originated from Tu (荼). As an
important national drink sharing equal status with alcohol, tea is an original Chinese
drink that distinguishes it from other alcoholic drinks. In 758 CE, Chajing (The
Classic of Tea) written by Lu Yu established the system and theories of technology of
tea. In the iron pot full of vitality, tea leaves were boiled, fermented, and heated with
a low temperature. Such tools and technical process are still adopted today. After the
epic time of the Tang dynasty, tea was no longer exclusive to the imperial family and
was introduced to common people and formed a new political and economic model.
Emperor Dezong of the Tang dynasty began to levy tax of one tenth of the sales as
the revenue of the state treasury. The imperial power and finance were greatly
improved, and such practice was passed down in the following dynasties. Emperor
Wenzong of the Tang dynasty limited tea business to a constrained market and
established a monopoly system of government to purchase and sell tea. Since then,
the method of state monopoly became the magic ruling weapon for thousands of
years.
Tea can be grown in hills and mountainous areas, so it won’t occupy the land for
grain and cotton planting. But tea is not suitable to grow in the northern areas where
minority groups live. In terms of physiological functions, tea can facilitate digestion,
refresh oneself, and relieve fatigue. It contains rich vitamins, tannic acid, and
theophylline, which are necessary human nutrients that complement the diet of
nomadic people. Drinking tea is a physiological need that is necessary for northern
ethnic groups to digest the heavy, greasy, and indigestible things such as beef,
mutton, and milk. The habit of drinking hot tea can kill bacteria and reduce parasite
infection. When there was no tea to drink, people who feed on meat would have to go
back using old method of boiling all kinds of bitter bards, herbs to help the digestion.
As a result, unique tea in imperial China has more significance rather than just food
diet. The imperial China could have used this technology as “biological weapon” to
dissolve and control the nomadic people in the north from the root.
In 1575, Zhang Juzheng, the grand secretary, issued an imperial edict in the name
of 13-year-old Emperor Wanli (13th emperor of the Ming dynasty) that shut down
the private border trade to maintain the monopoly of the government over tea, which
144 Y. Fang
left Mongolian and Jurchen tribes in a mess of tea restriction. This was in fact a
preparation to start controlling their physiological demands to suffocate their hope of
life. Therefore, issue of tea triggered 3 years of brutal war. When the government
reopened the tea market, the fighting will of Mongolian and Jurchen tribes was
completely disintegrated. The system of trading horse for tea was designed by
imperial China in the central area targeting at northern plain, the great bend of the
yellow river in inner Mongolia, and other horse raising areas. The silk, cotton, and
porcelain transported on the silk road cannot exchange war horses from grassland
region, and only tea can be used to trade war horses. Zhu Yuanzhang (the first Ming
dynasty emperor) advocated tea policy to control Western tribes carried out the
policy of tea system, saying “the best policy for controlling Western tribes is to
control the tea market.” The trade of tea and horses helped Ming dynasty thrived and
prospered, but it was not used to its maximum; thus, the Qing dynasty that once
constrained by the weapon of tea finally replaced the Ming dynasty.
Compared with the rising hegemony later who took opium as strategic biolog-
ical weapon to conquer the Qing dynasty, Chinese civilization with cultural
weapons in their hands was both fierce and weak. Chinese imperial dynasties
used to have many advanced biotechnologies and commodity markets, but they
were not used politically, and people didn’t attach too much importance to and use
it as strategic weapons. After trying it out, Chinese people will pass on the
knowledge of planting and processing techniques to others. Chinese tea and
technology have made contributions to history but also left some regret in the
history. History can be cruel. Tea once represented the Chinese civilization, but
now it has been widely accepted and localized by Western civilization. How many
people know that popular lemon tea in the West was a typical Chinese beverage
from the central area of the Yuan dynasty? The delicious Chinese food only leaves
fragrance in people’s mouth with easy satisfaction and a befuddled life. Such
evaluation is not exaggeration, and examples can be seen in Dongjing Meng Hua
Lu (Memoir of the flourishing Eastern Capital of the Northern Song dynasty). This
article only focuses on scientific history so I will not further discuss this topic.
Here I will take the sumptuous food on the menu as examples to illustrate the
characteristics of technology according to the classification of current catering
industry:
(1) Pastry shop
There are two different kinds of pastry shop: traditional one and western one. Traditional
one was named oilcake shook, providing steamed bread, sugar cake, and round flat cakes in
boxes and plates. Western one was named Hu cake shop, providing all kinds of pastry,
including Menyou, Juhua, Kuanjiao, Cehou, You, Suibing, Xinyang and Manma. (Dongjing
Meng Hua Lu-Bing Dian-Bingdian)
Fast food with single form was available back then to meet the quick needs of
passersby. The different cooking methods of steaming and frying distinguish the
local cake from the foreign one. In fact, as a classic Western staple food, fermented
baked bread got cold shoulder in ancient China. There are still no written records or
unearthed materials to fill the blank to explain why. Maybe it’s due to the similar
reason as milk’s cold welcome in China that Chinese genes lack digestive enzymes,
but the main reason could be that fermented baked bread lacks the room for
localization. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why the stuffed bun, which is also
a kind of fermented pasta, is popular in central areas of China, and the solid
fermented bun combined with traditional cooking can find a niche. These two
types of food are more or less second-generation products after modification.
(2) Open-air restaurants
On both sides of the street are shops and houses...people often buy and eat all kinds of food
in the shops in the market, instead of cooking at home. Northern type of food is represented
by Lisijia in front of Fanlou, Duanjia cooked food, Shifeng crust while southern part of food
is represented by Si Qiao Jin restaurant, Jiuquzi Zhou restaurant which is very famous in the
city...there are roasted vegetable buns, meat wedged in steamed bun, vegetable pie, meat of
badger and fox, sausage, sweet candy food. There are also sliced meat, spice made of ginger
and fermented soya beans, sliced animal internal organs, sliced chilli, cooked and frozen
fish and meat paste, fried liver, clam, crab, walnut, cooked maltose, beans, pears, pome-
granate, hawthorn, cydonia oblonga, glutinous rice cake, dumplings made of glutinous rice,
salty fermented soy bean soup, etc. (Dongjing Meng Hua Lu-Bing Dian-Maxingjiepuxi)
Small food stores of open-air restaurants are still beloved by ordinary consumers
for their unity of form and delicacy. All kinds of raw materials can be put into the pot,
such as internal organs of animals, clam, crab, and other leftover bits and pieces of
materials, and then cooked into delicious food by different methods. The connota-
tion of cooking principle of “mediating” may also involve maximum utilization of
food resources. That is to say, the raw food materials that are popular in the
grassroots level or remote areas were gradually accepted by upper level of the
society, and similar menus gradually appeared in the grand hotels where person of
high rank was hosted. For example, in the tomb of the king of South Yue, jars of rice
field finches were unearthed together with other food, indicating that the king must
have enjoyed eating this kind of food and people living in Guangdong provinces
have a long tradition of eating unusual food.
(3) Tea restaurant
Most of the big restaurants in the capital are called “Fen Cha”, providing mixed stew,
cooked chalcedony, cooked pork without oil, clay oven rolls, soft mutton, big and small
bones, cooked animal kidney, cooked gut soup, lamb in the oven, salted mutton noodles,
Tongpi noodles, ginger on sliced noodles, special sliced noodles, cold noodles, foods like
chess pieces, and other foods cooked in the oven. There are also Sichuan special restaurants,
such as meat noodles, pickled meat noodles, noodles with bid and small meat, fried meat
noodles, fried animal internal organ, cooked rice, etc. There are also restaurants with
southern flavor, providing fish and egg meatballs, Tongpi cooked noodles and fried fish
rice. There are also shop selling gourd soup. Customers had different requirements: Some
consumer are asking for hot dishes while others want cold or warm ones. Some want a table
of food, and some want extremely cold food. Some want lean meat, and some others want
146 Y. Fang
fatty meat. There were also shops selling meat skewer, sliced noodle, stir-fried mutton, fine
food like chess pieces, and wonton. There are also shops providing vegetarian food similar
to that provided in temples, including vegetable noodles, dough dumplings, rice wrapped in
lotus leaves, sliced dough product, sliced gourd and carrots, etc. (Dongjing Meng Hua
Lu-Shidian)
Tea restaurant was the place for rich ordinary people, which were superior than
pastry shop and open-air restaurants. Hu cake was a kind of ordinary cake. Appeared
together were noodles and wontons, which undoubtedly enrich the varieties of
localized Hu cake, or soup cake. There were also fast-food soup, cold dish, hot
fry, and rice. According to different diet preferences, there were vegetarian food and
meat restaurants for people to enjoy their dishes.
(4) Big restaurant
There was gruel made from cooked rice, roasted meat, and dry meat. In front of building of
family Wang, there were badger, wild fox and dried chicken. At the family Mei and Lu, you
would find goose, duck, chicken, rabbit, pork tribe and lung, eel, steamed bun, chicken skin,
kidney, mixed chicken entrails, costing less than 15 Wen (copper cash). Family Cao also
provided snacks here. By the Gate of Vermillion Birds, there were freshly made stir fry lamb
intestines, preserved salty fish, frozen fish head, fermented soya beans with ginger, sliced
meat, seasoned entrails, sliced chilli, chopped sheep head, spicy pig’s trotters, spicy carrot
with ginger. In the summer you would see foods preserved in red fine wooden boxes,
including sesame tofu, sesame chicken skin, thin noodles made from bean, vegetable skewer,
sweet, white dumpling made of glutinous rice, food like crystal, boiled papaya and papaya
cooked with medicine, seed of Gorgon euryale woth sugar, cold boiled water with mung
bean and licorice root, litchi paste, special gourd, pickle, sliced apricot, plum with ginger,
asparagus lettuce, spicy gourd, small delicate dumplings, fruit with sugar, litchi with sugar,
plum from region of Yue, sliced purple perilla, golden plum, orange snacks. In the winter,
you can enjoy steamed dough in the shape of rabbit, freshly cooked hog skin, wild duck meat,
fish balls, fried animal internal organs, and special cooked brain at the Longjin Bridge...
There were sheep’s head, hog intestines and lungs, reed and white kidney, breast, tripe,
omasum, quail, rabbit, turtledove, dove and other wild animals. When the sea food market
selling crabs and clam closed, other small craftsman would come to the market and selling
some raw materials. After lunch, all different kinds of food would be on the market, including
crisp honey food, date desert, bean paste dumplings, candied fruit. “Cha Fan(tea meal)”
indicated all different kinds of dishes, including soup with hundred flavors, the first soup,
quail soup cook in a new way, soup with three crisp things, kidney in two colors, shrimp and
chicken soup, rice noodles, chess-like snack, soup with many different materials, balloon
fish, white Xie fish soup, Chinese perch, soft-shelled turtle, cassia pocket food, cassia soup,
vinegar sausage, double cooked sandfish, fish cooked with purple perilla, clam, cooked pork
without oil, sliced meat noodles, baked sesame seed cake, bone soup, lamb, stew lamb,
Naoting lamb, roasted kidney, steamed duck and goose, kidney cooked with litchi, kidney for
restoring vitality, roasted hog rib, skewed lotus duck, beef tripe cooked with wine, sheep’s
head with sauce, mutton in the oven, skewed sheep’s head, skewed duck and goose meat,
skewed chicken, rabbit, stir-fried rabbit, scallion oil rabbit, wild fox, pork tripe soup,
roasted river deer, fried quail, stir-fried lung, fried clam, stir-fried crab, Chinese mitten
crab, hand-washing crab...There were also dishes from the outside, including roasted
chicken and duck, sheep feet, sheep’s head, crispy tendon, shrimp with ginger, crab in
spirits, river deer meat, deer meat, steamed snacks, sea food, vegetables in season, lettuce,
romaine lettuce, Xinjing bamboo shoot...Some other people were selling nuts on tray,
including roasted ginkgo seed, chestnut, Hebei pear, dried pear, pear fruit, cooked date, date
circle, pear circle, peach circle, Rouya date, Haihong fruit, Jiaqing fruit, Chinese pear-
leaved crabapple, dark plum, plum, fried cherry, Xijing snow pears, Fu pear, Ganchang
pear, Fengqi pear, Zhen pear, Heyin pomegranate, heyang hawthorn, hawthorn stripe,
Shayuan cydonia oblonga, Huima grapes, Xichuan milk sweet, lion sweet, honey sweet,
olive, mandarin orange, tangerine in Wenzhou, longan, litchi, lotus root, sugar crane, Lu
pear, dry sand fruit, fruit dried on the branch, dried Japanese banana, Dracontomelon
duperreanum Pierre, almond, hazel, Semen Topreyae, and shrimp snacks. There were also
honey medicine, jarred fruits, Dang plum, perisimmon tree snack, sweet-smelling medicine,
small sweet dumplings, small thick tea, and Pengsha Yuan, etc. For the take outs, there were
soft lamb steamed bun, bun stuffed with pork and mutton, roasted and dried meat, dried
sturgeon, minced and salted fish paste. Other small restaurants also provide dish that goes
with alcoholic drinks, including fried fish, duck, chicken and rabbit, plum juice, blood soup,
rice noodle soup, etc. Each share costed only less than fifteen wen.
In the abovementioned menu, there are a large number of raw food materials
originated from outside of the central China, such as fragrant medicine, olives,
longan, litchi, grapes, pomegranate, cherry, lettuce, romaine lettuce, mustard, radish,
walnut, plum, etc. Through unearthed relics, scholars have verified that dozens of
fruits and vegetables appeared on the Chinese menu after the pre-Qin days were
introduced from Lingnan, Southeast Asia, and India in succession, including
oranges, grapefruits, mandarin oranges, litchi, longan, Chinese pear-leaved
crabapple (also known as Huahong), loquats, red bayberry, and olives. After that,
foreign fruits gradually introduced into China, including foreign fruits in early time
of China, originated from West Asia (e.g., grapes), Central Asia (e.g., apples in early
ages), Mediterranean (e.g., olives), India (e.g., some kinds of oranges), and South-
east Asia (e.g., coconuts, bananas). In modern times, thanks to the developed
transportation between China and foreign countries, many fruits with different
sources were introduced, including pineapple, tomato, guava, strawberry, apple,
papaya, lotus mist, passion fruit, kiwi fruit, grapefruit, etc. Some of these fruits
were from Southeast Asia (e.g., wax apple), and some others were from the new
world (such as papaya and pineapple from the Americans and kiwi fruit from
Australia). Some fruits were domesticated in a very late time (such as all kinds of
berries); some others were products of improved breeding (such as many kinds of
apples and grapefruits), which has enriched our daily diet. By looking at the
literature records, modern people finally get to know the abundance of variety of
food our ancestors had.
In addition to the extensive study of the exchanges between the imperial China in
the Han dynasty and the western regions in terms of promoting the culture of the
central China and increasing the resources of food materials, the southern part of
China located far away from five ridges also contributes a lot to the prosperous of
Chinese culture as an important passage of diplomatic communication on sea route
that have been gradually gaining importance. Take the variety of fruits and vegeta-
bles as an example. In the past, it was recorded that olive did not appear in an early
age, at least not in the Qin or Han dynasties since there are no relevant records, while
at the same time, in ancient Roman literature, olive was frequently discussed as a
kind of agricultural products and food resources. For example, On Farming
148 Y. Fang
discussed “olives and tree planting,” “edible olives,” and “olive juice” in specific
chapters. The book also discussed how to make olive oil which was obsessed by
many consumers nowadays, but 2000 years ago, olive oil was considered by many
scholars as versatile in agriculture and many other aspects and even can be used
extravagantly for watering trees. To further confirm this, 28 olive cores were
unearthed at ship factory site of Qin and Han dynasties at Zhongshan 4th Road,
Guangzhou. In the tomb site of the middle Han dynasty in Guangzhou, there were
also white and black olives and even remains of olive fruits, cores, and leaves of
2000 years ago. It can be referred that before and after the Han dynasty, shipping
technology in southern part of China that was developed overseas was far beyond the
knowledge of traditional scholars. These olives could be local or imported ones,
thanks to the exchanges between the South Asian continent and Mediterranean
civilization, but there is no doubt these findings are contrary to the deduction of
modern scholars that there was only one route of silk road for olives to enter China.
Another similar common misunderstanding was about Chinese cabbage that we
are too familiar even to notice. The notion that these common vegetables also
originated from foreign countries challenged our conventional knowledge. Chinese
cabbage was called Gan Lan (literally means sweet and blue). Since the Chinese
name of olive has similar pronunciation as the Chinese cabbage, the historical
records of origin of olive were lost. The Chinese name of cabbage and olive was
not differentiated until some influential masterpieces were written in the Tang
dynasty, such as in Qian Jin Shi Zhi (treating disease with foods) written by Sun
Simiao, cabbage was named as Lan Cai (blue vegetables), and in Ben Cao Shi Yi
(Collected addenda to the pharmacopoeias) by Chen Zangqi, it was called as Xi Tu
Lan (West soil blue). Cabbage originated in the European continent. On Farming
written by Marcus Terentius Varro, an ancient Roman scholar, listed in detail its
edible methods and therapeutic effects, which involve 18 diseases, including inter-
nal, surgical, gynecologic, and pediatric diseases.
Before the Ming dynasty, cabbage was mainly grown in the lower reaches of the
Yangtze River. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, non-heading small Chinese
cabbage (Chinese chinensis) in the North developed rapidly, and Zhejiang Province
successfully developed big heading Chinese cabbage (Brassica pekinensis). Since
the middle of the eighteenth century, big Chinese cabbage has been planted in the
north and substituted small Chinese cabbage with a higher yield than that of the
south. This was achieved due to the growth characteristics of Chinese cabbage:
people can harvest Chinese cabbage in early winter with a very high yield and low
prices, if they plant the vegetable after harvesting corn in the autumn. Chinese
cabbage is easy to store, as even the outside leaves are dried, the inner leaves can
remain the same. With temperature as low as minus five degrees, Chinese cabbages
can still be stored outside in the winter. People living in the north have special
feelings about the Chinese cabbage, especially in the winter, for it’s their main
vegetables in the winter. Apart from storing cabbages in the cellar, people also
preserve cabbage by pickling sour, spicy, and salty these vegetables, of which the
method enjoys a long history. For example, Zhouli (Rites of the Zhou)-Qizu recorded
that extra beans can be preserved by pickling.
“Pickled cabbage cost another five hundred” in chapter Zhenglun of Si Ming Yue
Ling written by Cui Shi described the small amount of money earned by grassroots
officials to buy vegetables.2 Cui Shi was familiar with daily vegetables and knows
well the dependence of common people on pickles, indirectly reflecting the facts that
fermented pickle provides trace elements and protein to Chinese people and its
highly unified food storage technology. Pickles are not only one of the most common
condiments as sauce made from soya beans and fermented soya beans but also
Chinese ways of mediating any kinds of foreign food for thousands of years. In
difficult days, there are still ways of pursuing the happiness so as to survive. Cabbage
made its way into the kitchen with evolving new cooking methods such as stewing,
frying, pickling, and dressing with sauce, but the most captivating dish made of
cabbage should be cabbage pork dumplings, which also lightens the cold winter in
the north. In the end, all these dishes and cooking skills have returned to the West,
but the vegetables are called “Beijing cabbage” instead.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, corn, potato, and sweet potato were the new food
resources worth mentioning, the introduction of which was very important for
population growth and food balance. These drought and cold-resistant staple foods
that originated from the remote South American continent have saved humans from
famine and malnutrition diseases in many places of the world. In the Ming and Qing
dynasties, Chinese population increased rapidly. These foreign crops acted like
“Western bread for the poor” whenever there was a natural or man-made disaster.
The only difference with the West was that the cooking methods of these staple
foods, originally for combating famine, have been localized and gradually integrated
into Chinese food system, becoming staple food or non-staple food. For example, the
corn buns steamed with alkali become soft, tender, and glutinous; sweet potatoes
baked on the heated brick bed dehydrate slowly and become a snack food; potatoes,
with other good names as “Yang Dan (foreign egg)” or “Shan Yao (mountain
medicine),” also can be cooked in various ways, whether served by slicing, stir-
frying, or being dressed with sauce.
After all, the Ming and Qing dynasties were not too far away from the present
time; thus, we can experience some of the cuisines in the folklore. For example, Jin
Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase) and Shui Hu Zhuan (Outlaws of the Marsh)
depicted many details of cooking utensils, steamed flat cake, and Chui Yuan
(glutinous dumplings) in the Song dynasty. If you have the opportunity to travel in
Taizhou in east of Zhejiang and visit the Great Wall near the sea, you may also have
the chance to taste Chui Yuan, a local cuisine passed down from the Song dynasty.
2
In Cui Shi’s Zhenglun (Political view): “Official of a hundred Li is appointed to shoulder the
responsibility of the feudal princes but only get salary of people who guard the prison. Take one
month of his salary for example: his January salary was twenty hu of millet and two thousand qian.
Although the official wanted to be frugal, he still had one servant. Even though he didn’t have any
servant, he had guests who cost a lot of money. Thousands for guests, meat for five hundred, woods,
coal, and pickled vegetables another five hundred. Two people ate six hu of millet and the rest for
the horse. There was no money left for winter and summer clothes and quilt, ceremonies in four
seasons and wine for guests, not to mention he had parents, wife and son to support.”
150 Y. Fang
The same kind of food can be found under the rainbow bridge in the capital city
along Bianliang River, which was recorded in Dong Jing Meng Hua Lu (The Eastern
Capital: A Dream of Splendor). On the roadside stall in this ancient city of Taizhou,
you may hear forthright salesman calling out in the local dialect, saying “Bro,
another two jin (catty) of Chui Yuan and another pair of chopsticks!” In their
conversations of these fashionable men and women, the ancient names of Chui
Yuan and chopsticks were both maintained, as if we were traveling through time and
back to the ancient time.
5.3 The Stage of Formation of Food Theories
From being an art of experience, passing down by oral teaching and apprentice
system, Chinese cooking has gradually evolved into written “recipe” with data and
standardized procedures, representing that Western logical thoughts have spread to
the East and integrated with the most general field of Chinese culture.
Before the Ming and Qing dynasties, the prosperous Tang and Song dynasties left
China with many delicious cuisines. After that period, it’s required higher and
improved standards, which means summarizing previous food culture and promot-
ing the forming of recipe and food theories.
Although, since the pre-Qin days, there were many written records of Chinese
food, as mentioned in the first chapter of this section, after close examination of
books, scriptures, and other literatures formed in the early age of civilization, most of
the written records were about literature, history, and ethical education. There were
some words about food, but it was not the main essence conveyed by the written
texts. From scratches of texts left behind, people in later generations can get a
glimpse of what our ancestors ate and tasted. But few cooks can replicate these
techniques, recipes, and products one by one according to these accurate
descriptions.
Books of medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, and Taoism after the Han and Tang
dynasties were passed down for later generations to read. These masterpieces were
all based on the theory of food and medicine coming from the same source, focusing
on the records of the biological effects of individual animal, plant, and mineral on
humans. Most of the items in the book were about non-staple food or cooking
specimen at that time, but it still lacked the quantitative description of cooking,
such as the choice of raw materials, quantity of ingredients, the order to add foods,
and temperature and cooking time. Important relevant works in this period include
the Classic of food, Materia Medica for Dietotherapy, Tang shuang pu (Notes on
Cane Sugar), the must needed thing in home, Qing Yi Lu (Records of Pure Marvels),
Nenggaizhai manlu (Loose Records from the Studio of Possible Change), Yiya yiyi
(a book imitating the Classic of food), etc. In the Ming and Qing dynasties,
masterpieces directly recording food producing and eating increased a lot, but
most of them were insignificant records of their daily life besides expressing their
feelings through description of mountains and rivers, lacking practical value in
kitchen. As a result, these work still cannot be used to guide cooking, including
Shan Jia Qing Gong (light food of family Shan), Yang Xiao Lu (Sweet Zhejiang
cuisine), Sui Xi Ju Yin Shi Pu (living and drinking receipt), Shi Xian Hong Mi, Yin
Zhi Yu (The language of Drink), Shi Zhi Yu (The language of food), Wu Zhi Yu (The
language of stuff), Xian Qing Ou Ji (Records in a leisurely mood), etc.
The inherent contradictions of the Confucian system can be reflected in thought
and practice of food from time to time. On the one hand, the Confucian theory
believed that food was “the great desire of human beings.” The norm in the pre-Qin
days, Zhou Li (Rites of Zhou), even made food management and production
personnel important high-ranking members of the imperial family. But according
to the historical literature of Chinese food, in recent hundreds of years, the social
status of people in the food industry went to the other direction and has decreased
gradually and finally grouped with other mean occupations such as hair dresser,
pawnbroker, public bathhouse owner, carpenter, etc. In other words, cooking tech-
nology with thousands of years of history, passed down orally from fathers to sons
and from master to apprentice, lacks written records and quantitative data with huge
individual differences. These characteristics of this industry have promoted the
growth of different styles of cooking with distinctive features all over China but
also impeded the improvement, replication, and development of cooking industry.
The way of Chinese cooking emphasizes the philosophy of oneness of heaven and
humanity, oneness of feeling and setting, cooking when it’s appropriate, taking
advantage of an opportunity to cook, and the principle of mediating. However,
these principles mentioned above cannot compete with the Confucian rules of
power, written words, dogma, class, and rules lasting for thousands of years.
Power monopolized the wealth, while written words controlled the thoughts. As a
result, cooking, as a type of handicraft that lacks theoretical basis and way below the
status of power and written words, was no longer able to change into a noble
vocation and attain a higher level. It was after the 1960s when modern cooking
schools appeared in China and the commodity society began that the status of
catering industry and its technical theory ability improved.
Flavor is a comprehensive experience of feeling and humanity culture. Different
people have different preferences. With different focuses, there is no need to
standardize the flavor with exact quantitative measures, which also reflect the
characteristics of Chinese cooking and the ancient principle of “mediating.” And
that’s why in the later generation researchers rarely have the chance to discover
literature on recipe from the profound treasure of Chinese food.
Since the sixteenth century, Western Christian disciples began their hard work of
preaching. Along with the missionaries, Western thoughts and studies gradually
spread to the East. The knowledge of astronomy, natural science, geometry, anat-
omy, and medicine began to influence people of insights and transform the social
atmosphere. Especially in the leading area of southern and eastern part of China, the
Western thoughts have enlightened the thinking mode of many scholars and officials.
Even the food environment on the street was changed with more fashionable
concept. If you compare the Yiya Yiyi in Yuan and Ming dynasties with Suiyuan
Shidan (Suiyuan food list) in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the latter had a wider
focus rather than personal preference and local features. Many Western foods were
152 Y. Fang
recorded in a large volume, and the rational judgment was integrated into sensible
work. But still it’s too irrational to regard these two classics, with a large number of
records of dishes and ingredients, as the founder of Chinese recipes. In this regard, it
is quite accurate for Yuan Mei to name his manuscript as a “food list.”
The item of “recipe” in 1989-Cihai (encyclopedia of Standard Mandarin Chinese)
and History of Chinese Cuisine and Encyclopedia of China and other general
reference books are completely based on concept of Western medicine, only record-
ing limited information about therapeutic effect and short-term behavior, far from
useful in terms of rational study of the evolution of Chinese cuisine and tracing back
to historical ways of life in our country. Some quantitative assessment indicators
emphasized in abovementioned reference book, such as food variety, quantity, and
cooking method, were in accordance with the logic of modern science and technology.
Only in the academic textbooks, such as nutrition, botany, and cell biology, whether it’s
formula or recipe, and even though there are differences in the final form of products,
such food, soil, and solution, the science principle is the same: the main function is to
ensure the target object get enough balanced nutrients to maintain its basic survival or to
improve its living standards, no matter if it’s functional food for human body, or active
nutrients for plants, or customized culture for cells. Therefore, the strict definition of
recipes (including the recipes of main and non-staple foods, tea and wine, magical
prescription, health-preserving prescription, and even fodder for animals) should be
production procedure of food that goes through decomposition, absorption, and excre-
tion of digestive organs and food that aims at disease prevention and control. A complete
recipe should contain four basic elements: composition, volume, quantity, compatibility
order, and distinctive functions. In cooking terms, they are food ingredients, volume,
cooking procedures, and color and flavor. In this way, the difference between “recipe”
and another common term for food, “menu,” is obviously clear. From the recipe, we can
accurately analyze the cost of raw material, proportion of each ingredient, the effect of
cooking methods on nutrients, and the physiological and pathological significance of
specific food to specific people. There were many recipes in China published in the
1980s, and the most commonly used quantitative words were obscure words, such as “a
little, a small amount of, later, a few.” In recent years, published recipes have over-
corrected these problems by making accurate the quantity to gram and time to seconds,
which are also not in line with the actual artistic principles of Chinese food production.
In fact, the most significant thing of a good recipe lies in its replicability or its
influence in later generations. Replicability not only reflects the scientific value of
the recipe but also its artistic taste. In contrast, if the names of Chinese cuisines
contain too much extension and imagination, it would be overload of culture, and its
scientific significance would be reduced, such as “ants on trees,” “open in days and
close at nights,” and “red leaves with clouds.” People may also feast their eyes on
dishes with auspicious names but lose the appetite when eating it, such as “long may
you live” and “great blessing for ten thousand years.”
As a result, even though Chu Ci-Zhaohun has been recognized by scholars who
study culture as one of the earliest, the most complete, and most valuable literature in
the Yellow River Basin, it cannot meet the rational standard of recipes. The written
information provides the taste preferences of noble families and raw food materials
around 300 BC, for example, carbohydrate comes from rice, wheat, sorghum, sugar,
honey, and wine; protein comes from cattle, turtles, sheep, chickens, geese, swans,
and wild ducks. Their tastes were diversified, including sweet, bitter, sour, fragrant,
tender, pure, cool, and frozen. The cooking methods are basically formed, including
baking, boiling, stewing, steaming, frying, deep frying, etc. However, it is hard for
today’s kitchen experts to replicate same spiritual ceremonial banquet by referring to
this masterpiece that lacks quantity indicators.
Occasionally, there were some simple recipes in ancient time, but its rational
principles were not summarized, like flashing in the pan and brushing past the
science. For example, the oldest liquor making formula with leaven was recorded
in Hanshu-Shihuozhi: “Two hu of crude rice (a dry measure used in former times)
together with one hu of leaven to make six hu and six dou of liquor.” In this short
sentence, we can get the following information:
(1) Liquor is made of leaven, rice, and water. Leaven, rice, and water are three basic
raw materials for liquor making.
(2) The leaven and rice should be mixed at the same time.
(3) The ratio of rice and leaven is 2:1.
(4) The mixture ratio of rice and water is about 1:3.3.
Although the recipe is still quite general and there are some defects, which may
not make it a high-ranking recipe, it may contain a significance beyond the food
itself. Taoist theory and practice reached a peak in the Wei and Jin dynasties. The diet
of pursuing immortal stress the quantity and procedures, which also gave birth to the
famous tofu making. But not all formula with clear raw material, quantity, and
production procedures and purpose becomes recipe naturally. If the purpose of
formula is not relevant to the digestive system, the formula cannot be included in
the historical recipe data. For example, “Yue Pu” found in Zaliao Fang in the silk
book of Mawangdui of the Western Han dynasty was aimed at stimulating women’s
sexual desire. Because the administration was through the vagina to stimulate
women’s vitality instead of oral taking, it cannot be ascribed as historical material
of recipe.
The Chinese recipes that meet the standards should be Tiao Ding Ji (mediating
food in cooking cauldron). It is generally believed that the book was compiled by
Tong Yuejian, a salt merchant from Shanyin Huiji and settled in Gengzi Street,
Yangzhou, in the middle of Qianjia period in the Qing dynasty.3 Tong Yuejian was
not a professional scholar, but his name was mentioned in Yangzhou Huafang Lu, as
3
In fact, the author of Tiao Ding Ji is actually not clear. In 1977, Mr. Zhang Yannian began to use the
manuscript of Tiao Ding Ji as supplementary materials in cooking teaching after he found it from
the Shanben section of Beijing Library. Mr. Zhang made great contributions by checking the details
in the book before it was reprinted by Zhongzhou ancient books publishing house, making this
precious historical material come to light again. According to Mr. Zhang, Tiao Ding Ji was
compiled by Tong Yuejian, and the following reasons in the preface of the book are listed: ① the
author of the chapter of alcohol was Tong Yuejian; ② according to the record of Yangzhou barge,
Tong lived in Gengzi Street in Yangzhou to collect the details of cuisines. But the original preface of
the manuscript of Tiao Ding Ji was Cheng Duolu, who was one of the three great persons in Jilin
154 Y. Fang
“smart people among the elites,” indicating that he’s rich and busy socializing with
businessmen and cost counting. As a result, Tiao Ding Ji compiled by him is more
like the original document for the cost control of the business. The advantages and
disadvantages are very obvious by the standards of recipe. Tiao Ding Ji also reveals
an important point that the significance of cooking is not only about the exterior of
delicious food but also in the adaptability in the kitchen. The merit of this book is
that it contains detailed information and data, including quantity, time, steps, and
emergency reaction. However, some shortcomings in this book include confused
catalogue, casual writing, multifarious and disorderly citations, and vague informa-
tion sources. Therefore, Tiao Ding Ji was not thought highly of by scholars for the
past hundred years, and only the manuscript has been spread among general people.
On the contrary, Sui Yuan Shi Dan (Food list of Sui garden), compiled in the same
generation as Tong Yuejian, enjoyed a very high reputation. The ability and oppor-
tunity of merchants in cultural communication cannot compete with Yuan Mei, a
talented scholar with great talent in literature. His composition was very beautiful
and also revealed the scholar’s elegant temperament and interest, praised by gener-
ations of scholars.
But if you compare Tiao Ding Ji with Sui Yuan Shi Dan, you will find it hard to
tell which one is the original version because there are many overlapping in texts.
The number of cuisine and its cooking methods in Tiao Ding Ji was several times
that of Sui Yuan Shi Dan. Many recipes of dishes in Sui Yuan Shi Dan and Tiao Ding
Ji seemed to be written by one people, except the latter one that also attached several
to dozens of different varieties of recipes of the same kind, operational data that
included quantity of ingrediences and preparation time, which is undoubtedly the
first choice for kitchen tools.
Taking the recipe of meatballs as an example, only two were collected in Sui Yuan
Shi Dan, i.e., “eight treasures meatballs” and “hollow meatballs,” while there were
12 types of meatballs recorded in Tiao Ding Ji. In these two books, descriptions of
eight treasure meatballs shared high similarity; thus, it’s unable to judge which book
borrowed the other one. However, the way of making this type of meatball belongs
to Hangzhou and Nanjing style of cooking and flavor, not in accordance with the
judgment that Tiao Ding Ji mainly contains Yangzhou cuisine. In Yangzhou cuisine,
province in the late period of the Qing dynasty. He wrote this book at the invitation of his friend
Jianzhai in Jining of Shandong province a year before his death, in 1928, at a place named Shisan
Guhuai in Beijing, showing how much importance he attached. In his late years, Cheng Duolu
served as the vice curator of Beijing Library and the director of the Audit Department of Ministry of
Education of the Republic of China; as a result, it’s reasonable and authentic for Tiao Ding Ji to
reappear here. The preface clearly states that “all ten volumes of the book, without the author’s
name, are collected from an old book.” Mr. Jianzhai, the organizer of the Beitu and the inviter, and
Mr. Cheng Duolu, the writer of the preface, are both from the north. Their interests in the recipe full
of southern Shaoxing dialect indicate the integration of culture and their extensive knowledge. As a
result, they will not neglect the evidence in Mr. Zhang Yannian’s preliminary research. After all,
Tiao Ding Ji is more like a collection of notes of other people. So, it’s possible that Tong Yuejian
only write the chapter of the alcohol, which is the most unique and outstanding chapter in the whole
book. The author of this chapter could be the expert in alcohol but not necessarily the expert in
cooking at the same time.
another name for meatball is Shizitou (literally means lion’s head; large meatballs
braised in soy sauce), which enjoyed a unique taste and loved by many foodies. The
special cooking technique is to stew in clear water instead of soy sauce. Yet there was
no record of Shizitou in Tiao Ding Ji. It’s hard to imagine that such a mistake would
be made by the writer who lived near the food street of Yangzhou for a long time.
Yuan Mei built the Sui Yuan and settled down in Nanjing after he was 30 years old.
It’s puzzled that he also missed the famous Yangzhou cuisine of Shizitou in his
carefully crafted food list. One reasonable deduction could be that Yuan Mei
disassembled Tiao Ding Ji, the author of which was not a fan of Yangzhou cuisine.
“Eight treasures meatballs” in Sui Yuan Shi Dan
Prepare half fat and half thin pork. Chop it into fine sauce. Cut pine nuts, mushrooms,
tender tips of bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, melons, ginger into small pieces. Knead them
together with gorgon powder and put them into the plate. Finally, steam them with sweet
wine and soy sauce. Meatballs are crispy in the mouse. It makes sense for Jiazhihua to say:
“the stuffing for making meatballs should be chopped instead of cutting off.”
“Eight treasures meatballs” in Tiao Ding Ji
Half fat and half thin pork are sliced into sauce. Pine nuts, mushrooms, tender tips of
bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, melons, ginger are cut into small pieces. Knead them
together with gorgon powder and put them into the plate with sweet wine and soy sauce for
steaming. It’s crumbly in the mouth.
The “eight treasure meatballs” are easy to make, and the basic composition of the
recipe is not clear enough to show the differences. So, let’s take “three methods for
cooking red meat” in Sui Yuan Shi Dan and “red stewed meat” in Tiao Ding Ji as
examples. There is little difference between these two recipes, but the number, time,
and order of procedures are strictly recorded and standardized.
It can be cooked with sweet sauce, or soy sauce, or not using any sauce. For each Jin
(around 500g) of meat, simmer with three qian of salt and alcohol. Someone may simmer it
with water, but water vapor must be boiled over. Meat cooked in these three ways is as red as
amber. The red color should not be added by adding sugar. If the cooking time is too little,
then stewed meat will look yellow. The meat will be red if the time is right. If the cooking time
is too long, the color of meat will turn to purple from red, and the lean meat will turn hard. If
you lift the cover of the pot too many times, the meat will lose the oil which contains all the
flavor. The meat should be sliced into cubes and stewed until the meat is soft without any
edges at its corners. The best is lean meat melting in mouth. It all depends on the cooking
time. There’s an old saying that “cooking porridge with quick fire and meat with slow fire.”
It’s so true. (red-cooked pork in Tiao Ding Ji)
The essence of Sui Yuan Shi Dan is in the first chapter “Information for the
Readers.” The outlining and summarizing ability of scholars can be seen in showing
food culture. But, for scholars, there are still shortcomings when it comes to practical
cooking on the stove. As a result, what was proposed by Yuan Mei is not necessarily
true in cooking. For example, the soup stock is the key step for all kinds of delicate
dishes. Before the invention of monosodium glutamate, tastes of Chinese people
were based on such traditional classical processing, fully releasing amino acid in
their mouth to enable their tongue tasting the delicious flavors. Until today, soup
making remains the secret and unique skill of the first-class famous chefs, which
normally would not let other people know. But in Tiao Ding Ji, it revealed some
156 Y. Fang
process of making soup stock: to make clear soup, put chicken, duck, goose, and fish
sauce in the pot. Mash raw shrimp into the sauce, and add the sweet sauce and soy
sauce to it. As soon as the pot is frothy, skim it off and put shrimp sauce in it. There
will be no oil slick after three or four times. Remove the shrimp dregs, leaving a clear
soup. If there is no fresh shrimp, beat one or two eggs in the soup, boil them, and
remove the foam, which will also work. Characteristics of different soup (with
different raw materials) are as follows: the soup of trotters is thick; gravy is fat;
chicken and duck soups are tasteful; soup of ham is tasty; dry shrimp soup is even
more fragrant. After taking the soup, add some pepper that will make it more
delicious. Such soup can be used for cooking meat and vegetables. However,
Yuan Mei, who was renowned as a gourmet master, expressed different opinions
in scholar’s sense of sensitivity and romance on the abovementioned art of cooking
in “notes for change.” Perhaps he was fooled by the peddler’s using leftover bits and
pieces and couldn’t get over with it. “I saw a vulgar chef today who cooked soup by
using chickens, ducks, pigs and geese all together, making thousands of flavors taste
the same, like chewing wax. If the chicken, pig, goose and duck have spirits, they
will come back to the town and complain.” In terms of kitchen and food issues,
scholars don’t know about its origin and cannot explain it so well.
For a master of chef or a gourmand who knows the essence of food, the success of
food depends largely on the seasoning and ingredients that match the main food.
Before the industrialization and commercialization of the catering industry, the
preparation of seasoning and ingredients was all completed on the kitchen stove,
which was the second battlefield for chefs. From this perspective, this critical aspect
is often ignored or neglected in books on food compiled before Tiao Ding Ji. That’s
why Tiao Ding Ji has shown sophistication, avant-garde, and operability in its
contents and thoughts. Tiao Ding Ji takes a quarter of the book to discuss the
preparation of seasonings and blending of flavors, including sauce, soy sauce,
vinegar, rice wine dreg oil, oil, salt, ginger, garlic, coriander, pepper, onion, dreg,
ginger milk, soy sauce melon, fermented soya bean, fermented bean curd, gluten,
dried fruit, mixed five fragrant pills, smoked materials, mustard, all kinds of fresh
juice, water for tea brewing, rice, firewood, yeast, and even all kinds of workshop
tools. Scholars often neglect these varieties and process of making it, though they are
precious historical material for studying food technology.
In Chinese cuisine, sauce has been used as seasoning and supplementary ingre-
dients for at least 2000 years. In the pre-Qin period, people ate sauce made of meat
paste, which was basically protein with high concentration of salt. It was one of the
precious delicacies despite the simple making process.4 By the Qing dynasty, the
sauce was mainly made of flour, because the market demand was greatly increased,
4
The sauce was mentioned in the following literature: Zhouli-Tiangong-Shanfu: “the gift of the
emperor was twenty jars of sauce.” Shuowen-Youbu: “the Chinese character of Sauce is composed
of meat pastes and alcohol.” Making food in four seasons, the 936th volume of Taiping Yulan: “the
small fish in the county of Pi has yellow scale and red tail. Catch the fish out of the rice field and
make sauce out of it.” Hai-the food and drinks, the 146th volume of Beitang Shuchao: “the sauce of
the side of centipedes” and “the sauce of soft interior of crab”; Liji-Neize: “the fish eggs can be made
into sauce.”
but the production cost should be affordable by people in grassroots. Only the
application of mold fermentation technology can help achieve this goal, but the
demands for the operator to control biological fermentation are greatly raised. Here
is the general rule for making sauce:
Preventing worms in sauce: sprinkle mustard or Sichuan pepper on the surface of the sauce,
and there will be no worms. Preventing flies: Sprinkle fennel powder on the surface, and then
wipe the rim of the jar with chicken feather dipped with raw sesame oil, and there will be no
flies around. If there is white dirt and the soy sauce become muddy, use a second-class felt
hat to filter the sauce and it will be clean. Same process can be applied to vinegar. Use the
water of December for sauce making: for the previous year, boil the water in the extremely
cold days and store them in the court yard where it’s cool. When it’s summer in the second
year, the water in December will not go bad and it’s the most beneficial for people. The
process to make the soy sauce is the same. If use the water in June the 6th with clean vessel,
and make sauce, vinegar, and salty food, it will not go bad for a year. Making sauce need
three cooked things: mix boiled water with flour to make cakes, cooked the cake until its
color turns yellow, and steam the cake with straw. Put salt in boiled water, and cook the salt
in boiling water. The same with soy sauce. Filtering salt residue: for all salt, stir it in boiling
water for three or four times. When the water is clear, filter out mud and grass. The same
with soy sauce.
Making sweet sauce: it’s better to take flour in three hottest periods of the year, and stir
fry with bean crumbs (any amounts), mixed with boiling water to make cakes as thick as the
width of two fingers and as big as the palm of your hand. Steam it and cool it down. Cover it
with thick leaves, and leave it in place where there is no wind. After seven days add
soybeans. After dried in the sun for one or two days, mash it and soak in the boiling water
with salt. Every ten jin soybeans need three jin of salt. Another way is to use one dan of flour
to cook the cake and put seventy-five soybeans in it. No matter is wet or dry, every jin of
soybeans needs four liang of salt. Add the salt into boiling water, and stir it instantly with a
stick at the bottom of the vat, not to leave any solid (If there is solid, pick it out and grind it).
To make Suzhou sweet sauce, every one Shi of soybean needs one hundred and sixty jin of
flour. To make Yangzhou sweet sauce, every one Shi of soybean needs four hundred jin of
flour. Another method is that dried the sauce in the sun and add a little fried sesame, it will be
moist and delicious and better to be used for preserving other things. Another one is that one
hundred jin of soybeans need twenty-five jin of salt and sixty jin of water, and dried for thirty
days. It needs to be dried in a new vat every day and stir it. The longer the sun bathing, the
redder and the sweeter the sauce will be. One hundred jin of flour for soybeans, there will be
eighty jin after dried, and it will become on hundred jin again for the final products of
source. After adding salt and dried in the sun, there will be one hundred and thirty jin. Put
seven separate plum flowers in the sauce, it will be very fragrant.
Sweet sauce recipe is scientific and accurate. Raw materials, quantity, procedures,
tools, accidental disposal, local tastes, raw material cost differences, and yeast
preparation elements are recorded in detail. Not only the workshop kitchen can
copy the recipe, the scale can also be expanded. Any other company can join this
industry and make a profit through sale. As a result, take this as evidence that it’s
reasonable to deduce that the author who organized the Tiao Ding Ji was in the
commercial business.
The scholar and writer in the Qing dynasty put focus on the kitchen and food
technology that is despised by person of noble character that no doubt showed
progress and displayed common value of human civilization. This also symbol-
ized the acceptance of Western logical and rational thinking mode. Tracing back
158 Y. Fang
thousands of years ago, foods from the western and eastern part of China that are
barely mentioned in the traditional literature began to appear in the works since
the prosperous period of Qing dynasty, including Sui Yuan Shi Dan, Tiao Ding
Ji, and also other works like A Dream in Red Mansions and The Golden Lotus.
The officials who support the Self-Strengthening Movement in the late period of
the Qing dynasty made it fashionable to eat Western food with knives and forks
and drink coffee and Western wines. The fact that Western food style began to be
accepted by Chinese people can be seen in Tiao Ding Ji. A special chapter was
set in this book to record Western wheaten food with 53 types of delicacies,
including many folk snacks that have been localized in central, southern part of
China.
Since the Western modern technology broke through the theoretical bottleneck,
the all-round development of chemical technology, biotechnology, mechanical tech-
nology, radiation technology, and gene technology has tried to cast influence on food
resources and products, with the food of whole human being, including Chinese food
as the main market. There are positive effects of abovementioned technology, such
as promoting agriculture, enriching food varieties, improving food taste, extending
food preserving period, and enlarging the application of the food materials. But
history has proved that the rapid development of the abovementioned technology,
and its misuse, lack of regulation, and misconduct on purpose, will leave harm to the
Chinese people and the whole human being, which cannot be covered or forgotten,
for example, opium addiction, heavy metal and organic pesticide poisoning, the rise
of unexplained malignant diseases, the vicious cycle of ecological environment, the
future crisis of genes of species, transnational economic monopoly, etc. It seems we
are just talking about food raw materials and food products, but in the essence, we
are reflecting on the social and political fields beyond the scope of food and
nutrients. There’s still much for us to do, to write academic research, to report in
the area of scientific politics, and to engage in the field of life and death that cannot
be “mediated.”
Pouring and Lifting: Two Different
Papermaking Technique Systems 6
Xiaocen Li
Contents
6.1 Origin of the Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
6.2 Different Papermaking Techniques of Pouring and Lifting Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.2.1 Different Processes and Steps of Papermaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.2.2 Technical Characteristics of Different Methods on Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
6.3 Origins of Different Papermaking Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.3.1 Geographical Distributions of Two Papermaking Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.3.2 Time of Origin and Origins of the Two Papermaking Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.4 Globalization of Two Papermaking Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.4.1 Westward Spread of the Pouring Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.4.2 Southward Spread of the Pouring Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
6.4.3 Outward Spread of the Lifting Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
6.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Abstract
The invention of paper has been a heated topic of debate in the study of the origin
of China’s papermaking techniques. Through investigations, we found two dif-
ferent systems in China’s traditional papermaking techniques: pouring and lifting.
What are the characteristics, origins, and geographical distributions of these two
techniques? This chapter analyzes the concrete papermaking process based on
The research in this chapter was designated as a “key project” under the “Compass Program” of the
State Administration of Cultural Heritage for the study of the scientific value of ancient Chinese
paper (project number, 20090304) and was awarded by the China-UK Science Exchange Fund of
the Needham Research Institute in 2010.
X. Li (*)
Institute of History of Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Information Science and
Technology, Nanjing, China

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_6
160 X. Li
materials from field investigations and carries out analysis and discussions using
materials from archaeological excavations and written records.
Keywords
Papermaking technique · Pouring · Lifting · Pulping
6.1 Origin of the Issue
The invention of paper has been a heated topic of debate in the study of the origin of
China’s papermaking techniques. In addition to the debate over West Han Dynasty
and East Han Dynasty periods, the techniques for making the paper unearthed
through archaeological excavations are also an issue of debate over a long period
of time. Some think the artifacts unearthed are paper and were made through
papermaking techniques, while others argue these are not paper and were not
made through papermaking techniques. Both sides have their own reasons. So
why is this?
In the 1970s, when investigating the origin of traditional papermaking techniques
in Southeast Asia, Taiwanese paper history scholar Dachuan Chen asserted there had
been two traditional papermaking techniques: pouring and lifting. (Dachuan Chen:
Evolution and Passing of Papermaking Techniques, Zao Zhi Shi Zhou Wei, Cultural
Office (Provincial Government of Taiwan), 1998, p.119–140). As the pouring
technique was not yet investigated in mainland China, this point of view did not
have a major impact.
In 1999 and 2001, based on field investigations of ethnic minorities such as the
Bais, Dais, Yis, Hanis, Yaos, and Naxis in Yunnan, we came to a preliminary
conclusion that the pouring and lifting methods have different origins and published
the key findings in relevant publications. (Xiaocen Li and Xia Zhu: Handmade
Paper of Ethnic Minorities in Yunnan, Yunnan Arts Press, 1999. Xiaocen Li and Xia
Zhu: The Origin of Traditional Papermaking in Asia. Yunnan Social Sciences, 2001,
Issue 6, p. 61–65). In recent years, we examined the manual papermaking techniques
of other ethnic minorities in mainland China (raw materials and processes, etc.),
including Tibetans, Uighurs, Zhuangs, and Miaos, and conducted field investiga-
tions of the manual papermaking techniques in Southeast Asia and Japan to get a full
picture. So we are in the position to further discuss this issue based on field
investigations of manual papermaking across China and Asia.
Through investigations, we found two different systems in China’s traditional
papermaking techniques: pouring and lifting. In China, Han and most ethnic
minorities make paper by using the lifting method, while at least four ethnic
minorities use the pouring method to make paper: Dais in Yunnan, Uighurs in
Xinjiang, Tibetans in Tibet, and Sichuan and Tong in Guizhou. Another ethnic
minority, the Naxis, adopts a new method that combines these two techniques to
produce the Dongba paper.
What are the characteristics, origins, and geographical distributions of these two
techniques? This publication will analyze the concrete papermaking process based
6 Pouring and Lifting: Two Different Papermaking Technique Systems 161
on materials from field investigations and carry out analysis and discussions using
materials from archaeological excavations and written records.
6.2 Different Papermaking Techniques of Pouring and Lifting

Methods
In what follows, we will analyze the different processes and steps of the pouring and
lifting methods, taking, for example, the manual papermaking techniques of the
Bais, Dais, Yis, Tibetans, Hanis, Yaos, Zhuangs, Uighurs, Naxis, and Hans exam-
ined during field investigations.
6.2.1 Different Processes and Steps of Papermaking
1. Raw materials. Ethnic minorities make paper using abundant materials. The
technique used by Uighurs to make paper from mulberry bark is commonplace
in the historical records of mainland China but less visible nowadays. The
Tibetans make paper from the phloem of the root of wolfsbane, a local produce.
Wolfsbane is a perennial herb widely distributed in Tibet. Paper made from
wolfsbane is highly resistant to insects and tension. The Dais, Zhuangs, Miaos,
and Bais make paper from mulberry, which is also a common raw material in
mainland China. Yi, Yao, and Hani make paper from bamboo. So do Bais. Naxis
in Daju, Lijiang, make paper from Wikstroemia sikokiana, while Naxis in
Shangri-La use Thymelaeaceae canescent wikstroemia to make paper. In general,
materials are locally sourced, with variations in different areas.
2. Stewing. In the lifting method of papermaking, raw materials are processed in two
ways: the crude material method and the stewed material method. According to the
crude material method, the raw materials for papermaking are soaked for a long time
and directly pulped without going through the stewing process. The stewed material
method involves a piling and fermentation process. After being soaked, paper
materials are put into a caldron for stewing and subjected to mechanical pulping.
In all pouring methods, the stewed material technique is used. The materials are
stewed in an iron caldron, and only a moderate quantity of materials is stewed each
time. The Naxis, Dais, Uighurs, and Tibetans all use this technique. In general, stove
ashes are added and the alkalization process is complete. Only the Uighurs in
Xinjiang add diversifolious poplar ashes upon stewing.
3. Material washing. Prior to stewing, there is a washing process, where paper

materials are washed and cleaned. This process exists in both the lifting and
pouring methods. Some wash the materials by the river or ditch and some in their
backyards, which depends on the actual circumstances. For example, the Dais in
Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, used to wash paper materials by the river, and
after tap water was available in their households, they began to make paper in
their own backyards. This is also the case with the Naxis in Daju, Lijiang.
162 X. Li
4. Pulping. In the case of the lifting method, the paper materials are generally pulped
with a treadle-operated tilt hammer. This is the approach adopted by most ethnic
minorities, such as Yao, Miao, and Bai. This is a historical pulping method that
was supposedly learned from areas populated by the Hans. Some pulp with
hydraulic power. For example, water-powered rollers are used to pulp in the
manual papermaking process in Xiangzhigou, Guizhou, and water-powered trip
hammers are used for pulping in inland Zhejiang. Some use cattle for pulping,
such as in Jiudu, Lufeng County, Yunnan, where the Yis use cattle to roll over and
pulp materials, which are used for crude material papermaking, with bamboos as
the raw material.
The pouring method involves placing materials on a large stony slab and manu-
ally pulping the materials with a mallet. The Dais, Tibetans, and Uighurs use this
method, while the Tibetans in Nyemo County, Tibet, pulp with stones on a stony
slab, which is a quite primitive method.
5. Addition of paper mixtures. The paper mixtures are intended for the paper
materials to float and play a role in sorting paper after the paper is made. The
lifting method involves adding paper materials into a (stony or wooden) slot,
adding paper mixtures such as pine roots and cactus, and fully stirring in the slot.
However, the pouring method does not add paper mixtures, which is an essential
difference between the two methods.
6. Stirring. Stirring serves to make the paper materials fully float. The Uighurs in
Xinjiang and Tibetans in Tibet stir paper materials in a barrel or pottery ware.
Their stirring tool is a wooden stick with four wooden wheels at the bottom.
These wooden wheels are identical even in detail and may have related origins.
The Tibetans in Dege, Sichuan, stir paper pulp in a pail. One exception is the Dais
in Yunnan, where pulped paper materials are poured onto a fixed bamboo curtain
mold. The stirring step is absent.
In the case of the lifting method, stirring is done in the slot. After water and paper
materials are added into the slot, a wooden stick is used to stir the paper materials,
turning them into a pulp and evenly distributing them in the pulp. As the slot is large,
the stirring is violent and tiring.
7. Lifting and pouring. In the case of lifting, active lifting is adopted by most
ethnicities, such as the Bais, Zhuangs, and Miaos. A typical lifting method is to
place paper materials in the slot, wait for them to become a pulp, and use one
curtain mold to lift the pulp from the slot before placing it on a platform nearby to
filter out the water. When wet paper on the platform reaches a certain amount, a
wooden grill pressing tool in the papermaking mill can be used to press the pulp.
The pouring method used by the Dais, Tibetans, and Uighurs involves a fixed
curtain mold, with paper materials placed or a pulp poured onto the curtain mold,
which is flatly placed on the water surface. A curtain and a pulp work together for
pouring. Many fixed paper curtains should be prepared upon papermaking.
The papermaking technique of the Naxis combines pouring and lifting. The
materials are placed on a fixed bamboo strip curtain mold created with a wooden
frame, which is a trait of the pouring method. However, poking the pulp out of the
frame is a trait of the lifting method. Pasting the paper on a wooden plate and one
piece of paper for one plate are traits of the pouring method. Therefore, it is the
combination of the two papermaking methods. As the Naxis live south of the
Tibetans and north of the Bais, they may have combined the papermaking techniques
of two ethnicities as a result of cultural exchanges. This is a unique papermaking
technique, as any similar ones are yet to be found anywhere else in China and the rest
of the world to date.
In the case of either pouring or lifting, each step is the key to the entire papermaking
process and demonstrates the essential difference between the two methods.
8. Squeezing. In the lifting method, the wet paper lifted out needs to be squeezed.
The traditional approach mechanically squeezes out water from hundreds of
pieces of wet paper piled on one another so that the paper becomes half dry.
Squeezing also contributes to the smoothness of the paper. However, the pouring
method is free of this process, and the paper made has a lax and coarse surface.
9. Drying method. In the lifting method, paper is typically dried hanging outside of
the house or inside the house. As specific methods vary, the paper is posted on the
wall for drying in most cases, and typically many pieces of paper are hung
together. Some dry wet paper on a bag wall.
However, in the pouring method used by the Dais, Tibetans, and Uighurs, the
paper on the curtain mold is naturally dried in the sunlight. Typically, fixed curtain
molds are placed in the backyard, with a piece of paper on each curtain. This
approach also allows the paper to be bleached by the sunlight, and as a result, the
paper is quite white. The process is distinctly different from the lifting method. The
Naxis place wet paper on wooden plates, and only one piece of paper is placed on
each wooden plate.
10. Methods of tearing off paper. In the lifting method, pieces of paper piled
together are trimmed first and gently torn off with a hand from a corner of the
paper.
In the pouring method, a piece of paper is torn off each curtain at a time. The
Naxis in Baishuitai, Shangri-La, and Daju, Lijiang, Yunnan Province, tear off paper
from a wooden plate.
11. Workshop characteristics. A typical workshop used in the lifting method con-
tains a wooden or stony paper-lifting slot, a platform for wet paper, squeezing
mechanics, and treadle-operated tilt hammers for pulping. With only one paper-
lifting curtain, the workshop can lift thousands of pieces of paper. The paper-
makers worship Lun Cai as the founder of their techniques, and all claim
“papermaking involves 72 steps.” A typical workshop used for the pouring
method contains a slot, which can be a hole on the ground or built on a platform.
164 X. Li
Upon papermaking, many fixed paper curtains are required for pouring, and
stones are needed for pulping. However, the papermakers using the pouring
method have no idea who Lun Cai is.
12. Characteristics of the application of handmade paper. In terms of the application
of handmade paper made through the pouring method, the Dais use the paper to
make books of religious texts written in the Dai language and Kongming
lanterns. The handmade paper of the Naxis is typically used for texts in the
Dongba language. The handmade paper of the Uighurs is used to make docu-
ments of the Uighurs and notes in Xinjiang. In the Ming and Qing Dynasty
periods, mulberry paper made with the pouring method was used for many
documents of the Uighurs. In terms of the application of handmade paper made
with the lifting method, such handmade paper is used for folk customs and
culture in most areas populated by ethnic minorities, such as writing, living, and
paper money, in addition to many famous applications of paper in culture in
inland China.
6.2.2 Technical Characteristics of Different Methods on Paper
As can be seen from the above analysis, the pouring method and the lifting method
have distinct technical characteristics, with different processes and steps, as follows:
The general process of the lifting method is material peeling, soaking, mortaring, material
stewing, cleaning, pulping, addition of paper mixtures, lifting, squeezing, drying, and
sorting.
The general process of the pouring method is material peeling, cleaning, material stewing,
thumping, pulping, pouring, drying, and tearing off.
Above are the general processes of the two papermaking methods, which are
subject to change depending on different conditions. However, several key steps (the
addition of paper mixtures, squeezing, pouring, or lifting and the method of drying)
can be used to differentiate between the two different papermaking techniques.
Different methods reflect different technical characteristics. For example, the
lifting method is characterized by the use of an active curtain to lift the paper,
stacking for fermentation, mechanical pulping, placement of the materials in the
slot and addition of mixtures, squeezing, and thin paper made. The pouring method
is characterized by the use of a fixed curtain to pour paper materials, pulping with a
handheld wooden hammer, placement of the materials in the curtain, absence of
mixtures, absence of squeezing, natural drying in the sunlight, and thick paper made.
Therefore, the two papermaking techniques are essentially different.
Due to the different processes, the paper made shows distinctly different charac-
teristics. In addition to the difference in the raw material, paper made with the
pouring method is different in terms of appearance from that made with the lifting
method in the following ways: as a cloth curtain is used to make the paper, no
obvious curtain marks are left on the paper surface, which only shows weaving
marks or invisible weaving marks, which is an important characteristic in appear-
ance; without the squeezing process, the paper made with the pouring method must
have a coarse and lax surface; and as the paper materials are poured on the cloth
curtain, the paper formed is always thick. Besides, due to the special papermaking
technique of the pouring method, the product has uneven thicknesses and unevenly
distributed fiber. These fundamental characteristics in appearance reflect the charac-
teristics retained in the paper, such as curtain marks, fiber knitting, the degree of
pulping, and the coarseness of the surface, and can be used to differentiate between
papers made with different papermaking methods. These characteristics are also an
important technical proof for appraising ancient paper.
6.3 Origins of Different Papermaking Techniques
According to the above comparison and analysis, there have been two distinctly
different technical systems in terms of China’s traditional papermaking techniques.
This leads to several questions: which method was first used, the pouring method or
the lifting method? What were the origins of the pouring and lifting methods? How
did they spread? These are issues for further study.
6.3.1 Geographical Distributions of Two Papermaking Techniques
According to current investigations of the traditional techniques, the geographical

distributions of the pouring and lifting methods are distinctly different, too.
According to research based on currently available materials, the pouring method
remains in use among the Tibetans in Tibet, the Uighurs in Xinjiang, the Dais and
Naxis in Yunnan, and the Dongs in Guizhou. Outside of China, this papermaking
method is preserved in countries like Thailand, Laos, and Burma in Southeast Asia
and in India, Bhutan, and Bangladesh in South Asia. Generally, the technique exists
in the southern part of Asia. For the pouring tool, fixed cloth curtains are used
(except the Naxis who use curtains with a wooden frame and bamboo), and mulberry
or mulberry bark is used as the raw material. Exceptions include the wolfsbane used
by the Tibetans and the Thymelaeaceae canescent wikstroemia used by the Naxis.
In Xinjiang, China, different papermaking methods are used in the southern and
northern parts of the autonomous region. In the southern part of Xinjiang, the
traditional pouring method of the Uighurs remains in use in Moyu, Hotan, and the
lifting method has been in use in northern Xinjiang. In addition, according to
previous investigations, a fixed cloth curtain allegedly made during the Ming
Dynasty period was found in the area of the Yaos in Guangxi and is now stored at
Minzu University of China. American paper history expert D. Hunter spotted the
pouring method in Foshan (the original word is “Fatshan,” whose location does not
seem to be present-day Foshan), Guangdong Province, in the 1940s and thought the
cloth curtain used for the pouring method was closest to the primitive state. It
166 X. Li
suggests this papermaking method remained in southeastern China during the

Republic of China period. However, no traces of the pouring method can be found
in northern China today.
The lifting method is the most widely distributed, prevalent in inland China, and
best known to people. In Chinese provinces nowadays, the lifting method is used in
almost all manual papermaking processes. In this method, a wide range of raw
materials are used, such as bamboo, linen, bark, straw, and Chinese alpine rush. For
the lifting tool, active curtains are used, and the paper produced is used for cultural
and folk custom purposes. The lifting method is also widespread across the world in
North Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Central Asian countries, European countries, and
Africa, with its origin in China.
6.3.2 Time of Origin and Origins of the Two Papermaking Methods
According to the practice of archaeological excavations, the earliest paper was

indeed made with the pouring method. The author examined the ancient paper
unearthed in Shaanxi and Gansu, such as the paper in Baqiao, Zhongyan, and
Jinguan and the majority of Xuanquan paper. Although there are disputes over the
timing of the ancient paper, which is considered to be made during the West Han
Dynasty period, these pieces of paper are indeed the earliest paper in China. They are
commonly characterized by the use of linen as the raw material, thickness, a coarse
surface, unevenly distributed fiber, and the absence of curtain marks, which are a
characteristic of the lifting method, and the absence of such marks suggests absence
of the squeezing and lifting steps. These traits do not match the characteristics of the
lifting method but match those of the pouring method. Although the ancient paper in
Xuanquan, Gansu, was located at different layers of the Han Dynasty period, the
bamboo slips on the two earliest layers (third and fourth layers) only recorded West
Han Dynasty chronologies, but not those of the East Han Dynasty. Besides, the
layers were clearly separated. Therefore, the ancient paper unearthed was undoubt-
edly made during the West Han Dynasty period. So the conclusion was drawn that
the pouring method originated in the West Han Dynasty period. This also suggests
China’s earliest papermaking technique was the pouring method. Today, this ancient
papermaking method is still in use by ethnic minorities such as the Dais in Yunnan,
the Tibetans in Tibet, and the Uighurs in Xinjiang. It is also widely spotted in
Southeast Asia and the South Asian subcontinent. Given the distant origin, it
qualifies for a miracle in the world’s technology history.
The lifting method emerged after late East Han Dynasty period. The earliest paper
made with the lifting method unearthed to date is the ancient paper unearthed at the
relic site in Xuanquan, Gansu. According to the author’s examination, the ancient
paper found at the first layer (East Han layer) was mostly made with the pouring
method, and only one piece was made with the lifting method; among the pieces of
ancient paper found at the second layer (mostly West Han layer), one piece was
found to be made with the lifting method. As many East Han bamboo slips were
unearthed at this layer, which might have been punctured through to the upper layer,
we cannot assert that this is West Han paper, as it was very likely to have been made
during the East Han Dynasty period. Besides, a piece of Maquanwan paper
unearthed in Dunhuang (No.79.D.M.79) bears obvious loose curtain marks
according to Juhua Wang’s observation, as evidenced by pictures. As Maquanwan
paper involves the use of coating and filling techniques, it is considered to have been
made after late East Han Dynasty period. Other pieces of paper unearthed in
Maquanwan, according to the author’s examination, also include papers that are
free of curtain marks, have a coarse surface, are thick, and have unevenly distributed
fibers (No.79.D.M., T2:D18) and should have been made with the pouring method.
This suggests the pouring method and the lifting method actually coexisted in
northwestern China after late East Han Dynasty period. In fact, the lifting method
emerged at a time very close to the time of Lun Cai making paper, and it is further
deduced that this was very likely to be a new papermaking technique invented by
Lun Cai, and the product made with the lifting method should have been the famous
“Lun Cai Paper” presented to the emperor during the East Han Dynasty period. After
the East Han Dynasty period, the papermaking technique in inland China was soon
replaced by the lifting method, and even “all products have been made with the new
method ever since.” The lifting method has been passed down for over 2000 years
and remains in use for mass production today.
A plausible conclusion is that the pouring method is not a method invented by
Lun Cai and originated during the West Han Dynasty period, and the lifting method
was invented by Lun Cai and originated during the East Han Dynasty period. These
two papermaking methods have been passed from generation to generation for over
2000 years, and this insight is important for understanding the origins of two
different papermaking technique systems.
Given the fundamental difference in key techniques, we assume these two
papermaking methods have different technical origins. Ethnologist Chunsheng
Ling thinks the invention of paper originated from bark cloth, as the technique
for making the bark cloth is very similar to that for making paper. This insight on
the origin of the pouring method makes sense. However, the technique of the
pouring method is very different from that for making the bark cloth. The Chinese
word for “paper” has a component that means “silk,” which indicates a possible
connection to silk in the ancient times. Xi Liu said in Shi Ming (《释名》): “During
the reign of Emperor He of the Later Han period, Palace Attendant-in-ordinary Lun
Cai made paper by filing, thumping and lifting cloth.” The “lifting” here may
indicate the lifting method. In Shuo Wen Jie Zi (《说文解字》) (100 A.D.), Shen Xu
of the East Han Dynasty period defined paper as follows: “Paper is a layer of messy
cotton on a tarpaulin, with ‘silk’ as its lexical component, and ‘Shi’ as the phonetic
component.” Evidently, there are two elements involved in papermaking, namely,
cotton and tarpaulin, of which cotton is the raw material and tarpaulin is the tool,
typically considered to be a curtain. Er Ya (《尔雅》) of the East Han Dynasty period
explained: “Tarpaulin is white covering.” As for cotton, Shuo Wen Jie Zi said: “silk
is tattered cotton.” Yucai Duan annotated: “all cotton is made of silk.” The Chinese
word for “paper” has silk as its lexical component, and silk is the original meaning
of paper in inland China. Therefore, the earliest papermaking technique in inland
China may have evolved from silk processing steps. As no further archaeological
evidence is available, this is just an initial thought.
168 X. Li
6.4 Globalization of Two Papermaking Techniques
Many publications on papermaking history contain a roadmap of Chinese paper-

making techniques spreading out of the country. Actually, this is just a roadmap
showing the outbound spread of the papermaking techniques and fails to illustrate
the origin and spread of the pouring method. In 1928, Chinese scholar Shi’ao Yao
conducted intensive study of the spread of traditional Chinese techniques while
neglecting the fact that there were two different papermaking methods in ancient
times.
6.4.1 Westward Spread of the Pouring Method
The earliest to have spread out of the country was the pouring method. The first stop
of the westward spread was Gansu in northwestern China. All the West Han paper
found in Gansu was made with the pouring method, such as the Jinguan paper
unearthed at the Jinguan relic site of Han on the east side of the Ejin River in
northern Gansu Province in 1973 and the majority of the Xuanquan paper unearthed
at the Xuanquanzhi relic site of Han near Tianshuijing, Dunhuang. After the East
Han Dynasty period, the pouring method remained widely popular, such as the
Fulongping “word” paper unearthed from the tombs of the East Han Dynasty period
in Lanzhou, Gansu. This is the earliest “word” paper in mainland China to date. By
examining its surface, we can see this is linen paper, which is thick, has a coarse
surface and unevenly distributed fibers, and is free of curtain marks, supposedly
made with the pouring method. In the transcribing scriptures of Dunhuang, paper
made with the pouring method was found in the scriptures of both the Northern Wei
Dynasty and Tang Dynasty periods. For example, the Northern Wei scripture Guan
Fo San Wei Hai (《观佛三味海》) (Provincial Museum of Gansu, collection number,
10561) found in Dunhuang was identified as linen paper, which is thick and free of
curtain marks, supposedly made with the pouring method. After mid-Tang Dynasty
period, products made with the pouring method were extremely rare in Dunhuang
scriptures, which suggested this papermaking method had been phased out in the
northwestern region.
After the East Han Dynasty period, products made with the pouring method
spread westward to Xinjiang. Paper of the East Han and Jin Dynasty periods
unearthed in Xinjiang were mostly made with the pouring method. In 1959, a
piece of ancient paper whose surface was dyed black was unearthed from a tomb of
East Han at the Niya relic site in Minfeng County, Xinjiang. (Yuchun Li: Brief
Summary of East Han Dynasty Joint Tombs in Mid-Ancient Relic in Beida Desert
in Minfeng County Xinjiang. Wen Xu (《文物》), 1960, Issue 6, p. 9–12). This paper
was identified by the author as linen paper, which was very coarse and thick and
free of marks and had uneven thicknesses, supposedly made with the pouring
method. This is one of the earliest pieces of paper with definite times unearthed in
Xinjiang. It suggests paper made with the pouring method had been spread to as
far as southwestern Xinjiang in the East Han Dynasty period. At the Astana-
Karakhoja Tombs in Turpan, Xinjiang, some ancient paper was unearthed. Their
times ranged from Jin to Tang Dynasty periods. Nine of the 14 pieces of ancient
paper were made with the lifting method; the other 5 were made with the pouring
method, mostly linen paper. One of these pieces of ancient paper bore Sogdian
characters (unearthed at Tomb M96) and was made during the East Jin Dynasty
period – prior to the fifth century. According to observation, paper made with the
pouring method is thick and has no curtain marks or weaving marks on the surface.
At the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum, a lot of ancient paper unearthed in
Xinjiang is on display. According to preliminary observation, early paper was
mostly made with the pouring method, such as the documents of the Jin Dynasty
period unearthed at the Loulan relic site in Ruoqiang County and the documents of
the East Jin Dynasty period unearthed at the Zhagunluke Tombs in Qiemo County,
which were made with the pouring method. After the Tang Dynasty period, paper
was mostly made with the lifting method. We examined several hundred pieces of
ancient paper of the Tang Dynasty period unearthed in Xinjiang, especially in
Turpan. Most of these pieces of paper were made with the lifting method, while
those pieces of paper bearing the ethnic minorities’ and foreign texts such as
Uighur and Arabic texts (archaeological number, BTB2122), Tocharian texts
(archaeological number, KK(58)2), Tibetan texts (archaeological number,
59RM18: 00413), Kuchean texts (archaeological number, KQF: 1, D6812), and
Brahmi texts (archaeological number, 65TN: 46) were mostly made with the
pouring method. We assume these pieces of paper bearing the texts of ethnic
minorities were locally produced in Xinjiang. However, some pieces of paper
bearing Uighur and Tibetan texts were made with the lifting method. As the
pouring method remains in use by the Uighurs in Hotan, Xinjiang, the pouring
method should have a history of over 1500 years in Xinjiang.
In the Tang Dynasty period, the pouring method was spread into Tibet. An
example is the document bearing Tibetan texts of the Tang Dynasty period
(no. 131) unearthed in the northern part of the Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, and
currently preserved at the Dunhuang Academy. This is a thick piece of paper that has
a coarse surface and is free of curtain marks, supposedly made with the pouring
method. Products made with the pouring method bearing the Tibetan texts of the
Tang Dynasty period were found in Milan, Ruoqiang County, Xinjiang (archaeo-
logical number, 59RM18: 00413). A piece of paper of the Song and Yuan Dynasty
periods bearing Tibetan texts (collected by the Provincial Museum of Gansu,
numbered “Tianti Mountain No. 23”) was found in Tianti Mountain, Gansu. The
author determined the raw material for that piece of paper is the phloem of the root of
wolfsbane. However, the Tibetans in Tibet and Dege Sichuan still use the pour
method to make paper today, using the phloem of the root of wolfsbane as the raw
material. This suggests the pouring method was spread to Tibet at an early time and
has been passed down and is still used today.
170 X. Li
6.4.2 Southward Spread of the Pouring Method
The pouring method emerged in the southwestern border area of Yunnan in the Tang
Dynasty period. Wu Dai Hui Yao – Nan Zhao Man (《五代会要·南诏蛮》) of the
Song Dynasty period recorded an incident. In the second year of Tiancheng in the
later Tang Dynasty period (927), Xie Bu, counselor-in-chief of the Great Changhe
Kingdom whose capital was Dali, Yunnan, submitted a memorial to “Uncle Emperor
of Great Tang Dynasty.” “The paper was thick and as hard as leather, the writings
had vigorous strokes and had the style of an imperial edict. . .there was a colorful
sheet of paper with verses, which included three lines and ten couplets, with words
for musical rhythms, implying an aspiration to relate to our dynasty through mar-
riage.” Characterized as “thick as leather,” this kind of paper is obviously primitive
thick paper made with the pouring method and distinctly different from the thin
paper in inland China. According to the observation of the scriptures unearthed in
Beitangtian Village, Fengyi, Dali, Yunnan, paper produced with the lifting method in
Yunnan during the Dali Kingdom period includes linen and bark paper, while paper
made with the pouring method was occasionally found. Although the pouring
method was inherited by some ethnic minorities, it was and is not the primary
papermaking method in ancient and present-day Yunnan.
The pouring method still exists today in many parts of Southeast Asia and South
Asia, such as India, Burma, Laos, and Thailand.
In the fifth century A.D., a papermaking industry already existed in India. The
earliest literature on papermaking in ancient India is the Luo Yang Jia Lan Ji (洛阳伽
蓝记) (c.547) authored by Xuanzhi Yang in the Northern Wei period. In Volume
5 “Journey of Emissaries Yun Song and Sheng Hui to the West Territories,” it said:
There was this Moxu Kingdom about 50 km south of Wangcheng (Wuchang Kingdom),
where bark was peeled off to make paper and bones were used to make pens. A tower of
10 Zhangs was erected.
Evidently, bark was used to make paper. As it was a relic site that was mentioned,
there had been a papermaking industry in ancient India before that. The paper-
making industry of Bangladesh was also mentioned in literature of the Ming
Dynasty period. Bangladesh used to be a part of India, located in the eastern
regions. In Bangladesh, mulberry was used to make paper. The paper it produced
was mentioned in literatures of China’s Ming Dynasty period, such as Ying Ya
Sheng Lan (《瀛涯胜览》), Xi Yan Fan Guo Zhi (《西洋番国志》), and Xi Yang Chao
Gong Dian Lu (《西洋朝贡典录》). For example, Huan Ma of the Ming Dynasty
period said of the Banggeci Kingdom (present-day Bangladesh) in Ying Ya Sheng
Lan: “The white paper is made of bark, fine and smooth just like deerskin.” Zhen
Gong said of the Banggeci Kingdom in Xi Yang Fan Guo Zhi: “Top-grade white
paper is fine and smooth like deerskin and is made of bark.” This is the earliest
Chinese literature on papermaking in the ancient South Asian subcontinent
available today. Given the sophisticated level of the papermaking technique, it

should have been spread into the South Asian subcontinent much earlier.
According to Shengceng Huang of the Ming Dynasty period in Xi Yang Chao
Gong Dian Lu, the paper produced in Bangladesh was mulberry paper. According
to reports of Indian scholars, among the traditional papermaking techniques of
Bangladesh, there is a pouring method that does not involve adding of mixtures.
(P.P. Gosavi. Did India invent Paper? Pulp and Paper, Canada, Vol. 82, No. 4/April
1981). However, it is believed the papermaking techniques of Bangladesh were
spread through Tibet. Some believe it was spread through the Dianmian (Yunnan-
Burma) Road or over the sea, which remains a subject for further research.
In Bhutan, a kind of bark called Daphna was used as the raw material for
papermaking. Daphna resembles paper mulberry but greatly differs from the Stellera
chamaejasme used in Tibet, Nepal, and India to make paper. According to the
materials provided by Dachuan Chen, two kinds of methods are used in Bhutan.
One of them is pouring, and the paper thus made is called Resho, which is used for
scriptures (obviously this papermaking method is subject to religious influence); the
other is lifting, and the paper thus made is called Tsasho (pronounced like “tea
paper” in Chinese), which is used for printing and writing.
The pouring method in southeast China remains in use in many places, such as
Luang Prabang of Laos and Chiang Mai in Thailand. According to the detailed
investigation by Japanese scholars, the pouring method in Thailand has changed
compared with the traditional pouring method. The pouring method in Burma was
recorded in literature and recently reported in ethnic investigations. It is very similar
to the pouring method used by the Dais in Yunnan. However, the traditional
papermaking techniques in these countries also include both lifting and pouring
methods, and the situation seems to be more complicated. There are no definite clues
to follow as to whether these techniques were spread through the sea or land.
The pouring method is undoubtedly the first wave of Chinese papermaking
techniques spread outward. However, both literature records and archaeological
practice suggest this first wave of outward spread did not reach areas west of
Xinjiang, China, as no relics of paper made with the pouring method have been
found in the Middle East. And there were no literature records on papermaking in
this region prior to the Tang Dynasty period.
6.4.3 Outward Spread of the Lifting Method
The lifting method is the second wave of outward spread of Chinese papermaking
techniques. In 751 A.D. (tenth year of Emperor Tianbao’s reign during the Tang
Dynasty period), troops commanded by Xianzhi Gao, West Emissary (official title)
of the Tang Dynasty, clashed with soldiers of “Dashi Kingdom” (Arabs) in Talas
(in present-day Kazakhstan), and several thousand Tang soldiers (including
172 X. Li
papermaking craftsmen) were taken as prisoner. Afterward, they were escorted to

Samarkand (in present-day Uzbekistan, called Kang Kingdom during the Tang
Dynasty period), where some Chinese prisoners began to make paper and spread
China’s lifting method to the Middle East. This was clearly recorded in Arabic
historical literature. Recent investigations indicate a lifting method with very con-
ventional techniques remains in Samarkand, Republic of Uzbekistan. This method
uses mulberry bark as the raw material and adopts the basic steps of the lifting
method, such as pulping with a water-powered hammer, lifting, and squeezing,
largely similar to the papermaking techniques in ancient China. This indirectly
proves the papermaking technique spread into Samarkand during the Tang Dynasty
period is indeed the lifting method.
Afterward, the papermaking technique was spread westward from Samarkand to
Baghdad and Damascus and further west to Europe and Africa and finally reached
the Americas in the sixteenth century. According to the tests by European scholars,
this papermaking technique relies on ragged cloth as the raw material and has similar
procedures to those of the lifting method in inland China. Besides, these western
literatures recorded the lifting method only and did not mention the pouring method.
The lifting method has been passed down and still exists today in some western
countries (such as Italy).
The lifting method was also spread into India. In present-day Rajasthan, India,
the traditional technique of handmade paper still exists. According to investiga-
tions, an active bamboo curtain is used to make paper, while the slot remains a hole
on the ground. According to the investigation by American scholar D. Hunter, the
lifting method exists in northern and central India, too. The fact that the slot
remains a hole on the ground suggests some primitive papermaking practices
have been preserved.
Among East Asian countries, Korea and Japan adopt the lifting method spread
from China, in which such spread occurred much earlier than the spread west-
ward. Around the East Jin Dynasty period of China (c. fourth to fifth centuries),
Chinese papermaking techniques were spread into the Korean Peninsula. In
610 A.D., Korean monk Zheng Tan brought the papermaking techniques to
Japan. At least in these East Asian countries, the traditional papermaking tech-
niques remain, and the basic principles and operating procedure of papermaking
are largely similar to those in mainland China, in addition to some improvements
in technical detail. The washi of Japan is actually made with the traditional lifting
method, with some further improvements in technique. The paper made with the
filtering method of Japan also influenced the papermaking techniques in parts of
China. However, no paper made with the pouring method has ever been found in
Korea and Japan.
After the third century A.D., China’s lifting method was spread southward to
Vietnam, and famous paper such as the “Celi Paper” was produced during the Jin
Dynasty period. According to the investigation by the American scholar Hunter, the
traditional lifting method had been preserved in Vietnam until the 1930s.
Therefore, the lifting method is the most widely spread and most historically
influential papermaking method in the world.
6.5 Conclusion
Based on investigations of the handmade paper of nearly ten ethnic minorities of

China, we conclude China’s traditional papermaking involves two distinctly differ-
ent methods through analysis of the techniques and steps. One of them is the pouring
method and the other the lifting method. The paper made with these two methods has
conspicuous exterior characteristics. Paper made with the pouring method is thick
and coarse, with unevenly distributed fibers and without curtain marks on the
surface, while paper made with the lifting method is thin and has a smooth surface
and evenly distributed fibers and curtain marks on the surface. Therefore, these two
methods pertain to distinctly different technical systems, but both originated in
inland China. The earliest sample of ancient paper is also preserved in China,
which suggests China is indeed the nation that invented paper.
Through archaeological materials and scientific analysis, we think the pouring
method is the earliest papermaking method invented by China. It emerged during the
West Han Dynasty period and is not a method that originated from Lun Cai’s
papermaking methodology; the lifting method is likely to have been invented after
the East Han Dynasty period and is a method derived from Lun Cai’s methodology.
The two methods also have different geographical distributions. The pouring method
is widely distributed in southwestern and northwestern China and Southeast Asia
and South Asia. The lifting method is widely distributed in inland China, East Asian
countries, and western countries. The outward spread occurred at different times and
along different routes. Products made with the pouring method had reached Xinjiang
during the East Han Dynasty period, and this technique was spread into Tibet during
the Tang Dynasty period. The lifting method was spread into Vietnam and Korea
during the Jin Dynasty period and into Japan during the Tang Dynasty period. After
the Tang Dynasty period, the lifting method was spread westward into the present-
day Middle East, further west to Europe and Africa, and was finally distributed
across the world.
I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to the History Museum of Shaanxi; the
Provincial Museum of Gansu; the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum;
the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, UK; and the Great Britain Museum in
London for their generous help in terms of ancient paper examination and provi-
sioning of materials!
References
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纸史周边》) (pp. 119–140). Taiwan Provincial Ministry of Culture.
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Liquor Making and Folk Customs in Ancient
China 7
Yifang Fang
Contents
7.1 Exploring the Origin of Fermented Drinks in Far Antiquity: Archaeological
and Anthropological Evidence and Contemporary Technical Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.2 Focusing on Historical Records: Examination of Liquor Making History Materials
from a New Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.3 From Agricultural Books to Recipes – Extensive Clustering of Liquor Making
to Technological Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Abstract
The ancients worshipped liquor as “heavenly nectar” and “king of medications.”
Or in modern languages, the liquor fermentation technique was the same as a
cooking technique, extended the digestion process of the human body, expanded
the category of food available for choice, optimized the nutrition elements that
help absorption and utilization by the human body, and enabled human organs,
including digestive organs, to evolve to be healthier and more efficient. This
chapter will focus on the stories of our ancestors in the drainage areas of the
Yellow River and the Yangtze River, including actively learning about mold and
yeast; fully processing and using carbohydrates such as paddy, broomcorn millet,
and millet; and gradually grasping and improving the liquor making techniques,
as well as highlights derived from liquor making in the human history.
Keywords
Liquor making · Fermented drink · Technical analysis · Agricultural book ·
Liquor culture · Anthropological evidence
Y. Fang (*)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_7
176 Y. Fang
We examine the origin and evolution of liquor making in ancient China and the
change of relevant folk customs from the perspective of technology history. Such
an academic topic is essentially different from the liquor culture people generally
talk about. In this paper, we will not repeat the literature, arts, political trickeries,
figures, games, and anecdotes related to liquor, but will focus on the stories of
our ancestors in the drainage areas of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River
actively learning about mold and yeast; fully processing and using carbohydrates
such as paddy, broomcorn millet, and millet; and gradually grasping and improv-
ing the liquor making techniques, as well as highlights derived from liquor
making in the human history. The ancients worshipped liquor as “heavenly
nectar” and “king of medications.” Or in modern languages, the liquor fermen-
tation technique was the same as a cooking technique, extended the digestion
process of the human body, expanded the category of food available for choice,
optimized the nutrition elements that help absorption and utilization by the
human body, and enabled human organs, including digestive organs, to evolve
to be healthier and more efficient. The logic connection between this intensive
processing of human food and the development and evolution of the human body
has been advocated in the ancient legends of China and confirmed by today’s
experimental data in the West. I will start with an analysis of the liquor making
technique.
7.1 Exploring the Origin of Fermented Drinks in Far Antiquity:

Archaeological and Anthropological Evidence
and Contemporary Technical Analysis
Just like the birth and evolution of humanity, the emergence of fermented drinks on
earth is one of the various achievements of the nature. All lives are created equal.
There is no essential difference between the DNAs of humanity, who value them-
selves so high, and tiny mold and yeast. They all follow a fundamental principle,
which is to maximize the use of natural resources to fully expand their genetic
advantages. The alcoholic fermentation process is driven by the need of microor-
ganisms for survival and expansion. This secret in biotechnology happened to be
discovered by intelligent life under certain historical circumstances. Thence, humans
were able to improve the taste and quality of food through the fermentation of
microorganisms. Finally, this technique evolved into a major source of invention
for various kinds of delicious food. The maturity of the liquor making technique is
one of the most typical. An analogy can be made: The use by humans of microor-
ganisms to develop primitive biotech such as liquor making, a technique that
changes the taste and quality of food, is largely similar to the occurrence and
development of agriculture in human society.
1. Alcoholic fermentation is pure nature, and the greatest achievement of humanity

is to discover, use, and improve it
7 Liquor Making and Folk Customs in Ancient China 177
As for the origin of fermented drinks, we might as well start with a widely popular
foreign fable to unveil a past occurrence of humanity. In autumn, fruits are ripe in the
forest, and the monkeys, wild with joy, pluck the fruits in large quantities – so large
that they cannot eat them all, and all they can do is to store all the extremely sweet
peaches, plums, and pears in a warm, clean rock cave behind the monkey king’s
throne. In the days that follow, the monkeys, with their stomachs filled, run around
and forget the treasure of the monkey king, until the next year, when food supply
does not meet their needs, monkeys with empty stomachs implore the monkey king
to do something to fill their stomachs. It is not until then that the monkey king
remembers the treasure of sweet fruits behind him, which have turned into a scented
liquid. The monkey king sends a little monkey to have a taste. The starving poor
thing first sips in fear and eventually devours. At this moment, the monkeys realize it
is nectar and jump down to drink it all, until they are drunk and laying around the
throne.
Through this foreign fable, we can find our ancestors’ understanding of fermented
drinks is based on sugar, yeast, and temperature,1 a technique directly derived from
the natural environment, which represents the evolution and development of western
liquor making techniques, with wine as the main drinks.2 The process is as follows:
1
Through archaeological examination of the Dogon tribe in Africa, new evidence for primitive
liquor making was found. Women store production materials such as maize in the nature, and the
maize will naturally ferment into fine liquor under favorable conditions. The maize is soaked in
water to sprout, and the sprout is grinded, cooked and filtered. On the morning of the day they go to
the market, yeast is added to turn sugar into alcohol. Around almost 1 PM, the fermented liquor is
drinkable, while the alcoholic content is modest. By sunset, most of the liquor will have been
consumed, and many villagers return home drunk. However, as long as there is one drop of liquor
left, some villagers will linger around the market, passionately participate in increasingly heated
discussions and won’t return home until midnight. By Stephen Payne. Translated by Fei Gao: Xi Fei
Jia Mian Wu Zhe: Duo Gong Bu Luo (《西非假面舞者:多汞部落》), Huayi Publishing House,
2005, p.160.
2
Roman politician, orator, historian and agriculturist Marcus Porcius Cato, a.k.a. Great Cato (234–
149 A.D.) detailed in the work De Agri Cultura the wine making process in Europe in his time, and
this technique was confirmed in Chapter 54 of the famous work De Agricultura by another Roman
scholar Varro (116–27 A.D.). “(Section 23) It is necessary to make preparations for harvesting
grapes. On rainy days, the vessels should be brushed, baskets should be repaired and barrels needed
should be coated with naphtha; baskets should be purchased and repaired, flour should be grinded
and salt fish is purchased to salt the olive fruit blown off. Hybrid grapes should be timely harvested,
and premature grapes picked should be harvested for drinking by the workers. Dry grapes are
cleanly and evenly placed in the barrels. When necessary, one quarter of grape juices should be
added to new wine, and the grape juices added should be made from grapes that have not been
stepped upon, or one and a half pounds of salt are added into a Kuras of wine. If you add marble
powder, one pound is added for one Kuras of wine; you should place it in the water pot, mix it with
grape juices and place it into the barrel. To add rosin, you need to grind it into pieces, add three
pounds for every Kuras of wine, then put it into the basket and hang the basket in the grape juice
barrel; keep shaking it to dissolve the rosin. Once heavy wine or marble powder or rosin is added, it
should be often stirred in 20 days and squeezed every day. The second grade grape juices squeezed
for the second time should be sorted and evenly added to the respective barrels. (Section 24) Greek
wine should be made in the following way. Fully mature Apizius grapes are harvested, and two
Quadrantols of sea water or one bucket of pure salt is added for each Kuras of grape juices. If pure
178 Y. Fang
High glucose fermentation substrate + yeast + external environment ⇨ ethanol

However, the above three elements cannot explain China’s liquor making tech-
nique, i.e., the technique used by ancient Chinese that relies on non-glucose raw
materials such as grains to make fine liquor. A key difference is that ancient Chinese
must transform grains such as millet and paddy into yeast substrates with high
glucose content and acquire nectar by transforming the glucose into ethanol. This
is the so-called two-step fermentation process. According to the latest archaeological
evidence, around 8000–9000 years ago, ancient Chinese were beginning to use
low-sugar carbohydrates to make fermented drinks. That is to say, the liquor making
technique used by ancient Chinese was far more sophisticated than the general
understanding of liquor making and technological capability in human societies in
Central Asia, Europe, and Africa.
“
Grains” þ mold þ external environment ⇨ high glucose yeast substrates
þ yeast þ external environment ⇨ ethanol
Namely:
“
Grains” þ distiller’ s yeast ðmixture of mold and yeastÞ
þ external environment ⇨ ethanol
2. Ancient Chinese first grasped the “two-step fermentation” liquor making

technique
In the mid-1980s, the Jiahu Cultural Relic Site at Wuyang County, Henan
Province, which dated back to about 9000 years ago, was found. It is the earliest
Neolithic culture relic site in the drainage areas of the Huaihe River. In June 2001,
the Jiahu Relic Site was determined as a national cultural heritage, where the earliest
in-pottery liquid in the world was unearthed, entitled as the “origin of manmade
liquor,” which along with the Jiahu Characters (entitled as “the origin of Chinese
characters”) and the seven-scale bony flute (entitled as “the origin of wind music”)
made Jiahu a world-renowned cultural relic site with three origins. However, the
discovery of the manmade liquor was not mentioned in the onsite archaeological
report Wuyang Jiahu (舞阳贾湖) published in 1999.
salt is used, the salt should be put in small baskets and dissolve in grape juices. To make yellowish
wine, you need to put in half yellowish wine, half Apizius wine and 1/30 strong wine. To make any
strong wine, you need to add 1/30 strong wine. (Section 25) When the grapes are ripe and ready for
harvest, they are first served to the family. It is important to use fully ripe and dried grapes so that the
wine will not lose fame. A net bed or screens should be used to screen out fresh grape skin. They
should be put into barrels or slot with naphtha, trampled on to be solid and sealed, and will be fed to
the cattle in winter. If you like, you can soak some to make sub-par wine for drinking by the slaves.”
In sections 104 and 105 that followed, Cato further recorded the processes for wine salinity
regulation, aroma treatment, long-term preservation, sweetening, elimination of odors, concentra-
tion measurement, and the preparation of local feature wine and therapeutic wine.
The Jiahu Relic Site is located on the alluvial plain between the Shahe River and
Nihe River east of the Jiahu Village, 1.5 km from Wudu north of Wuyang County.
The Jiahu Relic Site is of an irregular round shape, which is 275 m from east to west
and 260 m from north to south, and covers an area of 55,000 square meters. From
1983 through 2001, the Henan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeological
Research Institute and the University of Science and Technology of China conducted
seven excavations on the site. A dike runs from north to south in the middle of the
relic site and separates it into the eastern and western parts. However, the western rim
of the relic site remains under a village today. Some 10 rural households are located
in the key conservation zone in the western part of the relic site, and only over 2000
square meters of the site have been excavated by scientists. To the east of the dike is a
large swath of farmland, and some cultural layers near the eastern part of the dike
have been damaged.
In December 2004, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of
the United States of America published a paper “Fermented Beverages from
Prehistoric China,” a co-research project between China and the USA led by
Patrick E. McGovern, a professor at the Museum of the University of Pennsyl-
vania (UPenn). The Museum of UPenn had accumulated 25 years of experience
and led peers in terms of the research on ancient liquors unearthed worldwide.
By using technologies such as gas chromatography and liquid chromatography,
they managed to extend the archaeological research on liquors of the far antiq-
uity unearthed to the molecular level and had published findings on prehistoric
beverages unearthed in Iran and Turkey. Based on the samples from the Jiahu
Relic Site, the paper “Fermented Beverages from Prehistoric China” conducted
research on the sediments of the content of the potteries and analyzed the content
of the bronze ware from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties periods as a benchmark.
As a result, they found (see Fig.7.1 for ingredients of the yeast of the far
antiquity found through chromatography) the remnants from the Jiahu site
dated back to 6600–6200 B.C., and the remnants from the Shang and Zhou
Dynasties periods dated back to 1250–1000 B.C. It was initially determined that
the content of the pottery ware from Jiahu was an alcoholic beverage made
through fermentation of mixed raw materials, and the yeast substrate could be
the mixture of broomcorn millet, honey, and hawthorn. The liquid residues from
the bronze ware of the Shang and West Zhou Dynasties periods found in
Anyang, Henan, no longer contained plant materials composed of honey and
oxalic acid crystal, where the alcohols were mostly of a short chain and
contained more ethanol substances, close to the final product of grain and
grape fermentation (Fig. 7.2).
Unfortunately, this historic scientific cooperation, in which much hope was
vested by the international academic community, broke up in disagreement. The
involvement of commercial interests and the parties’ different understandings of
the rules for international joint research are the primary causes. Nevertheless, the
scientific validation and commercial duplication of the Jiahu liquor reflected the
historical value of the fermentation technique in ancient China from a different
perspective.
180 Y. Fang
Fig. 7.1 Analysis of residues in Jiahu pottery ware

Representative pottery and bronze vessels dating to the Neolithic period and the Shang-Western
Zhou Dynasties, showing selective analyses of their contents. (a) Typical Neolithic storage jar from
Jiahu (no. T109:65, subperiod II, ca. 6600 ~ 6200 B.C.). (b) Lidded he “teapot” from Anyang (Liu
Jiazhuang Tomb, no. M1046:2, ca. 1250 ~ 1000 B.C.). (c) GCMS analysis of chloroform extract of
a, showing homologous series of n-alkanes. (d) HPLC-MS analysis of chloroform extract of c,
showing the presence of amyrin; oleanolic acid was attested at 8.9 min
3. A massive liquor making industry in China supposedly emerged after late Xia
Dynasty period
In the Han Dynasty, An Liu recorded in Huai Nan Zi (《淮南子》): “The beauty of
liquor starts with the plow.” The plow refers to a stage of social development before
Fig. 7.2 Based on the

formula of the Jiahu
fermented beverages found in
the above research, an
American manufacturer
copies the Jiahu beer with the
brand name Chateau, which is
sold at $12/bottle
the Bronze Age, which ended in the early period of Shang Dynasty. The above
anthropological and archaeological evidence indicates the Chinese in the far antiq-
uity might have grasped the technique for making fermented beverages before a
mature agricultural society emerged. The time at which the ancients began to
purposefully plant and process grains at a large scale to make liquor remains a
question for analysis. According to the latest archaeological findings, the ancient
Chinese had grasped the technique of paddy planting no later than 12,000 years
ago.3 The ancient Chinese began to make liquor at a large scale at a time when
agricultural civilization reached a certain level or upon advent of a historic era when
they had large quantities of grain reserve. And the large numbers of literatures on
liquors and physical evidence from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties periods suggest
China’s liquor making technique reached full maturity during those periods. At any
time between these two points, the incident that triggered the massive utilization of
the liquor making technique in China might have occurred. Therefore, we might as
3
A series of archaeological evidence suggests five carbonized paddy particles dating back to
12,000 years ago were unearthed at the Yuchanyan Relic Site in Daoxian County, Hunan; paddies
dating back to 7000 years ago were unearthed at the Hemudu Relic Site in Yuyao, Zhejiang;
cultivated paddies dating back to 7800–9000 years ago were unearthed at the Pengtou Mountain
Relic Site in Lixian County, Hunan; paddies dating back to 7000–9000 years ago were unearthed at
the Jiahu Relic Site in Wuyang, Henan; carbonized paddies dating back to over 10,000 years ago
were unearthed at Bashidang Relic Site, Lixian County, Hunan; at the Kuahuqiao Relic Site in
Xiaoshan Zhejiang and the Shangshan Relic Site in Pujiang, paddies dating back to 9000 and
10,000 years ago were also unearthed. Archaeologists have to ask: If the paddies are the origin, what
is the cradle? Anyway, the conclusion that China’s agriculture emerged 10,000 years ago is
doubtless. Chun Chen & Jianming Zheng: Environment, Paddies Agriculture and Social Evolution.
Science, 2005, Issue 5, p.34–37.
182 Y. Fang
well explore the two clues of agricultural society and primitive religions to determine
the origin of massive liquor making in ancient China.
First, as liquor making involves large-scale grain processing, the ancient Chi-
nese might not be able to produce liquors at scale in the hunting and gathering
society before the agricultural society, even if they grasped the primitive liquor
making technique. This was because of the constraint in raw material and demand.
Therefore, to discuss the origin of liquor making, we must discuss agricultural
techniques, including the formation of the agricultural society. That is to say, was
the development of agriculture and surplus of grain led to the emergence of the
industry of massive liquor making? Or was the huge demand for alcoholic bever-
ages promoted the development of agricultural techniques and expansion of grain
production?
As for the origin of agriculture, the mainstream theory is population growth went
beyond the supply capacity of nature, and as a result, the hunting and gathering
system turned into artificial planting and husbandry. With gradual prosperity of the
social life in the primitive society and greater demand for cultural life, the liquors for
drinking and for rituals emerged at the same time. With such tremendous demand for
liquor making and use, was the hunting and gathering system able to withstand the
various demands that had been increasing? Of population pressure and the demand
for liquor making, which was the predominant factor to the origin of the agricultural
society? Or when did the mass production of grain originate?
Canadian archaeologist B. Hayden coined the Competitive Feasting Theory, which
was contradictory with the opinion that agricultural development resulted from pop-
ulation pressure. The Competitive Feasting Theory thinks agriculture might have
originated in areas with abundant resources and stable supply, and these areas had
relatively more complex social structures as a result of economic and cultural pros-
perity. Leaders could breed species intended for feasting and sacrificial rituals through
the control of labor. It took tremendous labor to breed these species, which however
could provide the food or liquors used for feasting and rituals. According to Hayden,
grains were planted to make liquor in the early periods. For example, corns and other
grains were used more to make liquor than feed the people in prehistoric eras, and
liquors played an important role in the religious ceremonies and assignment of labor
force in wealthy societies. In a resource-abundant environment, a community could
grow into a large size, and the social complexity was higher, and as a result, religious
and feasting activities played a vital role. The Competitive Feasting Theory concluded
that agriculture only emerged in societies with higher complexity. A similar viewpoint
had been raised. For example, American archaeologist C. Sauer said in the early 1950s
that agriculture was unlikely to emerge in an environment threatened by famine, as
people living in the shadow of starvation did not have the ability or time to engage in
slow, leisurely experimental steps to select the plant specified for improvement. Only
in a natural environment with abundant natural resources could people have the free
time to experiment with planting practices whose harvest was unpredictable, so as to
satisfy their mental pleasure beyond basic subsistence. Besides, some scholars
discussed the mechanism for agricultural economy to emerge and ascribed the orig-
ination of agriculture to societal reasons, claiming that a minority group tried to
expand the consumption of resources to control other groups and triggered the
emergence of grain production. In fact, in 1937, Chinese historian Mr. Qichang
Zhou, based on analysis of inscriptions on tortoise shells and tripods and ancient
literature, believed ancient humans fed on meat as the staple, and agriculture originated
from liquor making, which coincided with the Competitive Feasting Theory.
The origins of agriculture and liquor making are two incidents that were
independent of each other but occurred under similar backgrounds. The maturity
of the brewing technique or massive liquor making, namely, the transformation of
brewing from natural occurrence into human control, and into mass production,
was primarily driven by the demand of the upper class. According to research
findings, the methodology of brewing, like theology, was an instrument needed by
the ruling class to maintain their grip over power and was the technological support
to maintain the regime, following the emergence of deities, kingdoms, states,
emperors, and aristocrats.
7.2 Focusing on Historical Records: Examination of Liquor

Making History Materials from a New Perspective
1. Primitive liquor-free rituals in Xia Xiao Zheng (《夏小正》 and Shan Hai Jing
(《山海经》)
In China’s ancient legends, Du Kang is a monarch surnamed Si during the Xia

Dynasty period. According to folklore, Du Kang was the inventor of liquors, for
which no substantial evidence was found. Among China’s historical literatures,
works that recorded both agriculture and rituals include Xia Xiao Zheng, which
contains fewer than 400 characters. This work is believed to have recorded details of
social life in the Xia Dynasty period. Xiuling You, an ancient scholar in agricultural
history, determined and ran category statistics on the word count of Xia Xiao Zheng
scriptures, which consist of 413 Chinese characters, and with the word count for the
names of the 12 months deducted, the word count is 389. The word counts and
percentages of the four parts of astrology, meteorology, phenology, and agriculture
are as follows: 85 characters or 21.80% for astrology; 21 characters or 5.39% for
meteorology; 173 characters for 44.47% for phenology; 72 characters or 18.50% for
agriculture; and 38 characters or 9.76% for other. As can be seen, phenology
accounts for nearly a half while agriculture less than one-fifth. Among 173 characters
on phenology, 36 characters are about animals and 14 about plants. Xiuling believed
animal phenologies appeared during the hunting era, followed by plant phenologies.
The fact that there were more animal phenologies than plant ones suggested the
antiquity of Xia Xiao Zheng, when hunting and gathering accounted for a major
184 Y. Fang
proportion of the production structure then, which was aligned with the character-
istics of the late hunting era or early agricultural era, and similar to the social
characteristics of the Xia Dynasty period.
Food is the main tool to connect with the heaven and deities in rituals. Xia Xiao
Zheng describes ritual events five times:
Da Dai Li Ji - Xia Xiao Zheng - Zheng Yue (《大戴礼记·夏小正·正月) Upon

sacrificial rituals at the beginning of a year, the fields are weeded.
Da Dai Li Ji - Xia Xiao Zheng - Er Yue (《大戴礼记·夏小正·二月》) The pretty lamb
helps its mother survive.
Da Dai Li Ji - Xia Xiao Zheng - Er Yue (《大戴礼记·夏小正·二月》) Sacrificial
rituals are performed for tuna.
Da Dai Li Ji - Xia Xiao Zheng - San Yue (《大戴礼记·夏小正·三月》) Praying for
solid wheat.
Da Dai Li Ji - Xia Xiao Zheng - Shi Yue (《大戴礼记·夏小正·十月》) Jackals
sacrifice preys.
Upon scrutiny, of the offerings involved in all the five sacrificial rituals in the four
seasons above and throughout the over 400 characters, the word “liquor” is never
mentioned, nor is anything related to fermented beverages. In addition, the “酉”
component which symbolizes liquor or any reference to liquid beverages related to
sacrificial rituals is totally absent. The connection between liquor and sacrificial
rituals is another window for us to understand Xia Xiao Zheng. Meanwhile, as liquor
production relies on grain reserve, the analysis of the connection between liquor and
agriculture upon their origination also helps us study the era when Xia Xiao Zheng
was written.
It is widely recognized that Shan Hai Jing (《山海经》) is a work that records the
legends and history of the Xia Dynasty period, and the academia regards it as a work
on phenology, geography, or deities. As I see it, Shan Hai Jing is also a work on the
history of food and drinks in the far antiquity. Average people just dare not try the
strange food and exotic animals mentioned in the book. Besides, as the food
mentioned in Shan Hai Jing is characterized by a great many therapeutic effects or
contraindications, it can be interpreted as a medical work.
Unlike Xia Xiao Zheng, Shan Hai Jing mentions “酸甘” three times and is
somewhat related to “酉” in some way. However, upon examination of the
context, we find its content has nothing to do with brewing or fermentation.
After all, Shan Hai Jing is a work on legends of the Xia Dynasty period by
authors in the Warring Kingdoms period, and traces of the time in its wording are
nothing strange, while the only mention of the word “觞” prompts researchers to
associate it with “something in the cup.” However, as ancients often called plain
water “light liquor,” we cannot assert that “觞” is the vessel for fermented
beverages. In light of the focus of this paper, the key lies in whether Shan Hai
Jing associates liquor with sacrificial rituals as a tool to connect with the deities. In
this respect, Shen Li’s summary has provided us with valuable academic data (see
Table 7.1).
As can be seen from Table 7.1, despite descriptions of sacrificial rituals through-
out Shan Hai Jing of the Xia Dynasty period, there is no reference to liquors or
anything liquid involved in the rituals. Shen Li’s summary of the sacrifices and
rituals recorded in Shan Hai Jing suggests sacrificial rituals were performed without
liquors in the Xia Dynasty period, and liquor production and sacrificial rituals were
relatively independent of each other.
According to the viewpoints of archaeologists, folk customs experts, and reli-
gious scholars, sacrificial activities originated from the awe by higher beings of
nature, deities, and natural phenomena. Sacrificing the most precious offerings
(including cattle and liquors) is one of the rituals that came into shape during the
long history of humanity. This viewpoint was summarized in Bei Shan Jiu Jing (《北
山酒经》) by Hong Zhu, an oenologist in the Song Dynasty period: “Used in
186 Y. Fang
Table 7.1 Deities and sacrificial articles in Shan Hai Jing

中文英文中文英文中文英文
篇名 Title 神状 Deities’ appearance 祠神食物 Food served
to the deities
南山首经 Nan Shan 皆鸟身 All with a bird’s body 稌米、稻 Rice and
Shou Jing 龙首 and a dragon’s head 米 paddies
南次二经 Nan Ci Er 皆龙身 All with a dragon’s body 稌米 Rice
Jing 鸟首 and a bird’s head
篇名 Title 神状 Deities’ appearance 祠神食物 Food served
to the deities
南词三经 Nan Ci 皆龙身 All with a dragon’s body 白狗、稌 White dogs
San Jing 人面 and a human face 米 and rice
西次二经 Xi Ci Er 十神人 Ten deities with a 少牢、雄 Lamb-pig
Jing 面马身 human face and a horse 鸡 mixture and
body cocks
七神人 Seven deities with a
面牛身 human face and an ox
body
西次三经 Xi Ci San 皆羊身 All with a lamb body 稷米 Millet
Jing 人面 and a human face
北山首经 Bei Shan 皆人面 All with a human face 雄鸡, 不 Cocks and
Shou Jing 蛇身 and a snake body 用米 without rice
北次二经 Bei Ci Er 皆蛇身 All with a snake body 雄鸡, 不 Cocks and
Jing 人面 and a human face 用米 without rice
北次三经 Bei Ci San 廿神马 Twenty deities with a 皆稌米, All rice and
Jing 身人面 horse body and a human 不火食 without
face cooked food
十四神 Fourteen deities with a
彘身载 pig body with jade
玉
十神彘 Ten deities with a pig
身八足 body and an eight-foot
蛇尾 snake tail
东山首经 Dong Shan 皆人身 All with a human body 犬祈, 鱼 Dogs and fish
Shou Jing 龙首 and dragon head (耳申)
东次二经 Dong Ci 皆兽身 All with an animal body 鸡 Chickens
Er Jing 人面 and a human face
东次三经 Dong Ci 皆人身 All with a human body 牡羊、黍 Rams and
San Jing 羊角 and a ram’s horns 米 millet grain
中次六经 Zhong Ci 如人而 Humanoid with two 雄鸡(禳 Cocks
Liu Jing 二首 heads (actually honey 而无杀) (praying
(实为 hut) without
蜂蜜之 killing)
庐)
中次七经 Zhong Ci 十六神 All sixteen deities with a 羊 Lambs
Qi Jing 皆豕身 pig body and a human
人面 face
又:人 Or: a humanoid with
面三首 three heads
(continued)
Table 7.1 (continued)

中文英文中文英文中文英文
中次八经 Zhong Ci 皆鸟身 All with a bird head and 雄鸡、稌 Cocks and
Ba Jing 人面 a human face 米 paddies
中次九经 Zhong Ci 皆马身 All with a horse body 雄鸡、米 Cocks and
Jiu Jing 龙首 and a dragon head rice
中次十经 Zhong Ci 皆龙身 All with a dragon head 雄鸡、米 Cocks and
Shi Jing 人面 and a human face rice
中次十一 Zhong Ci 皆彘身 All with a pig head and 雄鸡、米 Cocks and
经 Shi Yi Jing 人首 a human head rice
中次十二 Zhong Ci 皆鸟身 All with a bird body and 雄鸡、 Cocks, pigs
经 Shi Er Jing 龙首 a dragon head 豚、米 and rice
performing rituals and serving deities, liquors are so important to the world.”
According to Tian Xue Zhen Yuan (《天学真原》), humans are pious because they
understand the great principles of interactions between Heaven and Man, which can
be summarized as: To get along with God, man must know God’s wishes, obey
God’s orders, follow God’s rules, and invite for God’s blessings. As precious
fermented beverages, liquors are first a gift from nature. According to studies of
animal behaviors and human folk customs, surplus rotten food included fruit and
grain, which might ferment and turn into low-concentration alcoholic beverages
under appropriate natural conditions. This technique was gradually improved and
grasped by humans in subsequent practical activities. Alcohol is able to warm,
excite, and intoxicate creatures. It is not only a pioneering new and high-tech product
in humans’ daily lives but also serves the function of connecting with gods.
Unearthed materials suggest two mutually independent matters, namely, sacrificial
activities and making of liquors for human use might have been associated with each
other prior to the emergence of Chinese characters; and it is certain that liquors were
closely related to major sacrificial events after emergence of the Chinese characters.
It is fair to say liquors were an indispensable practical tool for the ancient Chinese to
communicate with the deities and connect with God.
When Xia Xiao Zheng was written, sacrifices were made without liquors. This is a
stage of human development when agriculture was undeveloped, an era of dictation
more ancient than the Shang and Zhou Dynasties periods, with scarce materials and
rudimentary brewing techniques. In this era, sacrificial rituals were unrelated to
liquors, and brewing remained in the stage of natural fermentation and was inde-
pendent of agriculture. Nevertheless, we can still smell the piety of people in
connecting with God from the lines of Xia Xiao Zheng, which is free of any reference
to alcohol, even if it was created in an era of dictation when alcohol and sacrificial
rituals were unrelated.
Although the human fermented beverages unearthed at the Jiahu Relic Site in
Wuyang, Henan, moved forward the origin of the liquor making technique of ancient
Chinese to 9000 years from today, liquors and sacrifices were still independent of
each other according to Xia Xiao Zheng and Shan Hai Jing. Based on the Compet-
itive Feasting Theory, we deduce a massive liquor making industry did not appear in
188 Y. Fang
China until the late Xia Dynasty period. There might have been a period of primitive
liquor-free sacrificial rituals in China prior to the emergence of a massive liquor
making industry. That is to say, China’s massive liquor making industry emerged
after the sacrificial rituals became widespread.
2. Connection between liquors and sacrificial rituals as recorded in inscriptions on

tortoise shells and tripods
Since primitive texts readable to contemporary humans appeared in China around

1600 B.C., there have been inscriptions on tortoise shells and tripods that emerged
around 1600 B.C. with reference to liquors, the connections between liquors and
sacrificial rituals, sacrificial rituals, and bronze ware. These exact historical evi-
dences suggest the liquor making technique in the Shang Dynasty period was a
historic turning point of enlightenment in the Chinese civilization. Unlike the
previous era, the Shang civilization began to associate liquors with sacrificial rituals
as major events, with extensive examples in social life, such as:
The 190th tortoise shell of Yin Qi Cui Bian (《殷契粹编》): “In the year of Bingwu,
liquors were used for sacrifices, with 100 Qiang people and 10 trios of cattle,
goats and pigs sacrificed.”
The 76th tortoise shell of Yin Qi Cui Bian (《殷契粹编》): “Divination: liquors were
provided to Wang Hai.”
The 2nd tortoise shell of Yin Qi Shi Zhuan (《殷契拾撰》): “Upon divination in the
year of Guihai... Divination: In the year of Xinmo, the King poured liquors into
the river.”
The 199th tortoise shell of Yin Qi Yi Cun (《殷契佚存》): “...upon divination, three
lines of Qiang people were used for sacrifice”
Since the late Shang Dynasty period, inscriptions on the tripods of the Bronze
Age gradually evolved from simple ownership marks into textual records of the
purpose of sacrificial rituals and rewards for triumphs. Early bronze ware were made
up for the functional deficiencies of pottery ware and served as practical vessels for
drinking and eating. This practicality finally lifted bronze ware to be an important
article used for imperial and aristocratic rituals in major sacrificial events, and
consequently bronze ware evolved into a symbol of the state, regime, and throne
in the Chinese civilization. Take for example the 38 bronze jues unearthed at Fu
Hao’s tomb in the Shang Dynasty relic site in Anyang. Apart from King Wu Ding’s
wife, Fu Hao was also the first named female military commander and stateswoman
in Chinese history. These bronze jues were used for special purposes. 20–26 cm in
height and 1.1.7 kg in weight, bronze jues are more suitable for high-caliber
sacrificial rituals or celebrations. Along with the large bronze wine vessels (zuns),
funnels, square statues, owl-shaped bronze zuns, and round vessels with a closed
sprout constituted a magnificent national ceremony. In the Spring and Autumn and
Warring Kingdoms periods, inscriptions on bronze ware were no longer names such
as Fu Hao, but consisted of a dozen characters that recorded a historical incident or
an idea. Let’s get back to the UPenn Museum that studies the ancient liquor
unearthed at Jiahu, China. The bronze ware from the Warring Kingdoms period
they collect (Chenzhang Bottle) bears an inscription of 29 characters, which are
surprisingly identical to the inscriptions on the outer rim of the round foot of the
heavy metal pot collected by Nanjing Museum. The bronze ware was used by King
Xuan of the Qi Kingdom for the ceremony celebrating his conquest of the Yan
Kingdom. “In the fifth year of the King’s reign, trophies from Zhengyang were
counted and celebratory ceremonies were held. These trophies were from the crusade
by generals Guo Kong and Chen Zhang against the Yan Kingdom in the first month
of the winter.”4
3. Connections between liquors and sacrifices and their production for special
purposes as recorded on bamboo slips in pre-Qin Dynasty eras
In the treasure of Chinese culture, literature abounds and helps us reach the
conclusion that the massive liquor making technique matured no later than the late
Shang Dynasty period or early Spring and Autumn period. In the Spring and Autumn
and Warring Kingdoms periods, bamboo slips were easier to acquire, and as a result,
textual records and thoughts were more widely spread, and large numbers of
materials have been found and interpreted by contemporary scholars. In the system
recorded in the well-known Zhou Li - Tian Guan Zhong Zai (《周礼·天官冢宰》),
liquor-related positions were official titles instead of craftsmen:
For the official rank of Jiuzheng, there are four Zhongshis, eight Xiashis, two Fus,
eight Shis, eight Xus and eighty Tus.
For the official rank of Jiuren, there are two ten Yans, thirty female liquor officials
and three hundred Xis.
For the official rank of Jiangren, there are five Yans, fifteen female Jiangrens and
one-hundred and fifty Xis.
Upon examining the entries that represented the 22 categories of latest technol-
ogies recorded in Kao Gong Ji (《考工记》) that mainly described craftsmen and
techniques, we did not find the liquor industry, which suggests the liquor industry
was a mature industry during the Warring Kingdoms period. The only occupation
related to liquor making in Kao Gong Ji (《考工记》) was described in the chapter on
liquor vessel making “Craftsmen”: “The craftsman makes drinking vessels, includ-
ing a one-sheng shao, a one-sheng jue and a one-sheng gu. One proposes a toast with
a jue and the other returns a toast with a gu three times, which forms a dou. One eats
a dou of meat and drinks a dou of liquor, which is a medium dietary standard. The
foreman checks the quality of a drinking vessel by pouring in a standard volume of
4
Archaeological Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Yin Zhou Jin Wen Ji Cheng (《殷
周金文集成》), Zhonghua Book Company, 2007
190 Y. Fang
liquor, and if the liquor overflows or is insufficient to fill the vessel , the craftsman
who has made the vessel will be punished.”
Contrary to the sacrificial rituals in Xia Xiao Zheng and Shan Hai Jing, textual
records of the mutual connections between sacrifices and liquors have been com-
monplace since the Shang and Zhou Dynasties periods. Zhou Li - Tian Guan Zhong
Zai clarifies the two in a systematic way:
Jiuzheng controls decrees related to liquors and distributes liquor-making
materials according to government-specified procedures. So do those who make
liquors for official matters...responsible for identifying the thickness or lightness
of the yeast to provide the four beverages and three liquors needed by the king, as
well as the beverages and liquors for the queen and crown prince. Upon sacrifice,
the five yeasts and three liquors are provided as per the usual procedure to fill the
eight vessels. The procedure is repeated three times upon major sacrifice. Twice
upon medium sacrifice. And once upon minor sacrifice. There are a specified
number of spoonfuls for all the rituals. Only the yeasts are not added, and a
specified quantity should be added into the vessel. All the beverages for the
queen and the guests, namely unfiltered elixirs, shall be delivered by the guards.
All the beverages for the king to perform rituals shall be delivered by Jiuzheng
himself. The beverages served to the scholars, elders and orphans shall be pro-
vided without a fixed number of spoonfuls. The beverages for the officials as
ordered by the king shall be served according to a certain procedure. Wherever
liquors are provided as per the custom, they shall be provided according to the
ledger. The liquor-making materials and liquors given away by Jiuzheng shall be
recorded on a daily basis, a summary of ten days’ account shall be submitted, a
monthly accounting report shall be submitted to Xiaozai, who reviews the sub-
mission and submits the full-year accounting report at the end of the year. Only the
liquors for the king and queen are not recorded. Reward and punishment shall be
determined based on compliance with the liquor procedures.
Zhou Li - Tian Guan - Jiu Zheng records: Jiuren controls the five yeasts and three
liquors for use in sacrificial rituals and orders the female Xis to obey the instructions
of Shifu and deliver the ritual liquors and drinking liquors for guests to Jiuzheng.
Whenever the king needs to drink, liquors shall be sent to Jiuzheng’s compound.
Upon minor sacrifice, liquors shall be sent. Liquors provided to the guests shall also
be sent.
There are three kinds of liquors, namely, ritual liquors, leisure liquors, and clear
liquors.
Yi Zhou Shu - Shi Xun Jie (《逸周书·时训解》) bears obvious resemblance to Xia
Xiao Zheng (《夏小正》): “At the Beginning of Spring, the east wind unfreezes.
Another five days later, hibernating creatures begin to wake up...if hibernating
creatures do not wake up, it suggests negative energy has overcome positive
energy...on the Day of Awakening, otters prey on fish. Another five days later,
wild gooses return. Another five days later, grass and trees sprout. If otters do not
prey on fish, theft will be rampant across the country; if wild gooses do not return,
remote tribes will not be obedient...on a rainy day, peach blossoms begin to
bloom...” These descriptions are almost a refined and more modern version of Da
Dai Li Ji - Xia Xiao Zheng - Zheng Yue (《大戴礼记·夏小正·正月》). In what

follows, information on progress of the times, technological advances, and social
activities is unveiled through the close connection between liquors and sacrificial
events in an unprecedented manner. “In the first month of spring...in this month, the
king prays for a good harvest on the first day and chooses the first hour. The emperor
personally operates the plough under the protection of the guards, and the three top
ministers, nine ministers, dukes and officials follow suit to plow the emperor’s field.
The emperor plows three times, the three top ministers five times, and the ministers
and dukes nine times. After return, the emperor holds a banquet in the grand palace,
with liquors served to the three top ministers, nine ministers, dukes and officials,
calling these ‘liquors in reward of labor’. In the first month of summer...in this
month, the emperor drinks double-fermented liquors and watches ritual and musical
performances. If the decree corresponding to this month is implemented, there will
be timely rain every ten days.” According to historians, the completion dates of the
chapters of Yi Zhou Shu (《逸周书》) range from the West Zhou Dynasty period to the
Warring Kingdoms periods, and some chapters might have been altered or expanded
during the Han Dynasty period. For example, Shi Xun (《时训》) regarded the Rainy
Day as the middle of January and the Awakening Day as a day in February, which is
contradictory with the calendar prior to the Han Dynasty period. However, regard-
less of West Zhou or West Han, Yi Zhou Shu mentioned the connection between
liquors and sacrificial events, while the negligence by Xia Xiao Zheng of liquors in
sacrificial events is the focus of this paper.
Li Ji - Yue Ling (《礼记·月令》) and Yi Zhou Shu - Shi Xun Jie (《逸周书·时训解》)
revealed the same historical facts:
In the first month of spring, the east wind unfreezes, insects are awakened, fish swims
beneath melting ice, otters prey on fish and wild gooses return...in this month, the king prays
for a good harvest on the first day and determines the first hour of the ceremony. The emperor
personally operates the plough under the protection of the guards, and the three top
ministers, nine ministers, dukes and officials follow suit to plow the emperor’s field. The
emperor plows three times, the three top ministers five times, and the ministers and dukes
nine times. After return, the emperor holds a banquet in the grand palace, with liquors served
to the three top ministers, nine ministers, dukes and officials, calling these “liquors in reward
of labor.”
Guan Zi - Qing Zhong Yi (《管子·轻重乙》) of the Warring Kingdoms period is

another piece of evidence, reflecting the DNA of Xia Xiao Zheng while mentioning
the close connection between liquors and sacrifices:
From the start of winter...the emperor meets with the dukes, ministers and officials and
presents himself to the people, calling the day a sacrificial day. Fish is sacrificed and a decree
is issued: On this day, you shall give birth and not kill, you shall reward and not punish, and
trials shall be suspended until the end of the year. The people shall be instructed to heat their
houses, make fire by drilling wood, repair their stoves and replace the water in the wells,
which is for the sake of their health. All the agricultural instruments which are meant for
plowing in the spring and summer shall be prepared. The people shall also be instructed to
prepare liquors and food and hold banquets, to show their respect for seniors and elders.
192 Y. Fang
In the Lv Shi Chun Qiu - Shi Er Yue Ji (《吕氏春秋·十二月纪》) completed in the

Qin and Han Dynasties periods, the sacrificial events for at least months were
directly related to liquors. Xia Xiao Zheng is incomparable to Lv Shi Chun Qiu in
terms of wording, knowledge, and information amount.
The emperor prays for a good harvest to God on the first day...holds a banquet in the grand
palace...calling these “liquors in reward of labor.” Lv Shi Chun Qiu - Meng Chun Ji (《吕氏
春秋·孟春纪》)
On that every day, cattle, lambs and pigs are sacrificed at the temple, hosted by the
emperor in person, and the concubines serve sweet liquors to the emperor.... Lv Shi Chun Qiu -
Zhong Chun Ji (《吕氏春秋·仲春纪》)
Sturgeons are sacrificed in the rear palace to pray for a good harvest of wheat. Lv Shi
Chun Qiu - Ji Chun Ji (《吕氏春秋·季春纪》)
By comparing the sacrifice of sturgeons in Da Dai Li Ji - Xia Xiao Zheng - Er Yue

(《大戴礼记·夏小正·二月》) and the pray for wheat harvest in Da Dai Li Ji - Xia
Xiao Zheng - San Yue (《大戴礼记·夏小正·三月》), we can identify a strong link
between Lv Shi Chun Qiu and Xia Xiao Zheng. However, Lv Shi Chun Qiu describes
the connection between diet and health/cure in the chapter that immediately follows:
“Avoid food with heavy taste, which, along with strong liquors, is the primary cause
of illness.”
7.3 From Agricultural Books to Recipes – Extensive Clustering

of Liquor Making to Technological Formation
1. An encyclopedia-like agricultural publication: records of liquor making tech-

niques and folk customs
“For liquor making, two hus of coarse and one hu of yeast are used to acquire six hus
and six dous of liquor.” Even today, this technique is considered sophisticated. In
that sentence of a mere 17 characters, we derive the following information:
In the Han Dynasty period, genuine liquor formulae in the technology history of
China emerged. When describing the cost of liquor making, Han Shu - Shi Huo Zhi
(《汉书·食货志》) and Han Shu - Bu Zhu (《汉书·补注》) inadvertently handed down
this technique for liquor making: “For liquor making, two hus of coarse rice and one
hu of yeast are used.”
① Yeast, rice, and water are the basic raw materials of liquors. The yeast can
improve the efficacy of coarse grain.
② Rice and yeast are mixed at a ratio of 2:1, and bacteria activity is weak.
③ Rice and water are mixed at a ratio of about 1:3.3, and the alcoholic content is
moderate. The mixture of yeast and rice is a pioneering technique. During the yeast
process that lasts a dozen days, the mixed bacteria comprising mold and yeast trigger
biological and chemical reactions. Enzyme activity will decompose and generate
basic elements beneficial to the human body, such as sugar, methanol, vitamin, and
bioactive factors, and the beverage produced sustains life and promotes health.
2200 years ago, it was historians, instead of scientists, that articulated a chemical
formula with reliable concepts. According to such technique-describing literature,
liquor making became a mature segment of agricultural and byproduct processing no
later than the Han Dynasty period. Around the year of Christ’s birth, the liquor price
was as follows: “The position of Liquor Officer was canceled...liquors were sold at
four qians per sheng.” After comparing this data with the liquor price of ten qians
every two dous, Lao Gan of Academia Sinica of Taiwan believed the liquor price
was twice that of grain during the Han Dynasty period. Therefore, different types of
liquor makers emerged to meet different demands. “Liquors produce residues in time
and now become unstrained liquors. Sweet liquors...liquids and residues are mixed
to become liquors with distiller’s grains. If showing an onion white color when
complete, the liquors are now turbidly white. If showing a reddish color when
complete, the liquors are now inferior liquors. If containing residues when complete,
the liquors are now green nectar.”5
To that date, China’s liquor making industry had existed for over a thousand
years, and the state polity had also changed significantly over this thousand years,
having a major impact on people’s lives. By examining only the interactions between
the state and the people in terms of liquor making and liquor tax, we can perceive the
importance of liquor making to the state and people’s lives.
Agricultural works currently available are extremely few, including Fan Si Zhi
Shu of the West Han Dynasty period, Si Min Yue Ling (《四民月令》) of Later Han
Dynasty, and Qi Min Yao Shu (《齐民要术》) of later Wei Dynasty that were handed
down basically in entirety. Spanning across five centuries, these works covered
everything about the liquor making technique, including its emergence from scratch,
the development from simplicity to sophistication, and the critical turning point
where the liquor making technique turned into religious mysticism, reflecting a
contradictory mindset of the craftsmen who expected further breakthroughs in the
liquor making technique while finding it difficult to grasp its secrets.
Si Min Yue Ling (《四民月令》) is a piece of work by Cui Shi, a minister of the
Later Han Dynasty period, describing the folk activities of all walks of life from
January to December (according to the lunar calendar), including the civil liquor
making techniques and liquor-related folk customs. In January, “on the sacrificial
day, the entire family present themselves in front of the ancestors’ memorial tablets
after sacrificing liquors, regardless of seniority. Sons, daughters-in-law and
grandchildren propose toasts to parents, hold liquor cups and wish parents lon-
gevity in extreme euphoria...the order of proposing the toast is based on seniority,
with the younger taking precedence.” Before June, fermented food such as vinegar
and sauces were made, and liquor making activities occurred mostly during the
warming season. On June 6, “harvesting can be carried out and yeast can be made.
The quantity of yeast is the same as that used for spring liquors, while the liquor
5
Zhou Li Zhu Shu (《周礼注疏》), quoted from Xu Zhuoyun: Agriculture of Han Dynasty - Origin
and Characteristics of Chinese Agricultural Economy, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2005,
p.263.
194 Y. Fang
thus made cannot be used as spring liquors. The yeast of spring liquors is
particularly good for use in the Yi liquor.” “On July 4, the yeast room is set, a
hammer is prepared and argyi is taken. On July 6, grain and grinding mills are
prepared. On July 7, the yeast is made.” The other liquor making climax of the year
is scheduled after the autumn harvest, “In October, liquor yeast is prepared to
make winter liquors, and cured meat is made for sacrifices.” “In November...on the
day of Winter Solstice, broomcorn millet is sacrificed. Sacrifice is made to the
Deity of Winter first, and then to the forefathers. Liquors and dishes are served,
and visits are paid to the local seniors, just like the first day of the year. Sauces
made of meat and fish, grain, non-glutinous sorghum, paddies, millets, beans and
oil plant seeds can be made. In the slack season in December, people are busy with
socializing and rituals.” “The day immediately following the eighth day of the
12th lunar month is called Little New Year, on which liquors are served to pay
homage to seniors, the emperor and teachers. Liquors infused with pepper are
served, starting with the youngest.”
In Qi Min Yao Shu - Zao Shen Qu Bing Jiu by Sixie Jia, the process of preparing
the yeast is integrated with sacrifices, and technical records and humanistic descrip-
tions are combined to form a vivid classical work of technology.
The method for making three vessels of yeast: a vessel is prepared for steaming,
frying, and grinding. Wheat frying: yellowish and not charred. Wheat grinding: the
best is chosen for processing. Seeds are subjected to grinding, which should be
delicate. Mix after grinding is complete.
On the Zhongyan day in July, a page boy is instructed to wear green clothes, face
the Place of Death, and collect twenty hus of water before sunrise. Do not order him
to splash water, and if the water overflows, pour the surplus, and don’t let anyone use
it. When mixing with the yeast, the boy should face the Place of Death to make it
strong. All those mixing the yeast are minors who also face the Place of Death, and
filthy minors must not participate. Irrelevant people should not be allowed to
approach it. Yeast mixing should be complete on the same day and may not be
delayed to the second day. The mixing should be done in a hut and not in a tile house.
The floor should be cleaned and free of filth; the yeast may not be moistened. Draw
paths on the floor and form lanes. Make “yeast people” and place them in the lanes.
“Yeast kings” are placed and there are five of them. Yeast pancakes are placed side
by side along the paths drawn. Upon completion, one person from the host family
should serve as the principal toast proposer, and no slave or guest can be the
principal toast proposer. Liquors and meat should be handed over to the “yeast
kings” in the following way: Wet the bowls held by the “yeast kings,” and put
liquors, dried meat, and cakes in the bowls. The host reads the toast three times, and
participants propose toasts to each other.
The house should have a single wooden door which should be tightly sealed with
mud to the extent that no wind may get through. The door is opened on the seventh
day, and the yeast pancakes are turned over at the original spots. On the 14th day, the
yeasts are gathered, and the door is sealed again, and no wind may get through. On
the 21st day, the yeast pancakes are taken out and put into the urns, which are sealed
with mud. On the 28th day, the yeast pancakes are punctured, stringed, and dried in
the sun. They must be thoroughly dried and collected. These yeast pancakes are then
manually made into the size of two and a half cuns and a thickness of nine fens.
Sacrificial oration: For the God of Earth and the God of Power under the Green
Emperor in the east, the God of Earth and the God of Power under the Red Emperor
in the south, the God of Earth and the God of Power under the White Emperor in the
west, the God of Earth and the God of Power under the Black Emperor in the north,
and the God of Earth and the God of Power under the Yellow Emperor in the center,
we propose this toast to all the five emperors along with the gods in the five locations
at this time of this day of this month of this year:
The host makes a great many yeast pancakes in early July and draws horizontal
and vertical lines on the floor as boundaries for the five emperors. Liquors and dried
meat are served in exchange for their blessings: May pests disappear and insects stay
in their lairs; and may high-quality yeast pancakes be made. The saccharification and
alcoholic reactions should be strong; the scent should be more fragrant than that of
smoked peppers and the taste better than that of the best sauce. The liquors are good
for good men, who are drunk and satisfied; the liquors are also good for bad men,
who become humble and cultivated. The toast should be repeated three times as a
solemn oath. When the gods hear, their blessings naturally come. As long as man
does not violate the oath, the blessings will stay for eternity.
The oration is repeated three times, and a toast is made to each other.
2. Era of refined liquor techniques: liquor making techniques and folk customs
recorded in recipes
In China’s history, the Tang and Song Dynasties periods are the heyday of
Chinese politics, economy, and culture, and social progress facilitated the survival
and development of the liquor making industry. After thousands of years of explo-
ration, China had established a fixed set of liquor making theories and techniques.
The literature on which our study is based includes Dong Po Jiu Jing (《东坡酒经》)
by Shi Su, Xin Feng Jiu Jing (《新丰酒经》) by Hong Lin, and Xu Bei Shan Jiu Jing
(《续北山酒经》) by Bao Li, of which Bei Shan Jiu Jing by Hong (Yizhong) Zhu was
the most influential. Compared with prior liquor making techniques, Yizhong Zhu
recorded the highlights of the contemporary technique of mass liquor production in
his time, and some steps remain in use today. ① Winter cherry is used to adjust the
pH value of the fermentation environment and curb the growth of hybrid bacteria.
② The bacteria can be escalated through “rice yeasting” and “joint fermentation,”
and yeast can be added on a pro rata basis during the brewing process. ③ The
squeezing technique upon liquor production is increasingly refined. ④ The liquors
are heated to kill the bacteria and prevent putridity, which also gives rise to highly
alcoholic distilled liquors. ⑤ Beeswax (honey wax) is used to eliminate bubbles and
isolate air to facilitate transport and preservation.
Since this historical period, there has been an obvious turning point in terms of the
records of liquor making techniques. These texts were not only recorded in agricul-
tural books or publications on liquor making but also began to be gathered by diet
books and became the primary textual source of subsequent generations studying
196 Y. Fang
alcoholic beverages. In Yin Shi Xu Zhi (《饮食须知》), Ming Jia included basic food
ingredients such as water and liquors, which had never appeared in books on
primitive nutrition and recipes such as Shi Liao Ben Cao (《食疗本草》), into the
category of diet for discussion and summarized how previous generations differen-
tiated 25 water sources, pointing out that the “mold” in water had direct impact on
the liquor making outcome. The connection between water quality and liquors began
to appear in texts, and the method of using high temperature to eliminate mold was
proposed.
The plum rainwater of the rainy season is sweet and mild-natured. The rainy
season starts with the Ren Day after the solar term of Mangzhong, and ends with the
Ren Day after the solar term of Xiaoshu, when the plum rainwater should be heated
to eliminate the toxins. If added to sauces, this water quickly makes sauces ripe; if
soaked with water, clothes are vulnerable to decay; humans affected by this water get
sick; items affected by this water go moldy; and this water should not be used to
make liquors or vinegar. If one washes with this water, it is like washing with muddy
water. If some plum leaves are soaked with boiled water to wash moldy clothes, the
mold will be washed off. . .rainwater preserved during the solar terms of Lichun and
Qingming is called magical water. This water is suitable for use in making pills and
liquors, which can be preserved for long without deterioration. Upon the solar term
of Guyu, water is taken from the Yangtze River and used to make liquors, which
turns dark red and tastes icy when preserved for long. The water during the solar
terms of Xiaomang, Mangzhong and Bailu is toxic. Anything made with this water,
such as medicinal liquors, liquors and vinegar and all food, is susceptible to
deterioration. . .the water during the solar terms of Hanlu, Dongzhi, Xiaohan and
Dahan and the water on the 8th day of the 12th lunar month is suitable for use in
making nourishing pills and medicinal liquors, which have the same effect as snow
water.
The liquor making industry burgeoned during the Song Dynasty period, which
was closely related to the politics, economy, and social life of that time. Feudal
regimes focused on commodities such as salt, iron, and tea as the primary sources
of tax revenue. In the Song Dynasty period, the state monopolized the sale of
liquors, which became another source of revenue for the state, which promulgated
the policy of state monopoly over liquor sale. “During the reign of Emperor Zhen
of the Song Dynasty, revenue from taxes on liquors, tea and salt totaled 12.33 mil-
lion guans, of which 4.28 million guans were from liquor taxes, and 3.55 million
guans from salt taxes. During the reign of Emperor Ren of the Song Dynasty, total
tax revenue reached 44 million guans, of which liquor taxes soared to 17.1 million
guans and salt taxes remained at 4.28 million guans. The liquor taxes quadrupled
in four decades.” With the rapid development of the liquor making industry, a
special social class that lived on lees came into existence and became a new source
of social conflicts.
The earliest chapter persuading people to exercise self-discipline over drinking
from a moral perspective appeared in Shang Shu - Jiu Gao (《尚书·酒诰》). However,
it was not until liquors penetrated into all walks of life and grew into a massive
industry that insightful people began to get rid of the previous generations’ blind
enthusiasm about liquors and analyze one by one the physical harms liquors could
cause to the human body as well as the cons of liquors, especially strong spirits. For
example, Yin Shi Xu Zhi (《饮食须知》) articulates “There are various kinds of
liquors, which can be sweet, bitter, sour, plain or puckery. All these liquors are
calorific and toxic in nature. Drinking too much will yeet hay, generate sputum,
cause dizziness, soften the body, damage muscles and bones, hurts the spleen and
stomach, consumes pulmonary air and shortens the lifespan. Cold liquors, if drunk
along with beef, generate vermin. If drunk with milk, they make breaths short. If
drunk with walnut, they cause hemoptysis. If one lies drunk on the broomcorn millet
and eats pork, he may catch leprosy. If drunk along with mustard and spicy food,
liquors make people limp. If one drinks tea after drinking liquor, the kidneys will be
hurt and sputum develops, causing edema and spasm, in addition to a heavy, falling
waist and legs, bladder hernia, a cold and painful underbelly, thirst and retained fluid.
Excessive drinking is spermicidal and makes one childless. If one lies drunk against
the wind, he may catch purpura and paralyze. If one takes cold bath after drinking, he
may develop arthralgia. If liquors are drunk with herbs like cinnabarite and realgar,
the toxins of the herbs will enter the limbs, cause blood stagnation and generate
ulcers. For those who have drunk, there is no cure for arsenic intoxication and poison
from venomous insects. Liquors should be warm and must not be hot, and should be
in moderate amount. Drinking cold liquors makes the drinker’s hands tremble.
Patients of fire syndromes, eye diseases, hemorrhage, phlegm, anal fistula and sore
scabies should avoid drinking alcohol. If the drinker prefers salty to sweet liquors, do
not eat sweet food. Trifoliate orange, kudzu flower, chidouhua and mung bean
powder can all counter the effect of drinking. Do not drink liquors that do not
show reflections or liquors that consume during sacrifices. Take one sheng of red
beans, cook them and put into the jar, and the liquors will turn good.” During the
reign of Emperor Chunyou of the Southern Song Dynasty, Xi Yuan Lu Ji (《洗冤录
集》) by Ci Song even recorded the earliest cases of forensic authentication in human
history: “This man died of excessive drinking” (Section 43), and “This man died of
internal injuries from a massive volume of liquors” (Section 44).
Yin Shi Xu Zhi (《饮食须知》) recorded: “The cooked liquor is bittersweet,
extremely hot in nature and toxic. If drunk excessively, this liquor hurts your
stomach and gallbladder, ulcerates your marrow and weakens your bones, and
racks your nerves and shortens your lifespan. Those with symptoms of yeet hay
should avoid it. If mixed with ginger, garlic and dog meat, it causes hemorrhoids. If
drunk by a pregnant woman, it causes epilepsy. Anyone running a fever due to
excessive drinking can be soaked with newly acquired cold water, or can be
awakened by wetting of hair. Those intoxicated can drink salty cold water with
green bean powder for relief. Or drink one or two shengs of juice with one sheng of
cooked black beans. After drinking and vomiting, the symptoms will be relieved.”
Ming Jia, author of Yin Shi Xu Zhi, lived during the Yuan Dynasty period, when the
technique of acquiring highly alcoholic cooked spirits by distilling low-alcoholic
content liquors was widespread, called the Arago liquor in Mongolian in Yin Shan
Zheng Yao (《饮膳正要》) by Hisihui. However, the latest research indicated the
production of cooked liquors was not a western technology spread from the prairie,
198 Y. Fang
as similar techniques and products had at least existed in the Song Dynasty period,
which preceded the Yuan Dynasty period by 100–200 years. In fact, the ancient
Chinese had always enjoyed drinking cooked liquors and were just one step away
from distilling and acquiring upgraded liquor products with specialized workshops.
It wouldn’t be difficult for the talented Chinese liquor makers throughout China’s
long history of liquor making to grasp the secrets of making cooked liquors.
The development of the liquor making industry not only promoted commercial
development and supported the tax revenue of the ruling regime but also cultivated
an extensive consumer market and indirectly demonstrated the relatively stable
social situation and quality of living in the Song Dynasty period. Works like Qing
Ming Shang He Tu (《清明上河图》) and note-style novels of the Song Dynasty
period such as Dong Jing Meng Hua Lu (《东京梦华录》), Wu Lin Jiu Shi (《武林旧
事》), and Meng Liang Lu (《梦粱录》) provided plenty of examples of a vibrant
market supporting a massive liquor making industry. Compared with the Xia, Shang,
and Zhou Dynasties periods, thanks to the massive production of liquors, they
became an everyday staple instead of being used for rituals only, and they were
consumed by average people instead of the ruling elite. Besides, liquors were often
associated with brothels. Let’s take Dong Jing Meng Hua Lu for example:
If traveling westward from Zhuquemen and crossing the bridge, you will reach the Touxi
Avenue, which is called the “street of yeast and brothels”. To the south of the street is a major
liquor shop, which consists of a building in the front and a pagoda in the back, called by
capital dwellers the “upper pagoda”. This shop sells great liquors, such as Silver Bottle
liquors sold for 72 wens and one jiao, and Lamb liquors for 81 wens and one jiao. To the
north of the street are a teahouse and mutton rice and cooked mutton shops. To the west are
all brothels, called by the capital dwellers “the street of brothels.” (Dong Jing Meng Hua Lu
volume 2 “Ministerial Palace in Front of Xuande Pagoda”)
After exiting the former Caomen Gate, one gets on the Zhujia Bridge. After passing the
bridge, he reaches the South and North Cornered Streets, with a Taishan Temple and brothels
along the two streets. The bridge is crowded and full of bazaars just like areas south of the
bridge. To the east is the street for cattle, with a pharmacy, a barroom and brothels, which
extend all the way to the new city peripheral. (Dong Jing Meng Hua Lu (《东京梦华录》)
Volume 2 “Panlou East Alley”)
All the barrooms in the capital city have a bamboo gate decorated with brocades in the
front, and anyone may enter the gate and reach the main corridor, which stretches about
100 steps. Small chambers line up along the south and north corridors, immersed in an ocean
of light and candles, and several hundred prostitutes with heavy make-ups gather on the
main corridor, waiting for customers to call. At a glance, they are like fairies. (Dong Jing
Meng Hua Lu (《东京梦华录》) Volume 2 “Barrooms”)
All those bartenders and cooks in the barrooms are called “experts in tea, meals and
liquors”. The waiters are all called “uncles”. And some women from the neighborhood, with
green flower handkerchiefs tied to the waist and a lofty bun in the hair, come to serve liquors
to the customers, called “liquor-serving women”. Moreover, some local commoners enter
the barrooms, watch younger people drink, and purchase food and patronize prostitutes,
called “bums”. And some serve liquors and entertain people by singing, or serve fruit and
spices and perfumes for money, called “customer-serving bums”. Some low-level prostitutes
come without being called and sing before the tables in exchange for some gratuities and
gifts, called “uncalled prostitutes” or “gratuity demanders”. Some peddle herbs, fruits or
carrots without asking if anyone will buy, and just distribute the stuff among the customers
and collect money, called “scattered peddlers”. Such people can be seen in all barrooms in
the city, except two barrooms on the Zhouqiao Bridge, namely Tanzhang and Nailaozhang,
where the abovementioned people are not allowed to enter and no inferior liquors are sold.
They only sell high-quality food and liquors. (Dong Jing Meng Hua Lu (《东京梦华录》)
Volume 2, “Food and Drinks”)
Capital residents mostly lead a luxurious lifestyle. Whenever they have extra money,
even if just two people drink with each other, they must order an infusion bowl, two dishes,
five fruit plates and three to five dish bowls, which cost nearly 100 liangs of silver. Even if
one person drinks alone, a silver bowl must be used. (Dong Jing Meng Hua Lu (《东京梦华
录》) Volume 2 “Huixian Barroom”)
The author recorded the dream-like mundane life in the capital of the Northern
Song Dynasty. And Yuanlao Meng also tried to follow the tradition of describing by
solar term as adopted by previous generations of authors. However, as times
changed, urban life was limited to the enjoyment of liquors and things they brought
along, either a perception by the author or a matter of fact. The work covered all the
scenes of sprees and extreme luxury, yet did not have a single mention of the scene
where households made yeast and liquors based on the calendar. Optimists see this as
a symbol of technological and industrial advancement, while pessimists sigh at what
they see as moral degradation.
In Ling Wai Dai Da (《岭外代答》), Qufei Zhou of the Southern Song Dynasty
period recorded liquor matters far away from the prosperous capital area:
There is no liquor ban in Guangyou, and great liquors are made by both public and private
makers, who use dews to make liquors that are particularly fragrant and reputable in
Huguang. This liquor is originally made in Hezhou, which is distant and unreachable. The
liquors produced in other provinces are not as intoxicating as Shaozhou liquors. It is said
they use datura to make the liquors by placing it in the urn so the liquors may absorb the
fragrance. Why is this? There are Gula fairs and mountains where rattan medicine and water
suitable for brewing are produced, and the liquor made with this water is light red. Even if
the liquor is transported under the scorching sun for days, the color and scent remain. Rich
locals in the counties brew strong liquors, which is dark red and black and whose taste
remains good after ten years. Along the streets, white liquors are on sale, especially in
Jingjiang, where pedestrians can buy a big jar of liquors and tofu soup, called tofu liquors,
for 14 qians. Jingjiang can produce lead powder because grains abound there. (Shi Yong Men
(“食用门”), Section 120, “Liquors”)
All information on liquors in the ancient times, including drinking rules, place of
production, liquor scent techniques, colors, years, and relative prices, is recorded
there.
3. Final elevation of the liquor making technique – workshop recording and

drinkers’ amusement
In the Ming Dynasty period, Yingxing Song briefly described liquors in the three
sections of yeast, magical yeast, and red yeast of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》).
According to the author’s annotations, the content was derived from a previous
author’s Jiu Jing (《酒经》). In the recipe Yi Ya Yi Yi (《易牙遗意》) by Yi Han in the
name of the ancient chef Ya Yi, the techniques for making the peach liquor, snow
200 Y. Fang
liquor, fragrance liquor, “12th month” liquor, Jianchang red liquor, and white yeast
and red and white medicinal liquor were recorded. The descriptions were concise
and resembled a modern formula and contained technical data such as the quantity,
proportion, time, and temperature. The use of data reflected the cultural and tech-
nological exchanges between the East and West and had obvious influence on the
intellectual class.
Snow liquor: One shi of glutinous rice is used. Nine dous are taken first and are
thoroughly rinsed until the rice water is totally clear. The rice is measured with a
barrel and blended with one dou of water. After being soaked in the rice jar, one dou
of rice is rinsed in the same way, cooked rice is placed on the rice, and the jar is
covered with straw. After 20 days later, after the rice floats, the rice shell is washed
first, and then rice is washed and dried. The original rice rinsing water filtered out
and white yeast is left. The white yeast is cut into small chunks of 20 jins. The rice
shells are evenly mixed, cooked, and placed at the bottom of the jar. In hot weather,
the heat can be reduced, and after the rice is evenly mixed, the jar is covered. In a
week, the first tamping is done, and after the tamping, the jar does not need to be
covered. In another half a week, the second tamping is done, and if the weather is
hot, the heat should be removed. After the third tamping is done, the jar is covered
for the yeast to be ripe. If the usual method is used, the rice must be white and
thoroughly rinsed. The yeast should be tamped as such that the heat is totally
eliminated, so the yeast will not deteriorate.
Based on the large quantities of literature of previous generations,6 Hongdao
Yuan of the Ming Dynasty period summarized all aspects related to liquors in Shang
Zheng (《觞政》). While mentioning the ancestral liquor makers over the thousands of
years,7 he said nothing of liquor making. In the eyes of his and the officials of his
generation, craftsmanship such as the liquor brewing and making techniques and
literati enthusiasm about appraising and drinking liquors, though related, were
distinct from each other. At the junction of the Ming and Qing Dynasties periods,
literati and Confucius scholars returned to the country to show their disdain for
6
Hongdao Yuan: Shang Zheng (《觞政》): “The drinking styles mentioned in Liu Jing (《六经》), Yu
(《语》) and Meng (《孟》) are all liquor techniques. Gan Lu Jing (《甘露经》) and Jiu Pu (《酒谱》) by
the King of Ruyang, Jiu Jing (《酒经》) by Ji Wang, Jiu Xiao Jing (《酒孝经》) and Zhen Yuan Yin
Lue (《贞元饮略》) by Xuan Liu, Jiu Pu (《酒谱》) by Ziye Dou, Jiu Jing (《酒经》) by Yizhong Zhu,
Xu Bei Shan Jiu Jing (《续北山酒经》) by Bao Li, Zui Xiang Xiao Lue (《醉乡小略》) by Hu, Zui
Xiang Ri Yue (《醉乡日月》) by Song Huangfu, Jiu Lv (《酒律》) by Bai Hou and other works on
liquors are specialized works. Meng Zhuang (《蒙庄》), Li Sao (《离骚》), Shi (《史》), Han (《汉》),
Nan Bei Shi (《南北史》), Gu Jin Yi Shi (《古今逸史》), Shi Shuo (《世说》) and Yan Shi Jia Xun (《颜
氏家训》) and the collections of Jingjie Tao, Bai Li, Fu Du, Xiangshan Bai, Yuju Su and Fangweng
Lu are all general works. The poems by Sheren Liu and Jiaxuan Xin, music by Jieyuan Dong, Shifu
Wang, Dongli Ma and Zecheng Gao, and legends such as Shui Hu Zhuang (《水浒传》) and Jin Ping
Mei (《金瓶梅》) are leisure works. Anyone not familiar with these works cannot call himself a
drinker.”
7
Hongdao Yuan: Shang Zheng (《觞政》): “Synonyms of the term ‘liquor’ such as Yidi, Dukang,
Liubaiduo and Jiaogebei are all derived from the liquor-making technique and unrelated to the
maker. A banner is hung on the temple gate to commend the maker.”
official ranks and spent their time enjoying great food and natural landscapes. Yu Li,
known as a philanderer, claimed he distanced himself from liquors in Xian Qing Ou
Ji (《闲情偶寄》), “I’m not good at enjoying liquors but good at hosting guests...I
don’t abuse co-drinkers while drunk, but like to listen to them confide,” which is his
only mention of liquors. Gourmet Mei Yuan commented on a dozen liquors across
the country in Sui Yuan Shi Dan (《随园食单》), and neither did he say a single word
about liquor making, leaving an incredible blank as someone who knew food and
drinks so well. “I don’t enjoy liquors by nature,” while Mei Yuan believed he knew
liquors, “with such strict abstinence, I actually know how liquors taste.” As for
liquor making, did he consider it too trivial to mention or just pretend not to know?
Checking out his words, we didn’t see him confiding his true thoughts. Authors who
lived during the Ming and Qing Dynasties periods and perused Hong Lou Meng (《红
楼梦》) and Jin Ping Mei (《金瓶梅》) and the mundane world they described had
sufficient reference to great liquors and food as well as liquor games. However, these
texts were inevitably fraught with the complacency and split personality of literati
and were distant from the liquor making workshops. Therefore, the accuracy of the
descriptions of liquor matters in literary works is highly questionable.
We advise the readers focus on the recipe collection Tiao Ding Ji (《调鼎集》) by
Yangzhou salt merchant Yuejian Dong during Emperor Qianlong’s reign. As a
merchant, he might not be so eloquent as the above masters, but he was attentive
to detail and figures. As a salt merchant, Dong must have been busy with hosting
banquets and good at calculating the cost-effectiveness. Therefore, as a personal
literature material instead of a publication, Tiao Ding Ji is valuable and academically
important as a historical material for subsequent generations to study food and
liquors. Tiao Ding Ji includes the volume of Jiu Pu (《酒谱》) specially prepared
by Dong, which preserved the last record of liquor techniques in ancient China.
Unlike previous liquor making records, Jiu Pu almost recorded all aspects of liquor
making techniques and costs, including the water, the fire, the wheat, the vessel, the
rice, rice soaking, the yeast, white grains, squeezing, heating, pickling, cooking,
sterilization, steaming, oil, grain use, medicinal liquors, grain liquors, mud, bamboo
tube, cylinder, jar, stove, Chun rice, grain mixing, liquor storage, and steaming tools.
All the techniques after heating were never recorded in the thousands year of
historical literature prior to that.
Thanks to his familiarity with and comprehensive of first-hand techniques of
liquor making, Dong made up for the defects in the literature of other authors and
craftsmen. He had a distinctive description of the details of Chinese liquor making
before the advent of modern technology. Here are nine examples:
1. Types of liquor: Divided into bitter, spicy, sour, and sweet liquors. In Dong’s
birthplace of Huiji, Shaoxing liquors are naturally preferred, while white and
yellow liquors from across the country, including Fen liquors, are also
appreciated.
2. Fruit liquors: Strictly speaking, fruit liquors in Dong’s time were not brewed but
made with fruit juices. However, as the liquors are not made and drunk on the
spot, juices may facilitate the fermentation process after being added to the jar.
202 Y. Fang
For example, the name of “grape wine” was widespread, “grape juices are added
to the liquor, which is called ‘heavenly liquor’. If rice beans are added, the taste is
even stronger.”
3. “Cattle liquor” legend: The entire jar is coated with cattle excrement all around
and placed in the cellar for a day, when there is sound in the jar and the liquor is
drinkable in a month. Upon drinking, the scent is strong, while half of the liquor is
consumed. This record sounds so unbelievable, and I’ve never tried it. Therefore,
it seems baffling and might as well be regarded as a folk custom.
4. Determination of liquor quality by sound: Shake the jar and listen to the sound to
determine its quality. The method: Hold the jar with both hands and shake
quickly. If the sound is crispy and like bamboos cracking, the liquor quality is
good; if it sounds like cracking trees, it is likely to be sour. If the sound is vague or
absent, the liquor is undrinkable. Drinkers nowadays like to open the jar and
drink, treating the jar like a melon. This is actually a business approach that only
works for experts.
5. Know-how on hangover alleviation: Borax, kudzu, Acorus tatarinowii, edible
salt, and olives can relieve the effect of alcohol. Interestingly, it was believed that
“alcohol toxins enter through the teeth,” which might have a point, as mucous
membranes are thin there and alcohol may directly reach blood capillaries.
Therefore, “you have to eat a spoonful of salt and rinse with clean water, so
you won’t end up sick after excessive drinking. . .if you drink too much and your
stomach swells, wipe your teeth with salt and rinse with warm water three times,
and the discomfort vanishes.”
6. Tips on liquor storage: The influence of temperature on finished liquors is well
known: “If the jar is exposed to intense sunshine, the liquor will certainly
deteriorate.” Jars must be placed at elevated spots with good ventilation. Of
course, our ancestors had no idea of heavy metal intoxication, but they knew
“liquors long preserved in tin vessels can cause death,” and “do not preserve
liquors in copper vessels overnight.” This was the essential difference between
emperors in the Bronze Age and commoners on the eve of modernity in how to
stay healthy.
7. Purity test: Science is not mysterious and experiments start in real life. Instead of
using a chemical reaction formula, Dong described the process as follows: “The
liquor is heated and salt is added and melts into water.” Heated liquors have been
popular in China since the Yuan Dynasty period. Rushes were put into the liquors,
and their level in the liquors was used as the indicator of alcoholic concentration.
“Rushes float in water and do not sink.”
8. Blending technique: Like cocktails, the purpose of blending liquors with water is
not to cut down on materials, but to control the degree of the chemical reaction.
“If you put vinegar into cooked liquors, the taste is as usual and will not turn
sour.” The emphasis on accurate figures during the blending process reflected a
change in the traditional approach of vagueness, “amber liquors consist of 50 jins
of cooked liquors, two jins of sugar, one jin of grinded yeast, and one jin and three
liangs of mint.” With such processing, the taste is worth anticipating.
9. Dry powder of cooked liquors: For travelers, carrying liquid liquors is a problem.
If cooked liquors are converted into dry powder, the size, safety, and effect
problems are solved, “Sorghum is cooked and blended with steamed bun powder
and dried at the same time, and blended again after drying, with the quantity
randomly determined. Upon use, this dry powder is added into boiled water and
drunk, and tastes just like cooked liquors.”
The aforesaid liquor making techniques and customs in ancient China are at least
200 years from today. Back in reality, scholars remain impoverished. I am often
enraged by the exorbitantly high prices of liquors claimed to have been discovered in
a thousand-year cellar or a century-old jar. Friends all know I enjoy drinking. I am
inclined to talk less in case of making inappropriate remarks under the influence of
alcohol. I wrote this article when sober and have to end it in time. So I have just
chosen some typical examples in the history of Chinese liquor making as a summary.
References
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3. Jia, M. (2004). Tips of diet: Taste category. In Shi Zhi Yu(《食之语》) (p. 52). Hualing Press.
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(《宋代酒的生产和征榷》) (pp. 43–71). Hebei University Press.
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Shanghai People’s Press.
Chinese Ancient Loom and Textile Types
8
Feng Zhao
Contents
8.1 “The Silkworm Weaving Picture” and “The Cotton Picture” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
8.1.1 The First Version of the “Plowing and Weaving Picture” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
8.1.2 The Earliest Existing “Silkworm Weaving Picture” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
8.1.3 The “Plowing and Weaving Picture” by Jiao Bingzhen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
8.1.4 Fang Guancheng’s “Cotton Picture” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
8.2 The Production Process of Sericulture and Silk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
8.2.1 Silkworm Bathing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
8.2.2 Hasten the Hatching of Silkworms and Gather Newly Hatched Silkworms . . . . 212
8.2.3 Feed Young Silkworm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
8.2.4 Feed Big Silkworm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
8.2.5 Mount Cocooning Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
8.2.6 Sort and Strip Cocoons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
8.2.7 Store Cocoons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
8.2.8 Silk Reeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
8.2.9 Weave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
8.3 Machine: The Crystallization of Ancient Chinese Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
8.3.1 Diversified Original Waist Knitting Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
8.3.2 Pedal Loom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
8.3.3 Jacquard Machine and Jacquard Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
8.3.4 Multi-heddle Jacquard Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
8.3.5 Low Flower-Style Jacquard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
8.3.6 Bundling Jacquard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
8.3.7 Hua Ben (Painting Pattern) – Jacquard Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
8.4 Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
8.4.1 Mineral Dyeing and Vegetable Dyeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
8.4.2 Safflower and Dye Red . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
8.4.3 Indigo and Dye Blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
8.4.4 Mordant Dyeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
8.4.5 The Five Elements and Five Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
F. Zhao (*)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_8
206 F. Zhao
8.5 Types of Silk and Satin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

8.5.1 Cloth and Silk: Plain Fabrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
8.5.2 From Qi (Woven Silk) to Ling (Thin Silk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
8.5.3 Satin: The Most Popular Fabric in the Ming and Qing Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
8.5.4 Yarn and Silk: Doup End Fabric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
8.5.5 The Origin and Development of Tapestry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
8.5.6 Jin (Brocade): The Most Magnificent Silk Fabric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
8.5.7 Three Famous Brocades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
8.5.8 Nap Fabric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
8.6 Printing and Dyeing and Embroidery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
8.6.1 The Earliest Relief Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
8.6.2 Twisting Tie-Dye: The Original Meaning of Anti-dye Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
8.6.3 Clamping Tie-Dye: A Self-created Block Carving Anti-dye Printing . . . . . . . . . . . 250
8.6.4 Wax Printing and Indigo Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
8.6.5 Embroidery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Abstract
The ancient textile technology is an extremely crucial part of China’s ancient
science and technology system. The author proposed five major inventions in silk
technology: domesticated silkworm, pedal loom, tissue system, jacquard pro-
gram, engraving, and printing. In this chapter, the author illustrates in detail the
Chinese ancient loom and textile types.
Keywords
The silkworm weaving picture · The cotton picture · Sericulture · Silk · Ancient
Chinese wisdom · Vegetable dyeing · Satin · Printing and dyeing · Embroidery
The ancient textile technology is an extremely crucial part of China’s ancient

science and technology system. In “Zhong Guo Ke Xue Ji Shu Shi” (History of
Science and Technology in China), Li Yuese selected 26 scientific and techno-
logical achievements starting with English letters that China has contributed to the
world, including F jacquard machines and horizontal looms, G silk reeling
machines, spinning machines, and paralleling machines. These three types of
silk machine are related to ancient Chinese textile technology. When Chen Weiji
and Zhou Qicheng were writing “Zhong Guo Fang Zhi Ke Xue Ji Shu Shi (Gu Dai
Bu Fen)” (The History of Chinese Textile Science and Technology (Ancient
Part)), they also proposed ten major inventions in the textile industry. Among
them, there are six aspects related to science and technology such as breeding
silkworms for silk, large spinning wheel, human control procedures, special
sorting, and other six items. The author also proposed five major inventions in
silk technology when participating in the “Miracle Tiangong-Ancient Chinese
Inventions and Cultural Relics Exhibition” in 2008: domesticated silkworm, pedal
loom, tissue system, jacquard program, engraving, and printing. In short, the
ancient Chinese textile technology represents the highest level of ancient Chinese
technology.
8 Chinese Ancient Loom and Textile Types 207
8.1 “The Silkworm Weaving Picture” and “The Cotton Picture”
There are many professional works on textile in ancient China, especially the Tian
Gong Kai Wu (Exploitation of the Works of the Nature), Nong Zheng Quan Shu
(Agriculture Encyclopedia), etc., but they are often related with agriculture and
reflect the whole process of silk and cotton spinning in the form of comic strip like
“The Cotton Picture” inspired by “The Silkworm Weaving Picture” in the “Plowing
and Weaving Picture.”
8.1.1 The First Version of the “Plowing and Weaving Picture”
The most famous “Silkworm Weaving Picture” is one-half of the “Plowing and
Weaving Picture” drawn by the Qian County magistrate Linglou in the early
Southern Song Dynasty. Lou, with the courtesy name Shouyu, or called Guo Qi,
was born in Yin County, Zhejiang Province, and was a painter in the Song Dynasty.
He created the earliest and most complete “Plowing and Weaving Picture” when he
first served as the magistrate of the Qian County in Shaoxing, which was recorded in
Gong Kui Ji by his nephew Lou Yao:
Lou Hui was the magistrate of Yuqian County. After he visited the famers and silkgrowers,
he painted one picture of Plowing and one picture of Weaving, which depicted the 21 events
about farming and 24 events about silkworm raising. Under each event, he made a five-
character poem. These two pictures were then recommended to the imperial court and was
highly praised by the Emperor.
According to the records in “The Qian County Chronicles” and “The Yin County
Chronicles,” the time when Lou made this picture will not be later than the 10th Year
of Shaoxing Era (1140). There are 24 things in the silkworm weaving part in this
picture. The original picture has been lost. Only 24 poems remain. The titles are:
silkworm bathing, silkworm feeding, silkworm feeding, the first sleep, the second
sleep, the third sleep, foil separation, mulberry picking, upper tufting, burning foil,
lower tufting, cocoon selection, cellar cocoon, silk reeling, silk moth, sacrifice,
winding silk, warp, weft, weaving, and cutting silk. But it is said that Lou’s
“Growing and Weaving Picture” still has both a copy and a stone carving. The
copy was left at home with a postscript written by Lou Yao. Then his grandsons
Louhong and Lou Shen made a stone carving out of this copy.
8.1.2 The Earliest Existing “Silkworm Weaving Picture”
At present, the earliest and best preserved “Silkworm Weaving Picture” is the
“Silkworm Weaving Picture in the Song Dynasty” originally collected in the For-
bidden City and now in the Heilongjiang Provincial Museum. On this picture, it is
said to have a note written by the Empress of Emperor Gao of the Song Dynasty, so
208 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.1 The Silkworm Weaving Picture in the Song Dynasty
we also call it the Note of Empress Wu. This picture was recorded in Song Lian’s
Luan Po Ji, Sun Chengze’s Geng Zi Xiao Xia Ji, and the Shi Qu Bao Ji. According to
the postscript of Zheng Zulao in the Yuan Dynasty, this picture might be a copy by
the Imperial Academy of the Southern Song Dynasty, but it may not be faithful to the
original. The picture is a hand scroll with no gaps in between. There are pictures of
bathing silkworms, warming silkworms, brushing Wuer, picking leaves, cutting
leaves, body feeding, the first sleep, the second sleep, the third sleep, warming
silkworms, sleeping, and feeding, leaf, busy picking leaves, binding clusters,
cocoons, lower cocoons, silkworm moths, cocooning, peeling cocoons, weighing
cocoons, urns, raw reeling. As can be seen from the note title, there are more than
24 scenes (see Fig. 8.1). The Silkworm Weaving Picture, also created in the Song
Dynasty, has another collection version in the Cleveland Museum in the United
States. It is also a hand-scrolled version, passed down as the authentic work of Liang
Kai, but the size is much smaller than that of Empress Wu’s note version. Although
the “Plowing and Weaving Picture” from the Song Dynasty currently in the National
Museum also painted scenes of weaving, there are also occasions of plowing in this
one, in the form of straight axis. Its style and form are drastically different from the
“Silkworm Weaving Picture.”
After the Song Dynasty, there were many versions of the Silkworm Weaving
Picture. The most famous is a set of “Plowing and Weaving Pictures” said to be
drawn by Cheng Di in the Yuan Dynasty. The sequences on the picture are
strictly in accordance with the sequences of the 24 poems written by Lou Jing.
Lou’s 24 poems written in seal character are also on the picture, with the
signature of “Liu Songnian.” This set of pictures was dedicated to Emperor
Qianlong by Jiang Pujin. Then Emperor Qianlong wrote another set of 24 new
poems in the gaps on the pictures. Because the picture has a Yao-style preface
and postscript in the Yuan and the author of this picture is Cheng Di from the
Yuan Dynasty, we generally call it “The Plowing and Weaving Picture” by
Cheng Di. However, we know that during the period of Emperor Qianlong
antiquities were searched everywhere. The trend of counterfeiting was prevalent
all over the country. The author suspects that this set of “Plowing and Weaving
Pictures” presented by Jiang Pu is also a work made by later generations.
However, Qianlong immediately asked him to engrave the “Plowing and Weav-
ing Picture,” which was then collected in the Summer Palace until now. The
original “Plowing and Weaving Picture” was stored in the Old Summer Palace
and was later lost during the looting of the Eight-Power Allied Forces. At
present, the original copy of Cheng Tie’s “Plowing and Weaving Picture” is
stored in the Freer Museum in Washington, USA, but there is also a set of
“Plowing and Weaving Picture” rubbings, which is currently in the collection of
the French National Library. Now the National Museum still has a collection of
some original engraving stones, but they are all broken.
8.1.3 The “Plowing and Weaving Picture” by Jiao Bingzhen
During the Qing Dynasty, due to the advocacy of Emperor Kangxi, there was an
increasing number and even overflow of “Plowing and Weaving Picture” versions,
which exerted the greatest influences on Jiao Bingzhen. Jiao Bingzhen, mentored by
Lang Shining, adopted the focal perspective method in Western paintings. In the
35th year of Emperor Kangxi era (1696), he completed the painting of “Plowing and
Weaving” on imperial orders. Among them, there are 23 plowing pictures and
23 weaving pictures, respectively, which was slightly different from the number
24 in the original book. But the biggest discrepancy is that Jiao Bingzhen’s version
was originally an album, and each picture was a rectangle with Emperor Kangxi’s
inscribed poems (see Fig. 8.2). This painting was recorded in “Shi Qu Bao Ji” and
other books and is currently collected in the National Library of the United States.
Fig. 8.2 Jiao Bingzhen’s Plowing and Weaving Pictures

210 F. Zhao
Jiao Bingzhen himself became famous after painting this picture. There are still a
large number of carved editions of his paintings, the most common of which are the
versions of Pei Wen Zhai and Dian Shi Zhai, and the rest are color overprinted
editions. Later, Emperor Yongzheng and Emperor Qianlong also followed suit. For a
time, copying and carving the “Plowing and Weaving Picture” became rather
popular. Some agricultural books and local chronicles were printed with the
“Plowing and Weaving Picture,” including many stone carvings, window wood
carvings, porcelain paintings, and New Year pictures. There are illustrations of
“Plowing and Weaving” on the inkstone. The prevalence of “Plowing and Weaving
Picture” also led to the similar creation of the “Cotton Picture.” In addition, there
were people in the palace at that time who referred to Jiao Bingzhen’s paintings and
made the “Plowing and Weaving Picture.” One of them was Leng Mei, also called
Jichen, a student of Jiao Bingzhen. He once assisted Jiao in drawing the “Plowing
and Weaving Picture” and later completed an entire set of 46 “Plowing and Weaving
Pictures” independently, now collected in the Taipei Palace Museum. The other was
Chen Mei, with the courtesy name Dianjuan, also called Zaidong. In the fourth year
of Emperor Qianlong era (1739), he made the “Plowing and Weaving Pictures,” a
total of 46 paintings, each with a poem from Emperor Kangxi and the preface of
Emperor Qianlong.
8.1.4 Fang Guancheng’s “Cotton Picture”
The popularity of “Plowing and Weaving Picture” also led to the production
of the “Cotton Picture.” In the 30th year of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty
(1765), Fang Guancheng, the governor of Zhili Province, compiled a “Cotton
Picture” with 12 stone carvings. There are 16 maps in total, which are seeding,
irrigation, cultivating, picking tips, picking cotton, picking and drying, harvesting,
nucleation, springing, knotting, spinning, warping, cloth pulping, weaving, and
dyeing, reflecting the whole process of cotton from sowing, harvesting, to weaving
and dyeing into cloth. Each picture has a text description, and there is a seven-
character quatrain each chanted by Emperor Qianlong and Fang Guancheng
according to the content of the picture. Due to Emperor Qianlong’s poems, this set
of pictures is named with an “Imperial Title,” which is called “The Cotton Picture
with Emperor’s Notes.” This picture can be regarded as a real record of how Fang
Guancheng attached great importance to agricultural production, cotton planting,
and hand-made cotton textile industry during his position as a governor. He has
played a facilitating and guiding role in the promotion of cotton planting and the
development of cotton spinning industry (see Fig. 8.3).
8.2 The Production Process of Sericulture and Silk
We will elaborate on the achievements of silkworm weaving technology with the

“Silkworm Weaving Picture” inscribed by Empress Wu, combined with Lou Jing’s
“Weaving Picture Poems” and other related documents, especially the records in
Fig. 8.3 Fang Guancheng’s “Cotton Picture”
Nong Shu (Agriculture Book) by Chen Yang in the Southern Song Dynasty Chen
Yang’s “Nongshu.”
8.2.1 Silkworm Bathing
Silkworm bathing was originally a kind of ritual, which has been inherited since
ancient times. Bathing silkworm has been divided into many times in the Song
Dynasty. Empress Wu noted that “bathing silkworms in the twelfth lunar month.”
Qin Guan’s “Ciworm Book” contained: “On the day of wax, gather silkworm seeds,
fertile cows, and bathe in Sichuan.” Chen Fang’s “Nongshu” contained: “Waiting for
the wax day or In the heavy snowfall of the twelfth lunar month, the silkworms are
planted in the snow to make the snow pressure for one day.” It can be seen that the
silkworms in the twelfth lunar month take the meaning of freezing and poisoning,
and the purpose is the same as that of the latter. “The one who is powerless can’t get
it, then the one who has the power is all.” Tiangong Kaiwu contains: “The low-grade
raccoon bath will not be able to die by itself. It doesn’t take a lot of money, and there
is more silk.” Silkworms have to bathe silkworms once before. Lou Jing’s “Plowing
and Weaving Picture Poems” says: “The season is banning smoking,...light rain
bathing silkworms. Spring clothes are curled up, and the basin is cleared by the
spring.” This poem shows the building. The submerged folk custom is to bath
silkworms before the Qingming Festival, which is carried out indoors, which is
consistent with what Chen Yang’s “Nongshu” contains: “In spring, when he wants to
live before he is born, study cinnabar carefully, adjust the temperature and bath, and
the water should not be cold. It should not be hot, but if the human body is
scrambled, it is not known.” It can be seen that this time the silkworm bath is mainly
for auspicious rituals, so cinnabar is used to color. The painting in this picture of Wu
is extremely consistent with that described in Lou Jing’s poem, and the leaves in
front of the door are tender and green, which shows that this is the silkworm bathing
212 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.4 The silkworm

bathing in the Silkworm and
Weaving Picture by
Empress Wu
in the spring. This shows that Wu’s “Silkworm Weaving Picture” is a copy of the
building. The second question also shows that there were indeed many silkworm
bathing at that time (see Figure 8.4).
8.2.2 Hasten the Hatching of Silkworms and Gather Newly Hatched

Silkworms
According to the notes of Empress Wu, warming parent cocoons means hastening the
hatching of silkworms nowadays. The first way to warm parent cocoons is by human
body temperature, so it is called “Bao Chan” (hold production) in Tian Gong Kai Wu.
The second way is by “Kang Huo Wen Zhi” (warm by fire) (The Chen Shi Nong Shu
(The Agriculture Book by Chen)). Although a better method of gathering newly
hatched silkworms has been recorded in Nong Shu (The Agriculture Book) by Chen
Yang, in Lin An and surrounding regions, goose feathers are still used for dusting and
gathering hatched silkworms. Also noteworthy is that Empress Wu wrote a note:
“Warm the parent cocoons in Qingming Festival.” Lou Jing said in his poem that
“After a few days of the Grain Rain (the 6th solar term),..the silkworm starts to break
its shell,” which is more than ten days away from what Empress Wu wrote. The reason
may be explained through modern folk investigations. The Yuhang County, in the west
of Hangzhou City, is a famous production base for silkworm egg. The local silkworm
farmers hasten the hatching of silkworms very early because there are many mul-
berries. If the hatching of silkworms were late, the mulberry leaves will become old
and hard, which not only affects the mulberry tree but also affects the harvest. Another
reason is that there is a proverb that “early hatching makes silkworms good quality.”
Normally it would be as early as to Qingming Festival. But maybe the Yu Qian County
is not qualified for these conditions; that’s why there are some differences in the warm
silkworm season (see Fig. 8.5).
Fig. 8.5 Hasten the Hatching

of Silkworms in the Silkworm
and Weaving Picture noted by
Empress Wu
8.2.3 Feed Young Silkworm
Feeding young silkworms includes the first molt, the second molt, and the third molt.
The most important aspects of silkworm raising are twofold: first, the supply of
mulberry leaves, second, the regulation of temperature and humidity. When the ants
first emerge, they must be very careful with the leaves. They must cut the leaves into
thin strips before they can feed silkworms. Empress Wu noted here: “Cut the leaves
and feed the silkworms with thin leaves.” At the first molt, the leaves can be fed
without cutting, but the tender ones should be taken. During the process of raising
the young silkworms, we must pay close attention to the control of temperature and
humidity. Nong Shu by Chen Yan mentioned: “Silkworms should be raised with fire.
The method of fire requires a small furnace so that they can be carried in and out. The
silkworms are laid on the leaves and fed, waiting to follow the leaves and enter the
fire. The fire must be burned outside to make it cooked, and covered with grain ash,
so that the flame would not be too strong. When it is cooked, the fire could be
extinguished.” In Wu’s Silkworm and Weaving Picture, there is a brazier under the
ground for heating. There is another special piece of warm silkworm, which is not in
the original picture of Lou Huang, which shows that this issue has been emphasized
by Empress Wu. From the perspective of the physiology of silkworms, the ability of
young silkworms to resist low temperature is far worse than that of large silkworms.
Therefore, the addition of “warm silkworms” to the breeding of young silkworms
shows people’s familiarity and understanding of silkworm physiology. The tools for
feeding young silkworms are called foil, Chinese torreya, etc. (see Fig. 8.6).
8.2.4 Feed Big Silkworm
Lou Shu’s poem mentioned: “After three sleeps and three wakeups, the silkworm has
eaten enough leaves and become fat.” After three sleeps, the silkworm body became
214 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.6 The Silkworm

Raising in the Silkworm and
Weaving Picture noted by
Empress Wu
bigger, called the Big Silkworm. The big silkworm cannot be raised again in the
foils, but need to be placed in a large and rectangle basket. According to Lou’s
version, this process is called “Distribute Foil.” The “Big Molt Picture” in Wu
version’s “Silkworm and Weaving Picture” also demonstrates this point. Raising
big silkworm requires a large number of leaves. That’s why there is an extra picture
of “Picking Mulberry Leaves” before the Big Molt. At that time, the silkworm needs
high temperature, and the weather is turning warmer, so there is no need to add a
brazier for heating (see Fig. 8.7).
8.2.5 Mount Cocooning Frame
Mounting cocooning frame is an important part of silk production, and it is closely

related to raw silk quality and unwinding rate. The frame is the place where silkworms
form cocoons. According to the Silkworm and Weaving Picture by Empress Wu, the
frame in the painting is exactly the umbrella-shape cluster, which is widely used in
Zhejiang Province. Empress Wu’s note called it “Shanzi,” and it said: “Use thatch to
mount the frame, and pick up silkworms to make cocoons” in Lou Yan’s poem. The
cocooning frame method is consistent with Can Sang Ji Yao (Summary of Silkworms
and Mulberries): Use bamboo and wood frame to mount the trays with old silkworms.
When mounting the cocooning frame, one must guarantee the tranquility of environ-
ment and increase the frame temperature to speed up the spinning of silkworms and
quickly dry the sericin, which was reflected in the Silkworm and Weaving Picture.
Empress Wu noted it as “Fire Cocoon,” while Lou’s poem called it “Fire Foil.” In
accordance with Empress Wu’s version, it shows that the formula of cocooning
recorded in Tian Gong Kai Wu by Song Yingxing in the Ming Dynasty has already
been generated in the Southern Song Dynasty (see Fig. 8.8).
Fig. 8.7 Picking Leaves in

the Silkworm and Weaving
Picture noted by Empress Wu
Fig. 8.8 Mount the

Cocooning Frame in the
Silkworm and Weaving
8.2.6 Sort and Strip Cocoons
At that time, sorting and stripping cocoons were completed in the same process.
Therefore, Lou Jing’s poem includes the classification and evaluation of cocoons
from “large cocoons to eight silkworms, small cocoons to single pupa.” There is a
picture of “stripping the cocoon” in Wu’s picture, where four men, women, and
children were sorting and stripping cocoons. The purpose of sorting cocoons is to
remove the cocoons that do not meet the requirements of silk reeling, such as moth
mouth, macula, deformity, etc. Cocoon peeling is to strip those cocoons with loose
outer layer, poor strength, and fineness (see Fig. 8.9).
216 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.9 Sort Cocoons in the

8.2.7 Store Cocoons
At room temperature, moth will be transformed within seven or eight days after
silkworm cocooning. Therefore, if you want to extend the silk reeling period, you
must store cocoons. There are many methods for storing cocoons in ancient China,
including sun drying, baking, steaming, and salt. The painting in Empress Wu’s
Silkworm and Weaving Picture is “salt cocoon.” Lou Jing’s poem “Store Cocoon in
Pit” says: “Put the crystal salt in the plate and preserve the cocoons with salt in the
pottery.” Wu’s note also mentions “Weigh Cocoon,” which shows that the salt and the
cocoon have a certain ratio when storing cocoon in salt. According to Nong Shu by
Chen Fu: “The method of storing the cocoon is to firstly dry it in the sun; Bury the big
urn on the ground, first spread the bamboo slips in the urn, and then cover the cocoon
with the big leaves. The saIt to cocoon ratio is 10 jin to 2 liang. Then repeat the previous
steps until the urn is full. Cover the urn tightly and seal it with mud” (see Fig. 8.10).
8.2.8 Silk Reeling
In ancient China, silk reeling can be divided into two types: raw reeling and cooked
reeling. Cooked reeling is the reeling of the cocoon after storage procedures such as
salt and drying. Raw reeling means immediate reeling. The silk obtained from raw
reeling is fresh and bright, with good quality. Empress Wu’s note is “Raw Reeling,”
indicating that in the Southern Song Dynasty, the raw reeling has been separated
from the cooked reeling. Regarding the style of the southern reeling car at that time,
it can be seen from the picture that it is not much different from the silk car preserved
in the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou area in modern times, and it is basically consistent
with the silk carriage contained in Qin Guan’s Can Shu (Silkworm Book): The silk
car has a frame, and there is a pedal crank connecting rod mechanism on top of the
frame to drive. There is also a twisting mechanism on the car: “When the lathe is on
Fig. 8.10 Store Cocoons in

the Silkworm and Weaving
the left foot, the handle is half an inch long. The handle is used like a drum that could
move according to the rope.” If adding a ladder, then it would be the same as today’s
twisting rod. With this mechanism, the wire will not be fixedly wound on one
straight line. From Wu’s picture, there is no brazier at the bottom of the silk (perhaps
it happened to be hidden), but Nong Shu by Chen Yang stated: “When reeling the
silk, dry the silk with fire, and then the color will not be dark and remain fresh and
clean.” It shows that the method of silk reeling “Chu Shui Gan” (Dry after Watering)
recorded in Song Yingxing’s Tian Gong Kai Wu has already come into being in the
Southern Song Dynasty (see Fig. 8.11).
8.2.9 Weave
This part includes two major processes: preparation and warping and shaking weft.
Preparation includes reeling, warping, and twining. Reeling first retreats the large or
upper silk of the reeling car and installs it on the “stack.” Then it is used as a hanging
hook to do the reeling, in order to pull the warp and weave the weft (see Fig. 8.12).
There are two purposes of shaking. One is to roll the weft, and there is a weft car to
wind the wire on the small pipe; the other is warping. In short, when warping, the
stubbles are neatly arranged on the ground, and the silk threads are drawn out, or
directly wound on the warp beam, after being pasted. It should be the same as the
picture called “Weaving” in Empress Wu’s Note version “Silkworm and Weaving
Picture.” I used to think that the “Guo Hu” (过糊) was first seen in Tian Gong Kai
Wu and the purpose of the Guo Hu was to increase various strength indicators of
warp silk, which showed that the raw material used for leno silk was finer and the
fabric obtained was also lighter and thinner (see Fig. 8.13).
To sum up, the “Silkworm and Weaving Picture” by Empress Wu reflects the
sericulture and silk production technology system in Zhejiang in the early Southern
Song Dynasty. The perfection of the technology and the advancement of equipment
218 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.11 The Silk Reeling

in the Silkworm and Weaving
Fig. 8.12 Reeling in the

indicate that the ancient sericulture and silk production technology in China has
been finalized. There was no major change in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties.
“The Silkworm and Weaving Picture” is an important material in the history of
silkworm weaving technology in China. Its status can only be compared with that of
the “Nai Fu” chapter in Song Yingxing’s Tian Gong Kai Wu of the Ming Dynasty,
but it is about 500 years late.
8.3 Machine: The Crystallization of Ancient Chinese Wisdom
Chinese characters are pictographic. The traditional Chinese character Ji (机,

machine) is written as “machine,” which is the image of a loom. On the left side
of it is the word Mu (木, wood), which means the loom is made of wood, and on the
Fig. 8.13 Guo Hu (Pasting)

in the Silkworm and Weaving
right side is the word Shu (戍), which is a side view of a loom frame, and the word
“戍” has two radicals of “幺” on the top, which symbolizes that the warp beam is on
the top of the loom. Therefore, the Chinese character Ji “机, machine” originally
referred to the silk loom. But later, the meaning of Ji gradually expanded. First, its
meaning expanded to some other tools, such as machinery, mechanism, gear, etc.,
and then to some words that express wisdom and cleverness, such as mobility,
confidentiality, tact, intelligence, dexterity, etc. This shows that in the eyes of ancient
Chinese, the silk loom was the most complicated tool at that time. Using looms to
weave silk was the most wonderful part of various ancient Chinese technologies. It is
equivalent to today’s IT high-tech industry. In a flash of inspiration, various beautiful
patterns were woven.
However, the development of loom is not accomplished overnight. From the
original waist knitting machine to the pedal looms and multi-heddle jacquard
machines before and after the Warring States period to the heddle jacquard machines
in the Tang Dynasty, the perfection and development of Chinese silk looms have
gone through thousands of years.
8.3.1 Diversified Original Waist Knitting Machine
The loom that people first used was the original waist machine with open healds. The
so-called primitive waist knitting machine refers to some machines that have no
frame but can fulfill the basic functional requirements of the loom. Its most obvious
feature is that the weaving shaft is tied to the waist of the weaver with a waist back or
belt, and the warp tension is controlled according to the position of the person. There
is no fixed distance bracket between the warp beam and the weaving shaft. The
earliest primitive looms were found in the Hemudu site in Zhejiang Province
7000 years ago, but a more complete composition of primitive waist looms can be
220 F. Zhao
found from the three pairs of jade decorating looms of Liangzhu culture in the
Yuhang Fanshan Cemetery, Hangzhou. According to the loom parts, the whole loom
structure can be recovered by analyzing the cross-section of the jade ornaments. It is
mainly composed of the cloth winding shaft used to clamp the fabric, the opening
rod used to form the opening, and the weaving rod used to fix the warp. The shaft
consists of three parts, among which the open rod is the most important part of the
loom (see Fig. 8.14).
In the vast Neolithic cultural relics in China, primitive machinery parts have been
unearthed to varying degrees, such as the Hemudu site in Zhejiang, the Cishan-
Peiligang site in Henan, the Liangzhu cultural site in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, etc.
However, these primitive machinery components are designated for primitive
waist machines, according to the investigation and comparative study of modern
ethnology. The weaving technology of the original waist knitting machine has been
preserved in the vast minority areas in China. There are two types of models used:
one is a foot pedal knitting machine that fixes the warp beam with feet, and the other
is a suspended shaft waist machine with a simple wooden frame to fix the
warp beam.
The foot pedal knitting machine is widely applied in the habitations of the Li
Minority, Yi Minority, Gaoshang Minority, etc. The figures on the shell storage
container of the Han Dynasty unearthed in Shizhai Mountain, Jin Ning, Yunnan
Province, could be regarded as the real examples of the foot pedal knitting machine
(see Fig. 8.15). The suspended shaft waist machine is also widely used among the
ethnic minorities, but the type is a little different, for example:
The warp beams of the waist machine of the Benglong Ethnic Minority in Yunnan
were hung high above the wooden structure; the warp beams of the waist machine of
Xinjiang Uyghur were fixed on two ground piles; the waist machine used by the
Miao Ethnic Group in Wenshan, Yunnan, had a special wooden frame for fixing the
warp beam. The warp beam of this type of suspension beam waist machine is usually
equipped with “Flower” (胜花) or “Horn,” namely the ratchet wheels at both ends of
the warp beam, which can control the gradual release of the warp silk during the
weaving process. This kind of flower pattern appeared in a large number of Neolithic
Fig. 8.14 The restoration

picture of Liangzhu loom
Fig. 8.15 The textile image

on the bronze shell storage
container in Shizhai Mountain
pottery and spinning wheel art, or it can indicate that the suspension waist machine
appeared quite early.
8.3.2 Pedal Loom
The pedal loom appeared approximately during the Warring States Period, which
was praised by Dr. Joseph Needham as a major contribution of China to the world’s
textile technology. Lie Zi ·Tang Wen records a story about Ji Chang learning to shoot,
saying that he “lied down under his wife’s loom and watched the movement of the
foot pedal.” The earliest images of pedal looms appeared mostly on stone portraits
from the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as Hong Dao Academy and Long Yang Dian in
Teng County, Shandong; Wuliang Temple in Jiaxiang County; Guoju Temple at
Xiaotang Mountain in Northwest Feicheng City; Ciyun Temple in Jinyang Moun-
tain, Jining City, Liuhuang Township in Pei County, Jiangsu Province; Honglou
Building in Tongshan Mountain; Caozhuang in Sihong; and Zengjiabao in Chengdu,
Sichuan. In particular, the method of connecting the foot pedal and the healds on the
looms found in the stone pictures of Wuliang Temple, Honglou Building,
Caozhuang, and other places is very special. There seem to be two perpendicular
short rods stretching out under the warp of the loom. The short rods are connected to
the two foot pedals through flexible ropes or rigid wooden rods (see Fig. 8.16). It is
speculated from the pedal stand machines of later generations that this type of
oblique loom should have adopted a central shaft device. A pair of right-angled
short rods on the central shaft constitutes two connecting rod mechanisms through a
crank or a rope and two foot pedals. This seems to be verified by a glazed pottery
loom model of the East Han Dynasty collected in the Guimet Museum in France. In
this way, we restored a pedal oblique loom of the Han Dynasty based on the loom
model and the loom image on the Han painting stone (see Fig. 8.17). According to
this principle, we can call it a central axis pedal oblique loom.
The pedal oblique loom gradually became rare, but it could still be seen in the
Zi Ren Yi Zhi in the Yuan Dynasty. Its frame is basically upright, and it was called
a Lijizi (vertical machine) at that time. The earliest image of Lijizi appeared in the
222 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.16 The textile image on the Han stone sculpture
Fig. 8.17 The restored pedal

oblique loom in the Han
Dynasty
five-dynasty picture of “Huayan Jingbian” on the north wall of K98 in the Mogao
Grottoes of Dunhuang, Gansu. However, the name of the cotton fabric called “Liji”
has appeared in Dunhuang documents at the end of the Tang Dynasty. Since then, the
image of the Lijizi can be seen in the Northern Song Dynasty murals of Kaihua
Temple in Gaoping, Shanxi, and the Silkworm Palace Picture in the Ming Dynasty
collected in the National Museum, but the most detailed record is the Lijizi in Xue
Jingshi’s Zi Ren Yi Zhi in the Yuan Dynasty. We can restore it based on the size
records and graphic examples in the text.
There are many different types of pedal looms. One of them is a loom that relies
on the weaver’s body to control the tension, which can be called a pedal horizontal
machine. The earliest depiction of the image of the pedal horizontal machine is on
the stone portrait of the Donghan Tomb of Zengjiabao in Chengdu, Sichuan, and the
most definite record is Xue Jingshi’s Zi Ren Yi Zhi in the Yuan Dynasty. This type of
loom is still in use in the folks. Hunan Liuyang summer cloth and Shaanxi Fufeng
cotton cloth are all woven with this type of loom. Its basic characteristics are the
tilting of the machine, single heald, and single flap, relying on the waist to control
tension. Specifically, it can be divided into two types: a straight-lift horizontal

machine without a tension compensation device and a pressure-lift horizontal
machine with a tension compensation device. The loom used in the Yao Ethnic
Group of Hunan Province belongs to the first type of straight-lift horizontal machine.
It consists of two horizontal frames and two legs. The main opening outside the
frame is a lifting lever mounted on a straight frame. The middle is a rotating shaft,
and a short rod behind the shaft passes through the rope. Connected to the feet, the
two short rods in front of the shaft lift a heald. The simplest pressure-lifting
horizontal machine is used by the Tujia people in Xiangxi, Hunan. It also has a
tilted horizontal body with a straight body in the middle. There is a pair of crow
woods on it, one end is connected to the pedal rod, the other end is connected with
the heald opening; the most fundamental difference in the opening mechanism is the
use of a tension compensation device, namely, when the foot lever is connected to
the rear end of the wood, there is also a warp rod in the middle (see Fig. 8.18).
From the perspective of Tibetan paintings of past dynasties, since the Tang and
Song Dynasties, pedal looms have mostly adopted the double heddle type, namely,
two treads are used to control two healds separately, and the two healds are opened
with two sheds to weave plain fabrics. The warp face is roughly horizontal. Both the
“Silkworm Weaving Picture” by Liang Kai in the Southern Song Dynasty and the
“Plowing and Weaving Picture” by Cheng Di in the Yuan Dynasty are painted with
double-heddle pedal machines. The shape of the two machines is basically the same.
There are two pedals, one long and one short. The long pedal is connected with a
long wood to control a heddle, and the short pedal is connected with two short woods
to control the other heddle. Two groups of wooden frames are on the frame in the
middle of the loom. This frame is equivalent to the early “horse head” but is much
larger than the horse head. The warp face is no longer inclined like the oblique loom
of the Han Dynasty. The warp surface is basically horizontal at the weaving place,
and the position of the warp beam is slightly higher. A warp wood is used in the
middle to lower the warp yarn, which is also a tension compensation mechanism.
The loom drawn in “Bian Min Tu Cuan” in the Ming Dynasty is the same. This kind
of double healds is opened by lifting the healds upwards through the wood with the
Fig. 8.18 The restoration of

pedal horizontal machine
224 F. Zhao
pedals. When opening, there is no direct relationship between the two healds, and the
pedals are independently driven and lifted. Therefore, we call this kind of double-
heddle pedal machine a single-acting double heddle machine.
Single-acting double-heddle machines are still in use. The existing tapestry
machine also belongs to this type, but its crow woods are arranged horizontally.
On the top of the frame, there is a shaft that is in the same direction as the warp. On
the shaft are two pieces of crow wood that are in the same direction as the foot lever.
Kogi is connected with a rope at the side of the machine. This device is quite similar
to the Fanzi device on the jacquard machine in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the interactive double-tread double-heddle
machine appeared. The characteristic of this kind of loom is that it adopts the
opening of the lower pressing heddle, which is connected with the lower ends of
the two healds by two footboards, and the lever is used on the top of the machine,
and the two ends are respectively connected with the upper part of the two healds. In
this way, when the weaver steps on a footboard, one heald presses down a set of warp
threads. At the same time, the upper part of the heald pulls the lever on the top of the
machine to raise the other heald, forming a clearer opening. To open another shed,
step on another footboard. This kind of opening mechanism is very simple and clear
(see Fig. 8.19), and it has been very popular in Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries. The evolution of China’s loom from single-action machine to interactive
machine may benefit from the frequent cultural exchanges between the East and the
West in the thirteenth century. The double-tread double-heddle machine that we can
now see in the private sector is basically of this type.
Fig. 8.19 Interactive double-

tread double-heddle Machine
8.3.3 Jacquard Machine and Jacquard Technique
The most complicated loom is the jacquard machine, and the most complicated
technology is the jacquard technology. The so-called jacquard technology is also a
complex information storage technology. For silks with patterns, this complicated
jacquard information must be stored in various jacquard devices installed on the
loom, so that the memorized opening information can be recycled. This is like a
computer program today. After this program is compiled, all operations can be
repeated without having to restart each time. Judging from the Warring States
brocade unearthed from the Mashan Chu Tomb in Jiangling, Hubei, China’s jac-
quard machine and silk weaving technology have become very mature in the Spring
and Autumn Period.
However, the jacquard technology is not achieved overnight. It has gone through
a process from cross-stitch work to jacquard. All of the aforementioned looms can be
used to pick patterns on them, especially the original waist machine, oblique looms,
and horizontal machines, which have indeed been used to weave patterned fabrics in
history. There are two methods of cross-stitch work. One is to pick one weft and
weave one weft. This method must require the weaver to be confident; the other is to
pick one cycle and weave one cycle. This method is more common. But no matter
what, this method still can’t improve work efficiency, because the information of
cross-stitch cannot be stored and reused for a long time. In order to solve this
problem, the ancients explored two ways to shift towards jacquard technology.
One way is to “soften” the cross-stitch rods, replacing the rods with healds, which
evolve into a multi-heddle jacquard machine; the other way is to keep the cross-stitch
rules of rod the same, which evolves into the flower-style jacquard machine.
8.3.4 Multi-heddle Jacquard Machine
It is generally believed that multi-heddle jacquard machines have appeared in the

Han Dynasty. Reliable evidences came from San Guo Zhi Fang Ji Zhuan (Three
Kingdoms: Fang Ji Biography). Note: “The old loom has 50 heddles and 50 treads,
or 60 heddles and 60 treads.” During the Three Kingdoms Period, the old loom was
from the Han Dynasty. A loom that controls one heald and the same number of
healds should be a pedal-type multi-heald jacquard machine, which is called multi-
heald and multi-heald loom today. Prior to that, there might have been portable
multi-heald jacquard machine.
The model of multi-heald pedal loom can still be found in Shuangliu County,
Sichuan, and it is called Dingqiao loom. In fact, this is a kind of railing loom, which
is distributed all over the country. Its characteristic is to control a heald with one
tread. There are more healds, but with narrow width, and it can only weave a belt.
There are two types of healds used in Dingqiao looms. One is the lifting heddle, also
known as the Fan Zi, which has an opening on the heald eye, and the pedal is lifted
by the crow wood. The Dingqiao loom is not equal to the multi-heald pedal machine
in the Han Dynasty. We know that there is no heddle in the Han Dynasty, and the
226 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.20 Multi-heald pedal loom
width of its fabric will be much larger than that on the Dingqiao loom. However, the
main principle should be the same (see Fig. 8.20).
8.3.5 Low Flower-Style Jacquard
Low flower jacquard machines can have many forms, among which the typical one
is the bamboo cage machine. The cross-stitch rod of the bamboo cage machine is
usually made of bamboo. Therefore, the flower-style jacquard machine developed
from the cross-stitch work also first adopted the bamboo flower style, which
appeared in the Han Dynasty. However, there are still remains of its style today,
and many of them are preserved in Guangxi, Hunan, and Guizhou. They are
generally called bamboo cage machines or pig cage machines locally. It is charac-
terized by a large bamboo cage hung on the machine. About 100 jacquard bamboo
sticks are arranged on the bamboo cage. When the jacquard is open, it goes through
the following steps: all the warp threads to be lifted penetrate the healds before the
bamboo sticks, and the ones that are not lifted are behind the bamboo sticks, so that
the jacquard bamboo sticks separate the two sets of healds. Lift the bamboo cage to
make the warp threads form an opening, and then use tools such as a warp plate and
an opening bamboo tube to make the opening clearer. The bamboo sticks used as
flower types are moved to the other side of the bamboo cage and arranged last for the
next cycle. This principle is very scientific (see Fig. 8.21).
Fig. 8.21 Flower-style

bamboo cage machine
Although the type of bamboo cage machine was discovered in modern times,
traces can also be found in ancient historical materials. The jacquard machine
described in Wang Yi’s “Ji Fu Fu” in the Eastern Han Dynasty should be the original
bamboo weaving machine.
The tall buildings and Lulu in the text should refer to the device that lifts the
bamboo flower, and the star map is the bamboo flower. The bamboo weaving
machine was still in use until the Tang Dynasty.
8.3.6 Bundling Jacquard
Bundling jacquard machine is characterized by thread-made patterns. On the one

hand, it is a direct deformation of the bamboo weaving machine, and on the other
hand, it is the product of combining the 1-N hanging system of the Central Asian
weft machine with the traditional Chinese flower-style machine.
The bundling jacquard machine appeared in the early Tang Dynasty. A brocade
with auspicious characters for sheep, lanterns, and trees unearthed in Turpan,
Xinjiang, has symmetrical and looping patterns. It may have been an example of
the emergence of a bundling jacquard machine. In the early Tang Dynasty, a large
number of small clusters of pattern brocades are very clear products with 1-N handle
looms. However, the physical images did not appear until the Southern Song
Dynasty. The satin machine in “Silkworm Weaving Picture” that kept in The
Heilongjiang Provincial Museum And the Luo machine in the “Tilling and Weaving
Picture” kept in Chinese History Museum belong to this category (see Fig. 8.22).
The fuselage of this loom jacquard machine is straight, with a bulge in the middle
and a flower bed hanging upstairs. A garter is pulling the flower book to one side.
Support it by passing it, and hang it in the pit with its feet. There are two ground
228 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.22 The bundling

jacquard in the Silkworm
Weaving Picture noted by
Empress Wu
healds in front of the Hualou, and the ground healds are stepped up with a footboard.
The reed is used for the loom, and the reed is stacked to help the weft.
This kind of straight-line jacquard machine can be called a horizontal small-
flower jacquard machine, which is mainly suitable for weaving light and thin fabrics
such as silk yarn. It is a common jacquard machine in Jiangnan area. The use of a
horizontal frame is to reduce the reeling force of the stacking wood. Song Yingxing
said that “with its fineness, it could prevent the stacking of woods,” which also refers
to this. The Huajizi in “Zi Ren Yi Zhi” by Xue Jingshi in the Yuan Dynasty is also a
horizontal jacquard machine, which describes the frame size and loom components
in great details.
The jacquard machine recorded in the Tian Gong Kai Wu belongs to the oblique-type small
floral jacquard machine: “The overall length of the floral machine is one foot and six feet
long. The rod at the end of the machine is coiled, and the middle is used to stack two woods.
It runs straight through the two woods which are about four feet long. The tips are inserted at
the two ends of the reed. ...” A notable feature of the development of jacquard machines in
the Qing Dynasty was the increased inclination of the machine body.
The peak of the development of bundling jacquard machines is the Dahualou

machine, such as the Nanjing copy satin machine and makeup machine. Its charac-
teristic is that the flower is large and circular, which can also be seen as the result of
the flower being separated from the Qu line again. The pattern cycle can be
extremely large, weaving a robe like dragon robe, and the cycle reaches more than
ten meters. When pulling flowers, the florist sits in the middle of the machine and
pulls back. The fuselage is usually inclined. As for the number of healds used by the
jacquard machine, the number of healds depends on the type of fabric, ranging from
2, 5, and 8. The healds include two types of Ti Zong and Fu Zong, which are selected
according to different varieties (see Fig. 8.23).
Fig. 8.23 The big flower-style bundling jacquard machine
8.3.7 Hua Ben (Painting Pattern) – Jacquard Program
The program of the jacquard machine is called Hua Ben. Song Yingxing has a very
classic explanation of Hua Ben in Tian Gong Kai Wu:
The artisans should draw the floral patterns on the paper and measure the length and width
before applying them unto the jacquard program. When weaving, the spinners could not see
the pattern. But after weaving, such a painting pattern would appear.
This kind of thread-made pattern was later developed into a pattern plate on a
jacquard machine. Perforated cardboard and steel needles are used to control the
jacquard pattern of the loom. The position of the hole is different, and the pattern is
different. Later, the cardboard with holes inspired the transmission principle of
telegraph signals, which was the prototype of early computers. It can be seen that
the jacquard machine invented in ancient China has a huge impact on the modern
history of science and technology in the world.
8.4 Colors
8.4.1 Mineral Dyeing and Vegetable Dyeing
Mineral pigments use adhesives to print fabrics or dye fabrics with their very fine
particles, which was called stone dyeing in ancient times. The pigments commonly
used at that time were red, yellow, green, blue, black, and white. Among them,
hematite, also known as ochre (Fe2O3), was the earliest pigment used for fabric
coloring, but it was soon replaced by cinnabar (HgS). Traces of cinnabar have been
230 F. Zhao
seen on the fabrics of the Yangshao culture in Qingtai Village, Xingyang, Henan
Province, and it became more common in the Yin and Zhou Dynasties. It has gained
wide popularity for its pure, strong, and colorful colors. A whole piece of cinnabar-
dyed fabric was still found in the Mawangdui Han Tomb, and it will gradually
become rare in the future. The yellow mineral raw material is mainly stone yellow,
which is divided into orpiment (As2S3) and realgar (AsS). It has been seen in dyeing
in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The yellow color has red light, and the color is full and
pure. Later, mineral yellow pigments in textile printing and dyeing were mostly
replaced by gold. Most of the cyan pigments are minerals containing copper ions,
among which there are hollow blue (CuSO4), azurite green [CuCO3·Cu(OH)2],
azurite [2CuCO3·Cu(OH)2], etc. Among them, azurite is malachite.
There are many whitings. One is called chalk soil, which is used as a brightener
for fabrics and also as a white pigment. Later, lead powder [PbCO3·Pb(OH)2], also
known as hufen, was used for mixing the paste with lead powder; there were also
Buddhist monks who used the lead powder for mixing perilla oil. Among the
printed fabrics unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, sericite
[KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2] was used as a powdery white pigment, and galena (the
main component is PbS) was used as a silver-gray pigment. The black mineral
material is mainly ink. In the early days, natural black minerals may have been
used, and later they were made from lacquer smoke and loose coal. Various
colloids or medicinal materials were added to improve the color and gloss of
the ink.
However, vegetable dyes were mainly used in the dyeing of ancient Chinese
textiles. In Zhou Li·Di Guan, there is a role responsible for “vegetable dyeing”:
“They are responsible for dyeing with grass in spring and autumn.” Dyeing grass is
now known as plant dyes or vegetable dyes. According to Tang Liu Dian: “Every
dye is mostly made of plants and trees, some with flowers and leaves, some with
stems, some with root bark.” The most important red dyes are madder and red,
flowers, hematoxylin, etc. The yellow dyes include Sophora japonica, Gardenia,
Phellodendron amurense, Rehmannia glutinosa, etc. The blue dye is mainly indigo,
but the plants that can prepare indigo include Polygonum, Sophora blue, Isatis
indica, etc. Purple dyes are only Lithospermum; the green dye has a kind of freeze
green. Almost all plants contain tannins in their skins and stems, which can be dyed
into dark brown by mordant dyeing.
8.4.2 Safflower and Dye Red
There are two kinds of pigments in safflower. Safflower pigment is soluble in alkali
but not soluble in acid and water, while yellow pigment is soluble in acid and water
but not soluble in alkali. The preparation, extraction, and dyeing of safflower dye are
all based on this.
There are generally two preparation forms of safflower dye, one is called dry
safflower, and the other is safflower cake. The method of making dried safflower is
called the method of killing flowers in Qi Min Yao Shu: “Pick it and pound it to make
it cooked, wash it with water, and squeeze the yellow juice with a cloth bag; pound it
with rice pulp and vinegar. The person who washes it, then twists the juice with a
cloth bag. Collect and dye the red. Do not discard it. Twist it, put it in the urn, cover it
with cloth.” The method of making safflower cake is similar to this, except that the
pancakes are finally kneaded and stored in the shade.
In the early stage of using safflower, people used the finest carthamin to prepare
rouge, while the inferior dye liquor containing a lot of yellow pigment was used for
silk dyeing. Since the Tang Dynasty, the separation technology of red and yellow
pigments has been further improved, and people have been able to dye the color of
pure safflower pigment, called true red. According to Wu Li Xiao Shi (Physics
Knowledge) by Fang Yizhi in the Ming Dynasty: “Soak safflower in river water.
Wrap it in the next day and wash off the yellow water. Then wash it with warm water,
and pour it with beanstalk ash.” The first immersion in neutral or acidic river water is
to further remove the yellow pigment in the safflower cake. Then, the carthamin is
leached with alkaline beanstalk ash, and then the flower juice is neutralized to acidity
with sour plum water, which can be used for dyeing. Changing the concentration of
the carthamin dye solution can yield different dyeing such as lotus red, peach red,
silver red, water red, and so on.
8.4.3 Indigo and Dye Blue
The stems and leaves of various bluegrasses contain indoxyl which can be con-
densed into indigo, but its existence form in various plant cells is different. The form
of woad is Isatin, which can hydrolyze free indole when it encounters alkali and then
be oxidized to indigo, while other bluegrasses such as indigo and indicant, under the
action of enzymes and acids, can hydrolyze free indoxyl and then oxidize to indigo.
This principle determines the development process of indigo dyeing technology in
China.
The early process of indigo dyeing was to make indigo by alkali, which could
only be used for woad. At first, the plant ash was dyed together with the blue liquor.
The alkaline agent hydrolyzed the IsatinB and directly oxidized it to deposit on the
fabric. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the indigo was hydrolyzed with lime and
fermented to produce indigo and then used for the reduction method for dye. The
method of producing indigo is recorded in Qi Min Yao Shu:
In order to make the indigo color, one should dig a pit in the mid July with the depth of
5 inches and pour the indigo plant and water in it. After heating it for one night and cooling it
for another night, it could better ferment. After 7 days, the indigo color could be made
succesfully.
The method of making indigo in Tian Gong Kai Wu is similar to the above, but it
takes 7 days to soak in water, which increases the fermentation time, so that some
plants that require enzymes and acids to hydrolyze indigo can also be used to make
indigo. So it can be called fermented indigo. Indigo made from indigo plant may
232 F. Zhao
have appeared before and after the Tang and Song Dynasties. Before this, indigo
plant could only dye green and could not make indigo.
The produced indigo is not soluble in acid and alkali solution. It must be reduced
to indigo white before dyeing and dyed with indigo white soluble in alkaline
solution. The Tian Gong Kai Wu said: “When the indigo is put into the tank, it
must be mixed with rice ash water first, and the bamboo sticks are used to stir it every
day.” The purpose of rice ash water and water is to increase the alkalinity of the
solution and neutralize the fermentation. Acid speeds up the reaction process. The
stirring is to accelerate the fermentation reduction, so that the indigo can be reduced
to indigo white and dissolved in the dye liquor, dyed on the fiber, and then oxidized
in the air to indigo to be fixed on the fiber. If repeating this many times, you can dye
deeper and firmer indigo blue.
8.4.4 Mordant Dyeing
Except that safflower is for acid dyes, indigo for reduction dyes, gardenia, turmeric,
and other small amounts for direct dyes, most of the dyes contain mordant genes and
can be dyed with mordant dyeing.
The dyeing process of mordant dye firstly involves mordant. Most ancient
mordants can be divided into two types: iron and aluminum. The iron ion mordant
is mainly derived from green vitriol, and its basic component is FeSO4. Because it
can be used to dye black, it is also called soap vitriol. In the Tang Dynasty, Chen
Zangqi’s Ben Cao Shi Yi (Materia Medica Supplements) recorded an artificially
prepared iron slurry as an iron mordant: “This is to take all the iron and soak it in
water for a long time, and it will be colored green.” The principle is that iron is
oxidized into iron oxide in water and converted into iron hydroxide to precipitate. A
very small amount of iron ions can play a mordant effect. The aluminum ion mordant
is mainly alum, and its main component is KAl(SO4)2, but its application is
relatively late. In the Central Plains, plant ash was used as a mordant. According
to historical records in the Wei and Tang Dynasties, the plants that used burned ash
as mordant at that time mainly included quinoa, ash, saccharum, wormwood, etc.
According to modern scientific methods, they were rich in aluminum. Therefore, the
main function is aluminum mordant dyeing.
The origin of mordant dyeing process has various factors, but its process types are
no more than four kinds of media method, pre-media method, post-media method,
and multi-media method.
8.4.5 The Five Elements and Five Colors
Many of the above dyes can be dyed into countless colors through various tech-
niques and formulations such as single dyeing and redyeing. The variety of ancient
color names also illustrates the development of dyeing technology.
When we analyzed and studied the colors of Han-style cloud-gas animal brocades
unearthed in Xinjiang and other places, we found that most of the cloud-gas animal
brocades at that time had exactly five colors. Some brocades can only use three
colors of warp in the same area, weavers can change colors in different areas to
increase it; some can only use four colors in one area, and then weavers add another
color. The “Five Stars From the East Benefit China” brocade unearthed at the Niya
site has five colors in every place, so there is no need to separate areas. This
phenomenon is by no means accidental. It should be related to the theory of Yin
and Yang and the Five Elements at that time.
According to Zhou Li · Dong Gong, the standard five colors are red, yellow,
blue, white, and black, which are generally associated with the five elements
or five directions in traditional Chinese culture. The gold, water, wood, fire,
and earth in the five elements or five stars correspond to white, black, blue,
red, and yellow respectively. The east, west, south, and north of the five sides
correspond to blue, red, white, and black, respectively, and the middle is
considered yellow. The five-color brocade with animal patterns in the Han
Dynasty is obviously related to this, especially the “five stars from the east
benefit China” brocade, which clearly corresponds to the five colors on the
fabric. But at that time, the five colors of brocade were generally blue, red,
yellow, green, and white. Blue was used instead of black, and green was used
instead of blue. This may be because brocade is more beautiful, so weavers
like to use more beautiful colors.
After the Han Dynasty, the records of color names became more and more
abundant, but they were also quite scattered. The more concentrated ones were in
Shuo Wen in the Han Dynasty; Sui Jin and Nan Cun Chuo Geng Lu in the Yuan
Dynasty; Duo Neng Bi Shi, Tian Gong Kai Wu, and Tian Shui Bing Shan Lu in the
Ming Dynasty; Yang Zhou Hua Fang Lu and Bu Jing in the Qing Dynasty; and
Xue Huan Xiu Pu in the modern time. There are also abundant records on the
colors of satin that were paid tribute to emperor, such as red, including scarlet,
pink, carmine red, flesh red, aronia red, deciduous red, maroon, black red, plum
red, crimson red, lotus red, silver red, water red, and wood red. There are more
than 20 kinds of red: red, Huaian red, Jinghong, Begonia red, double red, bright
red, blood tooth, tooth scarlet, etc.; yellow has ocher, apricot, garden yellow,
persimmon yellow, goose yellow, turmeric, willow yellow, golden, tender yellow,
river yellow, red yellow, agarwood, ivory, Zhongming, garden eye, honey yellow,
bright yellow, bronze, fan yellow, pine flower, seedling color, lotus, sand, beige,
pink yellow, garcinia, etc. There are nearly 30 kinds of Lao Ying, Mo Ying, Yin
Ying, Honey, Honey, Lacquer, etc.; blue tones include blue, egg, turquoise, sky
blue, heqing, shrimp green, Mianyang green, Buddha head green, master Blue,
small cylinder blue, tide blue, suzu blue, sea blue, pu blue, azurite blue, jing blue,
ultra blue, ink blue, true blue, qing pao, swallowtail blue, rubber blue, pu blue, red
blue, Beijing blue, sea blue, royal blue, lake blue, moon blue, soft blue, double
blue, royal blue, cabbage green, gray green, peach green, etc. Almost every
category has more than 20 color names, which shows the superb level of dyeing
technology in ancient China.
234 F. Zhao
8.5 Types of Silk and Satin
8.5.1 Cloth and Silk: Plain Fabrics
Plain weave is the simplest weave in textiles, which is commonly referred to as a

one-up and one-down structure. Although simple, the varieties woven with this
structure are the most basic. More than 99% of textiles are made of this weave.
For example, the mass-produced linen cloth and cotton cloth use plain weave, which
is usually called cloth. However, when this kind of weave structure is used on silk, it
will be divided into many types according to the thickness of its thread, the density of
warp and weft, or whether it is twisted or dyed and thus has different names.
The earliest term for plain weave silk fabrics was Bo (帛, silk), and another
common name was Zeng (缯, an ancient term for silk fabrics). In the Han Dynasty,
the name “Zeng Bo” (缯帛) began to be used together. Xu Shen said in Shuo Wen:
“Zeng, means Bo” and also “Bo, means Zeng.” During the Wei and Tang Dynasties,
Juan (绢, thin, though silk) became the general term for plain fabrics. In Shuo Wen,
Juan is described as a plain weave fabric with straw color, which may refer to a color
that has not been dyed and turned yellow. In the commentaries of major schools of
thought during the Wei and Tang Dynasties, Juan has been listed as a general name,
and silk was used as the general name in the taxes in the Wei and Tang Dynasties,
which also shows that silk was already a general term for ordinary plain weave
fabrics at that time.
However, there are many differences in the Juan. Gao (缟, plain white silk), Wan
(纨, fine silk fabrics), Su (素, plain silk), and Xiao (绡, raw silk) are common
unrefined plain weave fabrics. Lian (练, white silk) is another name for cooked
silk that has not been dyed after it has been boiled. The naming of the colored silk is
very simple: just add a color name before the silk. But in the early days, the naming
was very complicated. There was almost a special term for one color, such Gan (绀)
for black touched with red. There are more than 30 such words, and most of them
have been abandoned later.
In addition, the plain weave fabric with thin threads and low density has a light
and thin touch, which can be called yarn or more clearly plain yarn. In ancient times,
yarn (纱) can also be written as sand (沙). Li Ji (Book of Rites) says that “the queen
and wife of Emperor Zhou wears white yarn as the interior, which is called plain
silk,” which means that the holes are sparse and can leak sand. In the Han Dynasty,
there were yarn varieties such as plain yarn and square hole yarn. Plain yarn is
ordinary yarn, but it is also quite light. Another square hole yarn, also known as
square mesh yarn, was often used in the Han Dynasty to make crowns or pads.
However, plain weave fabrics with thick threads and high density may be called Ti
(绨, thick silk). According to Shuo Wen: “Ti, means thick Zeng.” There is also a kind
of fabric called Jian (缣, two twisted strands of fine silk) in historical materials,
which may refer to a fabric woven with a heavy flat structure. This kind of weave
structure appeared very early. In the tomb of Fu Hao in Yinxu, Anyang, Henan,
many fabric traces of this kind were found on the marks of bronze ware, including
two upper and two lower wefts, warps, and squares. Later, similar objects were
found in the tombs of Huang Junmeng and his wife in Chunqiu, Xinyang, Henan,
and more were found in the Han tombs of Mancheng, Hebei. Through the use of
twisted silk thread, weave into a plain weave fabric, which can be creped after being
refined. This kind of plain weave silk fabric with relatively light texture, slender
warp strands, and creped surface was called Hu (縠) in ancient times and called crepe
in later generations.
8.5.2 From Qi (Woven Silk) to Ling (Thin Silk)
The name Qi appeared earlier. In Chu Ci·Zhao Hun, there is a sentence of “Fine
Brocade and Colored Fabric.” The Shuo Wen said:“ Qi, means Zeng.” Wen Zeng is
also a plain fabric with patterns. Comparing with the real objects unearthed during
the Warring States Period and the Qin and Han Dynasties, it refers to the plain weave
pattern fabric at that time, which was called Qi in the Han Dynasty (see Fig. 8.24).
However, in the Wei, Jin, Southern, and Northern Dynasties, the name Qi, except
occasionally seen in poems, rarely appeared in real life. The similar floral pattern
fabric was called Ling. Ling’s name appeared very frequently during the Tang and
Song Dynasties, and the general plain and twill patterned fabrics were called Ling. In
Fig. 8.24 The fortress and

tower pattern silk in the
Northern Dynasty
236 F. Zhao
the Tang Dynasty, the robes of officials were made of Ling. Ling occupied a large
proportion in the tributary silk and fabrics in the Tang Dynasty, with an astonishing
number of varieties and types. Dingzhou in Hebei, Caizhou in Henan, and Jiangsu
and Zhejiang after the mid-Tang Dynasty are all main production areas for Ling. At
that time, the production of Ling was also huge. Tang Liu Dian records that there was
an official Weaving and Dyeing Department in the government that hired skilled
craftsmen from various places to produce Ling. For example, in the period of
Empress Wu, there were 365 “Qiao Er” (skilled craftsmen) in the Ling Workshop
alone, 83 in-house craftsmen, and 150 in Yeting Palace. In addition to the official
business, private workshops in the Tang Dynasty were also very prosperous. For
example, He Mingyuan in Dingzhou “has 500 knitting machines in his family.”
Large workshops of this size were not available in previous generations. In the Song,
Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, there was an increasing number of Ling varieties,
but most of them were single-layered floral fabrics (see Fig. 8.25).
Regarding the structure of Ling, Bai Juyi, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote
a poem “Liao Ling” that was extremely objective and appropriate:
What do Liao Ling Ling Ling look like? It's not like Luo Ling and Qi Qi
It should be like a rooftop on the mountain before the moonlight, with a forty-five-foot
waterfall spring
The floral pattern looks like white snow and smoke.
Who are the weavers? They are maids in the royal palace.
They drew the inspirations of floral patterns from the nature
Fig. 8.25 The floral pattern

Ling in the Liao Dynasty
Like the wild goose in autumn and natural scenery of Jiangnan

And make them into the patterns for weaving silks and brocades
The silk has multiple colors that one could see the differences from various angles.
Here are a few sentences that are particularly interesting for understanding the
variety of Ling from the Tang Dynasty. For example: “What do Liao Ling Ling Ling
look like? It’s not like Luo Ling and Qi Qi.” Ling, Luo, and Qi are all dark floral
fabrics, but there are still differences. Bai Juyi pointed out the subtle differences: “It
should be like a rooftop on the mountain before the moonlight, with a forty-five-foot
waterfall spring.” 45-foot was the size of 40 feet equal to 1 pi and 4 feet at the time.
In the Tang Dynasty, the weight was usually used for inspections. Therefore, people
at that time would weave more to guarantee the weight; Bai Juyi uses “smoke” and
“snow” to describe the patterns. The two words are appropriate. Both the smoke and
the snow are white. Judging from the situation at the time, the silk patterns in eastern
Zhejiang were mainly flowers with a plain background. Also, according to the poem,
the task of producing Liao Ling mainly came from the palace, and the task of pattern
design of Liao Ling also came from the palace, but the production and weaving were
carried out in Yuezhou, Zhejiang, which is today’s Shaoxing, Zhejiang.
8.5.3 Satin: The Most Popular Fabric in the Ming and Qing
Dynasties
Satin is a silk fabric made of satin weave. In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, satin was
generally called “Zhu Si” (ramie silk). The name of satin did not appear often until in
literature documents in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Some names of satins are
based on the origin, such as Sichuan satin, Guang satin, Beijing satin, Lu satin, etc.;
some are named by purpose, such as robe satin, skirt satin, sleeve satin, etc.; some
are named after patterns, such as cloud satin, dragon satin, python satin, etc.; some
are based on the size of the silk structure, such as five silk, eight silk, six silk satin,
seven silk satin, etc.; there are also those named after the characteristics of crafts-
manship, such as plain satin, floral satin, makeup satin, and so on. The first thing that
can be seen in the floral satin is the five floral pattern satin unearthed in the tomb of
Qian Yu (1320) in Wuxi, Jiangsu (see Fig. 8.26). Since then, satin has become very
common, such as the tomb of Li Yu’an in Zoucheng, Shandong, (1350) and the tomb
of Cao in Suzhou, Jiangsu, (1367).
Satin fabrics are generally made of silk, which can be divided into many varieties.
Floral pattern satin refers to a single-layer jacquard fabric with positive and negative
satin patterns on the surface. Today it is called positive and negative satin. In the
historical materials of Ming and Qing Dynasties, Peng satin, Gong satin, Ku satin,
Tou Hao, Mu Ben, Hua Lei, etc. all refer to dark floral satin. Plain satin refers to
non-jacquard satin fabrics. Generally, warp satin has a luster effect like a satin. The
main difference between the various plain satins is the size of the texture loop.
Satin fabrics are also yarn-dyed, which means that there are more than two colors
of satin fabrics, the most common of which is flash satin. This is a single-layer
238 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.26 The floral pattern

satin in the Ming Dynasty
jacquard satin with different colors of warp and weft threads (often two contrasting
colors). The general texture is warp satin, weft satin, or weft twill pattern. In this
way, the color of the weft is often flickering, so it is called flash satin or flash color.
Xian Chun Lin An Zhi records the name Shan He (flash brown) of cloth silk, which
may be the predecessor of the satin, but there is no real evidence to prove it. In the
Ming Dynasty, the satin names indicated the colors of warp and weft silk such as
deep blue flashing bright red or red flashing green, which showcased that the use of
character Shan (flash) was just right.
8.5.4 Yarn and Silk: Doup End Fabric
The warp threads of the yarn and the silk are twisted together during weaving, thus
forming some sparse holes, so they are called Leno. The original meaning of yarn
refers to the sparseness that can leak sand, so part of the sparse plain weave can also
be called yarn. However, in the twisted warp fabric, there is a weave structure in
which two warps twist each other and each weft twists once. This kind of square hole
is not easy to slip and thus becomes stronger. So it is also called yarn. The 1:1 skein
of the plain fabric is called square hole yarn, also known as monofilament yarn,
which appeared in the late Tang Dynasty. Wang Jian’s Zhi Jin Qu (The Brocade
Song) mentioned that “people still wear garments made of monofilament yarn in the
palace.” Around the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the dark floral pattern yarn
appeared. It is actually a jacquard fabric with skein weave and plain weave or other
common weaves. Among them, there are mainly bright pattern yarn, solid yarn,
floating flower yarn, spring yarn, and other varieties (see Fig. 8.27).
Luo (silk) is also a twisted fabric, but the holes formed by it are not square.
Therefore, it’s generally believed that those with square holes are called yarns and
Fig. 8.27 The geometry pattern yarn in the Qing Dynasty
those with pepper-shaped holes are called Luo. The early Luo weave structure is
often called the chain Luo, with its main feature being a strict ratio between the
ground warp and the twisted warp. There is no clear twisted warp. This kind of Luo
first appeared in the Shang Dynasty. There are many traces of Luo fabric on the
bronze wares unearthed from the Fuhao Tomb of Yin Ruins. The chain Luo reached
its peak during the Han and Tang Dynasties and continued into the late Ming
Dynasty. However, the production technology of such Luo weave texture has now
been lost. Hang Luo, the traditional silk product of Hangzhou nowadays, is actually
a straight Luo, which is a skein fabric with warp-wise or longitudinal lines (see
Fig. 8.28).
8.5.5 The Origin and Development of Tapestry
Tapestry is woven by the so-called “connecting warp and breaking weft” method.
When weaving, the natural color of the silk is used as the warp, and the colored silk
is used as the weft. The weft of each color is woven in a plain weave according to the
drawing with a small shuttle. Its characteristic is that the weft does not run through
the entire web like ordinary fabrics, but only woven into the section that needs this
color. As early as in the Song Dynasty, Zhuang Chuo’s Ji Lei Pian described the
weaving method and characteristics of Tapestry: “Dingzhou weaving and engraving
silk, do not use big machines, use cooked silk to warp wood and wood, and make
flowers, plants and animals as you like When weaving the weft with a small weft,
leave it in place first, and garnish the warp and weft with variegated threads, and
form a text if they are not connected. It is viewed from the sky, like a carved image,
hence the name carved silk. Like a woman A person can wear one garment all the
year round. Although it is made of flowers, it can be made of different kinds. The
240 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.28 The cup pattern

Luo in the Han Dynasty
weft thread is not woven by the shuttle.” Tapestry (Kesi, 缂丝) is sometimes written
as 剋丝 (Kesi) and 克丝 (Kesi).
In China, tapestry was first discovered on wool fabrics, and it is called Ke
Mao (缂毛). In the Tang Dynasty, it developed into tapestry. The tapestry of the
Tang Dynasty was unearthed in Turpan of Xinjiang, Dunhuang of Gansu, Dulan
of Qinghai, and other places. The Song Dynasty was the heyday of the develop-
ment of tapestry. Due to the love of the emperor of the Song Dynasty and the
rapid development of academy-style painting, the tapestry products became more
artistic. The tapestry artwork is often based on paintings, such as Zhu Kerou’s
flower tapestry album and Shen Zifan’s flower and bird works. The style is quite
similar to the academy paintings in the Song Dynasty (see Fig. 8.29). At the same
time, the Song Dynasty still produced a large number of tapestry daily necessi-
ties. In Hong Hao’s Song Mo Ji Wen, there is a record of Uighurs using tapestry
to weave gowns. The unearthed objects are mostly tapestry caps and tapestry
boot covers.
In the Yuan Dynasty, with the further development of tapestry technology, there
appeared works that used tapestry to weave the portrait of emperor, called Zhi Yu
Rong (The Fabric of Emperor’s Portrait). Zhi Yu Rong is a unique craft from
Mongolia in the Yuan Dynasty, which reflected the Mongolian people’s enthusiasm
for silk. Hua Su Ji (The Painting and Sculpture) of the Yuan Dynasty records the
historical facts of weaving the portrait of the Mongolian emperor. In the Mongolian
Yuan Dynasty, painting the emperor’s portrait is the first step for weaving. Nepa-
lese Aniko is the first person known to make such a portrait fabric. However, the
only real emperor portrait tapestry handed down from the ancient China is the
portrait of Emperor Wenzong and Emperor Mingzong of the Yuan Dynasty now
collected in the Metropolitan Museum. Although this is not exactly the same as the
Fig. 8.29 The tapestry peony

picture said to be painted by
Zhu Kerou in the Song
Dynasty
one in the record, it can be seen from that the weaving technology at that time has
been really advanced.
8.5.6 Jin (Brocade): The Most Magnificent Silk Fabric
The character Jin (锦) is combined by Jin (金, gold) and Bo (帛, silk), which shows
people’s understanding and interpretation of brocade at the very beginning: “Jin
means gold. Its price is like gold, so only those prestigious figures could wear Jin.”
The privilege of Jin is due to the complexity of the craft and the superb weaving
skills. Brocade is a kind of boiled and colorful fabric, which can show different
patterns of multiple colors through the change of weave. Thus, it was called brocade,
with the definition as follows: those with colorful patterns are called brocade.
Analyzing the fabrics at that time, we can see that most of the weaving colors are
heavy fabrics. However, after the Song and Yuan Dynasties, there were a large
number of boiled fabrics or heavy fabrics, so that the name of Jin/brocade was rarely
used. Instead, most of them were specifically called satin and the like. The advantage
of this is that the scope of the brocade can be mainly limited to the type of double
insertion and re-organization texture.
242 F. Zhao
The earliest occurrence of the word “Jin” in the literature is in Shi Jing·Xiao
Ya·Xiang Bo: “It is beautiful and beautiful, and it is a shell brocade.” But in real
objects, the earliest brocade we identified was from the beginning of the Western
Zhou Dynasty. The warp brocade was woven with a re-organization of the warp
threads. In the tombs of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period
in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, warp brocade has taken a dominating position. The
most famous is the dancing people and animal brocade from the Mashan Chu tomb
in Jiangling, Hubei. The warp threads used are of deep red, deep yellow, and the
three colors. The wefts are brown, and there are themes such as dancing people,
dragons, phoenixes, unicorns, and geometric patterns in the pattern. The layout is
5.5 cm in the warp direction and 49.1 cm in the latitude direction. It shows that the
weaving of warp brocade at that time has adopted a multi-heald jacquard weaving
machine (see Fig. 8.30). The warp brocade was very popular in the Han Dynasty.
Among the brocades unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan, there are also a
kind of velvet brocade and embossed brocade, which makes the patterns on the
fabric look more vivid. This variety is very likely to be the “Zhi Jin Xiu” (Splendid
Brocade) recorded in the literature in the Han Dynasty.
From about the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, weft brocade fabrics
began to appear in the brocade. There are many tombs in the fifth century in Turpan,
Yingpan, and Huahai in Xinjiang. A large number of plain weft brocades were
unearthed, most of which are simple animal cloud patterns, indicating the beginning
of the application of weft brocade in silk weaving technology. Around the early Tang
Dynasty, the diagonal weft brocade also began to appear and immediately became
popular. But we can still divide the weft brocade into the eastern and the western
types according to some weaving details. The so-called western type can also be
Fig. 8.30 The dancing

people and animal warp
brocade in the Warring States
Period
called Persian brocade, Sogte brocade, and Sadar brocade. Its warp threads have a
strong Z twist, and its patterns are mostly western style. Its origin may be in the
Sogte region of Central Asia (see Fig. 8.31). The other type is Tang-style weft
brocade, which uses S-twisted warp threads, and its patterns are dominated by
precious flowers or flowers and birds, mainly produced in the Central Plains (see
Fig. 8.32).
Fig. 8.31 The pig head

brocade in the Tang Dynasty
Fig. 8.32 The diamond

flower brocade in the Tang
Dynasty
244 F. Zhao
By the mid and late Tang Dynasty, the basic weave structure and weaving
technology of this kind of weft brocade had gone through enormous changes, and
a type called Liao-style brocade appeared. This is because this type of brocade was
discovered during the analysis of silk weaving in the Liao Dynasty, and this is the
basic feature of Liao Dynasty brocade, so we call it Liao-style brocade. The most
basic difference between the Liao-style weft brocade and the Tang brocade is the
different functions of the bright warp. The bright warp in the Tang brocade is only
fixed on the surface and produces a twill effect, while the bright warp of the Liao-
style weft brocade only occurs once on the surface and the reverse side of the fabric.
The rest are located between the upper and lower latitude lines, at the same position
as the warp.
The Liao-style weft brocade includes two categories: twill weft brocade and satin
weft brocade. Twill weft brocade can be divided into ordinary Liao-style twill weft
brocade, Liao-style floating twill weft brocade, makeup gold twill weft brocade, and
Liao-style diamond twill weft brocade. Satin weft brocade refers to the double-weft
surface heavy fabric with satin weave as the basic fixed weave. It can also be divided
into ordinary Liao-style satin weft brocade, floating satin weft brocade, and makeup
gold satin weft brocade. Liao-style weft brocade warp threads generally have no
obvious twisting. This kind of weft brocade is also widely used in the brocade in the
Song Dynasty. This kind of weave structure is used in the Ruihua Brocade with
Cloud Patterns of the Northern Song Dynasty at Ruiguang Tower in Suzhou, the
Five Dynasties Brocade from the Digong of Leifeng Tower in Hangzhou, and the
Diamond Sutra from the back of the Liaoning Provincial Museum.
Weaving gold into brocade can be called gold brocade. Nashishi is the most
famous and characteristic gold brocade in the Yuan Dynasty. It is also known as
Nasich. It is the transliteration of Nasich in Persian brocade (see Fig. 8.33). At that
time, the high-end costumes of government officials were mostly made of Nashi, “all
with gold and color.” Officials set up “Dyeing and Weaving Divisions” in qualified
areas across the country to gather weavers to produce a large number of Nashi for
clothing, curtains, quilts, and chair cushions in daily life. As for the military tent,
according to Marco Polo’s record, it was also made of this kind of brocade.
8.5.7 Three Famous Brocades
The three famous brocades in the legend are Song brocade, Shu brocade, and Yun
brocade. Song brocade is called Song-style brocade in academic circles. Shu brocade
is named by place. Yun brocade is named by patterns, but they are actually divided
by regions.
Song-style brocade is produced in Suzhou. During the Kangxi Period, someone
bought 10 pieces of Song Biao “Chun Hua Ge Tie” from Taixing Ji’s family,
uncovered 22 kinds of Song Biao brocade, and sold them in Suzhou to make patterns
and start production. These brocades produced there used the patterns of the Song
Dynasty but adopted the weave structure of the Qing Dynasty. So they can only be
called Song-style brocade or Song brocade. Ming and Qing Song brocades can be
Fig. 8.33 The dual lion

pattern gold brocade in the
Yuan Dynasty
divided into three types: heavy brocade, fine brocade, and box brocade according to
the fineness of craftsmanship, the quality of the materials, the thickness of the fabric,
and the performance. The heavy brocade uses silk thread or even gold thread or piece
of gold, displaying three weft diagonal flowers on three warp and oblique places.
The texture is heavy and delicate, with diversified and colored floral patterns. It is
mostly used as a huge hanging scroll and in various bedding and furnishing
materials. The fine brocade structure is changeable, and it is mostly made of sprint
woven. The silk is thinner, the weaving is sparse, and the thickness is moderate (see
Fig. 8.34). The pigment is elegant and simple, the weaving is thicker, and the texture
is soft and thin. It is specially used for mounting calligraphy and painting.
Shu brocade is produced in Chengdu, Sichuan, and has been famous since ancient
times, but it was destroyed by chaos in the late Ming Dynasty and restored by
Zhejiang people in the early Qing Dynasty. At this time, Shu brocade was also very
different from the Han and Tang Shu brocade. In the Qing Dynasty, Shu brocade was
particularly famous for Huanhua brocade, Ba satin, Huihui brocade, etc. Most of its
texture used warp threads as ground and weft threads for floral patterns. It is
characterized by bright and harmonious colors with delicate and fine weaving and
lighter and softer texture.
246 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.34 The Song-style

brocade in the Ming Dynasty
Yun brocade is generally considered to be associated with Nanjing. A fair view is

that Yun Brocade originated in the Yuan Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and
Qing Dynasties and has continued to this day. But in fact, Yun Brocade only refers to
the cloud-pattern brocade in history, and its use as a local name was as late as the
Republic of China. On the other hand, there are many varieties of brocade, most of
which do not belong to the scope of brocade, such as satin, etc., but there are also
woven gold and brocade that do use special knot heavy texture. The woven gold is
also called Ku Jin.
8.5.8 Nap Fabric
Nap is a kind of clothing fabric that is woven on the surface of the fabric to form a
layer of fluff. The earliest reliable record of nap fabrics in Chinese history should be
“Qie Mian Li” in the Yuan Shi·Yufu Zhi, which is self-annotated as “cut velvet” in
“Yuan History,” that is, velvet fabric after shearing.
The nap plain fabrics mainly include velveteen, carved velvet, double-sided
velvet, and Mashrub. In the literature of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are
often names such as “cut velvet,” “velvet,” “zhang velvet,” “jian velvet,” “wei
velvet,” and “wo satin.” They are all plain fabrics with raised texture, but the quality
and appearance are of different levels, and the names may vary depending on the
place of production and customs. Some of these varieties have the difference
between “flowers and vegetables.” But the flower here does not refer to jacquard,
but refers to a carved pattern that retains part of the velvet loops to form two levels of
cut velvet and wheel velvet. What we call plain velvet is a single-faced velvet that is
completely cut and not carved, such as Zhang velvet (plain), velvet (plain), Jian
velvet, etc., but generally everyone calls it Zhang velvet (see Fig. 8.35).
If Zhang velvet needs carved pattern, the velvet shall not be cut when weaving.
After the whole piece is finished, the pattern should be carved on the “velvet
surface.” The carving workers are all familiar with painting. Before carving, it is
Fig. 8.35 The Zhang velvet

fabrics in the Qing Dynasty
necessary to draw the pattern on the paper with chalk, divide the area on the surface
of the fabric, and then cover the pattern with a certain part of the fabric for making a
powder mark. When carving, follow this powder mark. Since the carved velvet is not
cut on the machine, the weaving is faster, and one person can weave 6 feet per
month. The carving operation is quite time-consuming, and roughly one carving
worker is assigned to every four velvet machines.
The pattern formed by the velvet loop is woven in a jacquard method, and then
the velvet is cut or left on the fabric. This type of velvet fabric is usually called Zhang
satin. The origin of the name Zhang satin is based on the legend that it was first
created in Zhangzhou. Qian Long Zhang Zhou Fu Zhi called Zhang satin as “the
product of Zhang.” However, this type of fabric was produced in Nanjing during the
Ming Dynasty. Zhang satin contains some exquisite varieties, such as colored Zhang
satin, golden color velvet, and floral velvet satin, which represent the highest level of
ancient silk weaving technology in China (see Fig. 8.36).
8.6 Printing and Dyeing and Embroidery
8.6.1 The Earliest Relief Printing
Printing technology is an extension of painting technology. It mixes dyes or pig-

ments with binders and uses relief plates or hollow plates to print them directly on
the fabric. The earliest direct relief printing material was unearthed from the Han
Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan. The gold and silver printed silk
unearthed from the tomb was overprinted in three colors of gold, silver, and yellow.
This printing method became the true source of Chinese printing. But the most
important printed board was unearthed in the Tomb of the King Nanyue in Guang-
zhou. This was also a large tomb in the early Western Han Dynasty. Not only were
248 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.36 The Zhang satin

fabrics in the Qing Dynasty
printed fabrics similar to those found in Mawangdui tombs, two bronze embossed
printed plates were also unearthed. One is larger and diamond-shaped, and its pattern
is similar to the flame pattern of the gold and silver printed yarn of Mawangdui Han
Tomb; the other is smaller and herringbone, and its pattern is similar to the turtle
back skeleton of the gold and silver printed yarn. This confirms the early use of relief
printing.
The emergence of relief printing was related to the popularity of Qin and Han
seals. In terms of its size, the printed version is no more than 6 cm long and 4 cm
wide, which is slightly larger than ordinary seals; in terms of its shape, the two are
also very similar, with a small perforated button on the back for handheld imprint.
The method used is also basically the same. At that time, seals were mostly used with
seal mud, and the text was reversely engraved. The printing plate was used to print
fabrics, but the printing method was the same (see Fig. 8.37). Therefore, that the
relief printing technology was firstly invented in China is closely related to tradi-
tional Chinese printing methods.
The method of relief printing was hardly found in the Wei and Tang Dynasties,
but it became very popular in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, indicating that it had
achieved great development at that time. In the tombs of the Song and Yuan
Dynasties, especially in the tomb of Huang Sheng of the Southern Song Dynasty,
it was found that many of the clothing trims were printed with relief printing and
hand-painting. From a physical analysis point of view, the size of this relief pattern
can be 5–50 cm in length and 1.5–5 cm in width, which is relatively long and narrow.
It is probably a pattern designed for printing clothing trim. Therefore, it can be used
for color printing or gold printing. Apply appropriate thick adhesive to the pattern to
print the shading of the pattern, or dip in golden paint to print the golden outline, and
then apply it by hand or outline to complete the whole work.
Fig. 8.37 The Bronze relief

printing in the Western Han
Dynasty
8.6.2 Twisting Tie-Dye: The Original Meaning of Anti-dye Printing
The most common printing in ancient times is the anti-dye printing, which was
called Xie (缬, figured silk fabrics) at that time. The original meaning of Xie is
twisted dye, which is called tie-dye today. The earliest twisted Xie material appeared
approximately in the Wei and Jin Dynasties (see Fig. 8.38), but in the Tang Dynasty
literature, there are many names such as squeezing Xie, roe Xie, drunken eye Xie,
Fang Sheng Xie, and Tuan Gong Xie.
It was not until the Wei and Jin Dynasties that there have been more discoveries of
tie-dye objects used for clothing, such as in the Beiliang Tomb of Foye Temple in
Dunhuang, Gansu, in the Tomb of Wei and Jin in Yumen Huahai, Yuli Yingpan
Cemetery in Xinjiang, in Astana in Turpan, and in the tombs of the Sui and Tang
Dynasties. There are also many discoveries in the grottoes and caves for preserving
Buddhist Sutras of Dunhuang during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty Period. There
were some changes in patterns. But most of them are small dots, while a few are of
mesh and flower-like patterns. In addition, the Shoso-in in Japan also collected some
tie-dye fabrics passed down from the Tang Dynasty.
Analyzing the unearthed objects, there were three main methods of tie-dye at that
time: one was the stitch twisting method, which used needles and wires to pass
through the fabric and then tightened the twist for dyeing. This method is the seam
twisting method, which is the most commonly used and most varied method in the
twisting process. The second is the binding method, which is a method of binding
and dyeing the fabric by stacking the blank or without stacking the blank. At present,
the most commonly seen are the Yuzi tie-dye, drunken eye tie-dye, and deer fetus
tie-dye, which are all obtained by this method. The third is the knotting method. This
is the simplest method of tie-dye. It is so simple that no needle and thread are needed.
250 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.38 The tie-dye silk in Beiliang
Just tie a knot and let the fabric itself resist dyeing. The resulting pattern is generally
straight stripes. A “Fish Clip” in the Shoso-in of Japan seems to be a knotted product.
The halo grape silk unearthed in Dulan, Qinghai, may also be a product of the
knotting method.
8.6.3 Clamping Tie-Dye: A Self-created Block Carving Anti-dye

Printing
Clamping tie-dye refers to a product that uses two symmetrical clamping plates to
clamp the fabric for dye-resistant printing. The name clamping tie-dye originated in
the Tang Dynasty. The poem Wan Ban Kai Hua Zeng Huang Fu Lang Zhong
of Bai Juyi from the Tang Dynasty mentioned: “There was a new method of dye
called Clamp Tie-dye.” This name was also mentioned in the documents of Xinjiang
Turpan in the Tang Dynasty (TAMl93). The “Xie”(缬) (S.5680) and “Jia Xie” (甲缬)
(P.4975) were also mentioned repeatedly in the scrolls of Dunhuang. Even the term
“clamping tie-dye” was included in the Japanese book Wo Ming Lei Ju Chao, which
reflected the popularity of the clamping tie-dye.
According to Yin Hua Lu written by the Tang Dynasty people: “The Emperor
Xuanzong’s concubine Liu is talented and highly skilled. Liu’s sisiter Zhao is clever
and dexterous in tie-dye. In order to make a gift for Liu’s birthday, Zhao made an
exquisite clamping tie-dye brocade. The emperor saw it and highly appreciated her
craftsmanship, and commanded the palace servants to learn the patterns. Later, her
clamp tie-dye patterns and brocades were prevalent and popular in the folk society.”
The unearthed clamping tie-dye objects were mainly discovered after the Tang
Dynasty. In Turpan, Xinjiang, there are white printed silk and azure printed silk
with red flowers and green leaves. There are many examples of colored or single-
color printed silk in the Dunhuang Buddhist scripture caves (see Fig. 8.39). In
addition, extremely exquisite Tang Dynasty clamp tie-dyes were also found in the
North Caucasus of the Soviet Union. A large number of well-preserved Tang
Dynasty clamps and some Japanese imitations are preserved in the Shoso-in in
Japan. Although it is occasionally seen in historical materials of the Song Dynasty,
the actual object was found in the northern Khitan country. There are a large number
Fig. 8.39 The clamping tie-dye silk in the Tang Dynasty
of Liao Dynasty silk fabrics unearthed in Baita, Liaoqing Prefecture, Balin Right
Banner, Inner Mongolia. Among them are the monochromatic brown-ground cloud
and goose pattern with clamping tie-dye silk, red tower pine pattern with clamping
tie-dye silk, and two-color daylily pattern with clamping tie-dye silk. The most
eye-catching is the Liao Dynasty “Nanwu Sakyamuni Buddha” found at Fogong
Temple in Yingxian County, Shanxi. It is 65.8 cm in length and 62 cm in width. It is a
very typical three-color work with clamping tie-dye and painted colors.
Until modern times, folks in southern Zhejiang could still find examples of blue-
printed quilts on cotton fabrics using the clamping tie-dye process. According to our
investigation, traditional clamping tie-dye has been popular in southern Zhejiang
region, especially in Yongjia, Ruian, Pingyang, Yueqing, Cangnan, and other places
under the jurisdiction of Wenzhou City today. The existing clamping tie-dye version
is 43.1 cm in length and 17.1 cm in width. The material of the floral pattern is made
of sugar pear wood, and its quality requirements are that the texture should be fine
and hard, with clear and waterproof outline of the carved pattern. The selected cotton
cloth is about 10 meters long and 50 cm wide and should be folded into a strip of
25 cm wide when dyeing. Then take the bamboo stick as the axis and make a roll of
the homespun. And then start to fold the cloth. There is a total of 16 pictures on the
side of clamping tie-dye, which used 17 engraved plates. Except for the 2 single-
sided engraved plates at both ends, the middle 15 plates are all double-sided
engraved. Lay the pattern stack from the 1st to the 17th. Fold and spread a layer
between the two plates. The strips are folded for a total of 16 times, and a single set
of indigo is used for dyeing.
8.6.4 Wax Printing and Indigo Print
Wax printing was first seen on cotton cloth in India or Central Asia. Feng Niya from
Xinjiang discovered an Eastern Han Dynasty tomb in 1959. The earliest piece of wax
printing cotton was found in the tomb. The pattern of this piece of wax printing
cotton cloth is broken, but some important parts can still be speculated. The
eye-catching figure in the lower left corner is a half-naked woman with a bead
ring on her neck, holding a rich horn, and a backlight behind her head. There are
many guesses about her identity: goddess Ishtar, or Anahita, or ghost mother, or
Aldochius. In the middle of the fabric, there is a scene where a person is fighting with
252 F. Zhao
a lion. It may be the king of a certain country in Central Asia or Heracles in Greek
mythology. This type of subject is undoubtedly derived from Greek mythology, but
the wax printing cotton cloth indicates that it may be a product of the Gandhara
region in northern India. Its emergence at least made China understand a little about
wax print. However, in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the spot dyeing method that
applied wax liquid on silk fabrics to prevent dyeing appeared in the northwest region
(see Fig. 8.40). This kind of silk fabric was first applied on the fabric with beeswax
and then dyed with dye solution. The method of dewaxing is called “wax print.”
However, in the Central Plains, wax print was quickly replaced by ash tie-dye which
used alkali agents such as plant ash and oyster for anti-dyeing printing. The ash
tie-dye in the Tang Dynasty was very popular and was later widely used for blue
printing on cotton cloth (see Fig. 8.41).
8.6.5 Embroidery
Embroidery is a crafting technique that uses needles and silk thread to make
exquisite fabrics, which has existed in China since ancient time. There are indeed
traces of embroidery on the bronzes of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and mud blocks
with clear embroidered marks have also been unearthed from the Hengshui tomb of
the Western Zhou Dynasty in Jiang County, Shanxi Province.
The lock stitch is the earliest embroidery stitch method that appears in existing
embroidery objects. The embroidery marks unearthed in Hengshui adopt this tech-
nique. Its characteristic is that the front needle hooks the back needle to form a
curved stitch. It is an invention of China. The embroidery stitch technique reached its
peak during the Warring States and Qin and Han Dynasties. The embroideries
unearthed from the Mashan No.1 Chu Tomb in Jingzhou and the Mawangdui Han
Tomb in Changsha are excellent examples (see Fig. 8.42). The prevalence of
Fig. 8.40 The wax print silk

fabrics in the Northern
Dynasty
Fig. 8.41 The hunting

pattern ash print fabrics in the
Tang Dynasty
Fig. 8.42 The longevity

pattern embroidery in the
Western Han Dynasty
Buddhism during the Southern and Northern Dynasties broadened the scope of
embroidery. Men and women often spare no effort to accumulate merits by embroi-
dering images. In order to improve productivity, embroidery workers began to
replace lock stitches with split stitches that have basically the same effect.
254 F. Zhao
Fig. 8.43 The Buddha statue embroidery in the Tang Dynasty
In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the development of embroidery art has reached a
new stage. The embroidery stitch techniques have basically developed to the full. At
that time, a large number of flat stitch techniques were used in which the needle was
moved straight and only depended on the connection between the needle and the
needle to make changes. It was often used for embroidery with silk threads of various
colors, so some people called it “color embroidery.” This is closely related to the
development of embroidery production in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, embroidery
was more used to display luxurious decorations. There were 700 embroiders during
the era of Emperor Xuanzong in the Tang Dynasty. Their main jobs were to make daily
decorative embroideries. In this case, in order to improve the efficiency of embroidery,
a large number of flat stitches are bound to be the future trend (see Fig. 8.43).
Fig. 8.44 The Lu Xiang

Garden Gu Embroidery
during the Ming and Qing
Dynasties
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, embroidery became even more popular.
Various regions also developed their own unique styles of embroidery. Some were
named after a family, such as Shanghai Luxiangyuan Gu embroidery (see Fig. 8.44).
However, a large number of local embroidery types were named after places, such as
Su embroidery, Shu embroidery, Yue embroidery, etc., which are more colorful and
luxurious in appearance with better embroidery techniques.
The Silk Road and East-West Textile Culture
Exchange 9
Feng Zhao
Contents
9.1 Silkworms and Silk in Western Legends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
9.2 Direction of the Silk Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
9.2.1 Grassland Silk Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
9.2.2 Desert and Oasis Silk Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
9.2.3 Maritime Silk Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
9.3 Textiles Found on the Silk Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
9.3.1 Tombs of Han and Jin Dynasties Periods Along the Hexi Corridor . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
9.3.2 Niya Tomb of the Han and Jin Dynasties Periods in Xinjiang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
9.3.3 Loulan Relic Site and Cemetery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
9.3.4 Yingpan Cemetery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
9.3.5 Sanpula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
9.3.6 Zaghunluq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
9.3.7 Textiles of the Gaochang and Tang Dynasty Periods Unearthed in Turpan . . . . 266
9.3.8 Findings in Dulan, Qinghai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
9.3.9 Findings at Famen Temple, Shaanxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
9.3.10 Findings in Dunhuang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
9.4 Silk Road and Exchange of Textile Technologies Between the East and the West . . . . . 269
9.4.1 Spread of Silkworm Breeding Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
9.4.2 Spread and Exchange of Jacquard Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
9.4.3 Influence of Chinese Silk on the World’s Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
9.5 Silk Road and East-West Textile Art Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
9.5.1 Input of Western Motifs During the Han and Jin Dynasties Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
9.5.2 Application of Western Motifs in Chinese Brocades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
9.5.3 Popularization and Domestication of Stringed-Bead Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
9.5.4 Nasich Design of Stony Lions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
9.5.5 Chinoiserie and Big Western Flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
F. Zhao (*)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_9
258 F. Zhao
Abstract
The Silk Road is the busiest transport route in the cultural exchange between the
East and the West around the birth of Christ. The name was derived from the fact
that commodities transported along this route were mostly silk. As an important
route for cultural exchanges between the East and the West, the Silk Road
contributed greatly to the progress of human civilization. Through this route,
silk and other commodities were transported from the East to the coastal areas of
the Mediterranean, while the textile technologies and products of Central Asia,
West Asia, and Europe were absorbed and integrated by the East. This chapter
points out that the textile technology had major influence on the world.
Keywords
The Silk Road · Textile culture · Silkworm · The Hexi Corridor · Textile
technologies · Jacquard techniques · Stringed-bead patterns
The concept of the Silk Road was proposed by German geographer Richthofen, used
to describe the busiest transport route in the cultural exchange between the East and
the West around the birth of Christ. The name was derived from the fact that
commodities transported along this route were mostly silk. As an important route
for cultural exchanges between the East and the West, the Silk Road contributed
greatly to the progress of human civilization. Through this route, silk and other
commodities were transported from the East to the coastal areas of the Mediterra-
nean Sea, while the textile technologies and products of Central Asia, West Asia, and
Europe were absorbed and integrated by the East. Among the ancient technologies of
China, the textile technology had major influence on the world.
9.1 Silkworms and Silk in Western Legends
In the far antiquity, given the geographical divide and inaccessibility, westerners
were unable to get the true picture of Chinese silk and could only have strange
imaginations of what it was like. They called silkworms “Ser,” countries that bred
silkworms “Seres,” and silkworm breeders “Seres people.” Therefore, Seres became
the name of China. Many Greek writers’ work about the Fast East contained all kinds
of legends about silkworms and Seres people in the East.
The first western perception of the origin of silk is the story of wool growing on
trees. This might have much to do with their understanding of fiber flax production
and wool.
In Georgics, Virgil (70–19 B.C.) wrote: “The Seres people collected very thin
wool from the leaves there.” In Geography, Strabo (c.64/63–23 B.C.) wrote: “For the
very same reason (a hot climate), wool grows from some branches. According to
Ne’arque, people can use this wool to make pretty, thin fabrics, and the Macedonians
9 The Silk Road and East-West Textile Culture Exchange 259
use it to make cushions and saddles.” In the era of Pline L’Ancien (23–79), though
the Romans had silk garment to wear, they didn’t know about its origin and
continued to regard it as some kind of wool fiber collected from the tree. In his
book Natural History, Pline L’Ancien vividly described the Seres people and their
fabrics: “The first people encountered are Seres people, who are famous for the wool
produced in their forests. They spray water to the trees to flush off the white fluff
from the leaves, and then their wives complete the procedures of yarn making and
weaving. Thanks to such complex labor done by people in the remote areas, Roman
noblewomen are able to wear transparent clothes and show up in public.”
In the time of Pausanias (second century), people knew silk was from an insect
called silkworms. Therefore, in Guide to Greece, he described in great detail the
origin of silkworms as he knew it: “As for the silk used by the Seres people to make
clothes, it is not extracted from the bark, but from another source. There is a kind of
tiny creatures there, called ‘Ser’ by the Greeks, and the Seres people are given
another name. This tiny creature is twice as large as the largest beetle. In terms of
other characteristics, they are similar to spiders weaving webs on the tree, with eight
feet just like the spiders. The Seres people create small cages suitable for both winter
and summer to breed these creatures. These creatures make thin silk wrapped around
their feet. Over the first four years, the Seres people feed the creatures with
broomcorn millet, while in the fifth year, they use green reeds as the feed, knowing
those dumb worms won’t live much longer. For these creatures, this is the best of
feeds, so they devour these reeds until their stomachs burst. Most silk can be found
inside the corpses.”
9.2 Direction of the Silk Road
Today, the concept of the Silk Road is well known and has been extended. Generally,
people recognize three Silk Roads: the Grassland Silk Road, the Desert Silk Road,
and the Maritime Silk Road. In addition, there are terms like the Southwestern Silk
Road and the East Asia Silk Road. In different times, these Silk Roads played
different roles (see Picture 9.1).
9.2.1 Grassland Silk Road
The Grassland Silk Road is a passage created in the relatively far antiquity and
thriving around the fifth century. This passage spans from east to west, starting from
the Mongolia Plateau in the east, crossing Altai Mountains, and reaching
Kazakhskiy Melkosopochnik through the Zungarian Basin or directly reaching the
Black Sea lowlands through the Baraba Steppe. As the passage mostly passes
through borderless grasslands, it is believed to have been created by ancient nomads.
It was mentioned in the masterpiece History by Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth
century B.C. and was used by Scythian merchants who lived around the Black Sea to
travel eastward. A Chinese work Mu Zi Tian Zhuan (《穆天子传》) written in the
260 F. Zhao
Picture 9.1 Silk Roads
Warring Kingdoms period also mentioned a story where Emperor Mu of the Zhou
Dynasty ran into Queen Mother of the West. According to Mu Tian Zi Zhuan (《穆天
子传》), this passage was exactly the Grassland Silk Road that started in the Central
Plains, passed through Xinjiang, crossed Congling Mountains, and ended in the
Kirghizia wilderness. The existence of this passage was also confirmed by large
numbers of archaeological materials. In the Volga River, Siberia, the Mongolia
Plateau, Hetao Area, and Northern Xinjiang, Scythian-style historical relics can be
found, such as beast heads, copper sabers, daggers, and double-ear deep belly
copper. In particular, not only Chinese silk and lacquer ware around the fifth century
B.C. but also relics of the Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia were found in the Pazyryk
Cemetery in the Altai Mountains. These relics suggest Chinese silk was transported
to Europe through the Grassland Silk Road around the fifth century B.C.
9.2.2 Desert and Oasis Silk Road
The Desert and Oasis Silk Road, a.k.a. the West Territories Silk Road, is the Silk
Road mentioned by Richthofen. Generally speaking, this road started in then capital
Chang’an, passed through the Hexi Corridor, and reached Dunhuang, from which it
split into the northern and southern branches. The southern branch passed from
Dunhuang through places like Loulan, Khotan, and Shache, crossed the Congling
Mountains and reached Darouzhi (present-day Central Amu Darya) and Parthia
(namely, Persia, present-day Iran), and extended westward to Tiaozhi (present-day
Iraq) and Daqin (Roman Empire, present-day coastal areas of the Mediterranean
Sea). The northern branch started from Dunhuang and reached Jiaohe, Qiuci, and
Shulik, crossed the Congling Mountains and reached Dawan (Ferghana, Uzbeki-
stan), and extended westward to Parthia and finally reached the Roman Empire. As it
was mostly deserts and gobis along the way, with oases in between, it was called the
Desert and Oasis Silk Road. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty,
Qian Zhang visited the West Territories twice as an emissary and basically opened up
this road. However, the heyday of the road was one thousand years during the Han,
Wei, Sui and Tang Dynasties periods, evidenced by both Chinese historical works
such as Han Shu – Xiong Nu Zhuan (《汉书·匈奴传》), Han Shu – Xi Yu Lie Zhuan
(《汉书·西域列传》), and Xin Tang Shu – Di Li Zhi (《新唐书·地理志》) and
European works such as Geography, which contained large numbers of records of
Chinese silk spreading into Europe through this road. Furthermore, the silk of the
Han and Tang Dynasties periods found along the way clearly showed the direction of
this route.
This Silk Road had its ups and downs in history. In the period of turmoil between
Qian Zhang’s opening up of the road and the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern
Dynasties periods, traveling along this Silk Road was frequent but highly risky, until
early Tang Dynasty period, when the situation was greatly improved as the Tang
government’s influence in Central Asia increased. At that time, trade between Tang
and Soghd unprecedentedly flourished, with large numbers of Sogdians flocking to
China for silk trade. However, the situation was changed after Islamic eastern
expansion. After the Mongolian army conquered most of Asia and Europe, this
Silk Road briefly thrived until the Ming Dynasty period, when the Silk Road
gradually declined.
9.2.3 Maritime Silk Road
The Maritime Silk Road was opened at an early stage. Initially, there was the East
Sea Silk Road, which led to Korea and Japan. Afterward, there emerged the South
Sea Silk Road, which led to Southeast Asian countries. Han Shu – Di Li Zhi (《汉
书·地理志》) recorded China’s earliest known maritime silk trade: “A translation
officer and recruits sailed across the sea to purchase pearls and gems with gold and
various fabrics.” This incident occurred during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han
Dynasty, when a translation officer affiliated to the royal court led a group to sail to
remote kingdoms such as Duyuan, Yilumo, Zhanli, Huangzhi, and Yichengbu, of
which Huangzhi and Yichengbu, the most distant of the kingdoms, were in present-
day India and Sri Lanka.
From the Tang Dynasty period, China’s maritime silk trade entered a new stage of
development, when silk trade across deserts and oases gradually declined and
afterward almost came to an end due to the An-Shi Rebellion and Tubo’s Occupation
of areas west of the Yellow River. Meanwhile, the national silk production center
gradually moved southward, and coastal economies boomed, giving rise to a period
of unprecedented development of the Maritime Silk Road. During this period, more
major ports for foreign trade of silk emerged, Shi-Po-Sis (seaport offices overseeing
maritime foreign trade) were set in Guangzhou, Yangzhou, Mingzhou, and
262 F. Zhao
Quanzhou, and the Maritime Silk Road was mostly used to trade commodities rather
than pay tribute. According to the works of Zhu Fan Zhi (《诸蕃志》) by Rushi Zhao
of the Song Dynasty period, Dao Yi Zhi Lue (《岛夷志略》) by Dayuan Wang of the
Yuan Dynasty period, and Xing Ya Cha Lan (《星涯槎览》) and Dong Xi Yang Kao
(《东西洋考》) of the Ming Dynasty period, Chinese silk had been spread across Asia
and to Egypt of North Africa through these ports and forwarded to Europe since the
Tang Dynasty period.
With the great geographical discoveries in the fifteenth century, the world entered
a new era, and new changes in the route of the Maritime Silk Road occurred, with the
passage directly linking China to Europe and the Americas opened up. In the middle
of the Ming Dynasty period, Spanish and Portuguese merchants arrived in the South
China Sea from the Pacific and Indian Oceans, respectively, and opened up the
Pacific Ocean Commercial Route and the Indian Ocean Commercial Route, which
had lasted over 200 years. Several big ships carrying over 1000 tons of cargo sailed
across the Pacific Ocean every year, and each ship carried an average of about 1200
crates of silk, called “silk ships.” In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the
Netherlands and Britain successively set an East India Company in India, taking
control of the silk trade with China. At the end of the eighteenth century, the
United States joined in the silk trade with China. In summary, the Maritime Silk
Road during this period had reached any corner of the world.
9.3 Textiles Found on the Silk Route
The earliest textiles found along any Silk Road outside of China were discovered in
Pazyryk, Russia, and many discoveries were subsequently made in Noin Ula,
Mongolia, where not only brocades and embroideries from China but also large
quantities of embroideries and felted fabrics from the West were found, serving as
proof of the cultural spread and exchanges brought about by the Grassland Silk
Road. Along the Silk Road within China, even earlier textiles were found. Here we
will cover the textiles unearthed along the Silk Road within China from the East
Han, Wei, and Jin Dynasties periods to the Sui and Tang Dynasties periods.
9.3.1 Tombs of Han and Jin Dynasties Periods Along the Hexi
Corridor
In 1979, the cultural relic search team of the Provincial Museum of Gansu found a lot
of fabrics of the West Han Dynasty period at the Fengsui Relic Site, Maquanwan
near Dunhuang. Most of these fabrics were made of wool, while a small portion was
made of silk, including residues of brocades bearing the combination of lozenge and
moire patterns and great quantities of chappe silk textiles. A greater discovery took
place at Mozuizi, Wuwei, where fabrics made between the late West Han Dynasty
period and mid-East Han Dynasty period were unearthed. The most significant of
these was Tomb No.62, where all sorts of silks, yarns, rhombohedral satins, looped
brocades, strips, and red man-shaped crapes were found. In recent years, lots of silk
embroideries were unearthed at the Bijiatan Cemetery of the Wei and Jin Dynasties
periods near Huahai, Yumen, Gansu Province.
9.3.2 Niya Tomb of the Han and Jin Dynasties Periods in Xinjiang
The Niya Relic Site is located in the desert at the end of the Niya River about 150 km
north of Minfeng County, Xinjiang, and was the site of the Jingjue Kingdom during
the Han Dynasty period. In the early twentieth century, Stein entered Niya and
acquired a large number of documents and fabrics. In 1959, Yuchun Li et al. of the
archaeological team of Xinjiang Museum found a coffin there. Inside the coffin were
the corpses of a male and a female, from which gowns, white-cloth embroidered
trouser legs, brocade socks, gloves, cock-shaped pillows, brocade socks bearing the
Chinese character “yang,” embroidered mirror bags, and embroidered vanity bags
were found. In 1995, archaeologists cleaned out eight tombs, and at the two most
important tombs, M3 and M8, a brocade quilt bearing Chinese characters that read
“marriage between noble families will last for all eternity and benefit the offspring,”
a gingham brocade gown, a brocade pillow bearing Chinese characters that read
“comfort, happiness and longevity,” and, most precious of all, a brocade gauntlet
bearing Chinese characters that read “five stars rise in the east signaling auspicious-
ness for China” were unearthed (see Picture 9.2).
9.3.3 Loulan Relic Site and Cemetery
The Loulan Relic Site is located in the southern bank of Lop Nor, Ruoqiang,
Xinjiang. In 1900, Sven Hedin and his team discovered the relic site of Kroraina
(ancient town of Loulan). In 1906, Stein arrived in Loulan and dug out many textiles.
Since 1979, China and Japan have worked together to explore and excavate the site
of the ancient kingdom of Loulan and unearthed 59 textiles from the Relic Site of
Picture 9.2 Brocade

gauntlet of the Han Dynasty
period bearing Chinese
characters that read “five stars
rise in the east signaling
auspiciousness for China”
264 F. Zhao
Picture 9.3 Relic Site of Loulan
Loulan and 74 fine silk textiles when excavating two tombs, MA and MB, in the
outskirts of Loulan. In 2003, a precious royal tomb was robbed in Loulan, and
archaeologists of Xinjiang rushed to the scene and discovered several silk textiles
and clothes (see Picture 9.3).
9.3.4 Yingpan Cemetery
Yingpan is located 150 km southeast of Yuli, Xinjiang. During the decade from 1989
to 1999, archaeologists cleaned out several hundred tombs three times in Yingpan
and acquired a lot of textiles, which could be classified into four categories of silk,
wool, cotton, and linen textiles, of which the former two categories were the most
commonplace, accounting for over 1/3 of all the textiles unearthed. Silk products
included silk, damask, tapestry, embroidery, brocade, and dyed valerian, and wool
products included cloth, blanket, felt, braid, embroidery, and lanyard. The wool
products unearthed were more noteworthy, including the robe of the tomb owner
(Tomb M15, with red-background cloth bearing patterns of humans and beasts) with
typical Roman-style patterns of angels and pomegranate trees (see Picture 9.4).
9.3.5 Sanpula
The Sanpula tombs are located in Lop County, Khotan, Xinjiang, where 68 tombs
and 2 “horse sacrificing pits” were cleaned out and over one thousand artifacts were
unearthed, including a large quantity of textiles and garment with unique styles,
which drew attention from across the domestic and international academia. The
flared skirts decorated with woven silk tapestry, in particular, became a symbol of
Picture 9.4 Red-

background cloth with
patterns of humans and beasts
Sanpula. From woolen blankets used to wrap around the body to maintain warmth
and resist cold to untailored chitons and roughly tailored woven clothes and trousers,
the garment unearthed at Sanpula tombs was primarily long-sleeved pullovers, short-
sleeved pullovers, flag-leg trousers, lantern-leg trousers, and flared skirts.
9.3.6 Zaghunluq
The Zaghunluq Village is located in the Toglack Township, Qiemo County,

Xinjiang, with hundreds of tombs, which were excavated by the Xinjiang Museum
and Bazhou Cultural Relics Administration from 1985 to 1998.Tomb 1 of
Zaghunluq consisted of three phases, of which phase 2 corresponded to the period
from the Warring Kingdoms period to early West Han Dynasty period, where woven
brocades and embroideries from the Central Plains were earthed, and phase
3 corresponded to the period from East Han Dynasty period to the Jin Dynasty
period, or the third to the sixth centuries, where large quantities of cotton and wool
textiles as well as many silk textiles were unearthed. Most importantly, a group of
highly twisted silk textiles were discovered and determined as a local produce of
Xinjiang. Besides, an embroidery with a double-head bird pattern was quite
interesting.
266 F. Zhao
9.3.7 Textiles of the Gaochang and Tang Dynasty Periods

Unearthed in Turpan
The archaeological excavation of the two tombs in Astana and Karakhoja of Turpan,
Xinjiang, led to the greatest discovery of silk textiles made during the period from
the Northern Dynasty period to the Sui and Tang Dynasties periods since the
founding of the People’s Republic of China. Since 1959, archaeologists in Xinjiang
have conducted investigations and scientific excavations in Turpan and cleaned out
456 ancient tombs in 11 excavations, including 42 tombs of the Wei and Jin
Dynasties periods, 115 tombs of the Gaochang Dynasty period (531–640), and
173 tombs of the Xizhou period in the Tang Dynasty period (from late seventh
century to late eighth century), where great quantities of textiles were unearthed,
especially silk and linen textiles. The influence of silk production in the Central
Plains on places along the Silk Road is evident (see Picture 9.5).
Picture 9.5 Color silk

painting unearthed in Turpan
Picture 9.6 Red-

background twin lion brocade
9.3.8 Findings in Dulan, Qinghai
Since 1983, Turpan tombs have been found in Dulan Reshui and Xarag Townships
in Qinghai. In Tomb M1 alone, over 300 pieces of silk textiles were unearthed, with
near 100 different patterns or structures. The majority of these textiles were made of
brocades and damask, with extremely beautiful patterns and fine finish. In terms of
age, not only products of the period from the Northern Dynasty period to the Sui
Dynasty period but also large quantities of products in the heyday of the Tang
Dynasty period were unearthed. Most of the products were made during mid-Tang
Dynasty period, namely, the period when Turpan occupied the Hexi Corridor.
However, tomb robbery was rampant in this area, and as a result, large quantities
of textiles ended up abroad, and some of them were seen in reports. Their quality is
beyond imagination (see Picture 9.6).
9.3.9 Findings at Famen Temple, Shaanxi
On 23 August 1981, the Famen Temple in Fufeng County half collapsed, resulting in
the excavation by the Archaeological Institute of Shaanxi Province of the under-
ground palace under the Famen Temple in 1987 and unearthing of large numbers of
royal textiles of the Tang Dynasty period that had been buried for over 1000 years.
According to the inscriptions unearthed at the underground palace, the palace was
opened to usher in the remains of a prestigious Buddhist monk for the last time
during the reign of Emperor Yi of the Tang Dynasty period, after which the palace
was closed. Therefore, the silk in the underground palace was mostly products of the
late Tang Dynasty period. The most beautiful of these were a collection of five pieces
268 F. Zhao
Picture 9.7 Silk textiles

attached to the iron box
unearthed at Famen Temple
of Buddhist clothes and brocade fingerstalls for the Buddhist’s fingers. In a rotten
rattan box, silk was piled up to 23 cm and 780 layers, which would stretch over
400 meters if unfolded and paved (see Picture 9.7).
9.3.10 Findings in Dunhuang
In 1900, Yuanlu Wang opened the door to the sutra cave, in which countless sutra
and embroidered portraits of Buddha made of silk were found. Afterward, Stein and
Pelliot arrived in Dunhuang and deceived Wang of about 2/3 of the relics, which
were shipped to Britain and France and collected in the Great Britain Museum in
London and Musee Guimet in Paris. These included silky Buddha banners, sutra
pieces, embroidered portraits, and all kinds of residues.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Dunhuang Cultural
Relics Institute repaired some caves in the front of the Mogao Grottoes and found
another two groups of textiles during the repair. One group consisted of embroideries
from the Northern Wei Dynasty period and another from the heyday of the Tang
Dynasty period, unearthed at K130, K122, and K123 of the Mogao Grottoes in 1965.
When making the report, the Dunhuang Cultural Relics Institute carried out prelim-
inary authentication and found the textiles of the heyday of the Tang Dynasty period
were mostly made of damask and silk, to which dyeing and processing methods such
as alkali printing, nipping, and rubbing were applied. During the archaeological
exploration of the northern caves of the Mogao Grottoes in recent years, many
textiles of the Yuan Dynasty period were found.
9.4 Silk Road and Exchange of Textile Technologies Between

the East and the West
9.4.1 Spread of Silkworm Breeding Technique
The foremost contribution of Chinese silk to the world is China’s silk production
technology that was spread along with the silk, especially the silkworm breeding
technology. However, this spread occurred in phases, and the silkworm
breeding technology first reached Central Asia.
In Buddhist Records of the Western World, Xuan Zang recorded a story of the
“Silk Spreading Princess” introducing silkworm eggs to the kingdom of Kustana:
“In the past, this kingdom knew nothing about silkworms, and after learning about
silkworms in the east kingdom, they sent an emissary to ask for silkworm eggs, while
the monarch of the east kingdom intended to keep these a secret and ordered border
offices to strictly prevent their outbound spread. The king of Kustana deigned to
propose a marriage to the east kingdom...The king instructed the woman sent for the
marriage: ‘As our kingdom does not have eggs of silkworms, you may fetch some to
make your clothes.’ With these instructions, the woman secretly acquired the eggs
and hid them in hats. Thence, silkworms entered the kingdom of Kustana.” A similar
story was told by a figure of the “Silk Spreading Princess” found by Stein at the
Dandan Uiliq Relic Site around Khotan, Xinjiang (see Picture 9.8). According to the
artifact unearthed, this process occurred around the third century, “at the start of
spring, silks were planted, and with advent of the silkworm season, silk was
harvested in summer,” suggesting the existence of the silkworm breeding industry
in Central Asia.
The spread of the silkworm breeding technology from Central Asia to Europe
is also an interesting story. During the reign of Justin (483–565), the Persians
Picture 9.8 Silk Spreading Princess figure unearthed in Khotan

270 F. Zhao
controlled a key hub on the Silk Road, and silk from the east had to be forwarded
by Persia to reach Rome. At that time, a Persian monk hid silkworm eggs in a
cane and carried them to Rome. This story was recorded by Theo Phane (750–
817) in his book. According to him, a Persian introduced the origin of silkworms
in Byzantine. Prior to that, the Romans knew nothing about it. This Persian was
from the Seres people. He collected some silkworm eggs in a small box and
carried it to Byzantine. When spring came, he fed the worms with mulberry
leaves, and after eating the leaves, the worms had wings. Justin had taught Turks
about the birth of silkworms and the procedure of cocoon weaving, which greatly
surprised the Turks, who controlled the markets and ports of the Seres people,
while all these had belonged to the Persians in the past. It was probably due to
the formal introduction of silkworm eggs that people began to interpret the
secrets of silk production and classified silkworms as a kind of moth. The
Greek for the name of these worms is Bombyx, which is the Latin name of
silkworms today.
9.4.2 Spread and Exchange of Jacquard Techniques
In addition to the silkworm technology, the silk reeling and silk jacquard technolo-
gies also had major influence on the textile technologies of the West. The silk
jacquard technology is a perfect example. However, this viewpoint is not widely
recognized in the West, and few attributed the invention of the jacquard to China,
except scholars who studied China’s technology history such as Joseph Needham
and Kuhn. It was not necessarily European centrism at play here. It was likely a
result of the different definitions of the jacquard in the East and West.
We define the jacquard as an opening that controls the jacquard through a preset
program so as to control the patterns produced by the jacquard. This program can be
the pin and card installed in a modern jacquard loom, or the most sophisticated
computer, or the pattern template on an ancient loom, and of course, it can be a device
unknown to us. According to the repeated wrong patterns on the brocades of dancers
and animals unearthed at the tombs of the Warring Kingdoms period in Mashan,
Jiangling, Hubei Province, a certain method or device was used to control the opening
of the racking. That is to say, the patterns were repeatable in the meridional direction.
In this way, people elevated the primitive cross-stitching technique into racking,
thereby avoiding the complex cross-stitching work and repeated memorization. A
person who knew nothing about racking could make patterns by simply sitting on
the loom and operating the pedals or pattern template heddles.
However, the exact type of looms used in the Warring Kingdoms period is a topic
much debated. There are two theories: The first is a bunched jacquard just like those in
the subsequent periods, with a pattern bracket on the upper side containing the pattern
board, which controlled the racking process. This type of machine is generally similar
to the draw loom mentioned by the westerners; others proposed a multi-heddle multi-
lever jacquard, where the patterns were controlled by lifting of multiple heddles. This
type of jacquard cannot be translated as draw loom, as no drawing occurs.
According to our research on the textiles produced in China and along the Silk
Road during the Han and Tang Dynasties periods, there is an extremely obvious
technical difference between the pattern textiles of the East and the West. There is
only meridional circulation but no zonal circulation in all the patterns on the
brocades of these periods, either the woven brocades unearthed at the tombs of the
Chu Kingdom in Mashan or the brocades of the Han Dynasty period unearthed in
Niya. Even in cup-pattern satins and geometric pattern brocades, which bear obvious
zonal circulation, the zonal patterns do not form the circulation in its real sense.
Therefore, we are sure the jacquards at that time could only produce meridional
circulation but not zonal circulation, and these jacquards were not the harness
jacquards capable of producing zonal circulation observed in subsequent periods.
They were very likely to be multi-heddle multi-lever jacquards or low-cost jacquards
operated by a single person. However, in the zonal circulation textiles of the West,
we can see rigorous zonal circulation, while no meridional circulation is observed,
which suggests the jacquards used in the West were devices capable of controlling
zonal circulation but not meridional circulation. These jacquards are likely to be
similar to the looms of Iran today, which are free of the pattern template, but have
heddles. When pulling the heddles, the weaver needs to redo cross-stitching, after
which multiple threads can be controlled to form zonal patterns. As the weaver
draws the racking upon lifting, this loom can be called a draw loom.
It can be deduced that when Chinese silk products, especially woven brocades,
spread to Central Asia, including northwestern China, the locals began to imitate
China’s weaving technology. However, the weavers in the Western Territories
rotated the direction of the patterns by 90 degrees, in addition to changes in the
organizational structure. As a result, the brocades produced in the Western Terri-
tories bore narrow circulation in the zonal direction but was free of fixed circulation
in the meridional direction.
However, Chinese weavers were inspired by Central Asian weavers afterward
and learned how to control zonal circulation. These looms are characterized by the
pattern template. A brocade with patterns of lanterns, trees, and twin goats unearthed
in Astana, Turpan, Xinjiang, is authentic proof of patterns with both zonal and
meridional circulation. Moreover, the brocades with flower clusters that emerged
in large numbers in late Sui Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty periods are clearly
products of the bunched jacquard, with patterns with both zonal and meridional
circulation, which suggests the real draw loom emerged during this period, when a
type of small racking building loom appeared. We can have a clear picture of it
through a painting of the Song Dynasty period. This draw loom has a flat, straight
body, with a racking building with a pattern template hung. A weaver sits on the
racking building and forcefully pulls the pattern template to one side as per the
patterns required. In front of the racking building are two ground heddles, which are
directly controlled by the weaver sitting before the loom with pedals, and weaving is
done by the weaver. The most essential technology of this draw loom is the sequence
to be followed by the patterns on the product, called the “pattern template.” This is an
invention and a great story in the exchange of textile technologies between the East
and the West along the Silk Road. It is fair to say technological inventions occurred
during exchanges (see Picture 9.9).
272 F. Zhao
Picture 9.9 Silk racking technology in a painting of the Song Dynasty period
9.4.3 Influence of Chinese Silk on the World’s Technologies
China’s contributions to the world civilization also include the Four Great Inventions
of China – paper, printing, fire powder, and the compass. As the greatest source of
pride for the Chinese people, two of these technological achievements have a direct
connection with silk. The original meaning of the Chinese character for “paper” is
the sediments of velvet silk during the silk production process. Shuo Wen (《说文》)
said: “paper is silk.” Tong Su Wen (《通俗文》) said: “square silk is called paper.”
That is to say, silk sediments that form on the bamboo tray during the rinsing of silk
become thin paper. The invention of printing also has a direct connection with the
relief printing on silk, as the printed pattern silk products unearthed at Mawangdui
were already massive multicolor printed products, which preceded the engravings of
the Tang Dynasty period by almost 1000 years. It is fair to say that the relief prints on
the silk were the ancestor of the woodblock printing in subsequent eras. In addition,
the development of the Maritime Silk Road directly promoted the practice and
improvement of the compass. Therefore, some proposed that the Four Great Inven-
tions of China were actually Three Great Inventions, as silk alone could replace
paper and printing. This viewpoint, albeit novel, does make some sense.
As for the loom, this is an extremely delicate mechanism. The mechanism that
transfers force from the pedals to the heddle opening through the connecting rod is a
Chinese contribution to the world’s mechanical technology. The operating process of
the jacquard is to store information and convert the information into a jacquard
procedure through the collaboration between the heddles and the foot bar or through
creation of the pattern template, which involves sophisticated mathematics. After
entering Europe, it not only had great influence on the development of the silk
Picture 9.10 Jacquard with

a perforated paper plate
invented by Joseph Jacquard
weaving technology in Europe but also contributed to the invention of the jacquard
(see Picture 9.10), invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard of Lyon, France, based on the
operating mechanism of the Chinese draw loom. In addition, it had considerable
influence on the development of the modern telegraph technology and even the
computer technology.
9.5 Silk Road and East-West Textile Art Exchange
9.5.1 Input of Western Motifs During the Han and Jin Dynasties
Periods
In the archaeological exploration at Niya in 1959, people found two printed cotton
textiles with a blue background and white patterns, which could be pieced together
(see Picture 9.11) and were generally called wax printing. These two cotton textiles
could be pieced together into one, and there was the drawing of a naked female in the
most important and intact part. Many discussions unfolded around this drawing. The
original report claimed it was Bodhisattva, while recent studies indicated there could
be multiple possibilities. It could be Tyche in the Greek myth, or Hariti in the Indian
myth or Hirati in Buddhism, or Aldoksho, the Goddess of Harvest of the Kushan
Empire. This image is popular in the Gandhara Cultural Area in northwestern India.
It is often a female who holds an angular bouquet, regarded by the locals as the
goddess protecting children.
Many interesting textiles were also unearthed in the Sanpula tombs in Lop
County, Khotan, and the most eye-catching of all is the material used for the two
274 F. Zhao
Picture 9.12 “Horseman”

warrior wool fabric unearthed
in Sanpula
Picture 9.11 Blue-white

wax printed cotton cloth
unearthed at Niya
trouser legs, which were made with the wool technology. One of the trouser legs bore
a large warrior portrait, and the other bore the picture of a horseman playing the
piccolo (see Picture 9.12). This horseman is Centaur of the Greek and Roman myths.
His appearance further proves the influence of Green arts in this area. The warrior
picture greatly resembles Hermes’ portrait on the wool fabrics discovered by Stein in
Loulan and is also highly similar to the human portrait on the Greek-style painted
pottery unearthed at the Kalchayan Relic Site in Transoxiana. It was likely to have
been associated with the Horace family in the early days of the Kushan Empire. All
these undoubtedly result from the influence of the Gandhara culture on northwestern
China.
The wool fabrics unearthed in Yingpan are more eye-catching, and the most
noteworthy of them are the wool mat with patterns of humans, beasts, and tree veins;
the wool mat with patterns of beasts, snakes, and flying humans; and the wool mat
with patterns of rolling vines, flowers, and trees. The wool mat with patterns of
humans, beasts, and tree veins were used as the material of the robe of the owner of
Tomb M15. It had a double-layer structure and a red and yellow background. What
was more unique was the patterns, which were tidy and symmetrical, with six pairs
of people and animals around as a pomegranate tree as the central axis in every
section (each section is 0.8 m long). The pairs run across the entire breadth of the
textile (over 1.18 m) in continuous double squares, and the patterns in each section
form longitudinal symmetry. There are four pairs of people in the patterns. All these
people have the same look – naked males with curly hair, a high-bridged nose, and
big eyes. All the people have different gesture, hold weapons, and face each other in
pairs. They show different practice gestures, delicate and vivid. There are two pairs
of animals, namely, a pair of goats and a pair of bulls, with their forepaws rising in
the air, strong, nimble, and highly dynamic. The overall patterns on the robe also
reflect the influence of Greek arts. The naked male could be Eros, the Greek god of
love, while the hairstyle was different from that of the Eros portraits found in works
of art in Milan or Kucha, where the style of Eros portraits in classical arts or
Gandhara arts was adopted. Evidently, this robe was from a place influenced by
Greece, such as Bactria or Gandhara.
In 1959, a very intact knotted carpet was unearthed during the excavation at Niya.
This carpet bore the patterns of grave vine leaves, which were obviously a western
motif. So were the Niya tombs discovered in 1995, where most coffins were covered
with a wool carpet or felted carpet. The situation was similar in the Yingpan tombs,
where many carpets were unearthed. Most of them were flat-pattern woolen carpets,
with a width of less than 1 m and a length of about 1.5 m, and were mostly used to
wrap bodies or cover coffins. The most gorgeous one was a knotted carpet, which
covered the color-drawing coffin M15. It adopted a single buckle, with fluff of
1.5–2 cm. The core pattern was a laying lion, with double-border frames around. The
lion shape was unique, with a thin, narrow waist and the front body and hip raised to
form large ups and downs and demonstrate a great sense of dynamics. The shape of
this lion was obviously exotic (see Picture 9.13).
9.5.2 Application of Western Motifs in Chinese Brocades
During the Wei and Tang Dynasties periods, fabrics with western motifs were
directly imported from the west to northwestern China. Furthermore, attracted by
these motifs, Chinese silk craftsmen began to use them in their own silk products.
Lions: Pictures of lions were widespread in Persian arts. Some claim these were
embodiments of Mithra, the main guard of the Persian god of Ahura. The brocades
276 F. Zhao
Picture 9.13 Lion pattern blanket
Picture 9.14 Elephant

patterns in the rolling cloud
stringed-bead beast-pair
brocade
with square grids and beast patterns unearthed in Turpan also bore lion patterns.
Another brocade-rimmed silk robe in the hands of an individual collector in Hong
Kong also bears lion patterns. All these can serve as evidence.
Elephants: Elephants originated in South Asia as an important transport vehicle in
the South Asian jungles. Besides, elephants’ backs are where people perform the
so-called elephant dance, namely, dancing on the back of an elephant. The elephant
on the square-grid beast-pattern brocades is essentially a stage with a luxurious cover
and a lotus seat, on which people sit. A beast-pair brocade preserved in the China
Silk Museum also bears pictures of elephant-related performance, where a musician
plays the Chinese flute pipa on the elephant back (see Picture 9.14).
Goats: During the Northern Dynasty period, the image of a long-horn goat from
West Asia came to China, usually in standing or crouching postures. By comparing it
with the goat patterns on Persian ware, we know this is a goat or an ibex, which is
usually strong and can leap. Therefore, this goat is sometimes winged in some
Persian works of art.
Deer: Like goats, deer patterns from the Northern Dynasty period through the Tang
Dynasty period differed greatly from the traditional Chinese deer patterns. These are a
kind of red deer or stags, which are strong and up to 1.8 m in body length and about
1.5 m in shoulder height. Males have horns with up to forks and can be rode. The deer
patterns seen in Persia are all graps, which are largely different from the traditional
Chinese deer. Therefore, this kind of deer patterns should have come from West Asia,
and the deer patterns on brocades in early Tang Dynasty period should be grap patterns.
Horses: Central Asian horses had been treasured by the East since the Han
Dynasty period, when Emperor Wu waged several wars against Ferghana in quest
of Akhal-Teke horses, and in the Tang Dynasty period, silk was traded for horses
around border areas. In Persia, horses were regarded as deities and were pictured as
horses with wings, called heavenly horses, which were claimed to have been the
Egyptian god of Ra, or the Persian god of Tishtrya. At the end of the Northern
Dynasty period, pictures of “heavenly horses galloping in the sky” frequently
appeared as brocade patterns.
Camels: Camels, entitled as “boats in deserts,” were the main transport vehicles
on the Silk Road. These creatures did not originate in China. Since the Northern
Dynasty period, wall pictures, bricks with portraits, potteries, and silk products
bearing pictures of merchants leading camels had emerged in large numbers. The
most famous of these are the brocade of the Sui Dynasty period unearthed in
Turpan with patterns of a northern barbarian king leading a camel and the brocade
with patterns of lions, elephants, and men leading camels unearthed in Dulan (see
Picture 9.15).
Pigs: Pigs often appeared as pig heads, which had a livid face and long teeth.
These were actually boars widely distributed in West and South Asia and often
appeared on gold vessels and silverware as well as in stone carving. There were
generally two forms: a boar being hunted or a simple head, and the latter was
Picture 9.15 Brocade of the

Sui Dynasty period with
patterns of a northern
barbarian king leading a camel
278 F. Zhao
considered the embodiment of the god of Verethragna in the religion of Zoroaster of

Persia. Such a pattern had appeared on stony coffins in the Central Plains during the
Sui Dynasty period, with three cases found among the brocades of the Tang Dynasty
period.
Peacocks: These are South Asian produce and very pretty, known to the Central
Plains around the Han Dynasty period or earlier. During the Northern Dynasty
period, records of “peacock pattern satins” and physical items of lion-pair and
peacock-pair brocades emerged. Peacocks at this time mostly held a ribbon or flower
in the mouth, which was a unique gesture. This gesture might be related to the
pattern of a bird holding a ribbon in the mouth in subsequent Sogdian brocades.
Deva: Mentioned multiple times in Gao Chang Tiao Li Chu Qian Wen Shu Can
Zou (《高昌条例出钱文数残奏》) (574) unearthed in Astana, Turpan, Xinjiang, the
“Deva brocade” should have been a brocade produced in inland and bearing “Deva”
patterns. Deva is the God of Heaven, one of the primary gods in the primitive
religion of the Aryans. During the times of the Vedas, Deva remained the name of
gods in India and Iran, with distinctly different roles. In Iran, Deva was called Daeva,
regarded as the embodiment of a demon, while in India, Deva was considered a good
god defeating demons. As religions generally only publicized stories of good gods
defeating demons, the Deva on the Deva brocade must have been a deity from
ancient India instead of the evil deity of Iran.
Helios (the god of Sun): Helios is the god of Sun in Greek mythology and is
different from the naked successor Apollo. According to legends, he is the son of
Titan god Hyperion and his sister and wife Theia, traveling from east to west in the
sky in his four-horsed chariot every day, appearing in the morning and disappearing
in the evening and shedding sunlight all over the mundane world. When Helios
appeared on brocades produced during the Northern Dynasty and Sui Dynasty
periods, the source of the cultural factors implied was more complicated. The
red-background bead sun god brocade unearthed at a tomb in Reshui, Dulan,
Qinghai, is the most typical of all the sun god brocades unearthed in northwestern
China (see Picture 9.16). The skeleton consists of the outer rolling clouds and inner
Picture 9.16 Red-

background bead sun god
brocade
stringed beads, which form circles, which are connected with beast heads and little
flowers. Outside of the circles are rolling cloud patterns and the Chinese character
“吉,” and inside of the circles are the pattern of Helios, who wears a crown, sits
under a luxurious cover, wears a cross-collared shirt, laces in the waist, holds a seal
in both hands before the body, crosses the legs, pillows a halo of stringed beads, and
sits on the lotus throne. The throne is set on a six-horsed chariot, which has six
wheels and a platform in the middle. All the six horses are winged and gallop in
formations of three. There are two halberd-holding guards on the chariot, seemingly
driving the chariot. And two others, with only their faces exposed, seem to hold the
dragon-head streamers. The entire pattern is symmetrical and balanced and looks
solemn and peaceful. Upon in-depth analysis, we know this Helios has a combina-
tion of cultural elements from Greece, India, Persia, and China. Despite a Greek god
and motif, the style is obviously Indian Buddhist, as the luxurious cover, the halo, the
dragon-head streamers, and the lotus throne are all the distinctive elements of
Buddhism. On the other hand, decorative patterns such as the stringed-bead ring
and the entire skeleton are of the Sassanid Persian style. Produced in inland China,
this brocade carries even more Chinese cultural elements, such as the Chinese
characters “吉” and “昌,” which are the most conspicuous signs. The beast heads
and dragon-head streamers are also traits. In addition, the flat-pattern meridional
double weaving structure is also a Chinese cultural element. This Helios must have
gone through a strange journey from the West to the East and from far antiquity to
Medieval times and had undergone such tremendous changes that we can barely
determine its prototype.
Grapes: Grapes are said to have been brought back to China by Qian Zhang after
his return from the westbound journey. They seemed to have appeared on the silk
patterns in the late East Han Dynasty period, evidenced by the damask with bird,
beast, and grape patterns unearthed in Minfeng, Xinjiang. Besides, according to Xi
Jing Za Ji (《西京杂记》), there were rose apple brocades during the Han Dynasty
period. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties periods, their use was more extensive,
evidenced by the embroideries with dragon, rose finch, and grape patterns unearthed
in Turpan, Xinjiang. Records also mentioned the fact that Shihu Zhao had produced
rose apple brocades. Grape patterns were even more popular during the Tang
Dynasty period, which was reflected in works of art such as Dunhuang wall
paintings and copper mirrors.
Exotic texts: According to literature of the Tang Dynasty period, a ban on exotic
texts had been issued. It is reasonable to infer that the so-called exotic texts referred
to foreign language texts. The earliest foreign language texts that had appeared on
textiles should be the Kharosthi texts around the third century. Vestiges of Kharosthi
texts were found on the residues of Han-style brocades unearthed in Niya, Loulan,
and Yingpan, Xinjiang, and one of them read “a brocade with Chinese characters.”
A beast-faced brocade found in Yingpan also bore a line of Kharosthi texts, in
addition to the Chinese character “王.” The technology used to make this brocade is
obviously of Han style, which means the brocade should have been made by a Han
craftsman. By adding both Chinese and Kharosthi texts into the brocade, he obvi-
ously intended to sell this brocade on the Silk Road, where many people spoke the
280 F. Zhao
Chinese and Kharosthi languages. Here, the Kharosthi and Chinese texts have
similar meanings and are used as decorations instead of the main body of the pattern.
9.5.3 Popularization and Domestication of Stringed-Bead Patterns
It is generally believed that the stringed-bead patterns represent the greatest influence
of the cultures of the Western Territories on silk patterns. In fact, stringed-bead
patterns are not motif patterns, but skeleton ones. That is to say, round dots of similar
sizes are connected and lined to form larger geometric skeletons, which are filled
with patterns of animals, and flowers are added or in some cases cross over specific
patterns are decorative stripes. The earliest use of stringed-bead patterns was spotted
in the depiction of clothes in the tomb wall paintings by Xianxiu Xu of the Northern
Qi Dynasty period. There are two silk patterns in these wall paintings, namely, the
stringed-bead patterns with the Buddhist head as the motif and the deer-pair patterns
in the stringed-bead patterns. The earliest physical objects of stringed-bead patterns
found were made during the Northern Dynasty period.
In the Tang Dynasty period, such patterns were absorbed and digested by the
Tang people, and some stringed-bead round den patterns with Chinese characteris-
tics emerged in China. The first step of absorption was duplication and imitation. For
example, Chou He of the Sui Dynasty period had successfully duplicated the golden
cotton thread brocade of Persia. Among the silk products made during the early Tang
Dynasty period and the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, several large brocades with
stringed-bead round den patterns were undoubtedly made in China, including the
“flower, tree, and deer-pair” brocade unearthed in Turpan, with a pair of deer within
the stringed-bead round den and Chinese characters “花树对鹿” in both directions;
the brocade with patterns of four lion-hunting horsemen, now preserved in Japan,
with the diameter of the round den reaching 45 cm, and four lion-shooting horsemen
are within stringed-bead circles, and the horses are branded with two Chinese
characters “山” and “吉”; and the large round den stringed-bead tiger-pair brocade,
the large round den stringed-bead lion-hunting brocade, and the large round den
stringed-bead tiger-hunting brocade were unearthed in Dulan, Qinghai. These bro-
cades were subject to refined techniques, with zonal patterns and large round den
circles, and were key targets of duplication. There are also smaller round den
stringed-bead patterns, such as horse-pair, goat-pair, phoenix-pair, and peacock-
pair patterns, for which meridional patterns were used, signifying major changes
in style.
The digestion process is actually the process of change. For the patterns, the
stringed-bead patterns remained in use, but were changed, and the motifs were
changed. Prominent examples include brocades with small round den stringed-
bead patterns and damasks with medium round den double-bead dragon-pair
patterns.
A great many small round den stringed-bead patterns were found in Turpan,
Dulan, Shosoin, and the Central Asian part of Soviet Union, though the most
amazing of these are the great number of stringed-bead patterns on Dunhuang wall
paintings and the colored terracotta warriors found in the tomb of Prince Yide in
Shaanxi. The Dunhuang wall paintings were mostly drawn during the Sui and early
Tang Dynasties periods, while Prince Yide’s tomb (706) was built in the heyday of
the Tang Dynasty. These brocade patterns are mostly in crisscrossed round dens,
with small round den patterns in the stringed-bead rings and ten types of patterns
outside of the stringed-bead rings, while variations abound, especially in terms of the
color. Style-wise, the stringed-bead patterns recede to an inconspicuous position, and
the entire patterns bear greater resemblance to round den patterns. It should be
pointed out that the jacquard technology adopted by these brocades is exactly the
same as that used by subsequent generations and is undoubtedly a typical Chinese
technology.
Let’s take a look at the damask with round den dragon-pair patterns prevalent in
the Tang Dynasty period (see Picture 9.17). Such damasks were widely popular,
unearthed in both Dulan and Turpan, and several pieces had been passed down in
Shosoin. The most famous one is that bearing texts dating back to the first year of
Emperor Jingyun’s reign, unearthed in Turpan. The texts indicated its place of
production as Shuangliu County, Jiannan (present-day Shuangliu of Sichuan Prov-
ince), confirming it was popular during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty period.
Here, we do not need to discuss the meaning of the combination of the dragon motif
and stringed-bead patterns. We just need to look at the variations of the round den
patterns, including stringed beads, double stringed beads, petal stringed beads, and
curly grass, which are sufficient to demonstrate the skills of Chinese weavers upon
re-creation and reprocessing.
The further domestication of the stringed-bead patterns led to the creation of
the Lingyang Duke Style. Whenever speaking of the silk patterns of the Tang
Dynasty period, people always talk about the Lingyang Duke Style with great
interest:
Picture 9.17 Damask with

round den stringed-bead
dragon-pair patterns
282 F. Zhao
“Shilun Dou, courtesy name Xiyan or Nayan, son to the Duke of Chen. He was initially an
advisor to Emperor Taizong and staff officer to the prime minister, and was made the Duke of
Lingyang. He was highly intelligent and designed the most sophisticated chariots and
buildings. As ordered by the emperor, he was also responsible for supervising over the
construction and repair of the frontier post in Yizhou, creating luxurious and gorgeous silk
products, which are still called ‘Lingyang Duke Style’ by the Shu people today...During the
reigns of Emperors Gaozu and Taizong, the patterns of pheasant-pair, fighting goats, flying
phoenixes and swimming kirins on the imperial brocades were all created by Shilun and
have been passed down today.”
This quote tells us Shilun Dou designed the patterns on the brocades given by
the vassal state of Shu to the emperors in the early Tang Dynasty period and
pioneered a certain style, which was called the Lingyang Duke Style. These
patterns were still visible around the time Yanyuan Zhang authored Li Dai Ming
Hua Ji (《历代名画记》) (c.847). According to our research, the combination of
garland round den and animal patterns might be a paradigm from the Lingyang
Duke Style.
The round den patterns used by Lingyang Duke consist of three types, one of
which is the combination rings, such as the combination of two different types of
stringed beads (double-bead and dragon-pair) mentioned above, along with varia-
tions such as the combination of petals and stringed beads, curly grass and stringed
beads, and curly grass and little flowers (flower round den and beads), which were
the type of Lingyang Duke Style closest to the stringed-bead round den patterns. The
second category is curly grass rings, as described in the Tang verse “evenly distrib-
uted patterns of pomegranate on brocades,” and there are numerous physical items.
For example, although the brocades with round den grape and standing phoenix
patterns found in the Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, were in a state of decay (see
Picture 9.18), the garland pattern could be restored, and the standing phoenix pattern
was roughly visible. The category includes bud-shaped rings, which could be
divided into explicit bud, implicit bud, half-explicit half-implicit styles. The motif
pattern is highly variable. According to physical items, there are phoenixes, manda-
rin ducks, dragons, lions, birds, deer, and peacocks, which are mostly the familiar
and favored images in the Chinese tradition.
Picture 9.18 Brocade with

round den flower and standing
lion patterns
9.5.4 Nasich Design of Stony Lions
In the Yuan Dynasty period, exchanges between Europe and Asia reached another
unprecedented peak, and the exchanges between Islamic and Chinese arts also left an
obvious mark. Fabrics unearthed during this period were not only fabrics with the
Central Plain style but also many Central Plain-produced products with the style of
the Western Territories. These products mostly used large beasts such as eagles,
lions, griffins, and auspicious beasts as the main pattern motifs. The Shu brocade
contains patterns of the style of the Western Territories, such as golden eagles, lion
round dens, and elephants, and in particular, the eagle patterns, which were discov-
ered in large numbers on the Silk Road. These could prove the existence of cultural
exchanges between China and the Western Territories.
Eagle patterns emerged during the Tang Dynasty period, when most were
tragopans of Central Asia style. The eagle patterns in the Yuan Dynasty period
basically inherited the style in the Tang Dynasty period and were mostly in pairs.
Brocades with such patterns were also found in Inner Mongolia. The Berlin Museum
of Arts and Crafts and the Krefeld of Textile Museum of Germany both preserved a
famous black-background parrot-pair nasich (see Picture 9.19), with Persian texts on
Picture 9.19 Golden

brocade of the Yuan Dynasty
period with a parrot-pair
pattern
284 F. Zhao
the parrot wings. This is the commonplace symmetrical form. The double-headed
bird pattern is commonplace on western textiles, especially the brocades of the tenth
to thirteenth centuries preserved in Europe, for which physical items abound. The
nasich of the Yuan Dynasty period also has many similar patterns. In the Museum of
Cleveland, United States, two large nasiches of the Yuan Dynasty period are
preserved, and their central motif is a double-headed bird. One of them is a
red-background nasich, on which a double-headed bird is on dense rolling clouds.
The other used to have a red background, which turned black afterward. A double-
headed bird pattern is also available on the outside of the beast patterns. The double-
headed bird patterns on these two textiles have something in common: both birds
grab a dragon head in the paw, which is a very typical style of Central Asian double-
headed eagles.
Another eagle pattern is to make eagles symmetrical or into a queue walking in
the same direction, such as the famous golden brocade Buddha clothes preserved in
the Beijing Palace Museum. While most parts of the clothes were determined as
products of the Ming Dynasty period, an eagle-pattern golden brocade on the belt
could be determined as a product of the Yuan Dynasty period. One queue walks
toward the left, and the other toward right, with a distinctly different layout from
those of other eagle patterns. Another example is the golden brocade hat with eagle-
pair patterns unearthed in the Mingshui tombs, Damao Banner, Inner Mongolia,
where lines of symmetrical pairs of eagles that face each other are used, different
from the pattern where back-to-back eagles turn around their heads to face each
other.
In addition to eagles, beast-pair patterns are also commonplace on nasiches, while
the primary patterns used are human-faced lion-bodied sphinxes and eagle-mouthed
beast-bodied griffins. A brocade with sphinx patterns unearthed in the Mingshui
tombs in Damao Banner, Inner Mongolia (see Picture 9.20), has a typical motif of the
Western Territories, and similar patterns are commonplace on the potteries and
copper mirrors of Central Asia and Iran during the Mongolian times. A more typical
example of lion-pair patterns is the black-background round den lion-pair and
griffin-pair golden brocade preserved in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Within the
round den, the pair of lions leaps up with their backs toward each other, strong and
vigorous. This pattern of back-to-back lions turning around their heads to face each
other is similar to the pattern of eagle-pair, and griffins can also be spotted on the
nasiches of the same era. Leopard-pair patterns are seen on the golden brocade with
black-background pedal den beast-pair patterns preserved in the Cleveland Museum
of Art, and there is a dragon head at its tail, which is a typical Central Asian style.
Griffin-pair patterns can not only be seen outside of the round den on the brocade
with round den lion-pair and griffin-pair patterns but also are discovered on the
golden brocades unearthed in the Salt Lake tombs in Xinjiang. Besides, colored
brocades of that era also bear large numbers of griffin-pair patterns, such as the
griffin brocade unearthed at the Jininglu Ancient Town Relic Site of the Yuan
Dynasty period in Inner Mongolia, where the griffin motif that was highly popular
in Central Asia was used (see Picture 9.21).
Picture 9.20 Golden

brocade with a sphinx pattern
Picture 9.21 Golden

brocade with a sphinx pattern
286 F. Zhao
9.5.5 Chinoiserie and Big Western Flowers
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as overseas trade got increasingly busy
on the eastern routes, a large number of Chinese luxuries were transported to
European countries, especially tea leaves, silk, and porcelain. The highly exotic
patterns on silk and porcelain aroused westerners’ vivid imaginations of the Chinese
empire, which, along with the information revealed by the letters of western mis-
sionaries and merchants in China, resulted in a mania for Chinese luxuries across
Europe. This led to the creation of the famous Chinoiserie in decorative arts.
As a decorative style, Chinoiserie first emerged in the seventeenth century. In
mid-eighteenth century, promoted by the court of Louis XV of France, it thrived and
was quickly spread to and popularized in the rest of Europe. It is noteworthy that
unlike the decorative style of the original Chinese articles, Chinoiserie is not the
simple imitation of the Chinese decorative style, but draws inspirations from China,
a country so distant and mysterious, chooses some Chinese elements (people,
background, or items) as the material, leverages the imaginations of the imaginative
Europeans, and applies the western approach to picture composition to create an
elegant, gorgeous, and highly exotic decorative style. Many decoration historians
believe the Rococo style popular in French courts and the rest of the Europe contains
some “Chinese elements.”
European silk with the Chinese style was most common in the eighteenth century
France, and Lyon, Tours, and Paris were the production centers of such silk. It
happened to be a time when the Rococo style emerged, and designers combined the
delicate and elegant Rococo art with the Chinese elements imagined by the
Europeans. As a result, Chinese motifs such as Chinese figures in robes, elaborate
towers and pavilions, idyllic landscapes of mountains and lakes and flowers, snow,
and the moon in different seasons began to emerge on French silk products in large
numbers.
In terms of textiles, the Chinese style first appeared in hangings, including
tapestries and embroidered hangings. In the late seventeenth century and early
eighteenth century, the Soho tapestries and embroidered hangings in London dem-
onstrated Chinese elements, and the Gobelins and Beauvais tapestry plants produced
large serial hangings with Chinese motifs after the 1820s, exerting a major influence
on contemporary silk patterns. Initially, French silk products demonstrated eastern
influence through the “exotic pattern,” which however was not obvious. The exotic
pattern refers to a kind of exotic pattern with highly abstract motifs popular during
1795–1815. Around 1840, a group of “Chinese style” silk products emerged in
France, especially those produced in Lyon, which were so elegant that they became
the paradigm of the “Chinese style” during Louis XV’s reign.
Chinese style silk products produced in Lyon flourished thanks to the effort of
Jean Revel, a renowned pattern designer in France. Jean Revel was also a painter
who was good at drawing flowers, but he was known for the dyeing and weaving
pattern design. His contribution was the invention of a fabrication method featuring
gradual change of the color and an even and natural dyeing technique that makes the
flowers on the silk genuine and vivid. He also invented the coordinate paper design
approach, where weaving points were marked with coordinate paper to distinguish
between meridional and zonal patterns, which was significant in the history of fabric
design. The invention of this technique produced vivid silk patterns and achieved a
painting-like effect. According to the popular fashion of society, fabric designers in
Lyon drew inspirations from the works of artists known for Chinese motifs, such as
Boucher and Bimont, especially the latter, who created a large number of great
Chinese style silk patterns for the silk design in Lyon. The drawings showed the life
of Chinese people, who wore Chinese robes and took a stroll, or drank tea, or chatted
with each other, or went for fishing, leisured and carefree. The background settings
included beautiful Chinese gardens, towers and pavilions, exquisite pagodas, gro-
tesque rockeries with caves, palm trees that aroused imaginations and umbrellas,
shells, Chinese items, and all kinds of strange birds and animals that represented
China, delivering strong exotic feelings. For the composition method, the traditional
western approach was adopted, including the combination of flowers with a rhombus
skeleton with Chinese motifs and the unique composition of water surface and
floating islands.
Among the Chinese style works produced in Europe, one type involves the direct
imitation of traditional Chinese patterns. Motifs of these patterns include cloud
dragons, flowers and birds, and bamboos and rocks and adopt similar expression
methods, some of which are just like genuine Chinese products. In the Palace
Museum, a piece of “silk with lake background bamboo patterns” is preserved and
regarded as a Chinese product. According to the patterns (bamboo branches and
leaves), color (light lake color), organization (flat pattern background and meridional
floated flowers) and structure, it seemed to be a work of the late Qing Dynasty
period. However, upon scrutiny, we found a light purple mark printed on the back of
the cloth (using the stamp pad instead of the Chinese inkpad), and texts “ Registered
Trade Mark, L Permezel & Cie, Lyon, Yards86” were spotted around a duck
trademark, suggesting the fabric was a product of Lyon, France, which somehow
entered into the Chinese imperial palace and became an “imperial” item. Generally,
these “Chinese style” patterns are coarser than those made in China. Sometimes,
flower and bird patterns are expressed with sketchy single-line flat strokes.
In addition to local production, European countries also purchased a lot of
customized “Chinese style” silk products from China in the seventeenth and eigh-
teenth centuries, including draw patterns, printed patterns, and manually drawn
patterns. These products were made by Chinese craftsmen based on the pattern
samples designed by European designers based on the popular fashion of Europe. In
the Palace Museum, a colored satin with big flower patterns is preserved. Such
patterns can be spotted on the theatrical costumes in the eighteenth century Britain
and have similar colors to those of the British originals. Similar fabrics have been
preserved in Switzerland and the United States but are considered Chinese products
made by Chinese craftsmen and exported to Europe, because the weaving technique
and the width of the fabrics are largely different from those of European products.
Among the exported silk, some products have manually drawn patterns. These
fabrics were mostly from Suzhou and Hangzhou, transported to Guangzhou and
underwent the manual drawing procedure in Guangzhou workshops, where popular
288 F. Zhao
Picture 9.22 Chinese-style

fabric of Europe with
manually drawn patterns
patterns of Europe were drawn, before being exported. Most of these silk products
used light or original colors as the background and chiffon and satin/flat patter
fabrics as the materials. The patterns were mostly flower plants, with some using
soft flower branches as the skeleton and filling the skeleton with bundles of flowers
or western maids or using curly ribbons as the skeleton and filling the skeleton with
all kinds of Chinese items favored by westerners (see Picture 9.22). And some used
overall flower patterns, with Chinese style motifs such as rockeries, flower terraces.
and flower plants.
Undoubtedly, European silk, especially French and Italian silk, was imported in
large quantities during the reigns of Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong. European silk
might have been brought in by missionaries. Among the collections of the Palace
Museum, many fabrics made during Emperor Qianlong’s reign have extremely
strong western elements. For example, some products bear rose patterns, and by
comparing with similar designs produced in France, we know these rose patterns are
typical western designs, and the golden and silver thread materials, organizational
structure, and the shade effect in the design of these products are nonexistent in
Chinese silk. Therefore, these fabrics were undoubtedly imported from the West. It
should be pointed out that many of these products were regarded as products made
with golden threads and Nanjing brocades, which was obviously mistaken. The truth
Picture 9.23 Big western flower patterns on a fabric of the Qing Dynasty period
might be quite the opposite. It was the large numbers of golden products imported
from Europe that inspired Chinese weavers, who invented the technique of golden
threads and Nanjing brocades. It was the influence of the modern European arts that
prompted Chinese silk pattern designs to import the stereotype effect. Interestingly, a
fabric collected by the Palace Museum has exactly the same cushion as that on
Emperor Qianlong’s saddle in a painting.
Since the Yuan Dynasty period, some big western flower patterns had emerged on
Chinese silk. These were usually curly grass and big flowers; the flowers were large
and had special colors. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties periods, such fabrics
became increasingly commonplace. After the mid-Qing Dynasty period, there were
an increasing number of big western flower patterns, where large flowers such as
roses, morning glories, Chinese roses, peonies, and lotuses, with some changes, e.g.,
pointed petals on peonies and round petals on lotuses, were different from the
Chinese tradition and were therefore called “western flowers” (see Picture 9.23).
Invention and Evolution of Printing
10
Qi Han
Contents
10.1 Block Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
10.1.1 Origin of Block Printing During the Tang and Song Dynasties Periods . . . . . . 292
10.1.2 Chromatography, Woodprint, and Color Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
10.1.3 Wax Printing and Tin Pouring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
10.2 Letterpress Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
10.2.1 Letterpress Printing Invented by Sheng Bi and Its Application in the Song
Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
10.2.2 Letterpress in Western Xia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
10.2.3 Letterpress in the Yuan Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
10.2.4 Letterpress in the Ming Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
10.2.5 Letterpress in the Qing Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Abstract
Printing, gunpowder, and the compass are regarded as by Westerners the three
great inventions of China. These, along with papermaking, form the four great
inventions of ancient China known to people today. These are the great contri-
butions made by the Chinese nation to human society and have profound influ-
ence on human civilization. Around the seventh century, block printing was
invented in China during Emperor Taizong’s reign in the early Tang Dynasty
period, about 700 years earlier than Europe. Over the 13 centuries, the Chinese
civilization has subsisted, thanks to the widespread adoption of printing, making
indelible contributions to the world.
Keywords
Block printing · Evolution of printing · Letterpress printing · Wax printing ·
Chromatography · Woodprint · Color printing
Q. Han (*)
School of Humanities, University of Chinese Academy Science, Beijing, China

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_10
292 Q. Han
Printing, gunpowder, and the compass are called by Westerners the three great
inventions of China. In the seventeenth century, Francis Bacon said, “Again, we
should notice the force, effect, and consequences of inventions, which are nowhere
more conspicuous than in those three which were unknown to the ancients; namely,
printing, gunpowder, and the compass. For these three have changed the appearance
and state of the whole world; first in literature, then in warfare, and lastly in
navigation: and innumerable changes have been thence derived, so that no empire,
sect, or star, appears to have exercised a greater power and influence on human
affairs than these mechanical discoveries.” These, along with papermaking, form the
Four Great Inventions of ancient China known to people today. These are the great
contributions made by the Chinese nation to human society and have profound
influence.
Printing is entitled as “a sacred art” or “Mother of Civilization,” whose impor-
tance is known to all. It is often said “knowledge is power,” and one of the sources of
this power is engraved books. Around the seventh century, block printing was
invented in China during Emperor Taizong’s reign (reign title: Zhenguan) in the
early Tang Dynasty period, about 700 years earlier than Europe. During the reign of
Emperor Qingli of the Northern Song Dynasty in the eleventh century, Sheng Bi
invented the letterpress printing technique, around 400 years earlier than Gutenberg
of Germany. Over the 13 centuries, the Chinese civilization has subsisted, thanks to
the widespread adoption of printing, making indelible contributions to the world.
10.1 Block Printing
10.1.1 Origin of Block Printing During the Tang and Song Dynasties
Periods
The exact time of block printing’s invention has been a much-debated topic for
several centuries. There are multiple theories proposed by scholars both in and
outside of China, summarized as seven eras: the Han Dynasty period, the East Jin
Dynasty period, the Six Dynasties period, the Sui Dynasty period, the Tang Dynasty
period, the Five Dynasties period, and the Northern Dynasty period. According to
currently available archaeological materials, the Han Dynasty period, the East Jin
Dynasty period, and the Six Dynasties period seem too early, while the Northern
Dynasty period is too late to be convincing. The Five Dynasties period theory widely
believed in the Qing Dynasty period has been overturned by physical evidence such
as Jin Gang Jing (《金刚经》) of the Tang Dynasty period discovered in Dunhuang;
the number of believers in the Sui Dynasty period theory is dwindling as literature
has been misinterpreted, and the Tang Dynasty period theory seems to be the only
plausible one. As the Tang Dynasty spanned across about 300 years (618–907), there
are multiple theories as to the specific period of time when printing was invented,
including the early Tang theory, mid-Tang theory, and late-Tang theory, the last of
which was supported by the most scholars. Some proposed printing was invented
during Emperor Taizong’s reign in the early days of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh
century, having found evidence in Hong Jian Lu (《弘简录》) by Hangzhou-born
10 Invention and Evolution of Printing 293
historian Jingbang Shao (1491–1565) of the Ming Dynasty period. This material was
first seen in Shi Zhu Zhai Du Shu Sui Bi Hui Bian (《师竹斋读书随笔汇编》) by Ji
Zheng of the Qing Dynasty period (who passed away before 1880). Here’s an
excerpt from Volume 46 of Hong Jian Lu (《弘简录》): “Emperor Taizong’s queen,
surnamed Zhangsun, was born in Luoyang. . .and died at the age of 36. The Emperor
grieved and ordered the writing of a book of Nv Ze (《女则》) that collected the great
stories of virtuous women. . . .after reading, the Emperor commended this book and
ordered it to be block printed and passed down to future generations.”
The above contains clear reference to block printing. Queen Zhangsun died in the
10th year of Emperor Taizong’s reign (636). Evidently, this book was printed around
this year. As its printed versions might have appeared among the people, Emperor
Taizong ordered its publication. The problem is Shao was a historian of the sixteenth
century, and his book is a secondhand historical material after all. Although Tang
Shu (《唐书》), Tong Jian (《通鉴》), and Tai Ping Yu Lan (《太平御览》) mentioned Nv
Ze (《女则》), these works did not contain the sentence “ordered it to be block
printed.” However, Hong Jian Lu (《弘简录》) is a formal history work, and Shao
once compared it with Tong Zhi (《通志》) by Zhengqiao Song as he had spent
15 years writing it and updating it four times. As can be seen, Shao was cautious
and stringent, and he claimed, “I describe and do not make up facts.” Evidently, he
shouldn’t have made up stories.
During the Tang Dynasty period, the monk Zang Xuan used to print Buddha
portraits, which could serve as circumstantial evidence for Shao’s claims. Zhi Feng
of the Tang Dynasty period quoted Seng Yuan Yi Lu (《僧园逸录》) in Yun Xian San
Lu (《云仙散录》) as saying, “Zang Xuan printed the portrait of Samantabhadra on
paper and distributed all around. Each year, five horses carried such paper for
distribution and not a single piece was left.” As Zang Xuan traveled west to India
in the third year of Emperor Taizong’s reign (629), returned to China in 645, and died
in the first year of Emperor Lingde’s reign (664), the Buddha portrait must have been
printed after his return. Up to five horses were used to carry the paper on which he
printed the portrait of Samantabhadra. Evidently, the quantity was large, and it is a
pity none were passed down. The large portraits of Samantabhadra and
Avalokitesvara of the Five Dynasties period found in Dunhuang may be similar to
what Zang Xuan printed.
Shen Lu, a scholar during the reigns of Emperors Hongzhi and Zhengde, was the
first to have proposed that book printing had started during the reign of the first
emperor of the Sui Dynasty. In He Fen Yan Xian Lu (《河汾燕闲录), Lu said, “On
the 8th day of the 12th month of the 13th year of Emperor Wen’s reign in the Sui
Dynasty period (5 Jan.594), the handwritten scriptures were declared abandoned and
block printing was ordered. This printing preceded Dao Feng’s printing efforts.”
Lu cited Li Dai San Bao Ji (《历代三宝记》) by Changfang Fei of the Sui Dynasty
period. During the Northern Zhou Dynasty period, Buddhism was banned, and
“sculptures were destroyed, sutra was damaged, monks were despised and temples
were demolished.” As a result, “pagodas were demolished and derelict, and scrip-
tures and sculptures died out.” However, during the reign of Emperor Wen (Jian
Yang) of the Sui Dynasty period, Buddhism was promoted, and a decree was issued
in the first year of Emperor Wen’s reign (581), allowing people to become monks
294 Q. Han
and appropriating money to build sculptures. In the 13th year of Emperor Wen’s
reign, “120,000 pieces of silk were donated for the destroyed sculptures and
damaged scriptures,” and the Emperor “restored Buddha sculptures, divinized Bud-
dha images, built more magnificent pagodas and ordered rebuilding of sculptures
previously destroyed and block printing of all the sutra damaged.” As “sculptures
were destroyed, sutra was damaged,” it is evident that sculptures and sutra were
treated differently. So the destroyed Buddha sculptures were rebuilt, and damaged
sutra was block printed. Shizhen Wang of the early Qing Dynasty period said, “Upon
scrutiny of his words, I believe only sculptures were built and scriptures were
written, and as for block printing, it was a mistake made by Shen Lu.” So the theory
that block printing emerged during the reign of the founding emperor of the Sui
Dynasty was Lu’s misinterpretation, which was quoted by subsequent generations,
and “ordered the writing” was changed into “ordered the block printing” or “carv-
ing,” which was a mistake repeated once and again, and the number of believers is
dwindling.
None of the currently available literature and archaeological items can prove
block-engraved books emerged during the East Han Dynasty, Six Dynasties, Later
Zhao Dynasty, Northern Qi Dynasty, and Sui Dynasty periods, and there is only
some circumstantial evidence that supports the theory that block printing emerged
during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. Of course, the question
remains to be settled by new historical materials and archaeological items.
Cities where engraved books were made during the Tang Dynasty period
according to currently available evidence include the capital Chang’an, the East
Capital Luoyang, Yuezhou, Yangzhou, Jiangdong, Jiangxi, and, in particular, Yizhou
and Chengdu, where the book printing industry was developed. In the eighth
century, book workshops emerged in Chang’an. In the Dunhuang-found picture of
the manuscript Xin Ji Bei Ji Jiu Jing (《新集备急灸经》) of the Tang Dynasty period
preserved in the National Library of China, we can see the text “printed by the Li
family of the capital in the East Fair” on the bottom of the manuscript. On the back
are a calendar dated the second year of Emperor Xiantong’s reign (861), and a
prescript dated the third year of Emperor Xiantong’s reign, which suggested it
had been printed during Emperor’s Xiantong’s reign, while the manuscript Jiu
Jing (《灸经》) was a handwritten copy of the printed version. Li Shu (《历书》) was
printed by the Diao family in the East Fair. In Xi’an, the printed book Tuo Luo Ni
Shen Zhou Jing (《陀罗尼神咒经》) was unearthed in a tomb of the late Tang
Dynasty period in the west suburb of Xi’an. In the middle was a Buddha sculpture
that seemed to have been colored, and the square characters around were Chinese
incantations, which were similar to the incantations on the book printed and sold by
the Bian family in Chengdu and were probably produced in Chang’an. These were
originally hidden in a copper box in which Emperor Xiantong’s reign title was
engraved. Printed during or before Emperor Xiantong’s reign, this version is the
earliest Tang Dynasty printed book currently preserved in China.
On the Jin Gang Jing (《金刚经》) found in Dunhuang, a line “Printed by Jie Wang
for his parents on the 15th day of the 4th month of the 9th year of Emperor
Xiantong’s reign (868)” was inscribed. This sutra is widely recognized as one of
the oldest engraved books in the world. As a commoner who believed in Buddhism,
Jie Wang paid to print this sutra to pray for blessings for his parents, and that was
why he said “Printed by Jie Wang for his parents.” On the front page, there is a
picture of Buddha Shakyamuni delivering a lecture on Buddhist doctrines (see
Picture 10.1). In the picture, Shakyamuni looks solemn, and the engravings are
fine and delicate. This is a mature work of art and a crown in the world printing
history, now preserved in London, England.
In 1966, a wooden printed version of Wu Gou Jing Guang Da Tuo Luo Ni Jing
(《无垢净光大陁罗尼经》) was found inside the Shakyamuni pagoda in the
Bulguksa Temple, Gyeongju, South Korea (see Picture 10.2). Upon examination,
scholars believed it had been printed between 704 and 751 (the 3rd to the 10th years
of the reign of Emperor Seongdeok of Silla or the 4th year of the reign of Empress
Chang’an (Zetian Wu) to the 10th year of the reign of Emperor Tianbao (or Emperor
Xuan of the Tang Dynasty) in the Tang Dynasty period in China). This sutra is four
chis longer and more than 100 years earlier than the Jin Gang Jing (《金刚经》)
version during Emperor Xiantong’s reign and is decades earlier than four
Japanese versions of Wu Gou Jing Guang Gen Ben Tuo Luo Ni Jing (《无垢净光
根本陀罗尼经》) dated 770, believed to be the oldest treasure of block printing
currently preserved in the world. In this sutra, four new characters created by Zetian
Wu (证, 授, 地, and初) were used. However, existence of the new characters created
by Empress Wu alone is not evidence that it was printed in Silla but can prove it was
printed in Tang instead. In the first year of Emperor Zaichu’s reign (689), Empress
Picture 10.1 Shakyamuni delivers a lecture on the front page of Jin Gang Jing.
Picture 10.2 Wu Gou Jing

Guang Da Tuo Luo Ni Jing
(《无垢净光大陁罗尼经》)
found in the Bulguksa Temple
of South Korea
296 Q. Han
Wu created a dozen new characters, and sutra translators and engravers used these
new characters only to comply with Empress Wu’s decrees or due to the fact these
characters had already been popular in society. Even if these characters were spread
to Silla, they would only have been used by few literati and would not have been
widespread, as Silla didn’t have to comply with Empress Wu’s decrees. For general
writing or book printing, only common characters would be used, and inconvenient
characters with complicated strokes would not be used.
Cultural exchanges between Tang and Silla were frequent. In the 13th year of
Emperor Taizong’s reign (639), Silla, Koguryo, and Baekje all sent students to Tang.
Ten years later, Tang-style clothes were worn in Silla. Chajang, a monk from Silla,
fetched over 400 copies of San Zhang (《三藏》) from Tang, and these copies gained
nationwide popularity. Another monk Hongqing sailed from Fujian and brought back
Da Zang Jing (《大藏经》). Now that the massive copies of Da Zang could be brought
back by their monks, a light-printed sutra copy could naturally be brought back too.
Therefore, some scholars believe it was a printed copy of the Tang Dynasty period in
the early eighth century instead of one printed by Silla itself. Several decades after this
copy, copies of Tuo Luo Ni Jing (《陀罗尼经》) emerged in Japan during the reign of
Emperor Konin. These copies were said to have been hidden in one million small
wooden pagodas. Given the huge quantity, they could have been made by Japan itself,
while the influence of Chinese-engraved scriptures was doubtless.
After the Tang Dynasty period, China entered the Five Dynasties and Ten
Kingdoms period. In a mere five or six decades, dynasties kept replacing one
another, and warlords formed a dozen local separatist regimes. Northern barbarian
intruders such as Qidan carried out pillages and slaughters in the Central Plain,
leaving hundreds of square kilometers of areas around Kaifeng and Luoyang in the
Central Plain desolate and uninhabited. On the other hand, remote areas such as Shu,
Southern Tang, Wu and Yue, and Min were relatively peaceful and became cultural
centers with a booming economy and a developed printing industry. The government
published supervised versions of scriptures, which became the prototype of super-
vised versions in the future and therefore played an important role in this part of the
history of printing. During the Five Dynasties period, books were printed in Kaifeng,
Jiangning, Hangzhou, Qingzhou, Guazhou, Shazhou, Min, Shu, and particularly in
Kaifeng, Chengdu, and Hangzhou.
After the Song Dynasty was established, the government not only was enthusiastic
about replenishing the national library with new collections but also made great efforts
to promote the printing of books. Guozijian (the Directorate of Education) printed
classical works of Confucius and medical books, which were distributed across the
country and also allowed to be sold. As emperors of the Song Dynasty mostly believed
in Buddhism or Taoism, sculptures of Buddha and the founder of Taoism were built.
Under this situation, private interest in book printing greatly increased, and booking
printing became a craze among local officials in the Southern Song Dynasty period.
You Lu said, “The greatest hobby of officials in recent history is to engrave books.”
Mingqing Wang said, “Most of the prefecture governments visited in recent years
engrave books.” Over 100 scholars and literati, such as You Lu and his son, Chengda
Fan, Wanli Yang, Xi Zhu, and Shi Zhang, all engraved books when taking public
office. They either printed their own works or the works of their ancestors or printed
the works of other prominent officials. There are also plenty of examples of officials
printing their friends’ works or books collected in their homes.
During the Song Dynasty period, local government organs such as the Military
Commission, Tea and Salt Commission, Judicial Commission, Fiscal Commission,
prefecture magistrates’ offices, county magistrates’ offices, schools, prefecture edu-
cation departments, county education departments, and academies all engraved
books, which became official books. Among these, prefecture magistrates’ offices
and county education departments printed the most books. Besides, there were books
printed by official hostels, which were set in all counties during the Song Dynasty
period to provide board and lodging to officials on the way to the capital. The
administrations of these hostels had funds in various names to accommodate the
officials and could engrave books with surplus money. Some had set printing houses.
Local officials sometimes used public funds to engrave books.
As engraving and selling books was profitable, Kaifeng, Lin’an, Wuzhou, Quzhou,
Jianning, Zhangzhou, Changsha, Chengdu, and Meishan set workshops to make books,
and “the populace also scrambled to fabricate and engrave books to make a living.” And
all of them private households and temples also engraved books. As a result, the public
and private craze for book engraving was the greatest in the Song Dynasty period,
which is the golden age of block printing. During the Song Dynasty period, engraved
books took the place of handwritten ones, provided great convenience to readers, and
facilitated technological and cultural development. Book engraving during the Song
Dynasty period is characterized by 1) government prioritization and advocacy by local
officials, 2) a full range of books with rich content and fine quality that outweighed those
in subsequent eras, and 3) a gradual increase in the number of book engraving
workshops. According to archaeological research, there were over 30 book-engraving
workshops during the Northern Song Dynasty period and over 200 during the Southern
Song Dynasty period. Books were engraved in almost all of the 15 circuits of the
Southern Song Dynasty, especially in Zhe, Min, and Shu.
During the Northern Song Dynasty period, book workshops already appeared in
Hangzhou, and their number soared after great numbers of residents of northern
China migrated to the south. These book workshops were given various names, such
as scripture shops, scriptures workshops, or scripture and book shops, bookshops, or
word shops. Twenty of them can be confirmed, and some of them were relocated
from Bianjing. Books made in Hangzhou were of fine quality and reputable both
domestically and overseas. Mengde Ye, a book collector of the Song Dynasty period,
said, “Books made in Hangzhou are of the best quality, followed by those made in
Shu, and books made in Fujian are the most inferior.”
Jianyang County and Jian’an County on the outskirts of Jianning Prefecture were
one of the publication centers during the Southern Song Dynasty. Books engraved in
Fujian were called “Min books,” “Jian books,” or “Jian’an books,” and books made
in Masha Town, Jianyang, were called “Masha books,” which were crudely made for
quick sale, contained many mistakes, and almost became the synonym of inferior
books. Besides, soft wood was used for the engraving, and the characters and
pictures were susceptible to vagueness and damages. Locally produced bamboo
paper was mostly used for printing. Such paper was crispy, thin, and yellowish black.
Therefore, both the content and material of the books were of low quality and left a
298 Q. Han
poor impression. However, as “Fujian books were almost everywhere,” and there
were a great variety of such books, which involved low costs, books of the Song
Dynasty period passed down today are mostly Fujian books, some of which are
finely engraved and have academic value. During the Southern Song Dynasty
period, even Qiongzhou, an island off the coast, had made medical books. It is fair
to say that block printing was spread nationwide during the Southern Song Dynasty
period.
Due to war, most of the books produced before the Tang Dynasty period were
lost. However, a lot of books made during the Song Dynasty period were passed
down, and some ancient works were also passed down through the printed versions
made during the Song Dynasty period. Therefore, the printing in the Song Dynasty
period greatly contributed to the preservation of ancient Chinese culture. During the
Song Dynasty period, not only the philosophical works by the philosophers in the
periods prior to the Qin Dynasty period and during the Han Dynasty period were
block printed, but also many technological works were published. Medical science
was particularly developed due to government prioritization, and official and private
workshops produced the greatest number of medical books. Entertainment and
recreation books also emerged.
In the 4th year of his reign (971), the founding emperor of the Northern Song
Dynasty dispatched people to engrave Fo Zang (《佛藏》) in Chengdu, where Da
Zang Jing (《大藏经》) was block printed in China for the first time, and this
version was the prototype of the various versions of Fo Zang (《佛藏》) domesti-
cally and abroad, called the “Yizhou version.” As it was started during Emperor
Kaibao’s (Kaibao is the reign title of the founding emperor) reign, it was also
called Kai Bao Zang (《开宝藏》). Afterward, monks in Fujian engraved a copy of
Da Zang Jing (《大藏经》) at the Dongcan Temple in Fuzhou, and this version was
historically called Chong Ning Wan Shou Da Zang (《崇宁万寿大藏》) or “the
Dongcan Temple version.” At the Kaiyuan Temple in Fuzhou, Bi Lu Da Zang Jing
(《毗卢大藏经》) was engraved, called “the Kaiyuan Temple version.” Yongcong
Wang, a local official of Huzhou, donated money to engrave Da Zang Jing (《大藏
经》), which was called Si Xi Yuan Jue Zang (《思溪圆觉藏》), at Sixi Yuanjue
Temple in the 2nd year of Emperor Shaoxing’s reign. In the third year of Emperor
Jiaxi’s reign, the Sixi Fabao Zifu Buddha Temple published sutra, which was
called Si Xi Zi Fu Zang (《思溪资福藏》) in Anji (present-day Huzhou). Monks in
Suzhou set a workshop for printing Da Zang Jing at the Qisha Yansheng Temple in
Pingjiang, and the engraving work started in July of the 4th year of Emperor
Lizong (reign title “Shaoding”) and was complete in the 2nd year of Emperor
Yingzong of the Yuan Dynasty period (reign title “Zhizhi”), called Qi Sha Zang
(《碛砂藏》).
In the Liao Dynasty period, two copies of Qi Dan Zang were engraved, and many
books were engraved during the Jin and West Xia Dynasties, too. Compared with the
Song Dynasty period, the Yuan Dynasty period saw the decline of book engraving,
which thrived again in the Ming Dynasty period. In the Qing Dynasty period, block
printing declined, and movable-type printing became popular. After Emperor
Daoguang’s reign, Western printing was spread into China, and block printing was
phased out.
10.1.2 Chromatography, Woodprint, and Color Printing
The earliest physical item of chromatography currently preserved is the Jin Gang
Jing Zhu (see Picture 10.3) published by Zifu Temple in the Zhongxing Circuit
(present-day Jiangling, Hubei Province) of the Yuan Dynasty period. In the picture
on the front page, the old monk Wuwen is annotating scriptures, accompanied by a
page boy and another person. The desk, table, cloud, and glossy ganoderma are all
red, and the pine tree is black. The annotations are in red and black, and the book title
Jin Gang Ban Ruo Bo Luo Mi Jing (《金刚般若波罗密经》) is in red. The book is
dated around 1340–1341. The use of two colors in block printing is pioneering in the
history of printing.
10.1.2.1 Huzhou Chromatography

It was not until the end of Ming Dynasty period that the chromatography technique
was greatly promoted by the Min and Ling families in Huzhou, and two colors
developed into three, four, and even five colors, which was a major step forward in
the history of chromatography. Huzhou chromatography commenced with Shi Shuo
Xin Yu (《世说新语》) by Yingchu Ling around the 9th year of Emperor Wanli’s reign
(1581), and another theory was that it started with Chun Qiu Zuo Zhuan (《春秋左
Picture 10.3 Jin Gang Jing Zhu printed by the Zifu Temple in the Yuan Dynasty period
300 Q. Han
传》) by Qiji Min in the 44th year of Emperor Wanli’s reign (1616). Both copies were
produced during the reigns of Emperors Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen. Yingling Hu
of the Ming Dynasty period said, “The chromatography techniques in Huzhou and
She areas suddenly improved.” He also said, “All those copies printed in red, black
or green, double or single printed or double printed in red must be expensive and
good.” Huzhou chromatography was delicate as double printing was adopted. Qiji
Min was a cultivated talent (xiucai) of the Wucheng County and from a rich family.
Qiji Min engraved the works of Lao Tzu, Chuang Tsu, and Lieh Tzu and the
collections of famous poets and Chu Ci (《楚辞》), and his brothers, sons, and
nephews also engraved many books. The Ling family included Yingchu Ling and
Mengchu Ling. Mengchu Ling engraved the collection of Haoran Meng’s poems,
and his family had various engraved books passed down.
Chromatography books were known for various vivid colors printed on snow-
white paper, pleasant to view, and gaining popularity with readers. They were most
suitable for works and maps with annotations and all sorts of symbols apparent to the
eye. Comments could be inserted in the columns, circles and marks could be added
between the lines to clarify the meanings, and paragraphs were clearly distinguish-
able, most suitable for beginners. The lines were sparse with wide spacing, easy for
chromatography printing. No straight lines were in the frame in which there were up
to 8 or 9 lines, and each line consisted of 19 characters. Such books, especially those
with three or four colors, cost several times more than other types of books and were
therefore costly and time-consuming and required certain printing techniques to keep
the characters within frames. The Min and Ling families printed a total of 144 books,
most of which had red and black colors, 13 had three holds, 4 had four colors, and
1 had five colors.
10.1.2.2 Woodprint
One of the features of the printing in the Ming Dynasty period is the prevalence of
woodprints. The numbers of illustrations in illustrated books ranged from several to
dozens, and some illustrated books contained up to 100 or 200 illustrations. In
addition to the large quantity, they were superior to books in the Song and Yuan
Dynasties periods in terms of quality, representing a pinnacle of the woodprint art.
These illustrations could appear in comic books where illustrations were followed by
texts, or be inserted between every two chapters or within the text, with most of them
on the front page. After the reigns of Emperors Chengzong and Hongzong of the
Ming Dynasty, comic dialogues (shuochang), commentaries (cihua), novels, and
traditional Chinese operas were widely popular. In order to cater to the appetite of
readers and promote sales, all publishers used illustrations: “All of the currently
available books of legendary stories contained illustrations.” Illustrations added
color to the comic books, facilitated understanding of the story, enhanced readers’
interest, suited both refined and popular taste, and gained popularity with the readers.
Therefore, the use of illustrations in books became a fashion in the Ming Dynasty
period. Delicately engraved and well made, these works fascinated readers and
catered to the trend of the time, with the craze reaching its heyday during the reigns
of Emperors Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen, when a great variety of schools
competed with one another. There were four woodprint schools: the Beijing school,
the Nanjing school, the Jianyang school (the woodprints of these three schools
featured strong, plain strokes full of classical elements), and the Huizhou school.
The woodprint paintings by the Huizhou school were dainty and delicate with
elegant gestures. The portraits were lifelike with facial features that reflected emo-
tions, and even the curtain patterns and window decorations were delicately
engraved with top skills. These were real refined engraved works that were pleasant
to the eye and appealing to the mind. Most of the engravers were from the Qiucun
Village (or Qiuchuan Village) of Shexian County, and all went by the surname of
Huang, calling themselves Huangs from Xin’an or Huangs from ancient Shexian.
“Whenever people needed to hire engravers, those from Shexian County would be
on top of the list.” They were often hired by people elsewhere and had to travel out of
town. As a result, they migrated to other places.
10.1.2.3 Color Printing

During the reign of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, with popularity of pop
novels and traditional Chinese operas, the technique of the Huizhou school’s
woodprint had reached the pinnacle, when some people came up with the idea of
adding colors to the paintings. Mo Yuan (《墨苑》) (c.1650) engraved by a female
engraver surnamed Cheng from Zilan Tang of Shexian County, Anhui, contained
nearly 50 colored illustrations, most of which had four or five colors. All the colored
illustrations of this book were applied to the block printing and printed out. One
single version had numerous colors, which were quite eye-catching. The Illustration
of Celestial Elders in Court in Mo Yuan (see Picture 10.4) contained images of red
and yellow phoenixes and green bamboos, and over 10 copies were printed with
five-color ink. In the following year, Yiming Huang from Xin’an engraved Feng Liu
Jue Chang Tu (《风流绝畅图》), which, in addition to the ink version, had a colored
version, where people’s clothes, skin, eyes, and even window curtains were finely
printed. Hua Shi (《花史》) dated around 1600 contained red lotus flowers and green
leaves. Initially, several colors were applied to the same printing. For example, red
was applied to the flowers, green was applied to the leaves, and brown was applied to
the branches. However, the colors could be less distinguishable, so one wooden plate
was engraved for each color, and color printing was complete one by one. As smaller
templates were created first and pieced together like assorted dishes, this technique
was called the “assortment approach” by people in the Ming Dynasty period. The
assortment approach was an elaborate, complicated process: The full picture was
sketched first, and the sketch was divided into several parts. For each illustration,
30–40 templates were required and pressed gently or hard 60–70 times to reflect the
shades of the color of a flower or a leaf, which resembled the “boneless” drawing
technique of artists in the Northern Song Dynasty period. A drawing so duplicated
would best preserve the true essence and elements of Chinese paintings, as all the
pigments and Xuan paper used were identical to those used for the original drawings
and boasted the characteristics of traditional Chinese arts. Such assorted color
printing marked another great leap in the history of printing and was highly suc-
cessful in the early seventeenth century. The most representative work was Luo Xuan
302 Q. Han
Picture 10.4 Illustration of Celestial Elders in Court in Mo Yuan
Bian Gu Jian Pu (《萝轩变古笺谱》) engraved by Faxiang Wu from Jiangning. This

was a drawing of landscapes, flowers, grass, and animals, made with the assortment
and arch pattern (Gong Hua) techniques. Jizu Yan from Zhangzhou said, “My friend
Faxiang Wu told me the paintings, which were made with few colored inks and
mostly embroideries, are a miracle and treasure among works of art.” Printed in the
6th year of Emperor Tianqi’s reign (1626), Luo Xuan Bian Gu Jian Pu (《萝轩变古
笺谱》) preceded Shi Zhu Zhai Jian Pu (《十竹斋笺谱》) by Zhengyan Hu by
19 years, and Shi Zhu Zhai Shu Hua Pu (《十竹斋书画谱》) printed in the 7th year
of Emperor Tianqi’s reign by only one year.
Zhengyan Hu, originally from Xiuning, Anhui, migrated to the side of the Jilong
Mountain in Nanjing and lived with his wife Wu. Both were engaged in the block
printing of letter paper scripts. He planted over 10 types of bamboos in front of his
residence in Nanjing and therefore called his residence “Ten-Bamboo Residence”
and himself “Ten-Bamboo Master.” He was good at the six categories of Chinese
characters and achieved an unparalleled position. He was able to make good paper
and ink and was good at engraving and drawing. Shi Zhu Zhai Jian Pu (《十竹斋书
画谱》) printed by him consisted of eight series and 16 books. Shi Zhu Zhai Jian Pu
consisted of 32 categories, such as ancient landscapes, people, and flowers and
Picture 10.5 Shi Zhu Zhai Jian Pu (《十竹斋笺谱》) printed by Zhengyan Hu
stones (see Picture 10.5). If the original picture is well drawn, it will be easy to
engrave, and upon printing, a coir brush broom can replace the brush pen to control
the strength of the strokes and apply the force that is exactly needed. Hu discussed
with skilled craftsmen day and night and persevered in this practice for decades, and
thanks to this, he could make unparalleled drawings, engravings, and printings. The
flowers, feathers, and insects were all vivid and lifelike. No wonder his friend
Longyou Yang said he “has the skills that surpasses those of the previous generations
and is unique in one thousand years!” His works were immediately popular with
people across the country, and beginners imitated his works as templates, which
played an important role in painting education. Wu and Hu also used the “arch
pattern” method, which was to press the engravings on paper and create raised
patterns on the paper (see Picture 10.6), just like today’s embossed steals. This
could be regarded as a kind of colorless printing, which could be used to set off the
flowing water, white clouds, and the veins of flowers and leaves in the paintings,
which appeared more elegant and eye-catching.
The assorted color paintings of the Ming Dynasty period were imitated during the
Qing Dynasty period. For example, two copies of the illustrations of Ben Cao Gang
Mu (《本草纲目》) printed in Suzhou, paintings of the Peach Garden Oath in San Guo
Yan Yi (《三国演义》) and the farming and weaving painting during Emperor
Kangxi’s reign, were all duplicated copies. The full picture of the West Lake in Xi
Hu Jia Hua (《西湖佳话》) and ten landscapes of the West Lake during Emperor
304 Q. Han
Picture 10.6 Hu’s arched

pattern printing method
Kangxi’s reign and the copy of the painting of mountains and rivers in ancient
Shexian during Emperor Qianlong’s reign were all duplicated colored copies. The
Qing Zai Tang flower and feather painting was an imitation of Hu’s Shi Zhu Zhai. Shi
Zhu Zhai Hua Pu (《十竹斋画谱》) was reprinted by Jieziyuan in the 22nd year of
Emperor Jiaqing’s reign (1817), and copies were made by Jiao Jing Shan Fang
(“publishing house”) during Emperor Guangxu’s reign. The duplicated colored
copies were inferior to the originals in both vividness and color. The colored Jie Zi
Yuan Hua Zhuan (《芥子园画传》为) was originally created by Gai Wang and his
two brothers in Jiaxing, with the first assorted colored copy made in the 18th year of
Emperor Kangxi’s reign (1679), three copies made in the 40th year of Emperor
Kangxi’s reign (1701), and another four copies made in the 23rd year of Emperor
Jiaqing’s reign (1818). Gorgeous and pleasant looking, these copies were duplicated
once and again after Emperor Jiaqing’s reign and became a textbook for beginners,
more popular and influential than Shi Zhu Zhai Hua Pu (《十竹斋画谱》).
During Emperor Qianlong’s reign, Liangxian Ding and Yingzong Ding in
Suzhou printed many flower and bird paintings using the assortment method (see
Picture 10.7). Finely engraved, these paintings were printed on white paper with the
arched pattern technique and were rare top-quality works in colored printing.
A Catholic, Liangxian Ding lived during Emperor Qianlong’s reign and had personal
relationships with many European missionaries in the Jiangnan area. In addition to
printing, he also engaged in the trading of Western paintings, and his works were
likely to have been sold to Europe through the missionaries. During Emperor
Qianlong’s reign, some people around Suzhou also imitated the perspective
Picture 10.7 Flower and

bird painting printed by
Liangxian Ding with the
assortment method during
Emperor Qianlong’s reign
representation technique of the West to make New Year paintings and printed works
of other literary themes. Some were still preserved in the museums in Europe and
Japan.
The Atlas of Golden Fish (Jin Yu Tu Pu,《金鱼图谱》) printed in the 28th year of
Emperor Daoguang’s reign (1848) contained 56 different types of golden fish, which
had large bellies and vivid gestures. Each type of golden fish had its real color, and
there were patterns of light-green pines, bamboos, and plum blossoms in the corners
of each page. The Full Picture of Victory in Zhenhai East Zhejiang (Zhe Dong Zhen
Hai De Sheng Quan Tu, 《浙东镇海得胜全图》) was color printed. Di Yi Cai Zi Shu
San Guo Yan Yi (《第一才子书三国演义》) printed in Shanghai in the 7th year of
Emperor Guangxu’s reign had a colored illustration at the beginning of each chapter,
which is an example of the block printing method combined with the new method of
lead printing.
10.1.3 Wax Printing and Tin Pouring
Craftsmen in the Song Dynasty period not only used woodblock and copperplate as
printing tools but also invented wax printing. In the first year of Emperor
Shaosheng’s reign (1094), eagerly waiting for the list of new top performers in the
imperial examination, citizens of the capital Kaifeng used wax printing instead of
woodblock to print the list sooner. This incident was recorded in Volume 2 of Chun
Zhu Ji Wen (《春渚纪闻》) by Yuan He of the Song Dynasty period: “Jian Bi is the
No. 1 scorer, and Nian Zhao second. Once it was announced, the capital citizens
were eager to spread it and used wax printing. However, as it was difficult to press
the ink on greasy wax, the left component of the character ‘Jian’ (渐) in Jian Bi’s
name was missing and the character became ‘Zhan’ (斩, which means ‘decapita-
tion’), and the messenger yelled, ‘The first is Zhan Bi and the second is Nian Zhao!’
Everyone hearing of it said it was a bad sign. Afterwards, Nian Zhao was decapitated
306 Q. Han
Picture 10.8 Wax-printed newspaper in the Qing Dynasty period
for planning a rebellion.” Such wax printing is suitable for urgent, time-sensitive
works. No records were found as to whether wax printing was used during the Yuan
and Ming Dynasties periods, while in the Qing Dynasty period, it was often used to
print newspaper (see Picture 10.8).
In the early Ming Dynasty period, someone used the tin plate to print fake money
and was executed. In the 52nd year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1787), in order to
print Volume 1 of Qin Han Wa Dang Wen Zi (《秦汉瓦当文字》), Dun Cheng of the
Shexian County “began to engrave on jujube wood and found inevitable difference
compared with the original characters. Afterwards, Han Chinese used this as the
template for sand casting and completed printing with melting tin.” Cheng used
melting tin for casting and reprinting, which was a distinctive approach.
10.2 Letterpress Printing
10.2.1 Letterpress Printing Invented by Sheng Bi and Its Application

in the Song Dynasty Period
The invention of letterpress printing was a great technological revolution in the

history of printing. The world’s first inventor of letterpress printing was Sheng Bi, a
commoner in the Song Dynasty period, and the invention occurred during the reign
of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty (1041-1048). He preceded
Gutenberg, who first used letterpress printing for the Bibles in Europe, by
400 years. Bi Sheng’s invention was recorded by Kuo Shen (1031–1095 or 1030–
1094) in Meng Xi Bi Tan (《梦溪笔谈》) (see Picture 10.9) and is unquestionable.
Here’s an excerpt from Volume 18 of Meng Xi Bi Tan (《梦溪笔谈》):
Picture 10.9 Copy of Meng

Xi Bi Tan (《梦溪笔谈》)
Printed books did not thrive during the Tang Dynasty period until Dao Feng
printed the Five Scriptures, which became the template for subsequent versions.
During Emperor Qingli’s reign, a commoner by the name of Sheng Bi made
letterpress. His method was to engrave clay with characters. The seal was as thin
as the lip, and one seal corresponded to one character. The seals were burned for
hardness. An iron plate was placed, and turpentine, wax, and paper ash were placed
on it. Upon printing, an iron mold was placed on the iron plate. The iron mold was
filled with characters and smelted with fire. When the powder melted, press a flat
mold to the plate, and the characters were quite flat. It was not necessarily easy to
print two or three books but extremely quick to print dozens, hundreds, and
thousands of books. Two iron plates were prepared, with one for printing and the
other for character arrangement. When the printing was complete, the second plate
was available, and the two plates could be interchanged, and printing could be done
instantaneously. For every character, there were multiple seals, and for characters
such as “之” and “也”, there were over 20 seals for each character in case one plate
contained repetitions. A label was attached to any seal not used. A character was
stored in a wooden grid. In the case of rare characters that had not been prepared,
make a seal immediately, and the printing could be done in no time. Wood was not
appropriate as wood veins were unevenly dense, and the wood was uneven when
moistened and easy to be stuck with ink. So clay was better. Upon completion, smelt
it to melt the powder, wipe with a hand, and seal fell off automatically without
tainting anything. After Bi died, his seals were acquired by his followers and
preserved till today.
Sheng Bi used clay letterpress hardened by burning to print books by lining up the
characters one by one in iron frames. This approach, albeit primitive and simple,
shared the same principles with typography. As Kuo Shen put it, “It’s not easy to
print two or three books. But if you need to print 10 or 100 books, it will be
extremely quick.” Evidently, this method is highly efficient. Kuo Shen was just a
teenager when Sheng Bi invented letterpress printing. Sheng Bi played such an
308 Q. Han
important role in the world’s printing history, while his invention was not appreci-
ated by his contemporaries, and his name was nowhere to be found in historical
books. Kuo Shan was the only person who realized the importance of this matter and
recorded it.
Could anyone other than Sheng Bi, Kuo Shen, and their sons and nephews know
clay letterpress printing during the Northern Song Dynasty period? This has been a
question in the academia. Luckily, a poem found in Bing Lv Xian Sheng Wen Ji (《栟
榈先生文集》) by Su Deng (1091–1132) could prove someone else had certain
knowledge of letterpress printing at the junction of the Northern Song and Southern
Song Dynasties periods (by 1132 for the latest). The poem reads,
One must only befriend those who are congenial, which is like water meeting water. Qiuhou
and Xie are a perfect example, as they match so well like an arrow and a bow. Qiuhou is good
at reading minds and knows Xie’s every joy and woe. Any new poem is circulated once
written, and is praised as a long anticipated gem. People scramble to read the new poem and
storm the hut. Handwritten copies are insufficient and they sigh Sheng Bi’s two iron plates
are nowhere to be found.
This poem was written for Libu Xie from Shaowu. It mentioned that the “new
poem” was widely spread after completion, and handwritten copies were insufficient
to meet the demand. So the poet sighed, “Where to find the two iron plates of Sheng
Bi?” The “two iron plates” referred to those mentioned in Meng Xi Bi Tan (《梦溪笔
谈》): “Two iron plates are usually prepared: one for printing, and the other bearing
characters, and the printing is complete. If the second version is available, the two
are interchangeable and printing can be done instantaneously.” Su Deng, alias Bing
Lv, was from Shaxian County, Nanjian, Fujian, and had been an official in the capital
Kaifeng. Obviously, Sheng Bi’s method had a certain reputation in his time.
Another book printed with the letterpress method during the Song Dynasty period
was Yu Tang Za Ji (《玉堂杂记》) by Bida Zhou in the 4th year of the reign of
Emperor Guangzong (reign title “Shaoxi”) (1193). Zhou’s collection was titled as the
Collection of Wenzhong Zhou’s Country-Benefitting Works (Zhou Yi Guo Wen
Zhong Ji,《周益国文忠集》) or the Great Full Collection of Wenzhong Zhou (Zhou
Wen Zhong Da Quan Ji, 《周文忠大全集》), Volume 198 of which described how he
and Yuancheng Cheng sent an imperial submission in the 4th year of Shaoxi: “I was
a mere beginner in printing when young and my skill has declined as I get older.
Now I only do it when in the mood and have deserted that technique for long.
Recently, I used Cunzhong Shen’s method, which involved the use of a copper plate
and moving and changing of the character prints, to print 28 articles of Yu Tang Za Ji
for your review. Another ten articles remain to be printed. Reading all these past
occurrences, I can’t help sighing how quickly time is elapsing.”
The article mentioned Cunzhong Shen’s method, as Meng Xi Bi Tan (《梦溪笔
谈》) by Kuo Shen recorded Sheng Bi’s clay letterpress method, which was mistaken
as Kuo Shen’s, while in fact it was Sheng Bi’s. Zhou said “a clay copper plate was
used and the character prints were moved and changed,” so the clay letterpress might
have been placed on the copperplate or within a copper dish, and that was why it was
called a clay copperplate. “The character prints were moved and changed”: This
fully shows the characteristics of letterpress printing, where character prints must be
moved and changed and arranged into a layout before printing is possible. He first
printed 28 sentences of his own work Yu Tang Za Ji (《玉堂杂记》). We can deduce
that Sheng Bi’s method was still imitated to print books during the Southern Song
Dynasty period, while Zhou’s Yu Tang Za Ji was the world’s first letterpress printed
book, which could fill the void in letterpress printing from the Northern Song
Dynasty period through the early Yuan Dynasty period.
10.2.2 Letterpress in Western Xia
In 1991, the residue of the sutra Ji Xiang Bian Zhi Kou He Ben Xu (《吉祥遍至口和
本续》) in the Western Xia language was found in the relic site of the pagoda of the
Shanbai Temple in Helanshan, Ningxia (see Picture 10.10). The front page, the
bottom page, and the preface and postscript were absent, and the date of printing
could not be determined. Meanwhile, a wooden plate bearing Western Xia texts
dated during the reign of Emperor Chongzong of Western Xia (1102–1114) and the
wish letter in the 11th year of Emperor Renzong’s reign (1180) were found along-
side. Ji Xiang Bian Zhi Kou He Ben Xu (《吉祥遍至口和本续》) is a secret Tibetan
Buddhist sutra, while the late Western Xia period is an era when Tibetan Buddhism
was spread and prospered in Western Xia. Some deduce it is a letterpress printed
work in the late Western Xia period as it boasts some characteristics of letterpress
printings in the late Western Xia period: 1) The frame columns are disconnected in
Picture 10.10 Residue of Ji Xiang Bian Zhi Kou He Ben Xu (《吉祥遍至口和本续》)

310 Q. Han
the four corners and of different lengths; 2) the ink is of uneven shades of color; 3)
some characters are arranged in reverse; 4) there are traces of interlacing lines.
Besides, according to Volume 22 “Letterpress Book Printing Method” of Zhen
Wang’s Nong Shu (《农书》), which recorded “characters are arranged into lines
and clipped with bamboo slips,” and Kuo Shen’s Meng Xi Bi Tan (《梦溪笔谈》)
that was free of the interlacing procedure, some assert this sutra was printed with the
wooden letterpress method. However, traces of interlacing lines are not the unique
characteristic of wooden letterpress as they also appear in printings made with metal
letterpress; besides, although some printed copies are wooden letterpress copies,
they are exactly like works made with block printing, such as some of the wooden
letterpress copies of the Wuying Palace series. Therefore, interlacing lines are
insufficient to distinguish between wooden letterpress and other types of letterpress.
Ten volumes of the residue of the Da Fang Guang Fo Hua Yan Jing (《大方广佛
华严经》) in the Western Xia language are being preserved in Japan. The wish letter
contains a sentence that reads “the wish letter was made with woodblock letter-
press.” Upon research, Japanese scholars believe it was wooden letterpress and
regard it as the earliest physical item of letterpress printing. Copies of Da Fang
Guang Fo Hua Yan Jing (《大方广佛华严经》) have the largest share of the sutra
collected by the National Library of China, accounting for two-thirds of all the
copies of Hua Yan Jing (《华严经》).
In Volume 40 of Hua Yan Jing (《华严经》) in the Western Xia language, there are
two lines of inscriptions in the Western Xia language, translated as follows:
“Those who helped sort out characters will have everything they wish for and
become Buddha.”
According to the above, printing involves a character-sorting process.
In Volume 5 of Hua Yan Jing (《华严经》), there were two lines of inscriptions that
read, “May all those who sort characters and do printing have wisdom, and may all
those who follow them become Buddha,” where “sort characters” refers to letter-
press. These inscriptions suggest the sutra was made with letterpress engraving.
Someone took the characteristics of the residue of Hua Yan Jing (《华严经》) in
the Western Xia language as evidence of letterpress, such as the tilted, uneven lines,
different shades of ink on the front and back of the paper, the existence of many
characters that had been cut out and reprinted, the existence of some mistaken
characters that had not been cut out and reprinted but covered with the corrections,
and some smaller characters written with a brush pen. And some people believe this
Hua Yan Jing (《华严经》) in the Western Xia language during Emperor Renzong’s
reign (1125–1193) was printed with the wooden letterpress technique of Hangzhou
in the Yuan Dynasty period.
In 1987, the sutra Wei Mo Jie Suo Shuo Jing (《维摩诘所说经》) in the Western
Xia language (see Picture 10.11) was found in Wuwei, Gansu, and upon research, it
was believed to have been printed during Emperor Renzong’s reign. And according
to air holes in the strokes and deformations and fractures of the strokes, researchers
believed it had been printed with clay letterpress. If the above works in the Western
Xia language were truly made with letterpress, they were undoubtedly the earliest
works printed with letterpress preserved to date.
Picture 10.11 Copy of Wei Mo Jie Suo Shuo Jing (《维摩诘所说经》)
10.2.3 Letterpress in the Yuan Dynasty Period
10.2.3.1 Clay Letterpress (Gu Yang)

In the early Yuan Dynasty period, Shu Yao, an advisor to Kublai, printed his own
works intended for the primary school (Yu, Meng, Huo Wen, and Jia Li), the four
books by Weizhong Yang, and Sheng Shi Zhe Zhong (《声诗折中》), Yi Cheng Zhuan
(《易程传》), Shu Cai Zhuan (《书蔡传》), and Chun Qiu Hu Zhuan (《春秋胡传》) by
Heqing Tian in order to educate the people and establish customs. All these works
were widespread, especially Shu Yao’s own works, and “his student Gu Yang printed
these works by using Kuo Shen’s method and spread them along with books like Jin
Si Lu (《近思录》) and Dong Lai Jing Shi Shuo (《东莱经史说》)” (see Volume
15 “Zhong Shu Zuo Cheng Yao Wen Xian Gong Shen Dao Bei” (《中书左丞姚文
献公神道碑》) of Mu An Ji (《牧庵集》) by Sui Yao).
Shen’s letterpress method is Sheng Bi’s letterpress method recorded by Kuo
Shen. The above activity occurred during the period from the 13th year of Emperor
Taizong’s reign through the 3rd year of Queen Qaimish’s reign (1241–1250), about
200 years after Sheng Bi. It was not clarified in the article whether Huixian printing
or Yanjing printing was used by Gu Yang and what letterpress was used.
As for Shu Yao, Tianjue Su from Zhending (1294–1352) also wrote in Yuan Ming
Chen Shi Lue (《元名臣事略》): “. . .printed his works for the primary school Yu,
Meng, Huo Wen, and Jia Li, the four books by Weizhong Yang, and Sheng Shi Zhe
Zhong (《声诗折中》), Yi Cheng Zhuan (《易程传》), Shu Cai Zhuan (《书蔡传》), and
Chun Qiu Hu Zhuan (《春秋胡传》) by Heqing Tian in order to educate the people
and establish customs. All these works were widespread, especially Shu Yao’s own
works, and his student Gu Yang printed these works by using Kuo Shen’s method
and spread them along with books like Jin Si Lu (《近思录》) and Dong Lai Jing Shi
Shuo (《东莱经史说》).” Yuan Ming Chen Shi Lue (《元名臣事略》) was based on the
inscriptions on the stele by Sui Yao, with slight changes in the wording. Afterward,
312 Q. Han
in Volume 6 “Xuezhai Academy” of Gui Tang Xiao Gao (《圭塘小藁》), Youren Xu

(1287–1364) also described Shu Yao’s activity and mentioned “. . .instructed his
student Gu Yang to print with Kuo Shen’s letterpress method.” In Zhong Zhou Ming
Xian Wen Biao (《中州名贤文表》), Chang Liu of the Ming Dynasty period cited the
“Xuezhai Academy,” spreading the story of Gu Yang using the letterpress method to
print books.
In the fifteenth century, famous Korean scholar Kim Jong-Jik said, when apprais-
ing the Korean letterpress copy Bai Shi Wen Ji (《白氏文集》), “The letterpress
method started with Kuo Shen and thrived with Weizhong Yang. All the past and
present books can be printed with this method, which is highly valuable. However,
as all the characters are printed with burned clay, they are susceptible to fragmen-
tation and not durable.” Kim said the letterpress characters that thrived in Weizhong
Yang’s time were made with clay burning. However, according to the original text of
Mu An Ji (《牧庵集》), the version published by Weizhong Yang in Yanjing was still a
woodblock copy. Kim made the mistake probably because he mistook Weizhong
Yang for Gu Yang and gave credit to Weizhong Yang for Gu Yang’s letterpress
printing. Also, the Korean version of Jian Zhai Shi Ji (《简斋诗集》) said, “The
letterpress method started with Kuo Shen and thrived with Weizhong Yang. How-
ever, as all the characters are printed with burned clay, they are susceptible to
fragmentation and not durable.” Regarding Weizhong Yang’s use of clay letterpress
to print books, no domestic records are available, and the claim by the Korean
scholar might be based on other sources. The books of Xi Zhu and Zuqian Lv printed
by Gu Yang, though later than Bida Zhou’s printing of books, are still early works
printed with letterpress in China.
As can be seen from the above literature of the Song and Yuan Dynasties periods,
the clay letterpress method invented by Sheng Bi not only was recorded by Kuo
Shen but also was widely known at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty period and
was used by Bida Zhou to print his own collections in the Southern Song Dynasty
period and used by Gu Yang to print books in the Yuan Dynasty period. In the
fifteenth century, these records were spread to Korea and known to the locals.
Therefore, it is fair to say Bi Sheng’s letterpress printing method was widely used
in the Song and Yuan Dynasties periods.
10.2.3.2 Wooden Letterpress (Zhen Wang and Chengde Ma)

While using clay letterpress, Sheng Bi also experimented with wooden letterpress,
which however was abandoned by him as he thought the wood veins were unevenly
dense and the wood was uneven when moistened and easy to be stuck with ink and
was inferior to clay, which was not easy to taint. As a result, he discarded wood and
used clay instead. So the earliest person who used wooden letterpress to print books
was Zhen Wang during the Yuan Dynasty period, and his wooden letterpress was
slightly later than the letterpress of Gu Yang. Zhen Wang, born in Dongping,
Shandong, was not only a famous agriculturist but also a mechanist who had
major contributions in the history of printing. In the first year of Emperor Yuanzhen’s
reign (1295) or his sixth year as governor of Jingde County, Anhui, he began to
donate his salaries to build schools, bridges, and roads and teach farmers to plant
trees and applied medicine to save people’s lives. In the 4th year of Emperor Dade’s
reign (1300), he was transferred to be the governor of Yongfeng County, Xinzhou
(present-day Guangfeng County, Jiangxi), where he promoted the planting of mul-
berries and cotton, and people in both places spoke highly of him.
Undoubtedly, Zhen Wang’s greatest contribution is Nong Shu (《农书》). He began
to write this book when serving as the governor of Jingde County and planned to
publish it. He felt this book was massive and difficult to engrave, so he hired
craftsmen to create over 30,000 wooden letterpress characters in two years. The
method was to write big and small character templates on paper and press them to a
wooden plate for engraving. After engraving was complete, a small saw was used to
separate the characters, which were made into equal size with a knife. Then, the
characters were arranged in lines and separated with bamboo slips to fill a template
frame, which was leveled with small bamboo slips and tightened with a wooden
wedge so that the characters remained firmly in place. Then, ink was applied, paper
was laid, and a brush was used to print. Zhen Wang had his invention in the character
arrangement technique. Having found it inconvenient for the arrangers to walk back
and forth in search of characters, he made two wooden turntables (see Picture 10.12),
Picture 10.12 Wooden

turntable invented by
Zhen Wang
314 Q. Han
where wooden characters were placed in the numeric order, and a person sat in the
middle and could turn the turntable to pick the characters needed, which saved labor
and improved efficiency compared with the traditional method. Volume 22 “Letter-
press Printing Method” in Nong Shu (《农书》) systematically recorded the entire
process of character engraving, sawing, calibration, turntable making and character
picking, and character pressing and printing and became a precious piece of litera-
ture in the printing history.
Initially, Zhen Wang planned to use the letterpress to print his own Nong Shu.
Afterward, he was transferred to Jiangxi and carried along this new tool of printing
from Anhui, when Nong Shu had already been printed with the woodblock method
in Jiangxi and the new tool was not used. When in Jingde, Wang only printed the
Jingde County Annals (Jing De Xian Zhi,《旌德县志》) which he reviewed and
edited in the 2nd year of Emperor Dade’s reign (1298). Containing over 60,000
characters, the book was printed in less than a month, demonstrating the high
efficiency of letterpress printing. This was also the earliest letterpress printed copy
of a Chinese local history record.
In the more than 20 years after Zhen Wang, Chengde Ma also used letterpress to
print books. Ma, born in Guangping, Hebei, became the governor of Fenghua in the
sixth year of Emperor Yanyou’s reign (1319). Over three years, he had built dikes
and hydraulic works, reclaimed 13 qings of barren land, planted trees and forests in a
massive scale, set up schools, and built a library. During office, he also “printed
letterpress books with over 10,000 characters,” three times more than Wang’s
wooden letterpress characters. In the 2nd year of Emperor Zhizhi’s reign (1322),
he completed the printing of books like Da Xue Yan Yi (《大学衍义》) by using the
letterpress method. The History of Fenghua Prefecture (Feng Hua Zhou Zhi,《奉化
州志》), which he edited, might also have been printed with the letterpress method. It
is not known whether Ma imitated Wang’s method to print books, but it is a matter of
fact that that wooden letterpress was widely used in Southern Anhui and Eastern
Zhejiang in the Yuan Dynasty period.
In the Yuan Dynasty period, the wooden letterpress method was also spread to the
Uighurs. In 1908, French sinologist Pelliot found wooden letterpress characters in
the Uighur language in Dunhuang. These characters are now being preserved in
Musée Guimet in Paris. Afterward, such characters were found again in Dunhuang
and are now being preserved in Dunhuang Academy. The Uighurs played an
important role in the westward spread of Chinese printing techniques.
10.2.3.3 Tin Letterpress

The tin letterpress method was first mentioned in the Letterpress Printing Method by
Zhen Wang, who said, “Recently, tin cast letterpress has been used to print charac-
ters, which are stringed with a wire to make lines, which are embedded into the frame
and print books line by line. However, characters thus made are hard to ink and the
printings are mostly broken. As a result, this technique does not last.” “Recently”
should be the early Yuan Dynasty period or the late Song Dynasty period, which
preceded the era when metal letterpress was used to print books in the West by 100–
200 years. Wang articulated that tin cast was used to make characters. Evidently, tin
characters were made with a cast mold instead of being directly engraving on the tin
block. Tin characters can be stringed with a wire, which suggests every tin character
must have a hole. After being stringed, the characters are arranged in the turntable
and separated with bars to print books. The transition from nonmetal letterpress to
metal letterpress was a major step forward in technology. However, as good ink was
absent then, defective products were commonplace, and as a result, this invention
was transient and wasn’t used for long. As for who invented tin letterpress, where it
originated, and what books were printed with it, Wang didn’t mention a word.
10.2.4 Letterpress in the Ming Dynasty Period
10.2.4.1 Wooden Letterpress

With socioeconomic and cultural development in the Ming Dynasty period, wooden
letterpress printing was more popular than in the Yuan Dynasty period, especially
during Emperor Wanli’s reign (1573–1620), when more books were printed.
Yingling Hu (1551–1602) said, “For urgent printing needs, letterpress is used
today. However, only wooden letterpress rather than clay letterpress is used today,
with signs appearing in the Song Dynasty period.” Xianceng Gong of the Qing
Dynasty period said, “The wooden letterpress technique for book printing originated
and thrived in the Ming Dynasty period.” According to physical items available
today, wooden letterpress was indeed prevalent in the Ming Dynasty period. Some
printed works, once opened, can be determined as letterpress printed, while some are
difficult to distinguish from woodblock works. It is naturally more difficult to
distinguish between wooden and copper letterpress characters. Many copper letter-
press books were indicated, while wooden letterpress books were seldom thus
indicated. Therefore, there are often different theories as to whether a book was
printed with wooden or copper letterpress.
There were no records as to whether the government used letterpress to print
books during the Ming Dynasty period, while feudal lords, while using the wood-
block method to print books to demonstrate their passion for literature and fine arts,
also used the letterpress method. What they created was mostly wooden letterpress
characters instead of metal letterpress characters. Many academies printed books
during the Song and Yuan Dynasties periods, while it wasn’t until the Ming Dynasty
that they began to use letterpress. Individuals also used letterpress to print books
during the Ming Dynasty period, such as Min Hu, a student of the Imperial College
in Nanjing. Zhaoji Xu from Jiading borrowed someone else’s letterpress to print
26 volumes and 100 copies of his father Xuemo Xu’s historical work Shi Miao Shi Yu
Lu (《世庙识余录》). Letterpress could be used by oneself or lent to others, which
was what woodblock couldn’t achieve.
There were over 100 wooden printed books with titles in the Ming Dynasty
period, mostly printed during Emperor Wanli’s reign, and wooden letterpress books
prior to Emperor’s Hongzhi’s reign were rare. Their places of origin included
Chengdu, Jianchang, Nanjing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Yunnan.
316 Q. Han
One famous example of the wooden letterpress books in the Ming Dynasty period
is He Guan Zi (《鹖冠子》), with texts that read “letterpress version,” “Zhongzhi
years,” and “Biyun Workshop, while the owner of the workshop is yet to be
determined. On the book cover, there is a big red seal that reads ‘a copy of the
book He Guan Zi collected by Yu Ma is sent by Zhiying Li, Salt Officer of East and
West Huais,’” dated April of the 38th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign. On top of it
is an imperial poem made by Emperor Qianlong in the Guisi year (1773). Mentioned
by Emperor Qianlong once and again and serving as the template for He Guan Zi in
Si Ku Quan Shu (《四库全书》), this book has been reputable among letterpress
versions. At the end of the Ming Dynasty period, wooden letterpress also began to be
used for printing genealogy in the south.
10.2.4.2 Copper Letterpress

Historically, the most popular metal letterpress technique in China was neither tin
nor lead letterpress but copper letterpress.
① Wuxi (Hua and An)
China’s earliest copper letterpress started with Sui Hua of the Ming Dynasty
period. Sui Hua (1439–1513), alias Wenhui or Huitong, was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu.
He “read history widely when young and liked to review works in middle ages. For
the purpose of comparison, he manually recorded books. Then he made books with
copper letterpress. He edited and printed any book hard to comprehend, saying ‘I can
interpret and circulate it’.”
In Rong Chun Tang Ji – Hui Tong Jun Zhuan (《容春堂集·会通君传》), Bao Shao
said, “Then he made books with copper letterpress, saying: ‘I can interpret and
circulate it.’ Then, he named as workshop Huitong.” The copper letterpress was
made around the 3rd year of Emperor Hongzhi’s reign (1490). According to his own
recount, “I am lucky to have this technology to spread civilization, and the copper
letterpress does the God’s work.” His initial motive was to save the manual labor
involved in handwriting, while afterward, the technique was inadvertently wide-
spread. Someone planned to reprint Song Zhu Chen Zou Yi (《宋诸臣奏议》) while
worried about the cost. So they engaged Hua’s Workshop to print with the copper
letterpress and circulate it. Finally, 50 copies were made in the 3rd year of Emperor
Hongzhi’s reign. As only one letterpress was used, the body text and annotations
were of the same size, the lines were poorly aligned, some characters were half
inked, and the ink was vague and dowdy, tainting fingers once the book was touched;
besides, due to sloppy review, missing characters are seen on every page, and in
some parts, even one or two pages are missing, and sentences are broken and cannot
deliver complete meanings. The quality of printing is really inferior. However, it is
the earliest known metal letterpress copy in China. Afterward, Hua printed Ji Zuan
Yuan Hai (《纪纂渊海》) by Zimu Pan, Gu Jin He Bi Shi Lei Qian Ji (《古今合璧事类
前集》) by Weixin Xie of the Song Dynasty period, and Jin Xiu Wan Hua Gu (《锦绣
万花谷》) by an unknown author. The latter was printed with small and big copper
letterpress, which created small and big copper characters. The Huitong Workshop
printed 19 books with copper letterpress, atop all other printing workshops of the
Ming Dynasty period in terms of quantity while being the earliest to print with
Picture 10.13 Printed copy of Song Zhu Chen Zou Yi (《宋诸臣奏议》)
copper letterpress. Before the 13th year of Emperor Hongzhi’s reign (1500), Huitong
printed Song Zhu Chen Zou Yi (《宋诸臣奏议》) (see Picture 10.13), Jin Xiu Wan
Hua Gu (《锦绣万花谷》), Rong Zhai Wu Bi (《容斋五笔》), Bai Chuan Xue Hai (《百
川学海》), Jiu Jing Yun Lan (《九经韵览》), Wen Yuan Ying Hua Zuan Yao (《文苑英
华纂要》), Yin Shi Chun Qiu (《音释春秋》), and Gu Jin He Bi Shi Lei Qian Ji (《古今
合璧事类前集》), which were equivalent to the incunabula in Europe and were
particularly precious.
Sui Hua’s cousin Cheng Hua became a Gongsheng (a student recommended by
the local government to Guozijian (the Directorate of Education) for study) in the 8th
year of Emperor Chenghua’s reign (1472) and served as the director of the Court of
Imperial Entertainment in Beijing. He was immensely rich with massive amounts of
grain and land and collected a lot of calligraphy works, paintings, and antiques and
was good at identification. The Wuxi County Annals during Emperor Kangxi’s reign
said, “He collected many books and used sophisticated letterpress to print them.
318 Q. Han
Every time he got a precious book, he printed it in several days.” Yunming Zhu, a
famous scholar in Suzhou, said, “Cheng is over 70 years old yet sill hardworking. He
makes letterpress plates and chooses books for printing to benefit others, and that’s
how this collection was made. The letterpress technique was first mentioned by
Mengxi Shen (namely Kuo Shen) and is now popular with enthusiasts in the Sanwu
area (It is roughly equivalent to the current areas of Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Zhejiang
provinces.); however, they print for different purposes, with varying benefits.”
Though senior to Sui Hua, the two books of Wei Nan Wen Ji (《渭南文集》) and
Jian Nan Xu Gao (《剑南续稿》) by Fangweng Lu chosen by him were both printed
in the 15th year of Emperor Hongzhi’s reign (1502), slightly later than those printed
by the Huitong Workshop.
Books printed by Jian Hua mostly bore the characters “printed by Jian Hua of
Xishan Lanxue Workshop with copper letterpress,” the round seal with two
characters “Xi Shan,” and the seal characters “printed by Jian Hua of Lanxue
Workshop with copper letterpress.” The Lanxue Workshop printed collections of
works by literati such as Yong Cai of the Han Dynasty period, Juyi Bai and Zhen
Yuan of the Tang Dynasty period, Yi Lin (《意林》) by Zong Ma, and Yi Wen Lei Ju
(《艺文类聚》) by a Tang author. After this, the epilogue written by Jing Hua, son to
Jian Hua, in the Yihai year during Emperor Zhengde’s reign (1515) was printed. In
books printed by the Lanxue Workshop, two lines were printed within the space of
one line, called Lanxue Workshop double-line books, few of which were passed
down. These books are highly rated by collectors, but some are also of poor
quality, such as copies of Cai Zhong Lang Ji (《蔡中郎集》), which “mistaken
similar characters and contain all kinds of errors.” Copies printed by the Lanxue
Workshop mostly indicated the use of copper letterpress, and the letterpress
characters seemed to have been engraved.
Sui Hua’s nephew Jian Hua also printed books during Emperor Zhengde’s reign.
In addition to Cheng Hua, there were three other local millionaires in Wuxi in the
middle of the Ming Dynasty period, as the local folklore went, “Guo An, Wang Zou
and Lingxiang Hua weigh their wealth every day.” Among these three, Guo An
(1481-1534) was the richest, given the nickname “An the Millionaire,” who had
20000 mus of arable land in Songjiang Prefecture alone. Guo An lived in Jiaoshan,
Wuxi, and had planted fragrans that stretched over 1 km, therefore calling himself
“Gui Po” (fragrans slope). Starting as a commoner merchant, he built the city wall of
the Changzhou Prefecture and donated silver and rice to relieve those affected in
famine years, entitled as a philanthropist. He liked to buy ancient books and
paintings, and whenever he heard of a precious book, he would buy it for a high
price. In time, he had a wide collection of such books and then “made the copper
letterpress plate to print the various precious books and spread them widely.”
Guo An started to print books around the 7th year of Emperor Zhengde’s reign
(1512), when Jixiu Liao, Minister of Personnel in Nanjing, heard Guo An had copper
letterpress and asked him to help print six volumes of the Dongguang County
Annals. An finished printing and sent the printed book in the 16th year of Emperor
Zhengde’s reign. This copy of the Dongguang County Annals is the only local
annuals of China printed with copper letterpress. Typically, An didn’t date the
books he printed. The only exception was Wu Zhong Shui Li Tong Zhi (《吴中水利通
志》) on which “printed by Guo An with copper letterpress in the Jiashen year during
Emperor Jiajing’s reign (1524)” was printed. Tai Yu of the Ming Dynasty period
said, when duplicating Chu Xue Ji (《初学记》) printed by An, “The Confucius
School’s works, history books, works by scholars prior to the Qin Dynasty period
and literary collections are all printed with letterpress to benefit future generations of
scholars, and thousands of copies have been printed over 20 years.” Ten books
printed by him are available today, second to Sui Hua only in terms of quantity. In the
early Qing Dynasty period, Qianyi Qian said, when duplicating Chun Qiu Fan Lu
(《春秋繁露》), “The Jinling version contains many errors, and several hundred
characters were corrected in An’s letterpress version.” Evidently, An was meticulous
about book printing and made few errors. Jin Qin of the Ming Dynasty period said
“An made a copper letterpress plate” when writing An’s epitaph. Qin was a fellow
townsman and contemporary of An’s, and his claim should be plausible. However,
Guo An’s descendent Ji An said he “engraved on a copper letterpress plate” to print
books such as Yan Lu Gong Ji (《颜鲁公集》) and Jian Xu’s Chu Xue Ji (《初学记》).
It should have been the letterpress characters that were cast with metal or engraved,
instead of the copperplate or copper disc on which letterpress character seals were
placed. Guo An started to make letterpress characters during Emperor Zhengde’s
reign, about 20 years after the Huitong Workshop, when he was about 30. Therefore,
cast or engraving, he copied Hua’s model. In the early Qing Dynasty period, Xuan
An said, “When idle, my ancestor (Guo An) used the copper letterpress to reprint any
ancient book for which few copies were available and was renowned for this all
around. All the copies indicating An as their maker preserved by collectors today
were printed with copper letterpress.” Actually, though An mostly used copper
letterpress, there were still wooden engraved versions, such as Shi Tian Shi Xuan
(《石田诗选》) (Zhengde) by Zhou Shen and Zuo Cui Lei Zuan (《石田诗选》), which
claimed to have been printed by Guo An of Xishan at the Hongren Workshop. For
Yan Ji (《颜集》) and Chu Xue Ji (《初学记》), both copper and wooden versions are
available. Unfortunately, after Guo An died, “the copper letterpress works were
carved up by six families.” Like his land and estate, all the copper letterpress works
were carved by his six sons, each of whom got a part, which actually became junk.
Based on the sentence “tin characters were made on a copper plate” in Sui Hua’s
biography, some suspect Hua’s Huitong Workshop also cast tin characters in addi-
tion to copper characters. However, it is difficult to conclude whether copper or tin
characters or both were used as no physical items of that time or more detailed,
plausible historical records have been found yet. Therefore, Hua’s letterpress char-
acters are usually included among copper letterpress characters. As for Guo An’s
letterpress characters, a conclusion can be drawn that his characters were copper
characters based on his descendant Xuan An’s record “copper characters are mea-
sured and separated.”
② Changzhou
There were also copperplate versions in Changzhou near Wuxi, called “Chang-
zhou copperplates.” Only two books were printed with these plates, namely, Du Shi
Tong Dian Zuan Yao (《杜氏通典纂要》) and Yi Wen Lei Ju (《艺文类聚》) collected
320 Q. Han
by Li Chao, a collector from Kaizhou during Emperor Jiajing’s reign. The detailed
origin was not indicated.
③ Suzhou
In the Ming Dynasty period, a multitude of workshops printed books, such as the
Jinlan Workshop, the Wuyunxi Workshop, Wuzhou Jingshe, and Wujun Sunfeng,
most of which were based in Suzhou. As Yunming Zhu put it, “This letterpress
technique. . .is now popular with enthusiasts in the Sanwu area.” Jin Tang from
Shanghai said in Long Jiang Meng Yu Lu (《龙江梦余录》), “Recently most people
print with engraved letterpress characters on a copperplate, which is easy to use and
originated with a commoner by the name of Sheng Bi during Emperor Qingli’s
reign.” Qiyuan Xie of the Ming Dynasty period also said in Xie Xian Sheng Za Ji
(《谢先生杂记》), “In recent years, people mostly engrave on letterpress copper-
plates, which are easy to use. The method started during Emperor Qingli’s reign,
when the commoner Sheng Bi made letterpress plates, engraved clay with characters
and burned to make it hard. Two iron plates were made and densely packed with
characters, with one used for printing the frame, and the other for housing characters.
The two were interchangeable, and a book could be printed instantaneously at a
lower cost than that of copper plates.”
During Emperor Zhengde’s reign, someone in Changzhou also printed Tang Wu
Shi Jia Shi Ji (《唐五十家诗集》). In the 5th year of Emperor Zhengde’s reign
(1510), Zhen Shu engraved Cao Ji (《曹集》), and Lan Tian made the preface
claiming, “Shu said: ‘Once upon a time, I passed by Changzhou and heard of
100 copies of Zi Jian Ji (《子建集》) by Xu, which were all sold out. Recently,
I also asked about this collection and no reply was received. There were some
letterpress copies, but none are available now.’” Liangjun He from Huating,
Songjiang, during the Ming Dynasty period said in Volume 24 of Si You Zhai
Cong Shuo (《四友斋丛说》), “Now Yanxi Xu has printed a letterpress copy of the
collection of 50 Tang poems, naming it as Li Duan Ji (《李端集》).” So this work was
printed by Jin Xu.
④ Nanjing
Someone surnamed Zhang from Nanjing printed a copy of Kai Yuan Tian Bao Yi
Shi (《开元天宝遗事》), which is his only printed work passed down. On the front
page is a sentence that reads “printed by Zhang from Jianye with copper letterpress,”
and no date is indicated. This book used to be collected by famous artist Zhengming
Wen of the Ming Dynasty period and bore the seal of the Yulan Workshop. As Wen
died in the 38th year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign (1559) at the age of 90, this book
should have been printed during Emperor Hongzheng’s or Emperor Jiajing’s reign.
⑤ Zhejiang
The only known letterpress copy in Zhejiang is a volume of Zhu Ge Kong Ming
Xin Shu (《诸葛孔明心书》) printed during Emperor Zhengde’s reign, bearing a
sentence that reads “printed by Xifang Kong with copper letterpress in Qingyuan
Zhejiang.” On the front page, there is an inscription by Han that reads, “I reprint this
book with letterpress to share it with those aspiring for a military career and remind
people to be prepared for danger in times of peace.” On the back cover, there is an
inscription that reads, “Inscribed by Xifang Han at the Zhedong Book House in the
auspicious fourth month of the Dingchou year, namely the 12th year of Emperor
Zhengde’s reign.” Evidently, Han’s copperplate was letterpress, and printing was
done in Zhedong. It is surprising for the Qingyuan County, originally part of the
Chuzhou prefecture of Zhejiang located in a remote area at the intersection of
Zhejiang and Fujian Provinces, to have copper letterpress.
⑥ Zhicheng (Jianning)
Among the currently available copper letterpress copies of the Ming Dynasty
period, the 15 volumes of copper letterpress Mo Zi (《墨子》) in Zhicheng are most
praised by book collectors, including white paper and blue seal versions. In the
middle of the last page of Volume 8, there is a sentence that reads, “Zhicheng
copperplate letterpress in the auspicious third month of summer in the Renzi year,
namely the 31st year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign (1552).” In the middle of the last
page of Volume 15, there is a sentence that reads, “Zhicheng copperplate letterpress
on the auspicious Zhongyuan day of the Yize month of the Renzi year during
Emperor Jiajing’s reign.” The book was printed in a mere one and a half months
from the sixth month to Zhongyuan. Zhicheng was named after the Zhishan Moun-
tain and was the alias of the Jianning Prefecture, which is the present-day Jian’ou
County in Fujian. Therefore, the Zhicheng copper letterpress was actually the copper
letterpress of the Jianning Prefecture. Afterward, a version of Mo Zi during the Ming
Dynasty period said in the foreword, “This book was sought all around and finally a
handwritten copied version of the copper letterpress version of Zhicheng was
acquired.” According to this, it seemed a handwritten copy instead of the original
copper letterpress version was acquired. Another book printed with Zhicheng copper
letterpress is Tong Shu Lei Ju Kei Ze Da Quan (《通书类聚尅择大全》).
⑦ Jianyang
In addition to the copper letterpress in the city proper of the Jianning Prefecture,
there was copper letterpress in the Jianyang County under its administration. Known
examples of the Jianyang copper letterpress include those made by Rong You. In the
first year of Emperor Wanli’s reign (1573), Kun Mao of Huzhou printed Wen Ti Ming
Bian (《文体明辨》) authored by Shiceng Xu, where a line that read “printed by Rong
You of Jianyang with letterpress” or “printed by Rong You of Jianyang Fujian with
letterpress” was inscribed. Once published, the books were sold out and made paper
more expensive. How do we know Rong You made copper letterpress instead of
wooden letterpress? We can prove it through the printed copy of Tai Ping Yu Lan
(《太平御览》) in the following year (1574). These two books shared many com-
monalities, including the body texts and annotations, which were of exactly the same
font, and the margins, layout, format, paper, and ink were identical. Below the center
of a page in Tai Ping Yu Lan (《太平御览》) is a line that reads, “Calibrated based on
the Song version and over one hundred copies printed by You of Fujian with copper
letterpress,” and in Volume 5, there is “calibrated based on the Song version and over
one hundred copies printed by You of Fujian with wooden letterpress.” In some
places, the term “Rao’s copper letterpress” was used, such as “calibrated based on
the Song version and over one hundred copies printed by with Rao’s copper
letterpress.” Made by Rong You, this copperplate was jointly owned by You and
Rao families, and therefore, the same book gave credit to both. Rao refers to Fujian
book merchant Shiren Rao. Tang Zhou of Changzhou acquired half of the Song
version of Tai Ping Yu Lan (《太平御览》) from Fujian merchant Shiren Rao and
322 Q. Han
borrowed the other half collected by Gu and Qin families of Wuxi, and combined
into a template of the whole book, with over 100 copies printed and shared with the
Gu and Qin families. This massive book with 1000 pages and 118 volumes, though
claimed to have been calibrated based on the Song version, still contained many
errors and missing characters, and the characters were skewed, and some characters
were arranged in reverse. The layout technique was poor. Strangely, these two books
were not printed in Jianyang but in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, suggesting their work was
highly mobile.
Copper letterpress in the Ming Dynasty period was not pure copper but copper
alloy. Literature only mentioned Sui Hua used tin characters for his copper letter-
press, and Cheng Hua’s letterpress was highly sophisticated, and there were few
materials about the specific technique. Jin Tang claimed, “In recent years, most
engrave on copper letterpress.” It seems the characters were made with engraving.
Some believe these might have been made with cast molds. Though some characters
were irregular, the most common characters might have been made with more than
one mold. As a result, the same character might have different forms, and the cast
was crude and required reconditioning before use. As no clear records are available
and no physical items have been passed down, it is unclear whether the characters
were made with cast or engraving.
There are about 62 known copies of copper letterpress made during the Ming
Dynasty period, and the Hua family of Wuxi made the most, followed by the An
family and workshops in Jianning and Changzhou. Pilie Huang of the Qing Dynasty
period said, when appraising Tong Huo Zi Mo Zi (《铜活字墨子》), “Among the
versions printed in the Song and Yuan Dynasties periods, the most authentic is the
copper letterpress versions, which were all based on the originals and made during
earlier periods.” The copper letterpress copies of the Ming Dynasty period have been
the favorite of book collectors since the Qing Dynasty period.
10.2.4.3 Lead Letterpress Characters

The earliest known lead letterpress characters made in China were made during the
period from the end of Emperor Hongzhi’s reign to the first year of Emperor
Zhengde’s reign (1505–1508). Shen Lu said in Jin Tai Ji Wen (《金台纪闻》), “In
recent years, people in Biling use copper and lead to make letterpress characters,
which are particularly easy to print with the plates, while it is also easy for errors to
occur.” During the Ming Dynasty period, people in Changzhou used not only
copperplates but also lead plates to make characters, which was a remarkable
achievement in the production of metal letterpress characters.
10.2.5 Letterpress in the Qing Dynasty Period
10.2.5.1 Wooden Letterpress

In the Qing Dynasty period, wooden letterpress characters were more widely used
and present in almost all provinces. Yizhi Fang said, “Cunzhong Shen used to say:
‘During Emperor Qingli’s reign, Sheng Bi made letterpress by burning clay.’ Now
we print with wooden letterpress and combine it with the copperplate.” By “combine
it with the copperplate,” Fang might mean wooden letterpress characters were placed
in a copperplate turntable. Letterpress began to be prevalent across the country
during the period from the early Qing Dynasty period to Emperor Qianlong’s
reign. In the Ming Dynasty period, metal letterpress was commonly used to print
book during Emperors Hongzhi, Zhengde, and Jiajing’s reigns, while in the early
Qing Dynasty period, wooden letterpress combined with copperplates are used for
printing as mentioned by Yizhi Fang and Shizhen Wang. Evidently, the technique of
metal letterpress had declined in the early Qing Dynasty period.
During Emperor Qianlong’s reign, Yongnian Zhou from Jinan proposed to print
Ru Zang (《儒藏》) with letterpress so that Ru Zang could serve the function of a
modern library and publishing house, and drinks, food, and firewood could be
provided to poor readers. Wherever there was Ru Zang, whether it was an academy
or ancient temple, there must have been letterpress prepared to print rare books and
share knowledge. For decades, books had been circulated and their quantity
increased. Zhou planned to increase the number of books and share knowledge
with letterpress and was the first person to have proposed the massive adoption of
letterpress for printing.
When printing Si Ku Quan Shu (《四库全书》), Emperor Qianlong planned to
publish and circulate the books by anonymous authors extracted from Yong Le Da
Dian (《永乐大典》). The copperplate characters and copper turntable preserved in
the Hall of Martial Valor had been changed into copper wires, evidenced by a verse
by Emperor Qianlong who expressed his remorse for destroying the copperplates. In
his own annotations, Emperor Qianlong said, “If the copperplates still existed,
wouldn’t it be much easier to print books? I deeply regret it.” Given the sheer
number of books to be printed, it was not easy to print with the woodblock. Jian Jin
(?–1794), a former Korean, who oversaw book printing matters at the Hall of Valor,
suggested using jujube wood letterpress for printing to not only complete the
printing ahead of schedule but also save tremendous labor and material costs. By
carefully comparing the wooden plate and wooden letterpress characters, he gave a
vivid example, saying it would cost over 1400 liangs of silver to make 150,000 big
and small characters made of jujube wood, wooden slot plates, and empty wooden
boxes. For example, to print a copy of Shi Ji (《史记》) by Qian Sima, one would need
to make 1,189,000 characters and would need 2,675 pearwood blocks, which could
cost over 1450 liangs of silver. However, with a jujube wood letterpress plate, all
kinds of books could be printed at random, which was hugely convenient, let alone
only Shi Ji (《史记》) was to be printed. He persuaded Emperor Qianlong with these
accounting calculations. After reading his memorial, Emperor Qianlong replied,
“Very good. Do it as you say,” and asked him to prepare over 100,000 characters.
In the fifth year of the following year (1774), 253,500 big and small characters made
of jujube wood were made, costing 1749 liangs, 1 qian, and 5 fens of silver. With
backup jujube wood, nanmu slots, holding strips, pinewood plates used for character
sorting, grids, character cabinets, plate boxes, and plate stools, the total cost
amounted to 2339 liangs, 7 qians, and 5 fens of silver. This newly made letterpress
tool was used to 134 books as part of the “Jewel Series of the Hall of Valor” (Wu Ying
324 Q. Han
Dian Ju Zhen Ban Cong Shu,《武英殿聚珍版丛书》). Each book was printed with
Liansi paper (or Lianshi paper, a kind of fine paper made from bamboo) and bamboo
paper. About 5–20 copies were made with the former and used for furnishing in the
palaces, and about 300 copies were made with the latter and circulated at a price.
Almost all the copies available today were made of yellow bamboo paper. On the
front page of each book, an imperial poem titled Jewel-Series Ten-Rhythm Poem for
the Hall of Valor authored by Emperor Qianlong was inscribed.
In the 42nd year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1777), this series was issued to
five provinces in southeastern China and allowed for reprinting and circulation,
while the copies made by the official publishing houses of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian,
Jiangxi, and Guangdong were still made with woodblock instead of letterpress. That
was why “issued in the ninth year of the Dingyou year during Emperor Qianlong’s
reign and reprinted upon imperial order” was inscribed on the cover. In the late
period of Emperor Qianlong’s reign and during Emperor Jiaqing’s reign, eight books
such as Xu Liu Qiu Guo Zhi Lue (《续琉球国志略》), Qian Long Ba Xun Wan Shou
Sheng Dian (《乾隆八旬万寿盛典》), and Li Bu Ze Li (《吏部则例》) by Huang Zhou
were printed. These works had different spacing than those of the Jewel Series,
known as the Jewel single spacing version.
The Jewel Series of the Hall of Valor was wooden letterpress made by Treasury of
the Imperial Palace during the Qing Dynasty period, and the scale was massive. It
was a development and improvement from the Zhen Wang’s method during the Yuan
Dynasty period. For example, Wang first engraved on a whole plate and sawed it
with a small saw, while under the improved method, independent wooden blocks
were made, and characters were pressed on the blocks for printing. Wang peeled
bamboo to create spacing, while under the improved method, 18 lines were engraved
on pearwood as per the format of the book, and upon printing, the frame and grids
were printed, and characters were printed within the grids. Therefore, unlike other
letterpress copies, there were no gaps at the intersections of side columns on each
page. Wang used small bamboo slips as cushions for the plates, while under the
improved method, paper slips were used. Wang used a turntable, while character
cabinets were used under the improved method. According to the 12 Heaven Stems
and Earthly Branches such as Zi, Chou, Yan, and Mao in Kang Xi Zi Dian (《康熙字
典》), 12 big character cabinets were arranged, and each of the cabinets contained
200 drawers, each of which had eight big and small grids, each of which had four big
and small characters, on which the components/characters and the number of strokes
were indicated. In this way, the exact drawer containing a specific character was
immediately known, and through practice, the craftsmen could be pretty handy.
When a specific character was needed, the craftsman just needed to yell the character
to the keeper, who gave it to him, so the characters “were easy to check and could be
quickly arranged.” For books with big characters, each person could create two
versions every day and one version for books with small characters. Meanwhile,
some characters might be highly repetitive if multiple books were printed simulta-
neously, and as a result, available characters were insufficient. Therefore, the
turntable method was used, and the characters were used for other books for the
time being, and printing of the original book would resume after wooden characters
Picture 10.14 Copy of the Imperial Hall of Valor Jewel Series Procedure
were sorted. If the woodblocks soaked with ink swelled in hot weather, the printing
work would be suspended, the plate turntable would be dried for a while, and
printing would resume. Jian Jin summarized this printing experience and illustrated
the woodblocks, engraving, character cabinets, slots, holding strips, top wood,
central wood, the turntable, the grid, book and plate arrangement, calibration and
printing, sorting, and daily rotation. The procedure for printing with these Jewel
Series wooden blocks was recorded in the Imperial Hall of Valor Jewel Series
Procedure (《钦定武英殿聚珍版程式》) (see Picture 10.14), which was more spe-
cific and detailed than the Letterpress Book Printing Method by Zhen Wang, and was
an important piece of literature in the history of Chinese letterpress printing. The
Hall of Valor Jewel Series was preserved in the Hall of Valor within the Xihua Gate
of the Imperial Palace. Long stored in the Hall of Valor, large numbers of wooden
blocks were left unused. Afterward, they were used by guards as firewood and are
now long gone.
Once introduced by the Imperial Hall of Valor Jewel Series Procedure, this
simple book printing method was followed by local governments and individuals
across the country. All local governments used letterpress to print books, few of
which were made. During Emperors Tongzhi’s and Guangxu’s reigns, official book
printing workshops were set in provinces to print scriptures and history books, with
up to several hundred made. Some believe they were all engraved versions, while
actually many were made with letterpress. Like those in the Ming Dynasty period,
some printing workshops in the Qing Dynasty period also used letterpress to print
326 Q. Han
books. In the Qing Dynasty period, private wooden letterpress was more common-
place. In order to make a reputation and commend ancient scholars, officials often
made letterpress themselves or borrowed or purchased letterpress to publish their or
their ancestors’ works or local literature. There were also commercial workshops,
many of which adopted wooden blocks to print books.
In general, letterpress-printed books were already available in 14 provinces such
as Zhili (present-day Hebei), Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi,
Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Fujian, Guangdong, Shaanxi, and Gansu during the Qing
Dynasty period.
The use of letterpress was far less commonplace than woodblocks, except for the
printing of genealogy. Besides, there were usually fewer letterpress-printed copies
than those made with engraving. For some, only a few were printed, and a maximum
of dozens or a hundred copies were printed. During the Qing Dynasty period,
wooden letterpress was also used to print newspaper, following the traditional
approach started in the 11th year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign (1638). Dong
Yuan said, “Recently, letterpress is typically used to print newspaper, so the news-
paper printed can be changed at any time. Even if there are errors, it is understand-
able and forgivable.” This was the case both in the early period of Emperor
Qianlong’s reign and at the end of the Qing Dynasty period. In the nineteenth
century, wooden letterpress was still used to print the Peking Gazette. In the eighth
lunar month of the 21st year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign (1895), the Reformers
used wooden letterpress in Beijing to print a publication also titled as Wan Kwoh
Kung Pao (《万国公报》), which was later changed into Zhong Wai Ji Wen (《中外纪
闻》) or Zhong Wai Gong Bao (《中外公报》), which was issued once every other day
and in a similar format to that of the Peking Gazette. Every issue contained only one
article, and 1000–2000 copies were printed per issue and sent to the nobles and
ministers along with the Peking Gazette; however, it was banned by the Qing
government in the winter of the very same year.
In ancient China, dominant families held sway, and as a result, the recording of
genealogy was prevalent. The tradition of genealogy emerged again in the Yuan and
Ming Dynasties periods and thrived in the Qing Dynasty period. Most common
forms of genealogy were the genealogical records of a family or a clan, mostly
printed with the wooden letterpress. Family genealogies and annals were two pillars
of Chinese history research, representing the history of a family and a place,
respectively.
Most wooden letterpress genealogies in the Qing Dynasty period were distributed
in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Fujian. Among
the wooden letterpress genealogies of the Qing Dynasty period, those made in
Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces accounted for an overwhelming majority, especially
in Shaoxing Prefecture of Zhejiang and Changzhou Prefecture of Jiangsu, where
clans were widespread. Almost every village had a temple, and every surname had a
family genealogy. Every of the eight counties of Shaoxing Prefecture had a county
genealogy, and there were workers who specialized in genealogy printing in Shao-
xing, called “genealogy craftsmen” or “genealogy masters.” In Shengxian County
alone, there were over 100 genealogy masters at the end of the Qing Dynasty period.
After the autumn harvest, they carried their wooden characters or wooden seals to
make genealogies in towns around Shaoxing or Ningbo. They only carried more
than 20,000 characters, which were of big and small sizes and in the Song font, made
by engraving on pearwood. If any character was missing, one was made on the spot.
The plate was made of cedarwood and leveled with bamboo slips.
During long-term practice, genealogy craftsmen in the Shengxian County often
classified characters into common characters and rare characters, or inner and outer
plates, for better and quicker character arrangement. The inner plate housed the
characters for common reign titles, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, years,
months, dates and time, seniors and juniors, male and female, forbidden words,
marriage and funerals, numbers, and function words such as Zhi, Hu, Zhe, and Ye.
For easy memorization, the outer plate bore 28 lines of a “five-character” poem (each
line contained two sentences and each sentence consisted of five characters), such as
Jun Wang Li Dian Tang and Chao Fu Jin Chun Liang (君王立殿堂, 朝辅尽纯良).
Characters with the same component were placed under each character of the verse.
For example, the character Qun (群) was placed under Jun (君); the characters Nong,
Li, Sheng, and Wang (弄理圣王) were placed under Wang (王); characters Chan and
Duan (产端) were placed under Li (立); characters Dian and Shu (殿殳) were placed
under Dian (殿); and characters Shang and Zhang (尚掌) were placed under Tang
(堂). As long as the verses were remembered, it would be quick to retrieve charac-
ters. This method was different from the character cabinets in the Hall of Valor or
Zhen Wang’s turntable, while in terms of character arrangement, it was a break-
through from the component-based approach of dictionaries. This innovative spirit
was valuable. They were divided into groups of five or six, or seven or eight,
including those responsible for engraving, illustrations, character arrangement,
printing and chores, and the foreman (manager). The work duration depended on
the size of the work and the amount of materials in the genealogies, possibly lasting
1 or 2 months, or up to 4 or 5 months, or half a year. Genealogies were also prevalent
in the Yinxian County, Cixi, Zhenhai, and Fenghua under Ningbo; then in Taizhou,
Jinhua, and Quzhou; and then in West Zhejiang.
In Jiangsu, genealogies were most commonplace in Changzhou and Wuxi. The
arrangement and printing workers in Changzhou were most famous during the Qing
Dynasty period. Shichen Bao said, “The Changzhou letterpress versions had large
characters, which were neat and used for making genealogies only. Occasionally,
they were used to print the poems and essays of officials. Recently, Wu Bei Zhi (《武
备志》) was made, and all the characters and illustrations were fine and delicate. The
characters were easy to review and proofread, and leveled with fine clay, easy to
fold.” In Changzhou, as characters were inscribed on one end of the wood and the
bottom surface, it was easy to pick up and sort characters. Besides, the character
plate was leveled with fine clay, and therefore, printing workers were called “clay
printing workers.” Given the sophisticated skills of clay printing workers in Chang-
zhou, Anhui set its provincial printing workshop Qushui Workshop in the Xianxian
Temple of Longcheng Academy in Changzhou and hired craftsmen to make their
own books. Even people in Sichuan mailed their genealogies to Changzhou for
printing. It took less than 40 or 50 days for the printing workers in Changzhou to
328 Q. Han
print the genealogy of the Gaos in Nanmen, Luzhou. In the Suzhou and Zhenjiang
Prefectures near Changzhou and the counties under their administration, genealogies
were also popular. In Anhui, genealogies were most prevalent in the six counties of
Jixi, Shexian, Yixian, Xiuning, Qimen, and Wuyuan under the former Huizhou
Prefecture and Tongcheng. In the four prefectures of Anqing, Ningguo, Chizhou,
and Luzhou, genealogies were occasionally made.
Typically, 7 or 8 or up to 10 volumes of genealogies were made, or 20–30, or even
40–50 or 100 volumes were made, and each of the volumes was numbered and
preserved by their respective owners. White Liansi paper was used for printing. The
genealogy books were large. As the wooden characters were big, the books were
naturally big, too, generally 30 cm long and 20 cm wide. Printed copies in Shaoxing
and Ningbo were 46 cm long and 37.5 cm wide. A genealogy of Xu family in
Huangfu printed in Yugan, Jiangxi, in the 53rd year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign
(1714) was 50 cm long and 33 cm wide, much larger than average printed copies. In
addition to wooden characters, the genealogies in the Qing Dynasty period were also
made with clay or copper letterpress.
10.2.5.2 Copper Letterpress

The earliest letterpress made by the Qing government was copper letterpress, some
60 years earlier than wooden letterpress. During Emperor Kangxi’s reign, copper
letterpress was already available as astronomical, mathematical, and musical books
such as Xing Li Kao Yuan (《星历考原》), Shu Li Jing Yun (《数理精蕴》), and Lv Lv
Zheng Yi (《律吕正义》) were printed by the Inner Court with copper letterpress
during Emperor Kangxi’s reign. Menglei Chen borrowed the copper letterpress of
the Inner Court from Prince Yinzhi’s residence and printed nine volumes of his Song
He Shan Fang Shi Ji (《松鹤山房诗集》) and 20 volumes of his Wen Ji (《文集》).
These works had Song-style characters, which were similar to the Yan-style and had
thick strokes, and were different from the standard Fang-style characters in Gu Jin Tu
Shu Ji Cheng (《古今图书集成》).
Menglei Chen, who became a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the imperial
examination) in the 9th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign, was exiled for his associ-
ation with Jingzhong Geng. In the 37th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign, when the
emperor made an inspection tour to the east, Menglei contributed a poem to the
emperor and was pardoned and allowed to return to Beijing. The emperor ordered
him to tutor Yinzhi, the third eldest prince. To show his gratitude for the emperor’s
appreciation, Menglei edited an encyclopedia of over 3600 volumes based on the
books collected by the prince and himself, naming it as Hui Bian (《汇编》). In the
10th lunar month of the 40th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign (1701), Menglei Chen
received money from the prince and hired people to manually duplicate, and the
entire book was complete in the fourth lunar month of the 45th year of Emperor
Kangxi’s reign. In a mere 5 years, a draft of this massive book was complete. In the
55th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign, Menglei submitted a memorial requesting for
imperial recognition, and the name Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《古今图书集成》) was
given by the emperor, with a workshop set in the same year. Eighty book craftsmen
were hired by Menglei Chen to continue with additions, and the work was done in
the 58th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign. Chen’s Hui Bian (《汇编》) initially
contained over 3000 volumes, while Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《古今图书集成》)
contained 10,000 volumes. It seemed over 6000 volumes had been added. This
massive book of over 16 m characters is an important reference book used by
domestic and overseas scholars. Printing Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《古今图书集
成》) with copper letterpress was the greatest printing project of the Inner Court of the
Qing Dynasty. In the 59th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign, the book was printed at
the emperor’s order.
According to Emperor Qianlong, “copper letterpress was made” for Gu Jin Tu
Shu Ji Cheng (《古今图书集成》) published during Emperor Kangxi’s reign. The
craftsmen who made the copper letterpress for the Hall of Valor received a salary of
2 fens and 5 lis of silver per character, which was dozens of times higher than the
salaries of those making wooden Song-style characters (Ming font) and soft char-
acters (Kai font). Hard metal was more difficult to engrave on than wooden plates,
and the salary naturally multiplied. Those craftsmen were not called “copper casters”
but “copper engravers.” As can be seen, copper characters were made with engrav-
ing. After this massive book was complete, no further books known today were ever
made. A large number of copper characters were then preserved in the vault of
copper characters at the Hall of Valor, and one warehouse keeper (Kuzhang) and two
low-level officials (Baitang’a) were appointed for their safekeeping. These custo-
dians however turned thief, and it so happened that coin materials became scarce in
Beijing, and they proposed to make the remaining copper characters into coins to
cover up their theft. In the ninth year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1744), all the
remaining copper characters and plates were destroyed and cast into copper coins,
which Emperor Qianlong later deeply regretted when trying to publish the books
extracted from Yong Le Da Dian (《永乐大典》), when the only solution was to
remake large numbers of jujube wood characters.
① Jiangsu
The earliest private workshop that used copper letterpress during the Qing
Dynasty period was the Chuili Workshop, whose owner might be from Changshu
in southern Jiangsu. This workshop printed four volumes of Wen Yuan Ying Hua Lv
Fu Xuan (《文苑英华律赋选》), and five characters that read “Chui Li Ge Tong Ban”
(copperplate by the Chuili Workshop) were printed on the book title page, below the
table of contents and at the bottom of Volume 4. The books were selected by Lucan
Qian from Yushan and contained the preface by Qian in the 25th year of Emperor
Kangxi’s reign (1686), which said, “The books were slightly simplified and
published with letterpress for circulation.” The cover said it was made with copper-
plates, while Qian said it was letterpress, so undoubtedly, it was made with copper
letterpress. However, he didn’t mention whether the copper letterpress was his own
or borrowed from someone else. Its publication predated that of Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji
Cheng (《古今图书集成》) by 40 years, and it was the earliest copper letterpress
book made in the Qing Dynasty period.
② Hangzhou
Known examples of books printed with copper letterpress in Hangzhou Zhejiang
include the copper letterpress version printed by Zhongjun Wu in the 2nd year of
330 Q. Han
Emperor Xianfeng’s reign (1852), including three volumes of Miao Xiang Ge Wen
Gao (《妙香阁文稿》) and one volume of Shi Gao (《诗稿》) by his maternal grand-
father Yungui Sun. Wu said in the postscript, “In this summer, I finished reviewing
and made books with the copper letterpress for circulation.” As an official in
Hangzhou, he ran into the Jewel Series copper letterpress and used it to print. So
the copper letterpress was not his own but borrowed from someone else. Other
copper letterpress versions include seven books of Shui Lu Gong Shou Zhan Lue Mi
Shu (《水陆攻守战略秘书》) printed by Manchurian Gui Ling in the following year
(1853), when Ling was an official in Zhejiang. The last book bore a sentence that
read “printed by the Zhengwen Workshop in the West Lake Street of the provincial
capital,” which suggested the books were funded by Gui Ling and printed by a
Hangzhou-based workshop. The books only mentioned they had been printed with
letterpress. How do we know it was copper letterpress? Because these books had
exactly the same copperplate characters as those of books printed by Lin in Futian,
and some people mistook them for Lin’s copper letterpress works printed in the 3rd
year of Emperor Xianfeng’s reign. Lin’s copper letterpress versions included Jun
Zhong Yi Fang Bei Yao (《军中医方备要》), and a book with the same title was also
among the seven books printed by Ling. Upon comparison, we found these two
books had identical contents, fonts, and styles. However, in a page or two, the two
books had different numbers of characters. So these books, though largely identical,
still had some difference and were therefore not from the same source. One was
printed in Fuzhou, and the other in Hangzhou, which led to the difference. Jun
Zhong Yi Fang Bei Yao (《军中医方备要》) seemed to be the only one printed by Lin,
and none of the seven books printed by Ling had inscriptions by Gui Ling and didn’t
have the name of Lin. There was a seal on the cover, suggesting it was undoubtedly
printed by Gui Ling in Hangzhou. Besides, the style of the characters in Shui Lu
Gong Shou Zhan Lue Mi Shu (《水陆攻守战略秘书》) was almost identical to that of
the characters in Miao Xiang Ge Wen Gao (《妙香阁文稿》), while Miao Xiang Ge
Wen Gao (《妙香阁文稿》) was printed with the Jewel Series copper letterpress.
Therefore, they were both copper letterpress copies. The copper letterpress used in
Hangzhou was supposedly that used by Lin in Futian, Fuzhou. As for how his copper
letterpress ended up in Hangzhou literature was insufficient.
③ Fuzhou (Chunqi Lin)
The copper letterpress in Futian was created by Chunqi Lin of Fuzhou. When
studying in Hangzhou and Suzhou at the age of 20, Chunqi traveled with his father to
Luoyang and Guangdong. He had heard his grandfather and father talking about
ancient copper letterpress books and lamenting that no copper letterpress was
available, as the precious works of ancient and contemporary scholars were lost
due to the inability to publish. In order to fulfill his grandfather’s wish, he had
donated money to publish books since 18, spending over 200,000 liangs of silver
and making over 200,000 big copper letterpress characters of Kai style and another
200,000 small ones based on the strokes in Hong Wu Zheng Yun (《洪武正韵》) in
20 years. These included both ancient and contemporary characters, which could be
used to print both big and small books. Lin made over 400,000 small and big copper
letterpress characters, which was unparalleled in the history of metal letterpress in
Asia. Such production was inevitably challenging in finance, materials, and man-
power. No wonder he said, “It is difficult to make and even harder to finish, with
frequent failures halfway. I spent half of my life and exhausted all my resources to
basically complete this work.” He also said, “In the Yiyou year (1825), I donated
money to publish books, when I was 18, and finally completed the copper letterpress
version in the Bingwu year (1846).” Twenty-one years went by, and Lin was only 40.
As Lin was originally from Longtian, Fuqing, the copper letterpress was called
“Futian Shuhai.” Lin printed the five books of Yin Xue Wu Shu (《音学五书》) by
Yanwu Gu, while only two books of Yin Lun (《音论》) and Shi Ben Yin ()《诗本音》
by Gu were available. On the front page of Yin Lun (《音论》), there was an essay
Tong Ban Xu (《铜版叙》) by Lin himself (see Picture 10.15), which described the
reason for and process of making the copper letterpress and was the only literature on
the making of copper letterpress characters.
On the back cover of the book, there was the inscription that read, “Copper
letterpress made by Futian Shuhai and preserved by Lin of Fujian.” Shi Ben Yin (《诗
本音》) didn’t record the names of the copper letterpress and only bore the text
“donated and engraved by Chunqi of Sanshanlin of ancient Fujian.” The copper
letterpress Kai-font characters were elegant, and the paper and ink were of superior
quality, with four characters “Fu Tian Shu Hai” inscribed below the center of every
page. Two booklets of Jun Zhong Yi Fang Bei Yao (《军中医方备要》) were printed
Picture 10.15 Tong Ban Xu (《铜版叙》) by Lin

332 Q. Han
by Lin, and on the yellow paper over, there was the inscription “copper letterpress
version by Lin.” With the same numbers of lines and characters, this book did not
have the four characters “Fu Tian Shu Hai” below the center of the page and was
undated. Chunqi Lin also printed 14 volumes of Si Shu Bian Meng (《四书便蒙》),
which had “Fu Tian Shu Hai” in the center of the page and “made with copper
letterpress and preserved by Lin” on the title page.
④ Taiwan (Wulong’a)
In the 12th year of Emperor Jiaqing’s reign (1807), the copper letterpress version
emerged in Taiwan. Wulong’a, a Manchurian general from the Plain Yellow Banner,
was the commander of troops in Taiwan and made copper letterpress books.
Xianceng Gong said in Volume 1 of Yi Yuan Cuo Du (《亦园脞牍》), “Wulong’a,
commander in Taiwan, made copper letterpress. I used to see a printed copy of Sheng
Yu Guang Xun Zhu (《圣谕广训注》), which had delicate characters and illustra-
tions.” When taking office in Taiwan during Emperor Daoguang’s reign, Yingdao
Yao from Anhui also saw the copper letterpress copy of Wu, saying, “Here is a book
made by General Wu with Jewel series copper letterpress. The Song font is also used,
and every page has only eight lines, not meeting my expectation.”
Though fewer copper letterpress books were made during the Qing Dynasty
period than during the Ming Dynasty period, they were more widely distributed
geographically. In addition to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian, copper letterpress
books were also made in Beijing and Taiwan. The engraving was better than in the
Ming Dynasty period.
10.2.5.3 Tin Letterpress (by a Craftsman Surnamed Deng in Foshan)

According to an American S. Wells Williams’ record, soon after the Opium War, the
Chinese not only made a large number of tin characters but also printed tin letterpress
books. As one of the four major cities during the Qing Dynasty period, Foshan of
Guangdong was commercially and industrially developed and had a particularly
prosperous gambling industry. In order to print lottery tickets, a craftsman surnamed
Deng began to forge tin letterpress characters in the 30th year of Emperor
Daoguang’s reign (1850) and finished forging two sets of letterpress characters in
May of the same year. The total number of the characters exceeded 150,000. He
spent over 10,000 and made three sets of letterpress, which consisted of over
200,000 characters, including a set of “flat-style” characters, a set of “long-style”
big characters, and a set of “long-style” small characters used for annotations to the
body text. His method was to engrave on small wooden blocks with characters with
clear strokes, press the engraved wooden characters into the clay, and pour melting
tin into the clay mold. After the melting tin was cooled and solidified, he broke the
clay mold and retrieved the characters, which were then trimmed into the same
length. These broken clays could be used to make a clay mold again. This method
was said to be easier and more economical than the Western method using a copper
mold. To save metal materials, he made tin characters that were a mere 4 cm tall,
shorter than foreign lead characters. Upon printing, he placed the characters in a
smooth, firm pearwood letter case and securely fastened the four sides so that the
characters wouldn’t move up and down during printing. A ridge was in the three
slots of the letter case, respectively, and was of the same height as the letterpress,
becoming the column of the book when printing was complete. Pure brass was used
to make rows, with 10 rows on every half page, and the center was separated. Just
like woodblock books, a page was separated into two sides. After review, a brush
was used to apply ink and print. Afterward, he spent almost two years and finished
printing the 348 volumes of Wen Xian Tong Kao (《文献通考》) by Duanlin Ma, a
historian in the Yuan Dynasty period, in the 2nd year of Emperor Xianfeng’s reign
(1852), and 19348 pages were bound into 120 books, which contained large
characters pleasant to the eye, white paper, and clear ink. This was the first tin
character printed book in the world. He pioneered in the fabrication of molds to make
characters and was also successful in ink use. He also printed several other books,
the titles of which were unknown.
Woodblock printing came into being in China in the seventh century, and
letterpress printing was first invented by the Chinese in the eleventh century. The
origin and development are our pride and worth commemoration while the historical
mysteries remain to be further explored. Over the 13 centuries, woodblock printing
has taken central stage while letterpress printing has been in subordinate status.
Among the letterpress printing methods, wooden letterpress was the primary method
and mostly used by private workshops. Official letterpress works, which were less
common, include the copper letterpress made by the Inner Court under Emperor
Kangxi’s reign and the wooden letterpress under Emperor Qianlong’s reign. These,
however, were not popularized. Around the Opium War in the nineteenth century, as
Western stony and lead printing technologies spread into China, traditional Chinese
printing techniques were phased out, which was a phenomenon worthy of our
deliberation. As China grows stronger and takes a more prominent position interna-
tionally in the new century, our long-term goal is to improve and develop Chinese
printing techniques in an IT-based and electronic environment.
Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient China
11
Cheng Zheng
Contents
11.1 Origin of Gunpowder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
11.1.1 Gunpowder and Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
11.1.2 Gunpowder Ingredients in Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
11.2 Firearms in Early Song and Yuan Dynasties Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
11.2.1 Combustive Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
11.2.2 Explosive Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
11.2.3 Tubular Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
11.3 Conventional Firearms in Yuan and Ming Dynasties Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
11.3.1 Blunderbusses in Yuan Dynasty Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
11.3.2 Hongwu Blunderbusses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
11.3.3 Period from Emperor Yongle’s Reign to Emperor Zhengde’s Reign . . . . . . . . . 354
11.4 Introduction of European Firearms in the Ming and Qing Dynasties Periods . . . . . . . . . 357
11.4.1 Frankish Breechloaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
11.4.2 Fowling Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
11.4.3 Western Cannons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
11.5 Development of Military Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
11.5.1 Niter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
11.5.2 Sulfur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
11.5.3 Particle Gunpowder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Abstract
Gunpowder, or black powder, is a mixture of niter (KNO3), sulfur (S), and
charcoal, which are mixed at a certain ratio. In terms of the research on Chinese
gunpowder and firearm history, there has been abundant output, evidenced by
hundreds of pieces of research literature that spans across a thousand years and
involves various areas. This chapter is intended to summarize the relevant
C. Zheng (*)
The Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
e-mail: zhengcheng@ihns.ac.cn

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_11
336 C. Zheng
research outcome from the perspective of technology history, consisting of five

sections of the origin of gunpowder, the firearms in early Song and Yuan
Dynasties periods, the traditional firearms, the westernization of firearms in the
Ming and Qing Dynasties periods, and the development of military gunpowder.
Keywords
Gunpowder · Firearms · Alchemy · Blunderbuss · Niter · Sulfur · Particle
gunpowder
Gunpowder, or black powder, is a mixture of niter (KNO3), sulfur (S), and charcoal
(C), which are mixed at a certain ratio. The most famous comment on the historical
significance of gunpowder was probably made by Francis Bacon (1561–1626) in
Novum Organum: Printing, gunpowder, and the compass “have changed the appear-
ance and state of the whole world” first in literature, then in warfare, and lastly in
navigation, and “innumerable changes have been thence derived, so that no empire,
sect, or star, appears to have exercised a greater power and influence on human
affairs than these mechanical discoveries.”
Novum Organum was published in 1620 or the 48th year of Emperor Wanli’s
reign, while gunpowder has been used for war for at least 600 years.
Since the mid-twentieth century, as academic research progressed, the fact that
gunpowder and firearms originated in ancient China has been widely recognized. It is
generally believed that alchemists in the medieval times found the phenomenon that
mixtures composed of niter, sulfur, and charcoal burn and explode during alchemy
practice at a time no later than the Tang Dynasty period. At the end of the tenth century
and in early eleventh century, mass production of military gunpowder commenced in
the Song Dynasty period. These were primarily gunpowder ointments with low niter
content used to make the flaming arrows (fire arrows) for bows and the firebombs
catapulted by the catapult (cannon/firedamps). In the twelfth to thirteenth century, in the
long-term war among Song, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties, hard-shell explosive ammo uses
high-niter gunpowder shock waves (iron cannons and skyquakes) and primitive tubular
firearms (Gui Chen’s muskets, “Flying Muskets” of the Jins, and firelocks of Shouchun
Prefecture). At the end of the thirteenth century for the latest, the army of the Yuan
Dynasty began to be equipped with tubular metal firearms. In the mid-fourteenth
century near the end of the Yuan Dynasty period, warlords waged wars against one
another, and muzzleloaders were no longer rare. In the late fourteenth century, Ming
armies were equipped with a large number of metal firearms (copper muzzleloaders and
bowl rim muzzleloaders). In the early fifteenth century, traditional firearms represented
by the copper muzzleloaders made during Emperor Yongle’s reign reached a techno-
logical peak. Around the thirteenth century, Chinese firearm technology quickly spread
around and indirectly led to the creation of gunpowder weapons in Europe. In the first
half of the sixteenth century, European firearms spread to East Asia by sea. In the
sixteenth to seventeenth century, a series of military conflicts in the southeastern coast
and northern border of the Ming Dynasty promoted the introduction and localization of
European firearms (Frankish breechloaders, fowling pieces, and Western cannons).
11 Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient China 337
Based on these, the Ming people had some innovations (e.g., three-eyed blunderbusses,
“squatting tiger” cannons, and Yegong cannons). In the mid-seventeenth century, the
war between the Ming and Qing Dynasties accelerated the adoption of European
firearms. At the end of the seventeenth century, the Qing Court mastered a fire cannon
technology that was close to those of Europe. However, there had been no progress
until the mid- and late-nineteenth century, when the Qing Dynasty adopted Western
modern military technologies at an all-out scale after the two opium wars and the
Taiping Rebellion. At the end of the nineteenth century, with the development of the
modern chemical industry, the ancient black powder was replaced by various kinds of
smokeless powder and exited military applications.
In terms of the research on Chinese gunpowder and firearm history, there has been
abundant output, evidenced by hundreds of pieces of research literature that spans
across a thousand years and involves various areas, such as the history of chemistry,
military history, the history of technology, and the history of Sino-foreign exchanges.
With a rather complete overall framework, there are multiple research branches and a
lot of questions and contentions. This chapter is intended to summarize the relevant
research outcome from the perspective of technology history, consisting of five sections
of the origin of gunpowder, the firearms in early Song and Yuan Dynasties periods, the
traditional firearms, the westernization of firearms in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
periods, and the development of military gunpowder. The periods involved roughly end
with the eighteenth century. Given the sheer quantity of information, missing informa-
tion is inevitable. (For relevant research, you may refer to Jiasheng Feng “Discovery
and Spread of Gunpowder”. Shi Xue Ji Kan (《史学集刊》), 1947, Issue 5 (included in
Feng Jia Sheng Lun Zhu Ji Cui (《冯家昇论著辑萃》), China Publishing House, 1987,
slightly abridged); Jiasheng Feng, Huo Yao De Fa Ming He Xi Chuan (Invention and
Westward Spread of Gunpowder, 《火药的发明和西传》), East China People’s Pub-
lishing House (1954) and Shanghai People’s Publishing House (1978); Arima Seiho:
The Origin and Circulation of Gunpowder. Hirofumi Yoshikawa Publishing house,
1962; Dong Cheng and Shaoyi Zhong, Atlas of Ancient Chinese Weaponry (《中国古代
兵器图集》), People’s Liberation Army Press, 1990; Joseph Needham et al., the History
of Chinese Science (Volume 5, Book 7, Gunpowder Epic), Science Press and Shanghai
Classics Publishing House, 2005 (translated based on the 1986 English version);
Shaoyi Zhong, Study of Gunpowder and Firearm History of Ancient China (《中国古
代火药火器史研究》), China Social Sciences Publishing House, 1995; Kuanghua
Zhao and Jiahua Zhou, Chinese History of Science & Technology – Chemistry (《中
国科学技术史·化学卷》), Science Publishing House, 1998; Zhaochun Wang, Chinese
History of Science & Technology – Military Technology (《中国科学技术史·军事技
术卷》), Science Publishing House, 1998; Xu Liu, History of Gunpowder and Firearms
in Ancient China (《中国古代火药火器史》), Elephant Press, 2004).
11.1 Origin of Gunpowder
To discuss the origin of gunpowder, we first need to define it. From the perspective of
modern science, gunpowder is a mixture capable of producing a self-supplied
oxygen internal combustion system. As an indispensable ingredient, niter serves as
338 C. Zheng
the oxidant. As for the origin, discoveries and inventions should be differentiated
between. From the perspective of technological inventions, gunpowder is a specially
made artificial product whose combustion or explosion properties are utilized. In
other words, the discovery of the combustion or explosion capability of a certain
niter-containing mixture does not mean the invention of gunpowder.
11.1.1 Gunpowder and Alchemy
wThe classical paper Discovery and Spread of Gunpowder by Jiasheng Feng (1947)
established the basic opinion on the origin of gunpowder, claiming ancient Chinese
alchemists had discovered/invented gunpowder. (This paper emphasizes on the dif-
ference between discoveries and inventions, arguing gunpowder was occasionally
discovered by alchemists (this section is absent in the 1987 version included in the
Collection of Jiasheng Feng’s Works (《冯家昇论著集萃》)). The Invention and
Westward Spread of Gunpowder (1954) sticks to the “invention” theory.). More
strictly speaking, medieval alchemists discovered the phenomenon of niter-containing
mixtures burning and exploding during alchemy activities and invented gunpowder.
Chinese alchemists tried to acquire two types of things (elixirs of eternal life and
gold/silver) using two methods (Waidan and Huangbai techniques). Originating in
the Han and Jin Dynasties periods, these techniques thrived in the Tang Dynasty
period. For over half a century, in order to explore the origin of gunpowder, we have
scrutinized most of the alchemy literature (all included in Dao Zang《道藏》) on the
ingredients and techniques that involved niter, sulfur, and charcoal and might incur
(or intentionally avoid) combustion and explosions, and deepened our understanding
of ancient alchemy practice. (For research review, refer to Guangding Liu: “Issue of
Gunpowder Origin,” Collection of Papers on Chinese Technology History (《中国科
技史论集》), National Taiwan University Publishing Center, 2002, p.351–359). To
explore the origin of gunpowder is actually to discuss the process of ancient people
learning about the nature of niter-containing mixtures.
Reference to niter and sulfur can be seen in the present-day version of Shen Nong
Ben Cao Jing (《神农本草经》). These have been commonly used by physicians and
alchemists since the Han Dynasty period. The ingredients for alchemy in ancient
China followed the Yin-Yang Theory (feminine-masculine theory), where niter and
sulfur were regarded as feminine and masculine ingredients and were often used
together in alchemical practice. It was probable that alchemists had already discov-
ered the phenomenon of niter-containing mixtures exploding in the East Jin Dynasty
period (fourth century). (Kuike Wang et al., “Arsenic History in China,” Study of
Natural Science History (《自然科学史研究》), 1982, issue 2; Zhiyi Rong, “New
Theory on Gunpowder Invention by Taoists in East Jin Dynasty Period,” Chemistry
Circular (《化学通报》), 2009, issue 2. Multiple explanations are plausible according
to historical materials and no conclusion can be made). The niter referred to in early
literature involves multiple kinds of salt and does not specifically refer to potassium
nitrate. Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu (《本草经集注》) by Hongjing Tao (fifth century)
recorded the method of identifying “genuine niter” by “burning it and checking if
purple smoke appears.” (Compiled by Hongjing Tao and reviewed by Zhijun Shang
and Yuansheng Shang: Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu (《本草经集注》) (edited version),
People’s Medical Publishing House (1994), p.137). The flame reaction provided
reliable basis for identifying potassium nitrate.
It is generally believed that the temperature-lowering method popular in the Tang
Dynasty period was closely related to the invention of gunpowder. Temperature
lowering was a common measure in alchemical activities, used to change the
intrinsic properties of the chemicals and adapt them to the various special alchemical
needs, involving a wide range of implications and methods. The Waidan technique
aims to eliminate the toxicity of metal by smelting and make elixirs of eternal life. In
the Huangbai technique, realgar, orpiment, sulfur, and arsenic were widely used to
turn copper-gold alloy, lead, and tin into “gold and silver.” These conversion
chemicals are susceptible to volatilization and combustion dispersion when exposed
to strong heat and require pretreatment to suppress their intrinsic properties.
(Kuanghua Zhao and Jiahua Zhou, History of Chinese Science & Technology –
Chemistry (《中国科学技术史·化学卷》), p.411–413 and 453–456, where how to
introduce charcoal (herb medicine) into elixir formula and how it became an
important latent fire chemical were covered).
In Volume 5 of Zhu Jia Shen Pin Dan Fa (《诸家神品丹法》) by a Song author,
four “temperature-lowered sulfur methods” or “sulfur methods” were recorded:
Temperature-Lowered Sulfur Method
Two liangs of sulfur and niter are grinded. A niter silver pot or sand can is used to
contain the powder. A pit is made in the ground, and the pot is put in the pit and
levels with the ground, with four corners filled with earth. Three Gleditsia sinensis
seeds are heated to maintain properties and put in one by one. Wait until the flame
burns out, and put three jins of raw and cooked coal for cluster calcinations. After the
coal is consumed by one third, extinguish the fire and leave it aside. After the sulfur
is cooled, this is called temperature-lowering process. (Zheng Tong Dao Zang –
Dong Shen Bu – Zhong Shu Lei (《正统道藏·洞神部·众术类》) (No.594). Four titles
are “Ge Xianweng’s Alchemist Method – Latent Fire Sulfur Method,” “Sun
Zhenren’s Latent Sulfur Method,” “Huang Sanguan’s Latent Sulfur Method,” and
“Latent Fire Sulfur Method.” “Latent Fire Sulfur Method” used to be regarded as
part of “Sun Zhenren’s Latent Sulfur Method” (Jiasheng Feng, 1947), which most
subsequent researcher did not concur).
In summary, sulfur, niter, and Gleditsia sinensis seeds (carbon-containing sub-
stance) are smelted together to produce “temperature-lowered sulfur.” There is no
conclusion on the origin of this method, which is generally considered to have
originated during the Tang Dynasty period.
A similar method was seen in Volume 2 “Secret Know-How on Elixir Production
by Grand Master” of Qian Gong Jia Geng Zhi Bao Ji Cheng (《铅汞甲庚至宝集
成》):
Temperature-Lowered Alum Method
Two liangs of sulfur, two liangs of niter, and three and a half qians of Aristolochia
are prepared. Powder is made and stirred until even. A pit is dug, and powder is put
into an urn and levels with the ground. Take a heated clot the size of a pellet and put
it in. Fumes arise. Cover with four or five layers of wet paper, and bury it with two
bricks and earth. Take it out after cooling and the sulfur condenses. For every three
340 C. Zheng
liangs of alum, two liangs of temperature-lowered sulfur are put and made into
powder, which is placed in a big pot and squeezed into juices, which show a jade
color when put in a stone vessel. (Zheng Tong Dao Zang – Dong Shen Bu – Zhong
Shu Lei (《正统道藏·洞神部·众术类》) (No.595).
In summary, sulfur, niter, and Aristolochia fruit (a carbon-containing substance)
are smelted together to make the “temperature-lowered sulfur,” which is then mixed
with white alum to make “temperature-lowered alum.” The purpose of the above
temperature-lowered methods is to change the properties of sulfur by acquiring the
less volatile, burning, stable substance (temperature-lowered sulfur) through con-
trollable low-intensity combustion reaction (where “flames” and “smokes” appear).
The jar was buried underground and reinforced with bricks and earth, which should
be a safety measure. In both temperature-lowered methods, a mixture of niter, sulfur,
and carbon-containing substances appeared. Resembling black powder in form, this
was a semi-product instead of a final product. According to research, Qian Gong Jia
Geng Zhi Bao Ji Cheng (《铅汞甲庚至宝集成》) is a book written in the Yuan
Dynasty period or early Ming Dynasty period (fourteenth century), and the inscrip-
tion in “Secret Know-How on Elixir Production by Grand Master” indicating it was
written by Qingxuzi in the third year of Emperor Yuanhe’s reign (808) is very likely
to be a false statement as it was unlikely to have been written in the ninth century.
“After the furnace temperature is lowered for niter, the charcoal is heated on fire
and after it becomes oil and stays still, the temperature lowering process is com-
plete.” (Zhen Yuan Miao Dao Yao Lue (《真元妙道要略》) by Siyuan Zheng. Refer to
Tongwen Weng: “Year of Completion of Zhen Yuan Miao Dao Yao Lue (《真元妙道
要略》) and Relevant Issues of Gunpowder History.” Collection of Studies of Song
History (《宋史研究集》) (Volume 7), China Series Editorial Board, 1974, p.271–
290). So-called raw niter is niter that has not been through the “temperature-
lowering” process which changes its properties. Volume 4 Dan Fang Jing Yuan
(《丹房镜源》) of Qian Gong Jia Geng Zhi Bao Ji Cheng (《铅汞甲庚至宝集成》)
recorded the method for lowering the temperature for niter using charcoal leaves,
which made niter “superior to everything.” (Some researchers believe Dan Fang
Jing Yuan (《丹房镜源》) included in Qian Gong Jia Geng Zhi Bao Ji Cheng (《铅汞
甲庚至宝集成》) was actually by a Song author and completed during the period
from the second year of Emperor Daguan’s reign during the Northern Song period
(1108) to the late Southern Song Dynasty period. Refer to Jiakui Wang “Investiga-
tion of An Alchemist’s Dan Fang Jing Yuan (《丹房镜源》).” Magazine on Chinese
Medical History (《中华医史杂志》), 1996, Issue 1).
Records about explosion accidents during alchemical activities also provided
clues to the question of gunpowder origin. Volume 16 of Tai Ping Guang Ji (《太
平广记》) quoted the story of Zichun Du in Xu Xuan Guai Lu by Fuyan Li (early
ninth century), where “purple flames burned through the house” and “the house and
rooms were all incinerated” in an alchemical accident. Purple flames were often
regarded as proof for the existence of niter. Zhen Yuan Miao Dao Yao Lue (《真元妙
道要略》) completed in the mid-Five Dynasties period (in the first half of the tenth
century) enumerated the taboos of alchemy, saying, “Someone burned sulfur, realgar
and niter along with honey, and flames arose burning his hands and face and
incinerating the entire house”; “niter should be accompanied by various chemicals,
which should not be excessive. Chemicals may not be burned with sulfur, realgar
and niter, or an accident will immediately occur.”
Due to the extreme scarcity of historical materials and the difficulty in determin-
ing the origin, we can only roughly assume alchemists during the Tang Dynasty
period changed the properties of sulfur by burning niter and herbs along with sulfur
and acquired the less volatile “temperature-lowered sulfur” and acquired the “tem-
perature-lowered niter” incapable of supporting combustion by burning niter with
herbs; they had clear knowledge of the combustive and explosive properties of
niter, sulfur, and coal mixtures. As some alchemists tried to leverage the devastating
power of these mixtures, the invention of gunpowder was not far. According to
available literature, gunpowder was initially used as weaponry, and firearms
emerged no later than the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty period (late
tenth century).
11.1.2 Gunpowder Ingredients in Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》)
“The so-called eleven ingredients include gunpowder, green kiln, fierce fire oil, gold
fire, large and small wood, large and small furnaces, leather, linen and kiln etc.” All
of these are made based on the specified method, with textual descriptions memo-
rized to prevent oblivion of the method. (Dechen Wang: “Zhu Shi Juan Shang·Chao
Zhi.” Quan Song Bi Ji (《全宋笔记》) (Edition 1, Book 10), Elephant Press (2003),
p.9. Quoted from Dong Jing Ji (《东京记》) by Minqiu Song). In roughly the same
period, Gongliang Zeng et al. authored Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》) (c.1047)
upon imperial order, and this book recorded three gunpowder formulae in detail,
which might be based on the formula of the aforesaid Kaifeng Prefecture gunpow-
der, which is also the oldest known gunpowder formula worldwide. (Yano Jinichi
(1917) was the first to have published a paper that revealed the importance of the
gunpowder formula in Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》). See Yano Jinichi: “On the
Introduction of Modern Firearms in China” (Volumes I and II). Shi Lin (《史林》)
(Volumes 2, 3, and 4), Kyoto Imperial University, July and October 1917, later
included in Politics and Culture of Modern China (《近代支那の政治及文化》)
(Tokyo, Idea Press, 1926), p.320–369).
According to Dong Jing Ji (《东京记》) by Minqiu Song (1019–1079), the
Military Production Department was set in the capital Kaifeng during the Northern
Song Dynasty period, “so-called gunpowder is made of.”
One of these was a universal formula, which could be used to make fireballs to be
catapulted and fire arrows, called fire cannons and powder:
Gunpowder Formula
Fourteen liangs of Jinzhou sulfur, seven liangs of nest sulfur, and two and a half jins of niter
One liang of weed, one liang of dry lacquer, and one liang of arsenic sulfur
One liang of “fixing powder,”one liang of bamboo shavings, and one liang of yellow lead
Half a liang of beeswax, one fen of clear oil, and half a liang of tung oil
Fourteen liangs of pine resin and one fen of thick oil
342 C. Zheng
Then Jinzhou sulfur, nest sulfur, and niter are pounded together; arsenic sulfur, fixing
powder, and yellow lead are grinded together; dried lacquer is pounded into powder;
bamboo shavings and weed are made into powder and beeswax, pine resin, clear oil,
tung oil, and thick oil are cooked into cream. The former powder is put in and stirred,
wrapped with five layers of paper, and fixed with linen and melting pine resin. The
powder is launched with a cannon. Some are toxic fume balls. (Gongliang Zeng and
Du Ding et al.: Wu Jing Zong Yao Qian Ji (《武经总要前集》) (Volume 12), 50b-51a,
published during Emperor Zhengde’s reign. Zhenduo Zheng: Woodblock Series in
Ancient China (《中国古代版画丛刊》), Shanghai Classics Publishing House
(1988)).
A fireball needed 82.2 liangs (about 2.5 kg) of gunpowder ointment, of which
niter accounted for 49%, Jinzhou sulfur (artificial sulfur produced in the pyrite in
Jinzhou) 17%, and nest sulfur (or natural sulfur) about 8.5%; yellow wax, pine resin,
clear oil, tung oil, and thick oil accounted for 18.5%. These inflammable carbon-
containing substances were also the adhesives for the gunpowder ointment. Other
ingredients only accounted for 7%. Fiber substances such as bamboo shavings and
linen shavings were conducive to the clustering of the gunpowder ointment. Arsenic
yellow, starch, and yellow lead seemed intended for producing toxic fumes. The
above materials were made into clusters, wrapped with five layers of paper, fixed
with a hemp rope, and coated with pine resin. Like rolling fume balls and Tribulus
terrestris fireballs, the fireball needed to be lit with an iron cone.
According to contemporary simulations, such gunpowder ointments were ini-
tially black brownish clay, which condensed into hard solid in about 10 hours. A
fireball was lit with a heated iron cone, and “the combustion is so fierce that white
flames arise. Upon testing, the temperature reaches 1300 Celsius degrees at the
combustion center.” (Xu Liu: History of Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient China,
p.18–20). The fireball is a combustive firearm, and the gunpowder has a low niter
content and is free of separate charcoal particles and explosive properties. However,
the combustion lasts long, the burning temperature is high, and the fire won’t easily
go out. We can imagine a lit fireball being catapulted into the sky, flying over several
hundred meters and falling hard to the ground, with the paper wrapping broken and
incendiaries splashing around.
Then there is the puncture vine fireball powder:
Puncture vine fireballs are made with six iron blades wrapped with gunpowder and stringed
with a rope that is 1 zhang and two chis long. The exterior is covered with paper and coated
with powder, and can launch eight iron puncture vines. Upon launching, iron cone is heated
to generate flames.
Gunpowder method: One jin and four liangs of sulfur, two and a half jins of niter, five liangs
of coarse coal particles, two and a half liangs of asphalt and two and a half of dry lacquer are
pounded into powder. One liang and one fen of bamboo shavings and one liang and one fen
of weed are sheared. Two and a half liangs of tung oil, minor oil and wax are mixed in water.
The exterior is covered with 12 and a half liangs of paper, 11 liangs of linen, 1 liang and 1 fen
of yellow lead, half a jin of charcoal, two and a half liangs of asphalt and two and a half
liangs of beeswax are mixed in water and applied all around. (Gongliang Zeng and Du Ding
et al.: Wu Jing Zong Yao Qian Ji (《武经总要前集》) (vol.12), 57a)
In addition to the external coating, the internal gunpowder ointment weighs 79.7 liangs
(about 2.5 kg). The gunpowder formula is similar to that of the former, mostly consisting of
inflammables: 50% niter, 25% sulfur, 6% coarse charcoal, and 9.5% tung oil, minor oil, and
wax. Independent charcoal powder is present. The combustion is fierce and faster than fire
cannon powder, while no explosive properties are present.
The third formula is for the gunpowder of the poisonous fume fireball:
Poisonous fume ball. The ball weighs 2.5 kilograms. 15 liangs of sulfur, five liangs of
common monkshood, one jin and 14 liangs of niter, five liangs of beans, five liangs of
wolfsbane, two and a half liangs of tung oil, two and a half liangs of minor oil, five liangs of
charcoal particles, two and a half liangs of asphalt, two liangs of arsenic, one liang of yellow
wax, two liangs and one fen of bamboo shavings and one liang and one fen of linen shavings
are used. These are mixed into a ball and stringed with a hemp rope that is one zhang and two
chis long and weighs half jin to make the string. The exterior is coated with 12 and a half
liangs of old paper, 10 liangs of flax skin, two and a half liangs of asphalt, two and a half
liangs of yellow wax, one liang and one fen of yellow lead and half jin of charcoal particles
that have been tamped. If the scent is too strong, mouth and nose bleeding will occur. The
two objects are launched with the catapult to besiege a city. (Gongliang Zeng and Du Ding
et al.: Wu Jing Zong Yao Qian Ji (《武经总要前集》) (vol.11), 23a)
The chemicals inside of the poisonous fume ball weighed about 2.5 kg (77.7
liangs), of which niter accounted for 38%, sulfur accounted for 19%, and charcoal
particles accounted for 6%; tung oil, minor oil, asphalt, yellow wax, bamboo
shavings, and linen shavings accounted for 15%; four poisons (monkshood,
bean, wolfsbane, and arsenic) accounted for 22%. The niter proportion was the
lowest among the three formulae. According to simulation experiments, a heated
iron cone penetrated into the ball wrapped with paper, and a little flame sprays out.
The iron cone was pulled out, and gray blackish fumes went out. In this formula,
the heat was low, which was helpful for the release of poisonous fumes. (Shuo
Yang and Jing Ding: Experimental Research of Ancient Gunpowder Formulae.
Study of History of Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient China (《中国古代火药
火器史研究》), p.49–50)
In summary, in the above three firearm formulae, niter and sulfur accounted for
the highest proportions, totaling 60–75%; the niter-to-sulfur ratio was 2:1. All the
three formulae contained tung oil, bamboo shavings, linen shavings and yellow wax,
which seemed to be used for adhesion and fixing. The other ingredients could be
increased or reduced based on their functions. These formulae should have been
improved based on the formulae of traditional military incendiary agents.
11.2 Firearms in Early Song and Yuan Dynasties Periods
During the two centuries from the early eleventh century to the late thirteenth
century, combustive firearms, explosive firearms, and tubular firearms (from fire
sprayers to tubular metal shooting firearms) successively emerged and were widely
used, laying the foundation for the types of firearms.
344 C. Zheng
11.2.1 Combustive Firearms
When was gunpowder first used for military purposes, or when did the earliest
firearms appear? The “early tenth century” theory was highly influential and is still
used today. (Jiasheng Feng: “Discovery and Spread of Gunpowder”. Shi Xue Ji Kan
(《史学集刊》), Issue 5 of 1947; Jiasheng Feng: Invention and Westward Spread of
Gunpowder (《火药的发明和西传》), p.16. The latter had a more definite view-
point). Warlords waged wars against each other at the end of the Tang Dynasty
period. In the ninth lunar month of the third year of Emperor Tianyou’s reign (906),
the Huainan army captured Hongzhou (or Yuzhang, present-day Nanchang) (Volume
265 of Zi Zhi Tong Jian (《资治通鉴》)). According to Jiu Guo Zhi (《九国志》) by
Zhen Lu (957–1014), General Bo Zheng of the Huainan army “led the siege of
Yuzhang, whose troops launched flying fires to burn the gate. Zheng led commandos
to climb up the city wall in fires.” According to Volume 6 of Hu Ling Jing (《虎钤
经》) by Dong Xu in the early Song Dynasty period (completed around 1004),
“Flying fires, also called fire cannons, are similar to fire arrows.” Before the Ming
Dynasty period, “cannons” referred to catapults or the catapulted objects. Early
researchers failed to find the term “cannons” in any literature before the Song
Dynasty period. As the fire cannons and fire arrows recorded in Wu Jing Zong Yao
(《武经总要》) (1047) were fire products, we deduce fire weapons had been used in
the Battle of Yuzhang in the tenth century, and “flying fires” might be the incendi-
aries launched by catapults.
In fact, deductions of circumstances a century ago based on Wu Jing Zong Yao
(《武经总要》) are not reliable. Yuanheng Wu of the Tang Dynasty period (758–815)
said in Chu Sai Zuo (《出塞作》), “White feather arrows fly over catapults, and
golden armors outshine the sunlight.” The fire arrows described in the Tang period
military book Tai Bai Yin Jing (《太白阴经》) are “coated with oil in a small ladle at
the end,” and after the arrow is launched, the ladle is broken and oil sprays and burns.
The combustibles used for fire cannons and arrows during the Tang Dynasty period
were traditional materials such as grease and wormwood. It seems “white feather
arrows fly over catapults” cannot be interpreted as firearms. (For details, see Shaoyi
Zhong: “Questions about Two Speculations on Military Applications of Gunpowder
in Early Tenth Century”. Study of History of Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient
China (《中国古代火药火器史研究》), p.55–62).
In the early Song Dynasty period, many new-style fire weapons appeared.
According to Volume 150 Bing Zhi of Yu Hai (《玉海》), “In the third lunar month
of the 2nd year of Emperor Kaibao’s reign (969), Jisheng Feng and Yifang Yue tried
the fire arrow method and were given silk.” Song Hui Yao Ji Gao (《宋会要辑稿》),
“In the 8th lunar month of the 3rd year of Emperor Zhenzong’s reign (1000), Fuxian
Tang, captain of the weaponry army, made fire arrows, fire balls and fire puncture
vines himself.” (Volume 197 Bing Zhi (《兵志》) of Song Shi (《宋史》): In the third
year of Emperor Kaibao’s reign (970), “Jisheng Feng, the Minister of War, ordered
fire arrow experiments and rewarded with clothes and silk”; in the third year of
Emperor Xianping’s reign (1000), “In the eighth lunar month, navy captain Fuxian
Tang made fire arrows, fireballs and fire puncture vines by himself.” Volume 47 of
Xu Zi Zhi Tong Jian Chang Bian (《续资治通鉴长编》): In the ninth lunar month of
the third year of Emperor Xianping’s reign (1000): “Navy captain Fuxian Tang made
fire arrows, fireballs and fire puncture vines.”). In Volume 52 of Xu Zi Zhi Tong Jian
Chang Bian (《续资治通鉴长编》), in the fifth year of Emperor Xianping’s reign
(1002), “Pu Shi, militia commissioner of Jizhou, claimed he could make fire balls
and fire arrows and was summoned to the rest palace for a demonstration, which the
emperor watched along with ministers.” In the second year of Emperor Kaibao’s
reign, “fire arrows” were certainly an innovation and different from conventional
combustive arrows and were very likely to be firearms. In the third year of Emperor
Xianping’s reign, fire arrows, fireballs, and fire puncture vines could be confirmed in
Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》) and were undoubtedly firearms.
In the early Song Dynasty period, combustibles launched by bows, catapults, and
slings remained the mainstream firearms, and the traditional approach was followed.
One improvement was the replacement of grease grass with gunpowder ointments,
and new types of fire arrows and cannons emerged. In the early Song Dynasty
period, gunpowder ointments were used for combustion, and such ointments
contained a higher amount of sulfur and grease and a lower amount of niter than
the gunpowder used in subsequent generations. Compared with traditional combus-
tibles, gunpowder ointments last long when burning and do not easily go out (niter is
a strong oxidant). In today’s simulation experiments, flameless fires such as charcoal
fire and leather paper rope fire are used for the regular gunpowder (fire cannons and
gunpowder) mentioned in Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》), and the gunpowder
cannot be lit. If heated iron cones are used to ignite as mentioned in Wu Jing Zong
Yao (《武经总要》), (Xu Liu: History of Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient China
(《中国古代火药火器史》), p.18–19) it will be highly difficult to cause combustion.
Evidently, this is a safety design.
According to Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》), there are two types of gunpowder
fire arrows. One of them is regular fire arrows: “Gunpowder is applied to the arrow
head and suitable for use by both bows and crossbows. The weight of the gunpowder
depends on the bow strength” (Volume 13). The other type is “gunpowder whip
arrows”: “The arrow is stringed with five liangs and gunpowder, set on fire and
launched.” A bamboo pole and a rope are used to launch the arrow like swinging a
whip (Volume 12).
In the Song Dynasty period, large quantities of gunpowder combustion arrows
were made. In the seventh year of Emperor Yuanfeng’s reign (1084), the Kaifeng
Prefecture supplied weapons to Hezhou and Xizhou (present-day Gansu) for border
defense, including 100,000 fire arrows, 20,000 gunpowder bows, and 2000 gun-
powder cannons, totaling 122,000 and accounting for about 1/10 of total arrows, in
addition to various regular bows, crossbows, swords, and shields; besides, there
were 2000 fireballs, which were supposed to be used by catapults. (Tao Li: Xu Zi Zhi
Tong Jian Chang Bian (《续资治通鉴长编》) (Volume 343) in the third lunar month
of the seventh year of Emperor Yuanfeng’s reign. The weapons of the defense forces
across the country varied greatly during the Northern Song Dynasty period.
According to Xu Zi Zhi Tong Jian Chang Bian (《续资治通鉴长编》) (Volume
293), in the tenth lunar month of the first year of Emperor Yuanfeng’s reign
(1078), “The weapon supervisor said. . .in the 20 km peripheral of the Daming
Prefecture, there are only four gunners, and other personnel, including loaders, are
346 C. Zheng
also short.” Besides, a document of the third year of Emperor Fuchang’s reign (1132)
unearthed in the city of Heishui recorded the deployment of two gunners and two
gunpowder craftsmen. See Jimin Sun: “Important Literature in the History of
Firearm Development – Interpretation of A Document of the third Year of Emperor
Fuchang’s Reign (1132).” Dun Huang Tu Lu Fan Yan Jiu – Di Shi Juan (《敦煌吐鲁
番研究·第十卷》), Shanghai Classics Publishing House, 2007). According to Bi
Rong Ye Hua (《避戎夜话》) in Volume 68 of San Chao Bei Meng Hui Bian (《三
朝北盟会编》), in the first year of Emperor Jingkang’s reign (1126), commander
Zhongyou Yao of the Song army suggested placing 500 soldiers in defense of the
east city wall of Bianjing and distributing 20 fire arrows and 50 ordinary arrows to
each soldier. In each fire basket, 10 iron cones were burned for 20 archers to launch
fire arrows. The fire baskets and iron cones were supposedly used in conjunction
with the gunpowder arrows. In the late Southern Song Dynasty period, gunpowder
arrows were still produced in massive numbers. In the 2 years and 7 months from the
fourth lunar month of the first year of Emperor Kaiqing’s reign to the seventh lunar
month of the second year of Emperor Jingding’s reign (1259 ~ 1261), firearm
workshops in the Jiankang Prefecture (present-day Nanjing) “made an additional
25,395 pieces,” including 9808 fire arrows and 12,980 bolts (Volume 39 of Jing
Ding Jian Kang Zhi (《景定建康志》)).
The gunpowder weapons of Song were quickly spread to Liao. In the fifth lunar
month of the ninth year of Emperor Xining’s reign (1076), “the Economic Planning
Department of the Hedong Province said: ‘There is a fire cannon in the northern city
of Yanjing and this fire cannon is made of sulfur and niter from non-official sources
in the south The government worries the border is not well guarded against smug-
gling and announces heavy rewards for those who tell on smuggling.’ So the trial
court and central judicial office carry out the order” (Volume 275 of Xu Zi Zhi Tong
Jian Chang Bian (《续资治通鉴长编》)). Evidently, such embargoes existed long
ago. Embargoes on gunpowder materials to neighboring countries didn’t really stop
the spread of new technologies. It was the frequent wars that facilitated the devel-
opment of firearms.
11.2.2 Explosive Firearms
Explosive firearms were probably the earliest weapons powered by gunpowder. Wu

Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》), completed in mid-eleventh century, listed a dozen
firearms, including fireballs, fire arrows, and, for the most part, combustive firearms.
(Some researchers believe puncture vine fireballs and “thunderbolt” fireballs are the
earliest explosive firearms recorded. This theory remains contentious. Ying Ye: “The
Origin of Explosive Firearms.” Study of History of Gunpowder and Firearms in
Ancient China (《中国古代火药火器史研究》), p.73–79; Xu Liu: History of Gun-
powder and Firearms in Ancient China (《中国古代火药火器史》), p.20–21). From
the early twelfth century to the early thirteenth century, some suspected explosive
firearms might have appeared in the Song-Jin War according to records. In the first
year of Emperor Jingkang’s reign (1126), a Jin army besieged Bianjing, and the Song
army “fired quick-firing cannonballs to attack the enemy” (Volume 2 of Jing Kang
Chuan Xin Lu (《靖康传信录》) by Gang Li). The description is too brief and cannot
be confirmed. In the Battle of Caishiji in the 31st year of Emperor Shaoxing’s reign
(1161), the navy of the Southern Song Dynasty fired “quick-firing cannonballs,”
which “seemed to be paper and were actually made of limestone and sulfur. The
cannonballs fell from the sky to the water and sulfur exploded once touching water.
The cannonballs bounced from the water and sounded like thunderbolts. The paper
cracked and limestone spread like smoke, covering men’s and horses’ eyes” (Hai
Qiu Fu Hou Xu (《海赋后序》) by Wanli Yang). If there was only sulfur
in the cannonballs, they wouldn’t explode. Also, “bounced from the water” is not
convincing either. These cannonballs might just be paper-shelled gunpowder and
limestone. Also, in the Battle of Xiangyang in the third year of Emperor Kaixi’s
reign (1207), the Song army defending the city used “quick-firing cannons” and
“quick-firing fire cannons” (Xiang Yang Shou Cheng Lu (《襄阳守城录》) by
Wannian Zhao).
According to currently available literature, the Jin army first used iron-shelled
bombs (iron fire cannons and “cracking thunderbolts”) on a large scale. According to
Xin Si Qi Qi Lu (《辛巳泣蕲录》) by Yugun Zhao, in the 14th year of Emperor Jiading’s
reign (1221), the Jin army besieged Qizhou of the Southern Song Dynasty (present-day
Qichun, Hubei). The Song army defending the city “launched 7000 gunpowder bolts,
10,000 gunpowder arrows, 3,000 puncture vine fireballs and 2,000 cannonballs in a
single day.” We reckon these remained low-niter combustive firearms. The Jin army
used catapults and launched a great number of “iron fireballs” into the city – “(the iron
fireballs) looked like gourds, were made of cast iron and were 2 cuns thick, shaking the
city wall,” and “the sound was louder than that of lightning bolts.” A Song soldier was
“hit by an iron fireball, which cracked his head, eyes and face, a half of which was
gone.” Undoubtedly, iron fireballs are a high-niter explosive firearm.
In the first year of Emperor Tianxing’s reign (1232), the Mongolian army besieged
the capital of Jin (Bianliang, present-day Kaifeng). To the besieging troops, the most
fearsome weapons were the “cracking thunderbolts” and flying fire guns (see the latter
part for details). “Weapons used to defend the city include a fire cannon called ‘cracking
thunderbolts.’ Chemicals were placed in iron cans and lit with fire. When the cannons
were launched, the sound was like that of thunderbolts and could be heard 50 kilometers
away. The cannon range could cover an area of half a mu, and the fire could penetrate
armors.” The Mongolian army pushed “Niupidong” (a cart shielded with leather) to the
city wall and began to dig the city wall under the cover. The Jin troops “suspended
cracking thunderbolts with iron wires, put down along the city wall and triggered the
cracking thunderbolts when they reached the digging spot, blowing up enemy soldiers
along with the leather” (Jin Shi – Chi Zhan He Xi Zhuan (《金史·赤盏合喜传》).
(Slightly before the tenth year of Emperor Hongzhi’s reign (1497), Mengchun He
“was dispatched to Shaanxi and saw iron cannons called ‘cracking thunderbolts’ on the
city wall of Xi’an. These cracking thunderbolts looked like two closed bowls and had a
hole in the top, and only a finger could fit into that hole. These cracking thunderbolts
were long unused. It was said these were left by the Jin people who defended
Bianliang.” He also said, “the cracking thunderbolts on the city wall had been magnet-
ically burned.” See Mengchun He: Yu Dong Xu Lu (《余冬序录》) (Volume 57), 11a-b,
Jiajing inscribed version of copy No. 101 of Si Ku Quan Shu (四库全书). For remnants
348 C. Zheng
of a hollow cast iron bullet of the Ming Dynasty period, see the “Preliminary Study of
Weapons Unearthed in Yanqing County Beijing,” Study of Cultural Relic Science and
Technology (《文物科技研究》) (issue 7), Science Publishing House, 2010, p.148–159.
Besides, in the Battle of Ningyuan in the sixth year of Emperor Tianqi’s reign (1626), the
Ming army defending the city used canister explosives to destroy the chiseling tool
covered with “one layer of rawhide and one layer of iron” by the Later Jin army.” A
similar story took place where Jin soldiers defended Bianliang with “cracking thunder-
bolts.”) Cracking thunderbolts were supposed to be large iron-shelled bombs. The Jin
Dynasty had favorable conditions for developing new-type firearms as it ruled northern
China (Shanxi) where resources like niter and sulfur abounded and had been in a long-
term confrontation with the Song Dynasty, which boasted advanced technologies.
Right after the demise of the Jin Dynasty (1234), the four-decade-long Song-
Mongolia war began. The Southern Song Dynasty produced a large number of iron
cannonballs. In the fifth year of Emperor Baoyou’s reign (1257), Zengbo Li said,
“Over 100,000 iron cannons in Jinghuai were used. When I was in Jingzhou, 1000-
2000 were made in a month” (Volume 5 of Ke Zhai Xu Gao Hou Ji (《可斋续稿后
集》)). In 1259–1261, the Jiankang Prefecture built “four 5kg iron cannon shells,
eight 3.5kg iron cannon shells, 100 3kg iron cannon shells, 13104 2.5kg iron cannon
shells and 22044 1.5kg iron cannon shells” (Volume 39 of Jing Ding Jian Kang Zhi
(《景定建康志》)). After the demise of Jin and Song Dynasties, the iron cannons
were inherited by Mongolia (Yuan). The famous painting “Mongolian Invasion” by
Takezaki Suenaga (1293) depicted a battle in Yuan’s invasion of Japan in 1274,
when a round bomb sprayed flames, with shrapnel splashing. In the 17th year of
Emperor Zhiyuan’s reign (1280), a catastrophic explosion accident occurred in a
Yangzhou cannon warehouse due to mismanagement (Gui Xin Za Shi Qian Ji – Pao
Huo (《癸辛杂识前集·炮祸》) by Mi Zhou).
Explosive firearms required high-niter gunpowder, hard shells (killing compo-
nent), and the fuse device. According to records about early fuses, there is one
viewpoint that believes the hybrid chemicals (without niter and sulfur) over the
puncture vine fireballs and cracking fireballs in Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》)
could form a slowly burning chemical layer, which could detonate the fuse. In the
fierce kerosene tanks (Greek flamethrowers) described in Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经
总要》), low-niter gunpowder (fire cannon gunpowder) was used as the firelighter.
Volume 2 of Xu Yi Jian Zhi (《续夷坚志》) by Haowen Yuan recorded that in the last
year of Emperor Shizong of Jin’s reign (1161–1189), a hunter hunted foxes in
Yangqu, Shanxi, “with fire canisters around the waist, he took and lit a canister and
tossed to the tree. The canister exploded and generated a bang, which scared away the
foxes, all of which were netted.” It is generally believed a fuse was used here.
11.2.3 Tubular Firearms
Tubular firearms can be divided into flamethrowers and shooting firearms. The Chen
Gui “muskets” in the twelfth century, the “flying muskets” of Jin in the thirteenth
century, and the “firelocks” of Shouchun Prefecture are widely recognized as the
three earliest forms of tubular firearms. (A colored drawing in Dunhuang depicted a

demon holding a flamethrower, which was regarded as a musket (gunpowder
flamethrower) in the tenth century and was the earliest tubular firearm in China;
some believe a bottle-shape object held by a deity statue in the Dazu rock cave in
Sichuan is a hand blunderbuss in the early twelfth century. Subsequent research
indicates the former claim lacks circumstantial evidence; in the latter case, the statue
actually holds a windbag instead of a hand blunderbuss. See Xu Liu: History of
Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient China (《中国古代火药火器史》), p.26–29).
According to De An Shou Yu Lu (《德安守御录》) by Shu Tang (1193), in the
second year of Emperor Shaoxing’s reign (1132), the magistrate Chen Gui
commanded the defense of De’an (present-day Lu’an, Hubei) and won a victory.
In this battle, “over a score of long bamboo-pole muskets and several needle guns
and scimitars were made with gunpowder. Every such weapon was shared by two
men, who were prepared to use it on the battle shed when approaching the city
through the platform bridge.” According to Volume 151 of San Chao Bei Meng Hui
Bian (《三朝北盟会编》), “[Chen] Gui ordered 60 men carrying muskets to exit
through the (two) [west] gates and burn the platform bridge, while flames were
sprayed from the city for assistance. The platform bridge was burned instanta-
neously.” Such long-pole muskets carried by two men might be over 3 meters
long and were used to burn the wooden platform bridge of the enemy. The “gun-
powder” used should have been combustive low-niter gunpowder. Such bamboo
muskets were equivalent to flamethrowers (flame guns).
Gunpowder flame guns were seen in literature again 100 years later. In the
defense of Bianliang in the first year of Emperor Tianxing’s reign (1232), one
trump of the defending troops was the “flying musket,” which was “fired after
being loaded gunpowder and could burn along a dozen steps, which no one dare
approach” (Jin Shi – Chi Zhan He Xi Zhuan (《金史·赤盏合喜传》). In the following
year (1233), Jin general Guannu Pucha planned to abandon Guide and retreat to
Caizhou, launching a surprise attack on the Mongolian barracks outside of the city
first: “In the fifth day of the fifth month, a sacrificial ritual was performed. Within the
army, muskets and equipment were prepared in secret, and the general led
450 commandos. . .charged into with muskets. Unable to withhold, enemy troops
collapsed.” Muskets and flying muskets were actually the same thing, as described in
Jin Shi – Pu Cha Guan Nu Zhuan (《金史·蒲察官奴传》):
The gun barrel is wrapped with imperial yellow paper and is 2 about chis long, made of
willow charcoal, iron dregs, magnetic powder, sulfur and arsenic, and a string was tied to the
end of the gun. The soldiers carried small iron canisters containing gunpowder, which was lit
when necessary. Flames sprayed out of gun and the barrel was not damaged after the
gunpowder burned out. These firearms were used when Bianjing was under siege, and
were used again today.
A thick paper sleeve 70–80 cm long was fixed to the front end of the gun, which could
be carried by a single man. Historical records did not mention niter, while the gunpow-
der must have contained niter, as flames “could spray out.” “Small canisters contained
gunpowder” and the fuse could be detonated anytime. Arsenic generated poisonous
350 C. Zheng
fumes. Large particles of iron dross and magnetic powder could turn into hard-killing
materials. In general, the flying musket was still a flame-throwing weapon. (Iron dust is
an indispensable ingredient for fires to turn into “fireworks,” and the emergence of
flying muskets seemed to be related to the development of fireworks).
Subsequently, there were also records of the Song Dynasty’s army using muskets.
In the second year of Emperor Deyou’s reign (1276), General Cai Jiang of Song and
Bi Shi of Yuan fought a battle against each other. “Two Song warriors carried
muskets and tried to attack Bi, who brandished his sword in defense and killed
both. Then, he slew another dozen” (Yuan Shi – Shi Bi Zhuan (《元史·史弼传》)).
This historical record can be interpreted as an example where the musket is used as a
cold weapon after the gunpowder in the barrel is used up.
As far as we know, “firelocks” are the earliest tubular shooting firearms seen in
historical records. According to Song Shi – Bing Zhi (《宋史·兵志》),
In the first year of Emperor Kaiyuan’s reign (1259), Chouchun Prefecture. . .firelocks were
made, with huge bamboos as the barrel and bullets inside. When fired, bullets are launched
when the fire burns out and sound like bombshells, which can be heard 150 steps away.
“Firelocks” can be regarded as the prototype of modern guns. These weapons did not
hurt enemies by spraying flames. It is difficult to determine what these “bullets” were
like as they might well be hard particles and put on a different layer from that for the
gunpowder. “The fire burns out” seems to mean the lead wire burns out. The
explosive sound was caused by the sudden expansion after the “bullets” are pushed
to the muzzle by the gunpowder gas. In the early thirteenth century, explosive
firearms were already prevalent, and high-niter gunpowder was sufficient to blow
up the iron shell. Given the low strength of the bamboo barrel, the power of the
gunpowder was restricted. To leverage the advantages of high-niter gunpowder and
increase shooting power, metal tubular firearms came into being. According to
Volume 39 “Weaponry” of Jing Ding Jian Kang Zhi (《景定建康志》), during
1259–1261, the Jiankang Prefecture made 333 “firelock barrels” and repaired 502.
It is difficult to determine the difference between “firelock barrels” and “firelocks.”
The “fire barrels,” a metal tubular shooting firearm in the Yuan Dynasty period,
seemed to have inherited the name of “firelock barrels.” (Shaoyi Zhong: “Study of
Early Tubular Firearms.” Study of History of Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient
China (《中国古代火药火器史研究》), p.116–119)
11.3 Conventional Firearms in Yuan and Ming Dynasties

Periods
11.3.1 Blunderbusses in Yuan Dynasty Period
In the century from the late thirteenth century to the early fifteenth century, or the
early Yuan Dynasty period to the early Ming Dynasty period, the most prominent
development of firearms was the emergence and sophistication of tubular shooting
firearms. According to Yuan Shi – Da Li Ma Shi Li Zhuan (《元史·达礼麻识理传》),

in the 24th year of Emperor Zhizheng’s reign (1364), General Dali Mashili who
stayed in the capital “assembled a militia equipped with blunderbusses.” What did
these blunderbusses look like?
Borrowing the name of firearms in the Ming Dynasty period, currently available
blunderbusses of the Yuan Dynasty period can be divided into bowl blunderbusses
(or small cup blunderbusses) and handheld blunderbusses, both of which were made
of copper. The bowl blunderbuss made in the second year of Emperor Dade’s reign
(1298) found northeast of the relic of Yuan Dynasty’s capital in Xilingol, Inner
Mongolia, is the earliest known relic of an ancient firearm. Made of copper, the
blunderbuss is in copper purple, weighs 6210 g, and has a total length of 34.7 cm.
The blunderbuss consists of four segments, namely, the muzzle, the front chamber,
the cartridge, and the tail pocket. The muzzle extends outward and forms a bowl
shape. The muzzle has an outer diameter of 10.2 cm, an inner diameter of 9.2 cm, a
wall thickness of 0.5 cm, and a chamber depth of 27 cm. The cartridge forms a slight
lump, with a gunpowder hole at the top (vent). The tail pocket is hollow and 6.5 cm
long, with symmetrical punctures on both sides, with a diameter of about 2 cm. The
rim at the tail protrudes a little and has a diameter of 7.5 cm. On the blunderbuss, two
lines of characters are inscribed, interpreted as “80 made at Die’elie in the 2nd year of
Emperor Dade’s reign”. “Die’elie” should be a proper noun, presumed to be a place
or position. The tail is punctured symmetrically, which is presumed for placing a
horizontal axis, which allows the blunderbuss to be fixed in a rack and facilitates
prone aiming, serving a similar function to that of trunnions used subsequently. This
blunderbuss was undoubtedly made by the government during the Yuan Dynasty
period and might be a relic from the Yuan army defending the capital.
Before the bowl blunderbuss made in the second year of Emperor Dade’s reign
was found, the copper bowl blunderbuss made in the third year of Emperor
Zhishun’s reign (1332) preserved at the National Museum had been long regarded
as the earliest firearm. This blunderbuss is 35.3 cm long, with a caliber of 10.5 cm, a
tail diameter of 7.7 cm, and a weight of 6940 g. The muzzle extends outward, and
symmetrical square holes are present on both sides of the tail pocket. (Zhaochun
Wang: History of Military Engineering and Technology in Ancient China (Song,
Yuan, Ming and Qing) (《中国古代军事工程技术史(宋元明清)》), Shanxi Educa-
tion Press (2007), p.84. As for whether the inscription was forged, there are
numerous questionable points. See Jiapei Yang: “Review of Seminar on Blunder-
busses in the Yuan Dynasty Period”. Study of History of Gunpowder and Firearms in
Ancient China (《中国古代火药火器史研究》), p.190–198). The shape is quite
similar to that of the blunderbuss made in the second year of Emperor Dade’s reign.
The copper handheld blunderbuss is a lightweight firearm carried by a single man,
consisting of three segments of the front chamber, the cartridge, and the tail pocket.
The cartridge forms a lump with a hole on it. The tail pocket is hollow, and a wooden
handle can be inserted. In Acheng, Heilongjiang, Guanjing Longchi east of Xi’an
and Tongxian County of Beijing, a copper hand blunderbuss free of inscriptions was
unearthed, respectively, and researchers believe these were made in the Yuan
Dynasty period. The copper hand blunderbuss made in the Xinyou year of Emperor
352 C. Zheng
Zhizheng’s reign (1351) preserved at the Military Museum has suspicious inscrip-
tions. A copper hand blunderbuss found in Yuyao, Zhejiang, with an inscription that
read “made in Bingshen of the 3rd year of Tianyou” can be confirmed to have been
made when Shicheng Zhang crowned himself as king around Jiangsu and Zhejiang,
and Bingshen of the 3rd year of Tianyou is the 16th year of Emperor Zhizheng’s
reign (1356). The blunderbuss has a full length of 32.6 cm, a muzzle inner diameter
of 2.8 cm, a weight of 3665 g, and a front chamber of 16.5 cm. The cartridge forms a
lump and has a perimeter of 18.8 cm. The tail pocket is 16.5 cm long. The outer wall
of the front chamber has an inscription. There is a reinforcing hoop around the
muzzle and tail and a reinforcing hoop in the front and rear of the cartridge. (Wenbao
Lu: “Investigation of Shicheng Zhang’s Copper Blunderbuss Inscribed with
‘Tianyou’ Newly Discovered.” Study of History of Gunpowder and Firearms in
Ancient China (《中国古代火药火器史研究》), p.143–146).
In the Yuan Dynasty period, blunderbusses were mostly called “fire tubes.”
According to Bao Yue Lu (《保越录》) (1359) by Mianzhi Xu, in the second lunar
month of the 19th year of Emperor Zhizheng’s reign (1359), Yuanzhang Zhu’s
general Dahai Hu besieged the city of Shaoxing, which was defended by Shicheng
Zhang’s general Zhen Lv. The battle lasted until the fifth lunar year when the siege
ended in failure. For long-range weapons, both sides used arrows, cannons (cata-
pults), and fire tubes. The defending army defeated the besieging troops with “fire
tubes” multiple times and even killed a general; over the 3 months, the patrolling
warships of the defending side “launched a dozen fire t tubes at a time” and
defeated the enemy. In the fifth lunar year, Dahai Hu launched an all-out attack
on the city. “Bolts fall like rain, and fire tubes, fire arrows, stones and copper pellets
were also launched into the city.” (Mianzhi Xu: Bao Yue Lu (《保越录》),
4a-b.11a.16b.22a, an engraved copy made at the end of the Ming Dynasty period
and preserved in the National Library of China. During the Battle of Shaoxing,
Zhen Lv ordered Zhidao Jiang, Registrar of Changzhou, to “travel to West Zhe-
jiang to supervise over grain transport and prepare firearms and gunpowder in
Hangzhou to ensure supply” (24b of the aforesaid book). Evidently, gunpowder
was an important military supply).
In the 11th lunar month of the 26th year of Emperor Zhizheng’s reign (1366), Da
Xu led troops and encircled Shicheng Zhang’s capital Pingjiang (present-day
Suzhou), setting platforms and overlooking the city. “In each layer, bows and
blunderbusses were set, and Xiangyang cannons were used to shell the city, where
panics spread” (Xiangyang cannons are heavy catapults that were spread from
Central Asia in the late thirteenth century. As the Mongolian army seized the city
of Xiangyang with these cannons, they were called “Western Region Cannons,”
“Hui Cannons,” or “Xiangyang Cannons.”) (Volume 21 of Ming Tai Zu Shi Lu (《明
太祖实录》), 11th lunar month of the Bingwu year). In the sixth lunar month of the
next year, Shicheng Zhang’s brother Shixin Zhang was killed by the “Longjing
cannon.” A contemporary Weizhen Yang (1296–1370) called the “Longjing cannon”
“Copper General” and wrote a poem for it (Volume 2 of Tie Ya Yi Bian (《铁崖逸
编》). The “Copper General” was similar to a copper blunderbuss, which could be
proved with currently available physical items.
11.3.2 Hongwu Blunderbusses
The Yuan Dynasty is probably the earliest ancient kingdom that used tubular metal
firearms in large numbers. However, as the Mongolian army retreated to the prairie,
they soon lost the firearm technology. The chaotic wars at the end of the Yuan
Dynasty period hastened the spread of blunderbusses. As Yuanzhang Zhu triumphed
and founded the Ming Dynasty, firearms entered a new stage of development.
Blunderbusses eventually replaced catapults, and the word “cannon” had a new
meaning.
In the first lunar month of the 13th year of Emperor Hongwu’s reign (1380), an
order was issued: “For every 100 soldiers, ten blunderbusses, twenty swords and
shields, thirty bows and forty spears shall be supplied” (Volume 129 of Ming Tai Zu
Shi Lu (《明太祖实录》)). About one-tenth of the soldiers were equipped with
blunderbusses. At the end of Emperor Hongwu’s reign, there were about 1.2 million
soldiers, and if the prescribed percentage of these men were equipped with blunder-
busses, there would be more than 100,000 blunderbusses.
Over blunderbusses made during Emperor Hongwu’s reign are currently avail-
able. These blunderbusses inherited the characteristics of the hand blunderbusses
and bowl blunderbusses of the Yuan Dynasty period. The earliest physical items with
inscriptions are the seven blunderbuss cannons made during the fifth (1372) and
eighth years of Emperor Hongwu’s reign. Among these are three copper blunder-
busses, which bear the inscription “long blunderbuss,” with a caliber of 20–22 mm, a
full length of 430–448 mm, and a weight of about 1.6 kg. There are also two copper
bowl blunderbusses, which bear the inscription “bowl blunderbuss,” with a caliber
of 134/110 mm, a full length of 317/365 mm, and a weight of 9/15.75 kg. There are
two large copper bowl blunderbusses, which bear the inscription “large cannon,”
with a caliber of 230 mm, a full length of 630 mm, and a weight of 73.5 kg.
Inscriptions during this period include “made by Baoyuan Mint,” the name of the
garrison and the quantity of blunderbusses made. This suggests the Baoyuan Mint
(established in 1361) responsible for producing coins was also responsible for
producing copper blunderbusses, which were supplied to garrisons.
At least 22 hand blunderbusses with inscriptions made during the tenth and 12th
years of Emperor Hongwu’s reign are currently available, made by the garrisons in
Fengyang, Nanchang, Ji’an, Yuanzhou (present-day Yichun, Jiangxi), Hangzhou,
Jiangyin, and Jinling. Their calibers range from 19 to 24 mm, and their full lengths
range from 430 to 450 mm. The weight is around 2 kg, indicating a high level of
standardization. There are four copper bowl blunderbusses made by Fengyang,
Henghai, and Yongning Garrisons (at the intersection of present-day Sichuan and
Guizhou) and Yongping Prefecture from the tenth to the 18th years of Emperor
Hongwu’s reign. (Zhaochun Wang: History of Chinese Science & Technology –
Military Technology (《中国科学技术史·军事技术卷》), p.152–157). None of the
inscriptions are numbered, while the names of the supervising officials, teachers, and
craftsmen are inscribed. We can deduce from this that the power for firearm
production was granted to the local authorities before the tenth year of Emperor
Hongwu’s reign.
354 C. Zheng
In addition to the copper blunderbusses, there are three cast-iron cannons with the
inscription that reads “made by Pingyang Garrison in the 10th year of Emperor
Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty.” These cast-iron cannons are of the same specifica-
tion and similar dimensions. These cast-iron cannons have a caliber of about 21 cm,
a full length of about 100 cm, and a weight of about 445 kg. Two lugs are mounted to
the front barrel, and the cartridge at the tail swells. A big stony pellet remains in the
barrel of one of the iron cannons. These blunderbusses were made in the metallur-
gical center of Pingyang, Shanxi. (Weiwei Zheng: “Hongwu Cannon: Summary of
Cannon Technology in Early Ming Dynasty Period.” Doshisha Global Studies (《同
志社グローバル·スタディーズ》), Issue 2, March 2012. Besides, a pig iron of the
same type is currently preserved in the Yaomiao Temple in Fenyang, Shanxi, with
the inscription “made by. . .Garrison in the tenth year of Emperor Hongwu’s reign in
the Ming Dynasty period,” and the lug is broken. Thanks to Peiyu Chang for the
information).
It seemed retro-rockets propelled by gunpowder gas had been used in the
battlefield in the early Ming Dynasty period. According to Volume 189 of Tai Zu
Shi Lu (《太祖实录》), Mu Ying was dispatched to an expeditionary mission in
Dingbian, Yunnan, in the 21st year of Emperor Hongwu’s reign (1388), “three
rows of blunderbusses and rocket arrows were prepared,” and “blunderbusses and
arrows fired simultaneously.” According to Volume 123 of Da Ming Hui Dian (《大
明会典》) of Emperor Zhengde’s reign, weapons for freight ships were made during
Emperor Hongwu’s reign, with “16 hand blunderbusses” and “20 rocket arrows” for
each ship. Their quantity of “rocket arrows” was very low, and these were suppos-
edly not blunderbusses. These are probably the earliest records of retro-rockets.
11.3.3 Period from Emperor Yongle’s Reign to Emperor Zhengde’s

Reign
Military conflicts had a direct boost to the development of weaponry. The Battle of
Jingnan during Emperor Jianwen’s reign was a civil war where firearms were used.
After Di Zhu seized the crown, he quelled the rebellion in the far south, launched a
crusade against the desert regions in the far north, and sent a fleet to the oceans
several times, in which firearms all played a vital role. (Weiqiang Zhou: “On the
Sources, Types, Tactics and Quantities of Blunderbusses Used by Zheng He’s Fleet.”
Summary of the seventh Seminar on Science History (《第七届科学史研讨会汇
刊》), Science History Committee of Academia Sinica, 2007, p.377–396. It is
deduced that Zheng He’s fleet was equipped with over 5000 firearms (hand blun-
derbusses and bowl blunderbusses)). During Emperor Yongle’s reign, blunderbusses
were technologically improved, well fabricated, and mass-produced, leading to
innovations in military system and tactics, and conventional firearms reached their
heyday. In the century that followed, technological development relatively stag-
nated, until the early sixteenth century, when European firearms spread to southeast-
ern coast of China and changed the situation.
It was reported that over 40 blunderbusses made during Emperors Yongle’s and
Zhengde’s reigns had been preserved. (See Zhaochun Wang: History of Chinese
Science and Technology – Military Technologies (《中国科学技术史·军事技术
卷》), p.160–164. For supplemental materials for archaeological findings, see
Dingyuan Li: “Ming Dynasty Firearms Unearthed in Huailai County Hebei.”
Archaeology (《考古》), Issue 11, 1992; Chicheng County Museum: “Ming Dynasty
Firearms Found in Cellar in Chicheng, Hebei.” Wen Wu Chun Qiu (《文物春秋》),
Issue 4, 1994, data of “Ke” character blunderbusses; Songbai Zhang: “Investigative
Report on Ming Dynasty Relic Site in Baicheng, Ar Horqin Banner.” Collection of
Archaeological Papers on Relics in Inner Mongolia (《内蒙古文物考古文集》),
Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 1994, p.685, data of “Xian” character
blunderbusses). The “Tian character” copper hand blunderbusses are the most
typical, and over 30 such blunderbusses are currently available, including
No. 5238 made in the ninth lunar month of the seventh year of Emperor Yongle’s
reign (1409), No. 65876 made in the ninth lunar month of the 21st year of Emperor
Yongle’s reign (1423), and No. 98629 made in the third lunar month of the first year
of Emperor Zhengtong’s reign (1436). These blunderbusses have a caliber of 13–
17 mm, a full length of 345–360 mm, and a weight of 2.2–2.5 kg. (The Yongle hand
blunderbuss has a caliber 5 mm smaller than that of Hongwu hand blunderbusses and
is 80 mm shorter.). The hand blunderbusses with the “Sheng” character (Zhengtong
version), “Lie” character (Chenghua version), and the “Shen” character (Hongzhi
version) were labeled with new numbers in Emperor Xuande’s reign.
The Ying character (No. 15034), Qi character (No. 12046), Gong character
(No. 18568), and Ke character (No. 13724) copper blunderbusses made in the
ninth lunar month of the 13th year of Emperor Yongle’s reign have a caliber of
52–53 mm, a full length of 436–440 mm, and a weight of about 8 kg. They are
similar to the Tian character hand blunderbuss in shape but have a shorter tail. The
various types of “General Blunderbusses” in the early Ming Dynasty period were
largely similar except a larger size. Bowl blunderbusses are rare. The only known
bowl blunderbuss is copper blunderbuss No. 3840 made in the ninth lunar month of
the seventh year of Emperor Yongle’s reign, which has a full length of 50 cm and a
weight of 25 kg. (Yongnian Cao: “Copper Blunderbuss of the seventh Year of
Emperor Yongle’s Reign Unearthed in Ar Horqin Banner.”. Info on Mongolia
Studies (《蒙古学信息》), 1995, Issue 3. It is presumed the blunderbuss was
discarded by the Ming army in the eighth year of Emperor Yongle’s reign).
During this period, blunderbusses were exclusively produced by authorities under
the central government (the War Bureau/Weapon Bureau), and local production was
prohibited. The blunderbusses were made in a narrow range of years. For example,
over 18,000 (deduced based on the margin in the numbering of currently available
physical items) “Tian” character blunderbusses were made in the seventh year of
Emperor Yongle’s reign and were supposedly in preparation for the crusade against
Outer Mongolia in the eighth year of Emperor Yongle’s reign, led by the emperor
himself. According to Da Ming Hui Dian (《大明会典》) during Emperor Wanli’s
reign, “regulations were promulgated before Emperor Hongzhi’s reign,” when
firearms were made by the Weapon and Saddle and Bridle Bureaus in the third
356 C. Zheng
year of Emperor Hongzhi’s reign, including 3000 bowl copper blunderbusses, 3000
handle copper blunderbusses, 90,000 blunderbuss arrows, 30,000 basswood corks,
and 90,000 sanders corks, which reached the standard of relative peacetime in the
late fifteenth century.
In addition to a high level of standardization and superior quality, the “Tian”
character copper blunderbusses made during Emperor Yongle’s reign boasted major
improvements in shape and design. First, the blunderbuss barrel was changed from a
straight one into a cone, which gradually thickened from the muzzle to the cartridge.
Second, a rectangular cartridge was added around the ignition hole, with a curved
ignition hole cover in the exterior. Gunpowder could be added into the cartridge, and
ignition reliability was greatly improved compared with the fuse; the hole cover
could be flipped for closure in times of rain.
Projectiles fired from hand blunderbusses include pellets and arrows, and big
round pellets were fired from bowl blunderbusses. Preserved blunderbusses include
the copper hand blunderbuss made by the Baoyuan Bureau in the fifth year of
Emperor Hongwu’s reign (unearthed in Chicheng, Hebei) and the “Qi” character
blunderbuss made in the seventh year of Emperor Yongle’s reign (12046), with
fillings remaining in the barrels. The former has two layers, with gunpowder on the
inner layer and iron sand on the outer layer. The latter has three layers, with a cork
between gunpowder and iron sand. (Dong Cheng & Shaoyi Zhong: Atlas of Weapons
in Ancient China (《中国古代兵器图集》), People’s Liberation Army Press, 1990,
p.231). The cork is a wooden plug that helps seal the gunpowder, increases gas
pressure, and adds to the shooting power. Thanks to the cork, a blunderbuss can fire
arrow clusters. In the early Ming Dynasty period, arrows used for blunderbusses
were mass-produced by weapon bureaus in the capital and local areas on a regular
basis until the late period of Emperor Jiajing’s reign (mid-sixteenth century) when
blunderbuss arrows were basically defunct.
The technological improvement of blunderbusses during Emperor Yongle’s reign
seemed to be related to the Kingdom of Annan. In the fifth year of Emperor Yongle’s
reign (1407), the Ming Dynasty conquered Annan and captured the king’s brother
Cheng Li (1374–1446). Li was adept with firearm technology and was appointed as
an official at the Ministry of Engineering in the capital, “specially supervising over
the manufacturing of arrows and gunpowder”; his son Shulin Li (1400–1470)
succeeded his father, and the two had served the Ming Court for six decades (Volume
6 of Ming Xian Zong Shi Lu (《明宪宗实录》)). Some researchers believe blunder-
buss arrows, corks, and ignition covers might have been improvements inspired by
the blunderbusses of Jiaozhi (present-day northern Vietnam). (See Xiumin Zhang:
“Contributions of Jiaozhi People to China in Ming Dynasty Period.” Collection of
Papers on Sino-Vietnam Relations History (《中越关系史论文集》), Liberal Arts
Press, 1992, p.54–61; Bin Li: “Exchange of Firearm Technologies with Annan
During Emperor Yongle’s reign.” Study of Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient
China (《中国古代火药火器史研究》), p.147–158. It is difficult to assert when
corks and blunderbuss arrows were widely used. According to Da Ming Hui Dian
(《大明会典》) during Emperor Zhengde’s reign, it was prescribed during Emperor
Hongwu’s reign that “1000 corks” shall be supplied per ship (Volume 123). So corks
were in use for hand blunderbusses during Emperor Hongwu’s reign. Records of the
Ming army using blunderbuss arrows were obviously later than Emperor Yongle’s
reign. It is believed the early firearms in Korea were spread from China in the
fourteenth century. Yuan Chao Wu Li Xu Lie – Bing Qi Tu Shuo (《园朝五礼序例·兵
器图说》) (1474) contained detailed records about firearms; “blunderbusses” (with
multiple hoops and free of any cartridge) are equipped with blunderbuss arrows. In
the early period of Japanese pirate invasions (1592–1598), blunderbuss arrows
remained the main projectiles from the Korean army’s firearms).
Around the eighth year of Emperor Yongle’s reign, the Firearm Battalion was set
in the capital and must have been equipped with blunderbusses of the latest design.
In the second year of Emperor Jingtai’s reign (1451), the blunderbusses made by the
Nanjing Weapon Bureau were inscribed with the characters “Shen Ji Chong”
(literally, divine blunderbuss), similar to another “Tian” character (23259) blunder-
buss (full length 155 mm and caliber 5 mm). (Arima Seiho: The Origin and
Circulation of Gunpowder, p.134–136). The so-called divine blunderbusses and
divine guns in the early Ming Dynasty period seemed to be mostly improved
blunderbusses based on the Yongle version.
Records about firearm technologies in the early Ming Dynasty period are scarce,
and the book Huo Long Jing (《火龙经》) was used as the primary reference.
Subsequent research indicates the author’s preface of Huo Long Jing (《火龙经》)
claimed to have been written in the tenth year of Emperor Yongle’s reign was
actually by a subsequent author; handwritten copies of such work did not emerge
until the late Ming Dynasty period and were mostly duplicated from military works
after Emperor Jiajing’s reign, containing messy information, and unable to serve as
reliable historical materials. (Shaoyi Zhong: “Regarding Date of ‘Jiaoyu’ Hong Long
Jing.” Study of Natural Science History (《自然科学史研究》), 1999, Issue 2; Bin Li:
“Investigation of Huo Long Jing (《火龙经》).” Historical Relics of China (《中国历
史文物》), Issue 1, 2002).
11.4 Introduction of European Firearms in the Ming and Qing

Dynasties Periods
In the early sixteenth century, Portuguese armed merchant ships arrived in East
Asian sea areas, starting direct, deepgoing exchanges of materials between both ends
of the Eurasian Continent. European firearms technologies spread into East Asia as a
result of war and trade. During Emperors Zhengde’s and Jiajing’s reigns, the Ming
government forged a large number of Frankish breechloaders (breechloading can-
nons) based on the breechloading cannons on Portuguese ships and equipped the
Ming army with these firearms as a standard weapon. In the middle of Emperor
Jiajing’s reign, Ming troops in the southeast coast began to be equipped with fowling
pieces (arquebuses), which also symbolized the first stage of Europeanization of
firearms in China. At the end of Emperor Wanli’s reign, Manchuria rose and fierce
battles broke out in Liaodong. The Ming Dynasty began to introduce and fabricate
European muzzle-loading cannons, namely, the so-called western cannons or red
358 C. Zheng
barbarian cannons, which was deemed to be the commencement of the second stage
of China’s introduction of Western firearms. During the Ming-Qing War, the
conflicting sides made great efforts to fabricate European muzzle-loading cannons,
which stagnated during the late period of Emperor Kangxi’s reign, when the
situation stabilized and war ceased. In one and a half centuries (c.1520–1670),
Frankish breechloaders, fowling pieces, and Western cannons gradually became
the primary types of firearms in China.
11.4.1 Frankish Breechloaders
During Emperor Zhengde’s reign, the breechloading cannons carried by Portuguese

(called Frankish then) spread into China and were called “Frankish breechloaders”
(Frankish breechloaders) by the Ming people. In the early sixteenth century, Chinese
merchants might have access to such firearms in Southeast Asia and brought them
back to China. Around the 12th year of Emperor Zhengde’s reign (1517), feudal lord
Chenhao Zhu conspired to launch a rebellion and recruited craftsmen to make
Frankish breechloaders. In the 14th year of Emperor Zhengde’s reign, hearing of
Chenhao Zhu’s rebellion, a high-ranking official Linjun Putian (1452–1527) ordered
Xi Fan to make Frankish breechloaders and copy the gunpowder formula and sent
these breechloaders to Jiangxi from Fujian to help Shouren Wang quell the rebellion.
(See Weiqiang Zhou: “Frankish Breechloaders and Chenhao’s Rebellion.” Journal
of Soochow History (《东吴历史学报》), Issue 8, Mar.2002. The Frankish breech-
loaders acquired by Jun Lin might have been from Sheng Wei, a militia leader in
Xianyou, Fujian (1459–1517). See Zheng Zhou and Qingsong Xu: “Exploration of
Frankish Breechloaders.” Journal of China History Museum (《中国历史博物馆馆
刊》), 1992, Issue 17).
In the 12th year of Emperor Zhengde’s reign, a Portuguese fleet arrived in
Guangzhou for the first time and had contact with the Ming authority. Yingxiang
Gu (1483–1565), Assistant Judicial Commissioner of Guangdong in charge of
maritime matters, received these “Frankish” people and acquired Frankish
breechloaders.
Breechloaders were brought from their ships. These breechloaders were tubular
and 4–5 chis long. The abdomen was slightly bigger, with an opening one on side for
loading of iron pellets. When the weapon was fired, pellets were launched from the
tube, very quick. For every big blunderbuss, four or five smaller barrels were
prepared for rotation. Four or five big blunderbusses were mounted on both sides
of the ship and fired when necessary so that enemy ships dare not approach, and their
ships managed to dominate the sea. At that time, pirates were rampant and being
hunted by the navy. Tang Lu ordered the acquisition of a breechloader for use. And
three or four iron hoops were used to wrap the breechloader. When asked why, they
said it was intended to prevent cracking of the barrel upon shooting. So they carried
it to the shooting range for a trial and found the pellet could reach 200 steps away and
cause damages in 100 steps but was powerless beyond that range. The gunpowder
was different from that used in China, and Tang Lu copied their formula, which
might have been lost. (Yingxiang Gu: Jing Xu Zhai Xi Yin Lu (《静虚斋惜阴录》)
(Volume 12), 20a-b, the photographed copy of the Ming engraved version of Volume
84 of Si Ku Quan Shu Cun Mu Cong Shu – Zi Bu (《四库全书存目丛书·子部》); Bin
Li: “A Historical Record on Initial Access by Ming Dynasty to Frankish Breech-
loaders.” Wen Xian (《文献》), 1995, Issue 1, p.105–112).
In the 16th year of Emperor Zhengde’s reign, when inspecting maritime affairs,
Hong Wang (1466–1536), Deputy Judicial Commissioner of Guangdong, ordered
Ru He, patrolling inspector of Baisha, to secretly recruit sailors who had worked for
the Portuguese for a long time, such as San Yang or Ming Dai, to forge Frankish
breechloaders and successfully banished Portuguese ships and acquired over 20 big
and small cannons. (Ming Dai or San Yang should be the Chinese Christian Pedro on
Diogo Calvo ship. See Boxer “Investigation of Chinese Sailing in the Late Ming
Dynasty Period and Early Qing Dynasty Period (1500–1750).” Translated by Jieqin
Zhu: Translation Series on Sino-Foreign Relations, Ocean Press, 1984, p.96–97).
Afterwards, Ru He was promoted to be the registrar of Shangyuan County of
Yingtian Prefecture and was ordered to forge the Portuguese “centipede ships” to
mount Frankish breechloaders and enhance river defenses in Nanjing. In the fourth
year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign (1525), four such ships were built and each of them
was equipped with 12 Frankish breechloaders. These ships were called “centipede
ships” due to their narrowness and length and the multiple paddles on both sides, and
their prototype may be the European galley. (Ptak: “Centipede Ships and Portu-
guese.” Culture Magazine (Macau) (《文化杂志(澳门)》), 2003, Issue 49).
In the 12th lunar month of the eighth year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign (1529),
Hong Wang (then as Right Censor-in-Chief) submitted a memorial saying, “Previ-
ously in Guangdong, I witnessed Frankish breechloaders neutralizing enemies from
a distance and repeatedly making unusual contributions to victory. Please manufac-
ture them.” (Ming Shi Zong Shi Lu (《明世宗实录》) (Volume 18), 12th lunar month
of the eighth year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign).
The barrels are made of copper, with the large ones weighing over 500 kg,
medium ones weighing 250 kg, and small ones weighing 75 kg. Each blunderbuss
has a barrel, four short blunderbusses, and big and small measuring tables made of
iron. The pellet is made of iron on the inside and lead on the outside, with larger ones
weighing 4 kg. The gunpowder is made in the same way as in China. The blunder-
buss can reach over 100 zhangs and destroy trees and rocks. (Hong Wang: “My
Humble Opinion on Eliminating Border Dangers.” Xun Huang: Huang Ming Ming
Chen Jing Ji Lu (《皇明名臣经济录》) (Volume 43), 1a-3b. Engraved version in the
30th year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign preserved by the National Library of China. In
the ninth lunar month of the following year, Hong Wang submitted another memo-
rial, asking for the rollout of Frankish breechloaders in northern border towns).
Compared with conventional Chinese firearms, the Frankish breechloaders are
most distinguished by the breech-loading design, which enables quick reloading and
continuous firing. The aiming instruments, trunnions, and racks are equally impor-
tant. As for the breechloaders on Portuguese ships witnessed by Wang, the mother
blunderbusses were made of copper, and the sub-blunderbusses (short blunder-
busses) were made of iron (supposedly wrought iron). The cannonballs made of
360 C. Zheng
iron wrapped with lead and the gunpowder particle production technique were
introduced to China along with the Frankish breechloaders.
Thanks to the promotion efforts of many high-ranking officials, Frankish breech-
loaders became standard firearms of Ming troops in the southeast coastal areas and
northern borders by 1550 and were extensively used for sea battles, city defense, and
fortresses or used along with chariots. (Weiqiang Zhou: “Preliminary Study of
Application of Frankish Breechloaders in Early Ming Dynasty Period (1517–
1543).” Collection of Papers from International Seminars on Global Chinese
Science History (《全球华人科学史国际学术研讨会论文集》), Tamkang Univer-
sity 2001, p.203–232). Chou Hai Tu Bian (《筹海图编》) (1562) left a typical picture
of a Frankish breechloader. During the period from Emperor Longqing’s reign to the
early period of Emperor Wanli’s reign, Lun Tan (1520–1577) became the War
Minister and manufactured “large Frankish breechloaders,” including “5000 in
Jizhen and 4000 in capital barracks.” (Dayou Yu, Zheng Qi Tang Ji – You Ji Tan
Er Hua Wen (《正气堂集·又祭谭二华文》). Proofread version. Fujian People’s
Publishing House, 2007, p.630). During the same period, Jiguang Qi (1528–1588)
manufactured chariot-mounted large Frankish breechloaders in Jizhen, and these
copper mother blunderbusses weighed over 500 kg, named as “Invincible Generals.”
In the early sixteenth century, the Capital Weapon Bureau began mass production
of various types of Frankish breechloaders.
Big, medium, and Small Samples of Frankish Copper Breechloaders
Based on the big sample, 32 were made in the second year of Emperor Jiajing’s
reign and distributed to the borders for trial use. The barrels were made of copper,
stretching two chis, eight cuns, and five fens and weighing over 150 kg. For each
breechloader, four short breechloaders were made and loaded with gunpowder on a
rotary basis for continuous firing.
For the medium samples, changes were made to the handle blunderbusses and
bowl copper blunderbusses in the 22nd year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign, and 150 were
made annually. Annual routine production was stopped; auxiliaries such as cannon-
balls, arrows, baskets, and corks were prepared; and an additional 100 were made.
Based on the small samples, 4000 were made in the seventh year of Emperor
Jiajing’s reign and distributed to the barracks and fortresses preparing for enemy
attacks. Large breechloaders were significantly reduced by one-third. In the eighth
year, another 300 were made. In the 23rd year, 1000 small Frankish breechloaders
for use on the horse were made. In the 43rd year, another 100 were made. (Shixing
Shen et al.: Da Ming Hui Dian (《大明会典》) (Volume 193), engraved version of the
Inner Circuit during Emperor Wanli’s reign, Xu Xiu Si Ku Quan Shu – Shi Bu (《续修
四库全书·史部》) (No.792)).
In the Ming Dynasty period, the central arsenal “stopped annual routine production
of blunderbusses and arrows,” “made changes to handle and bowl copper blunder-
busses,” and began to produce Frankish breechloaders instead. Currently available
Frankish breechloaders of the Ming Dynasty period are mostly lightweight. So far, over
10 mother breechloaders and about 40 sub-breechloaders have been found. In 1984,
three mother Frankish copper breechloaders and 24 sub-breechloaders were unearthed
in Funing, Hebei. The mother breechloaders were assigned the numbers 1148, 3258,
and 4258 of the “Sheng” character, bore the inscription “made in the 24th year of
Emperor Jiajing’s reign” (latter two), and “shipped to the capital in the fourth year of
Emperor Longqing’s reign” (all three). According to measurement, the breechloaders
were of similar sizes, with one of them having a full length of 63 cm, a caliber of 2.2 cm,
and a weight of 4 kg. A rectangular opening was made in the rear (11.8 cm 3.8 cm) for
loading of sub-breechloaders. The sub-breechloaders are 15.5 cm long and have a
caliber of 1.6 cm and a weight of 0.8 kg. (Heshun Di & Chaoyang Shen: “Ming
Dynasty. . .Found in Funing County.” Wen Wu Chun Qiu (《文物春秋》), 1989, Issue
4. “Sheng” character small cannons). These should be small-sample Frankish breech-
loaders used by a single soldier.
In addition to copper cast ones, currently available sub-breechloaders also include
copper ones with an iron core. The Weapon Bureau made four “Frankish medium
sample copper sub-breechloaders” with the “Sheng” character, which have a length
of about 30 cm, a caliber of about 2.7 cm, and a weight of 4.25–5 kg. The years of
production range from the 12th year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign (1533), when
“Sheng” character No. 2451 was made, to the 20th year of Emperor Jiajing’s
reign, when Sheng” character No. 6443 was made. According to this, we can deduce
the annual production was around 500 in 1533–1544. The medium-sample “Sheng”
character Frankish copper sub-breechloaders made by the Weapon Bureau in the
second year of Emperor Wanli’s reign (1574) were numbered to 17,114. (Zhochun
Wang: History of Military Engineering and Technology in Ancient China (Song,
Yuan, Ming and Qing) (《中国古代军事工程技术史(宋元明清)》), p.284).
A large number of Frankish breechloaders were made by private makers during
the Ming Dynasty period. In the 1640s, Frankish breechloaders were already com-
mon firearms used by armed merchant ships and pirates in the southeastern coast.
According to Guangdong Annals (《广东通志》) (1561) during Emperor Jiajing’s
reign, “as for the breechloaders made by pirates, larger ones are 9 chis long, and the
rest has a length ranging from 3 to 5 chis, with an iron tube inside, which is about 4-5
cuns wide and 1 fen thick. There is an iron core and two or three layers of rolling iron
lobes, which are round, straight and smooth and can eject in an unhindered way.”
(Zuo Huang: Guangdong Annals – Volume 32 – Weaponry (《广东通志·卷三二·军
器》), 18b, copy of the Ming engraved version preserved by Sun Yat-sen Library and
photographed by Guangdong Local Annals Office. 1997). The “iron cores” are
sub-breechloaders. The longest of the mother breechloaders is 9 chis long
(288 cm), with an outer diameter of 4–5 cuns (13–16 cm), similar to the
No. 1 Frankish breechloader (8–9 chis long and 525 kg) specified in Jiguang Qi’s
Ji Xiao Xin Shu (《纪效新书》) (1584). (Jiguang Qi: New Book of Military Experi-
ence (14-Volume Version) (Volume 12) (《纪效新书(十四卷本)》(卷十二)), proof-
read version, Zhonghua Book Company, 2001, p.271–272 and p.277–278).
11.4.2 Fowling Pieces
Fowling pieces, also known as bird muzzle blunderbusses in the Ming and Qing
Dynasties periods, were mostly front-loading smoothbore arquebuses, which were
362 C. Zheng
made with wrought iron reels, and the inner reels were smooth and slim. Gunpowder
and lead pellets were loaded from the muzzle; the shooter holds the wooden butt and
stock with each hand, aims at the target with the sight and bead sight, and squeezes
the trigger, and the slowly burning linstock drops and passes through the touchhole
to ignite the gunpowder. Fowling pieces have a higher range and level of accuracy
than those of conventional blunderbusses.
Similar to Frankish breechloaders, fowling pieces were spread by Portuguese
who traveled eastward. According to Nan Pu Wen Ji – Tie Pao Ji (《南浦文集·铁炮
记》), in the 12th year of the Japanese Emperor Go-Nara’s reign (1544), a Portuguese
merchant ship reached Tanegashima carrying arquebuses. Witnessing the power, the
locals asked for the technique and purchased two. In the next year, Kunyu Koji
successfully reproduced these arquebuses, which were referred to as “Tanegashima
blunderbusses” by subsequent generations and started the era of firearms in Japan.
The famous sea merchant/pirate ringleader Zhi Wang (?–1560), who served as an
intermediary between the two sides, arrived in Japan along with the ship. Zhi Wang
seemed to have been involved in the business of fowling piece forgery. (List of
materials and prices for fowling pieces determined by Zhi Wang; the cost of each is
three liangs, eight qians, and three fens. See Shunzhi Tang: Wu Bian – Qian Ji (《武
编·前集》) (Volume 5), 11a-12a).
In the 1540s, smuggling was rampant in the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang.
In 1547–1549, Ming general Tang Lu under Zhejiang governor Wan Zhu fought
armed maritime merchants (Chinese, Portuguese, and Japanese) and captured many
European firearms, becoming a key personage in the introduction and promotion of
fowling pieces in China. Ruoceng Zheng said in Chou Hai Tu Bian (《筹海图编》)
(1562),
Fowling pieces have been long existent since their spread into China from the
West. However, their manufacturers fail to fully master the know-how. In the 27th
year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign, Governor Wan Zhu sent the commander Tang Lu
who seized Shuangyu and captured barbarians good at making fowling pieces. He
ordered volunteer Xian Ma to make the weapons and Kui Li to make gunpowder,
which were better than those made by the western barbarians. (Ruoceng Zheng:
Chou Hai Tu Bian (《筹海图编》) (Volume 13). Collection of Chinese Military
Publications (《中国兵书集成》) (No.16), People’s Liberation Army Press, p.1272).
The Shuangyu Port (present-day Liuheng Island of the Zhoushan Archipelago)
was a famous smuggling hub off the coast of Ningbo in the 1540s, and Chinese,
Japanese, and Portuguese merchants flocked to this hub for trading. When attacking
Shuangyu in the 27th year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign (1548), the Ming army already
used few fowling pieces. (Gakusho Nakajima: “Smuggling Trade in Shangyu and
European Firearms in 1540s.” Wanping Guo & Jie Zhang: Cultural Exchanges
Between Putuo Zhoushan and East Asian Sea Areas (《舟山普陀与东亚海域文化
交流》), Zhejiang University Press, 2009, p.34–43). In this battle, the Ming army
“acquired barbarians good at making fowling pieces and ordered volunteer Xian ma
to make the weapons and Kui Li to make gunpowder, thereby mastering the
technique.” With the manufacturing technique mastered, fowling pieces began to
be rolled out among the Ming troops in southeastern coastal areas. (Volume 5 of
Shunzhi Tang’s Wu Bian (《武编》) (10a–11a) recorded “fowling piece craftsman

Shisi Ma submitted a list of materials and prices for the manufacturing of fowling
pieces,” and “10 kg of iron is used for each fowling piece at a cost of two qians of
silver.” Zhaochun Wang pointed out that Shisi Ma and Xian Ma were very likely to
be the same person. See Zhaochun Wang: History of Military Engineering and
Technology in Ancient China (Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing) (《中国古代军事工程
技术史(宋元明清)》), p.291–292). In the eighth lunar month of the 35th year of
Emperor Jiajing’s reign, Xiang Lu, the second son of Tang Lu, captured Shingoro
and sent him to the capital. Then Xiang Lu stayed in the “Divine Cannon Battalion”
to teach the use of fowling pieces and was promoted to be the commander of the
garrison of Yizhen in the 36th year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign for his role in teaching
the use of fowling pieces. (Guozhong Xu & Zhishu Ye: (Wanli) Sub-prefecture and
Prefecture Annals (《(万历)续处州府志》) (Volume 8), 3a, completed in the 33rd
year of Emperor Wanli’s reign, with a copy preserved in the National Library of
China). In the 37th year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign, the Weapon Bureau of the capital
manufactured 10,000 fowling pieces. (申Shixing Shen et al.: Da Ming Hui Dian
(《大明会典》) (Volume 193), 3b, Xu Xiu Si Ku Quan Shu – Shi Bu (《续修四库全
书·史部》) (No.792), a photographed copy of the engraved version by the Inner
Circuit during Emperor Wanli’s reign). Based on samples and techniques used, we
deduce the manufacturing technique they used was taught by Xiang Lu, with its
origin traced back to the Battle of Shuangyu 10 years earlier.
In the 1550–1570s, the southeastern coast had undergone a long period of
turbulence as a result of constant rampaging and pillaging by Japanese invaders
and pirates, and fowling pieces became common gear of Ming troops along the
coasts of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong and spread to the civil society. During
Emperor Longqing’s reign, Jiguang Qi was promoted to be the commander-in-chief
of Jizhen (1570), and a large number of southern troops were relocated to defend
northern borders, carrying fowling pieces alongside. However, the local troops in
northern border towns seldom used fowling pieces even in the early seventeenth
century, and there are no records about regular production by the Weapon Bureau
and War Bureau in the capital.
In the 1590s, Japanese fowling pieces caused heavy casualties of the Ming troops
helping defend Korea. Secretary Shizhen Zhao (1553–?) paid attention to firearm
technologies, “providing western fowling pieces to equip the General Yin Chen’s
guerilla and providing Ottoman fowling pieces to Mdo Smad, commander of
imperial guards.” (Shizhen Zhao: Shen Qi Pu – Gong Jin Shen Qi Shu (《神器
谱·恭进神器疏》), a photographed copy of the engraved version made in the 26th
year of Emperor Wanli’s reign). In the fifth lunar month of the 26th year of Emperor
Wanli’s reign (1598), the drawings and samples of Ottoman fowling pieces and
Western fowling pieces were provided for mass production. Ottoman fowling pieces
are Turkish arquebuses, and Western fowling pieces are European arquebuses.
Shizhen Zhao’s plan to roll out the new-style firearms failed for various reasons,
while his famous work Shen Qi Pu (《神器谱》) became a precious record of the
arquebus technology around 1600. During this period, the Ming people developed
multiple multi-tube arquebuses and blunderbuss-style arquebuses (see Shen Qi Pu
364 C. Zheng
(《神器谱》) and Li Qi Jie (《利器解》), which demonstrated intelligent designs, but

few were made and their influence was limited.
At the end of Emperor Wanli’s reign, as the crisis worsened in Liaodong, more
fowling pieces were put into use in the northern battlefield. (n 1978, a number of
Ming firearms were unearthed south of the city of Liaoyang, including three fowling
piece barrels. One of them has a caliber of 1.4 mm, a length of 870 mm, and a caliber
multiple of 62. The barrel has a bead sight in the front and a sight in the rear, while
the wooden handle was lost. See Hao Yang: “Ming Dynasty Frankish Copper
Blunderbuss Found in Liaoyang.” Relic Material Series (《文物资料丛刊》) (Part
7), Cultural Relics Press, 1983, p.173–174). For example, in the 48th year of
Emperor Wanli’s reign (1620), Guangqi Xu trained troops in Tongzhou and
requested the Ministry of Engineering to redesign and distribute 2000 Ottoman
fowling pieces. Man Zhou Shi Lu (《满洲实录》) contained multiple illustrations
about the war in Liaodong in the 1620s. According to these illustrations, the Ming
army’s fowling pieces were mounted on a fork-shape holder, which design was
inherited by the Qing army. From the late seventeenth century to the mid-eighteenth
century, in the long-drawn-out war between the Qing Dynasty and Dzungar Khanate,
the “Zambalat” firearm (arquebus) was spread to the Qing Dynasty and produced in
large numbers and became common gear of the Eight Banners army during Emperor
Qianlong’s reign. (Jian Zhang: “Firearms and Formation of Inland Asian Borders in
Qing Dynasty Period,” a doctorate dissertation of Nankai University, 2012, p.82–
95). Even in the mid-nineteenth century, arquebuses remained the mainstream light
firearms of the Qing army.
11.4.3 Western Cannons
European front-mounted smoothbore cannons were commonly referred to as West-

ern cannons and “red barbarian” cannons during the Ming and Qing Dynasties
periods. In the late Ming Dynasty period, “red barbarians” referred to Dutchmen
and Britons, while Portuguese living in Macau called themselves Westerners. This
reflected the early origin of European front-mounted cannons. The spread of Western
cannons into China had significant influence on the situation in East Asia in the
seventeenth century.
In the mid-sixteenth century, the Ming people should have had access to a small
number of European front-mounted cannons during conflicts with the Portuguese in
the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang. The copper cannons in the illustrations in
Chou Hai Tu Bian (《筹海图编》) (1562) had obvious exotic characteristics and
might be based on a front-mounted cannon in a Portuguese ship as the prototype.
As the Portuguese took up residence in Macau (1557), the Spaniards established the
city of Manila (1571), and the Ming Dynasty ended the sea ban (1567) and opened
the Yuegang Port in Zhangzhou for foreign trade, tens of thousands of Fujian and
Guangdong merchants traveled to and from Macao and Manila, and many of them
must have witnessed local European cannons. Chinese craftsmen who served West-
erners’ cannon workshops also had access to the Western cannon manufacturing
technology. In the middle of Emperor Wanli’s reign, Christian missionaries in China

adopted the approach of spreading the gospel by disseminating knowledge and made
friends with the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty. As a result, intellectuals
who were interested in Western culture and believed in Catholicism emerged. Both
the intellectuals and craftsmen were ready for introducing the European cannon
technology.
In the 46th year of Emperor Wanli’s reign (1618), Nurhachi launched an attack on
Ming, and the Ming army in Liaodong suffered successive defeats. Few intellectuals
who had studied Western science expected to turn the tide with European cannons. In
the first year of Emperor Tianqi’s reign, Zhizao Li, Deputy Head of the Court of
Imperial Entertainments and a Catholic, claimed “western cannons are indispensable
for victories” and plainly described the power of Western cannons:
Their larger cannons have a length of one zhang, a circumference of 3 chis, and a
caliber of 3 cuns, containing several shengs of gunpowder, which is mixed with iron
and lead particles, and equipped with fine iron cannonballs, which have a diameter of
3 cuns and weigh 1.5–2 kg. The cannonball is extremely delicate, round, and
connected with repeatedly smelted steel bars, with a length of over 1 chi. When
fired, cannonballs fly and the iron bar sweeps forward to destroy everything in its
way, fracturing huge trees and penetrating solid city walls in 10–15 km. Other types
of cannonballs made of lead and iron can reach 25–30 km. The cannons are made of
copper or iron and smelted properly, with each cannon weighing 1500–2500 kg. The
cannons are placed on carts with trays, which are mounted with wheels; the range
covers near or far targets, with a specified range inscribed. The elevation and
movement are also subject to certain specifications. The artilleryman is knowledge-
able and can calculate, masters various other skills, and receives hefty salaries. Such
firearms are soldiers who do not require salaries or horses that do not require feeding
and are truly invincible weapons in the whole world. (Chongmin Wang: Xu
Guangqi’s Collection (《徐光启集》), p.179–181. Front-mounted smoothbore can-
nons in the seventeenth century had a range of less than 2.5–3 km. Records on the
range of cannons in the literature of the Ming and Qing Dynasties periods are often
exaggerative).
Western cannons have a thick barrel wall, a barrel that gradually thickens from the
front to the rear, and a large-caliber multiple (the distance from the touchhole to the
muzzle divided by the caliber), and the cannons are mostly equipped with bead
sights and sights for aiming; a lug is mounted on both sides to facilitate adjustment of
the shooting angle. It is a systematic project to fully exploit the power of European
cannons, including structural design (design of the proportions of all parts based on
the caliber), metallurgical casting, supporting equipment (gun carriers, cannonballs,
and alignment measurement tools), and operation training, among other factors. In
the 47th year of Emperor Wanli’s reign, the effort of Ming officials to forge Luzon
copper cannons was unsuccessful. (In the 47th year of Emperor Wanli’s reign,
Assistant Commissioner of Military Affairs Kezan Huang “recruited 14 people
good at making Luzon copper cannons” to Beijing from his hometown Quanzhou,
and in the next year, they finished building 28 Luzon copper cannons, with seven of
them shipped to Liaodong. These craftsmen should have had access to the
366 C. Zheng
Spaniards’ cannon casting technique in Manila. However, as they failed to grasp the
essential technique, the cannons they made only resembled the Spanish ones in
shape, while it had defects in casting quality and cannon body design and did not
play a role in the Battle of Liaoshen. See Yinong Huang: “Defeat in the Battle of
Saerhu at End of Ming Dynasty Period and Introduction of Western Cannons,”
Collection of Papers by History and Language Institute of Academia Sinica (《中
央研究院历史语言研究所集刊》), No.79, Part 3, 2008).
Catholic officials led by Guangqi Xu played a vital role in the introduction of
Western cannons. In the 48th year of Emperor Wanli’s reign (1620), Guangqi Xu
trained troops in Tongzhou and sent a letter to Zhizao Li and Tingjun Yang to
purchase Western cannons. In October, Tao Zhang and Xueshi Sun (Li’s and Xu’s
disciples, respectively) were sent to Macao and acquired four big iron cannons with
donations from Portuguese merchants. In the first year of Emperor Tianqi’s reign
(1621), the first batch of “Western cannons” arrived in Beijing. During Emperor
Tianqi’s reign, the top brass of the Ming Dynasty was very active in introducing
Western cannon, and 42 iron and copper cannons from three European ship wrecks
from costal Guangdong (belonging to Britain and Netherlands, respectively) were
shipped to Beijing. About half of these cannons were from the merchant ship
Unicorn of Britain East India Company (which sunk in a hurricane in the sea near
Yangjiang County in 1620). (Four remain in Beijing today, bearing the shield
emblem of the British East India Company and the inscription of “twenty-two red
barbarian iron cannons made by Viceroy of Liangguang in the second year of
Emperor Tianqi’s reign.” The full length is 300–308 cmn, and the caliber is 12–
12.5 cm. According to research, these should be demiculverins firing 12-pound iron
balls. See Yinong Huang: “European Ship Wrecks and Western Cannons Introduced
to China in Late Ming Dynasty Period.” Collection of Papers by History and
Language Institute of Academia Sinica (《中央研究院历史语言研究所集刊》),
No.75, Part 3, 2004). In the fourth lunar month of the third year of Emperor Tianqi’s
reign, Tao Zhang led several Portuguese soldiers to ship the cannons to Beijing. In
the eighth lunar month, a cannon exploded upon trial. Before long, the Portuguese
were returned to Macao, and only a small number of Ming troops received short-
term training in the operation of Western cannons.
Difficult to transport and of low mobility, heavy cannons were not suitable for field
battles. However, they proved to be remarkable in city defenses and sieges. In the first
lunar month of the sixth year of Emperor Tianqi’s reign, Nurhachi’s army besieged
Ningyuan, and the Ming army achieved a major victory with cannons. In this battle,
11 Western cannons were set on the city wall of Ningyuan, including 10 “red barbarian
cannons” retrieved from European ship wrecks and one “Western cannon” initially
transferred from Macao. (The 10 red barbarian cannons might have been from a Dutch
ship wreck off the coast of Dianbai County. See Kaijian Tang & Liduo Wei: Bao Xiao
Shi Mo Shu Jian Zheng (《h报效始末疏i笺证》), Guangdong People’s Press, 2004,
p.161–164). In the following year, Huang Taiji’s army attacked Ningyuan and Jinzhou,
and the Ming army won again with the heavy cannon tactic. In the third year of Emperor
Chongzhen’s reign, the Ming army used Western cannons to besiege the city of
Luanzhou occupied by the later Jin Dynasty and recovered the city.
In the seventh lunar month of the first year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign (1628),
the Ming court acquired cannon and blunderbuss makers from Macao again. In the
first lunar month of the third year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign, Portuguese
military officer Consales Texeira led 31 blunderbuss makers, craftsmen, and com-
panions reach Beijing from Macao, carrying along seven big iron cannons, three big
copper cannons, and 30 eagle muzzle blunderbusses. Yuanhua Sun, governor of
Denglai (1583–1632, a disciple of Guangqi Xu and Christian), worked with another
Christian Wei Wang (deputy head of the Military Supervisory Commission of
Liaohai) and Tao Zhang (former Assistant Deputy Commander-in-Chief of
Dongjiang) to train troops and make blunderbusses with the help of Portuguese
military personnel in an effort to create an elite firearm corps. However, in the first
lunar month of the fifth year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign, rebels led by Youde
Kong seized Dengzhou. In the seventh lunar month of the same year, Yunhua Sun
and Tao Zhang were publicly executed in the capital city, Wei Wang was exiled, and
pro-Catholic elements withdrew from the military. In the following year, Youde
Kong and Zhongming Geng along with their troops surrendered to Qing, and this
elite corps equipped with Western cannons became Manchuria’s sharp weapon.
(Yinong Huang: “Catholic Yunhua Sun and Western Cannons Introduced to China
at End of Ming Dynasty Period.” Collection of Papers by History and Language
Institute of Academia Sinica, No.67, Part 4, 1996).
In the fifth year of Emperor Tiancong’s reign (1631), Huang Taiji used to Han
craftsmen to make three “red barbarian” iron cannons, which were named as
“Tianyou Generals,” and another four were made in the next year; in the eighth
year of Emperor Chongde’s reign (1643), 35 “Shenwei General” (iron-core copper
cannons) were built in Jinzhou. These cannons, along with the dozen of cannons
captured from the Ming army in battles and the 12 cannons brought along by Youde
Kong who had surrendered, allowed the Qing army to possess nearly 100 cannons
before occupying Beijing (1644). In the Daling River Battle in the fifth year of
Emperor Tiancong’s reign, Huang Taiji used a pure ethnic Han army, which shelled
Zizhangtai with six “red barbarian” cannons and 54 “general” cannons day and night
and seized it. Thence, the Qing army developed a new tactic where Han artillery
forces coordinated with Manchurian and Mongolian infantries and cavalries. In the
sieges outside of the Shanhaiguan Pass, the Ming army gradually lost firearm
superiority. The tactic of concentrating heavy cannons to seize well-defended cities
was used once and again in the war for unifying the whole country after the Qing
army entered the pass.
On the other side of the Ming Empire, a Dutch fleet turned to occupy Penghu after
failing to capture Macao in the second year of Emperor Tianqi’s reign (1622) and
demanded commencement of trade with Ming. An armed conflict between the two
sides ensued soon. The heavy ship-mounted cannons of the Dutchmen demonstrated
such power that they were called “red barbarian cannons” by the contemporaries.
Fujian and Guangdong boasted sophisticated smelting technology and easy access to
samples of Western cannons. In the early period of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign, the
governors of Fujian and Guangdong began to mass-produce Western cannons and
shipped several hundred cannons to the northern battlefield. For the great number of
368 C. Zheng
sea merchants and pirate groups, European cannons were an indispensable weapon.
Zhilong Zheng (1595–1661), a former pirate offered amnesty and becoming a Ming
general, neutralized competitors one by one by using solid ships and powerful
cannons and could even confront Dutch fleets; also, thanks to a large number of
high-quality ships and Western cannons, Chengong Zheng (1624–1662) managed to
banish Dutch forces from Taiwan and confront the Qing court for decades. (Yinong
Huang: “Distribution of Red Barbarian Cannons in Southeastern Coasts in the Ming
and Qing Dynasties Periods and Their Influence,” Collection of Papers by History
and Language Institute of Academia Sinica (《中央研究院历史语言研究所集刊》),
No.81, Part 4, 2010).
During Emperors Tianqi’s and Chongzhen’s reigns, a number of translated works
on Western cannon studies emerged, including Zhu Rong Zuo Li (《祝融佐理》) by
Liangtao He (completed during Emperor Tianqi’s reign), Xi Yang Huo Gong Tu Shuo
(《西洋火攻图说》) by Tao Zhang and Xueshi Sun (lost), Xi Fa Shen Ji (《西法神
机》) by Yuanhua Sun, Bing Lu – Xi Yang Huo Gong Shen Qi Shuo (《兵录·西洋火攻
神器说》) compiled by Rubin He (1628), and Huo Gong Qie Yao Xu (《火攻挈要》)
dictated by Johann Adam Schall von Bell and recorded by Xu Jiao (1643). In the
early Qing Dynasty period, there were Huo Fa (《火法》) by Jan Mikołaj Smogulecki
(included in Li Xue Hui Tong – Zhi Yong Bu (《历学会通·致用部》) by Fengzuo Xue)
and Shen Wei Tu Shuo (《神威图说》) by Ferdinand Verbiest (1682, lost). These
works were authored by Christian missionaries in cooperation with Chinese trans-
lators and referred to European works on cannon studies. Take Zhu Rong Zuo Li (《祝
融佐理》) for example: The author Liangtao He had ghostwritten for Westerners in
Macao. A handwritten copy of this book created during Emperor Daoguang’s reign
is now available, containing about 16,000 characters. This book first introduced the
techniques for casting copper and iron cannons and then explained the metrics and
parameters of a dozen types of cannons, such as battle cannons, besieging cannons,
and defending cannons (based on the caliber), and the structure of supporting
chariots, design of cannonballs, gunpowder formula, auxiliary equipment (wool
brooms used to clean the cannons), and alignment tools (aligners and rulers). In
the end, the book listed the gunpowder proportions and horizontal/elevated ranges of
all types of cannons. Available information was derived from Collado’s Practical
Guide to Cannons (《实用炮学手册》) (1586) and Prado’s Cannon Guide (《炮学指
南》) (1603).
The all kinds of knowledge needed for the design, manufacturing, and operation
of European cannons couldn’t have been systematically introduced through text-
books. It was not particularly difficult to imitate the appearance, while design of
cannons based on “module concepts”; the various details of the production tech-
nique; the use of cannon compasses, aligners, and rulers to make European artillery
instruments based on mathematical principles; and the skills for cannon loading had
to rely on special instructions. In rare circumstances, such knowledge could be
effectively instilled (e.g., when Portuguese cannon makers assisted Yuanhua Sun
in training troops in Dengzhou and Ferdinand Verbiest built cannons for the Qing
court during Emperor Kangxi’s reign). (In 1675–1689, the central government of
Qing Dynasty built 693 cannons in Beijing, and Ferdinand Verbiest was involved in
the manufacturing of 518 of them, which accounted for over 70% of total. See
Shanqi Jiangchang: “Technology Used by Ferdinand Verbiest to Built Cannons in
Early Qing Dynasty Period and Its Appraisal.” Sinology Studies (《汉学研究》)
(Series 11), Xueyuan Press, 2008, p.309–325).
The prevalence of European cannons in the late Ming Dynasty period benefited
from the close contact with European civilization as well as sophisticated local
smelting techniques. As for casting techniques, although translated works introduced
the European method for casting copper cannons (overall casting technique),
extremely few put it into practice. Seams can be spotted in most Ming and Qing
cannons still available, suggesting they were made with the conventional clay mold
method. On some cannons, European emblems and inscribed Chinese characters
coexist, suggesting they were duplicated based on the original samples of Western
cannons. At that time, Chinese metallurgy was no inferior to that of Europe, and
China boasted a sophisticated pig iron casting technique, which allowed the mass
production of cast-iron cannons, which were far cheaper to make than copper
cannons. The quality of the reproduced cannons depended on the experience and
skills of the craftsmen.
In addition to common cast copper and cast-iron cannons, composite metal
cannons emerged during the Ming-Qing War. These were mostly iron-core copper
cannons and double-layer iron cannons. The earliest iron-core copper cannon cur-
rently available is the “No. 1 iron-core falcon cannon wrapped with copper” made by
the War Bureau in the capital city in the first year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign
(1628). This cannon has a caliber of 7.8 cm, a full length of 170 cm, a weight of
420 kg, and a caliber multiple of 18. The cannon barrel thickens from the front to the
rear and has lugs, which are a standard Western cannon style. The bore was made of
iron, which might be based on the iron-core copper body design of Frankish
sub-breechloaders during Emperor Jiajing’s reign. In the late period of Emperor
Tianqi’s reign and early period of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign, many such cannons
were transported to the Liaodong battlefield. In the eighth year of Emperor
Chongde’s reign, Qing people made iron-core copper body cannons, which should
have been an imitation of captured cannons. “The iron-core copper-body design
features a light weight, good resilience and high safety, and is cheaper and more
durable than pure copper cannons, while having better heat dissipation than pure iron
cannons.” As for the Western-style double-layer iron cannons, “a wrought iron cone
is used for the barrel, and pig iron is added to ensure the barrel does not explode”
(Zhu Rong Zuo Li (《祝融佐理》)), also featuring inner softness and outer hardness,
cost-effectiveness, and durability. From the fifth to the ninth lunar months of the
tenth year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign, at least 54 “Western cannons” were
produced in Miyun, and all of the five currently available cannons are double-
layer iron cannons.
The strength of Qing’s artillery force reached a culmination in the war with
Zhungar at the end of the seventeenth century after the Ming-Qing War and the
Rebellion of Three Dukes. As large-scale firearm wars ended and long-term peace
ensued, cannon technologies declined. During the First Opium War, Qing’s ability to
manufacture and use cannons was no superior to that during Emperor Kangxi’s
370 C. Zheng
reign, if not inferior to it. The inventory of the cannon workshops of the Eight
Banners in the capital city was mostly cannons placed before Emperor Yongzheng’s
reign, and artillery operating techniques inherited from previous generations were
still in use. Local military preparedness was low, and the local authorities and troops
were lacking in cannon manufacturing and operation techniques. The only cannon-
making guide available to Zexu Lin remained Huo Gong Qie Yao (《火攻挈要》)
completed two hundred years ago. As a result, the Qing army suffered successive
defeats due to poor cannon performance. The Sino-British War once stimulated the
development of native firearm technologies, and Zhenling Gong, Gongchen Ding,
Mian Huang, Shoucun Ding, et al. proposed some improvements, while these
technological improvements at the craftsmanship level had inevitable limitations.
In the late nineteenth century, after the Taiping Rebellion and the Second Opium
War, and with the Westernization Movement, China’s firearm technology was
completely westernized and a large number of Western military and technological
manuals were compiled and published. The Qing government spent tremendously on
purchasing Western firearms and then introduced the production technology. China’s
modern military industry came into being in hardships. The old-style smoothbore
guns and cannons of the seventeenth century were phased out.
11.5 Development of Military Firearms
The development of ancient gunpowder techniques had undergone three stages:

production and extraction of niter and sulfur, ingredient proportions, and mixture
method (whether particles were made). (As charcoal is easy to acquire due to various
types of plants and the manufacturing technique is relatively simple, we will not
elaborate on it here).
Explosive firearms since the Song and Jin Dynasties period and tubular metal
shooting firearms since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties periods inevitably require
high-niter gunpowder. (In literature before the sixteenth century, reliably dated and
detailed gunpowder formulae such as the one in Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》)
(1047) are rare. For few currently available samples of ancient gunpowder, only one
detection report is available so far. Huashan Chao: Yuan Dynasty Copper Blunder-
busses and Black Gunpowder Unearthed in Xi’an[J. Archaeology and Relics (《考古
与文物》), 1981(3). The blunderbuss does not have inscriptions and is assumed to
have been made during the Yuan Dynasty period. The barrel and cartridge contain
10–15 g of residual substances, about 18% of which is charcoal (coal content 75%),
and there is not much sulfur (about 2%) and niter (<1%), which should have been
caused by the environmental effect and deterioration and attrition. The article
claimed the residues “are caked and solid, and the powder contains large particles.”
We deduce the gunpowder was particles. Evidence for this claim seems insufficient).
In the seventh year of Emperor Hongwu’s reign (1374), Yuanzhang Zhu permitted
the provision of gunpowder to Korea, “Get half a million jins of niter and 100,000
jins of sulfur, mix them with other chemicals and send there,” History of Korea –
King Gongmin’s Genealogy (《高丽史·恭愍王世家》). The niter-to-sulfur ratio was
5:1. Jun Qiu (1420–1495) said, “Today’s gunpowder is made of niter, sulfur and
charcoal” (Volume 88 of Da Xue Yan Yi Bu (《大学衍义补》). It is reasonable to
assume ingredients for military gunpowder (firing powder) in the late Yuan Dynasty
period and early Ming Dynasty period must have been primarily niter, sulfur, and
charcoal, while other ingredients were few.
The commonly used proportion of niter, sulfur, and charcoal (75%: 10%: 15%) in
black gunpowder in modern times is not suitable for determining the quality of early
gunpowder. As the purity of niter and sulfur is unclear, the proportions recorded in
ancient literature do not necessarily reflect the actual circumstances. In early times,
European gunners adjusted the proportions by lowering the proportion of niter to
avoid explosion of barrel. Compared with seemingly accurate proportion figures, it is
more important to examine the methods for niter/sulfur production and extraction
and gunpowder mixing.
11.5.1 Niter
Niter (potassium nitrate, KNO3), a.k.a. saltpeter, is an important ingredient of

gunpowder. In nature, niter often comes from chemical combination of nitric acid,
which is the product of decomposition and oxidation of nitrogen-containing organics
under the effect of bacteria, with potassium in the soil. Niter soil is widely distributed
in northern China. In cold weather, potassium nitrate crystals separate out from the
soil, cover the floor and corners, and form so-called ground frost, which becomes
niter soil if swept and collected. The content of potassium nitrate varies. According
to the investigation of niter and soil salt in Henan (1932), niter samples in several
niter-producing areas such as Hebei, Henan, Shandong, and Shaanxi mostly contain
less than 2% of potassium nitrate. (Kuanghua Zhao & Jiahua Zhou: History of
Chinese Science & Technology – Chemistry (《中国科学技术史·化学卷》), p.494).
After impurities (mud, calcium carbonate, sodium chloride, sodium nitrate, magne-
sium nitrate, etc.) are effectively separated out, high-purity potassium nitrate is
acquired, which is the key to gunpowder quality.
According to literature, during the Tang and Song Dynasties periods, niter used
for medicine or alchemy was acquired through crystallization of the solution of
boiled potassium nitrate. For example, Zhi Ma of the early Song Dynasty period said
in Kai Bao Ben Cao (《开宝本草》), “Niter. . .. . . is ground frost. The frost on the
ground is swept and collected, rinsed with water, and boiled to make niter, which
resembles hairpin foot in shape” (Volume 3 of Zheng He Ben Cao (《政和本草》).
Fang Cui said in Lu Huo Ben Cao (《炉火本草》), “Niter. . .is called saltpeter today. It
is made by households along the river in Shangcheng of Hebei and the intersection
of Huai and Wei scraping and rinsing brine” (Volume II of Xi Xi Cong Yu (《西溪丛
语》) by Kuan Yao). The present version of Wu Lei Xiang Gan Zhi (《物类相感志》)
(completed during the Song and Ming Dynasties periods) recorded “carrots turn
white when niter is extracted and also when fried.” Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
(1637) recorded the treatment of niter, including water solution and crystallization:
“For removal of impurities, (the niter) is put into water and boiled along with several
372 C. Zheng
turnips, placed in a basin and crystallizes into white snow overnight, called basin
niter.”
For the extraction method for niter used in gunpowder, Shizhen Zhao’s Shen Qi
Pu (《神器谱》) (1598) recorded details, and the theory can be explained with modern
chemistry: Carrots and niter are boiled together (so magnesium salt with strong
moisture absorption can be removed to prevent deterioration of gunpowder), oval-
bumin and water gel are added (to enable mud impurities in the niter water to
condense and settle), and water is boiled, cooled, and crystallized (to separate the
niter from sodium chloride). The potassium nitrate can fully dissolve in the boiled
water, and after natural cooling, most of it crystallizes and separates out, and almost
none of the sodium chloride dissolving in the water will separate out. This process is
repeated so the acicular crystal of niter is not salty. (Kuanghua Zhao & Jiahua Zhou:
History of Chinese Science & Technology – Chemistry (《中国科学技术史·化学
卷》), p.505–506).
The book Li Qi Jie (《利器解》) (1600) completed in the same period recorded
another method (later included in Wu Bei Zhi (《武备志》)).
Niter Extraction. Spring water, river water, or pool water is used. If any of the
above water is absent, sweet well water can be added with a pot to provide 70% of
the water needed, 100 jins of niter is put and boiled three times, and one jin of ash
water is poured. Then the pot size is measured, 50 jins of niter is put, and 0.5 jin of
ash water is used. The niter contains saline-alkali, which naturally separates out in
ash water and turns into red water, which is boiled again and placed in the urn, where
mud sinks to the bottom and pure niter stays in the middle. The water is placed for
1 or 2 days, saline-alkali water is filtered out, and the mud on the bottom is scraped
off. The water is dried in natural sunlight in preferably the second, third, eighth, or
ninth lunar month, while the rest of the year is either cold or hot and unsuitable. In
the event of urgent use, the water can be placed in a well in summer or somewhere
hot in winter.
Ash water is plant ash water (potassium carbonate solution), which can react with
all kinds of calcium salts, magnesium salts, and ferric salts in the aqueous Glauber
salt and forms carbonate or hydroxide, settling and separating out. “Turning into red
water”: The water is dyed with the red colloidal iron hydroxide. After boiling, the
water is left to cool and crystallize, similar to the previous method. The materials in
Li Qi Jie (《利器解》) were very likely to be from military officer Tengzhuo Zhu.
From the 20th year to the 46th year of Emperor Wanli’s reign, Tengzhuo Zhu took
office in northern border towns such as Ningxia, Xuanfu, Liaodong, and Yansui,
responsible for firearms. The above niter extraction method is simpler than that
described in Shen Qi Pu (《神器谱》) and easy for mass production, which might be a
customary practice of northern border troops. In fact, it remained a common method
in the twentieth century to extract niter using plant ash water.
Affected by the climate, natural niter is extremely unevenly distributed in the
world. Since the late fourteenth century, to ensure gunpowder supply, European
countries had often made niter using artificial fertilization (niter bed). Niter was
relatively abundant in ancient China (many natural niter caves remain in the south-
western region today), and no clear records of fertilization use have been found.
(Based on the quotation in Kuan Yao’s Xi Xi Cong Yu (《西溪丛语》) of “the place

where the niter is produced is extremely stinky” from Xuanzi Sheng’s Fu Gong Tu
(《伏汞图》), Joseph Needham associated it with the nitric fertilizer bed in Europe.
See Joseph Needham et al. Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 5, Part IV,
Cambridge University Press, 1980: 187–188).
11.5.2 Sulfur
In ancient China, there were two sources of sulfur (S). The first was natural sulfur in
volcanic areas; the second was artificial sulfur derived through decomposition of
pyrite (FeS2) under high temperature, mostly the by-product of alley stone (FeSO4)
production in ancient times. According to currently available literature, the sulfur
used for medicine and alchemy before the Song Dynasty period was derived from
natural sources, mostly from border areas and foreign countries. During the Northern
Song Dynasty period, sources of sulfur for military use diversified. The “Jinzhou
sulfur” used for cannon powder in Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》) has been
determined by contemporaries as the artificial sulfur produced by pyrites in Shanxi,
with higher purity than that of naturals sulfur. Meanwhile, natural sulfur remained in
extensive use and was even imported in large-scale international trade. For example,
in the seventh year of Emperor Xining’s reign (1074), “Mingzhou Governor Chong
Ma said: upon the Court’s order, I sent merchants to acquire half a million jins of
sulfur from Japan, separated it into groups of 10 jins and ordered officials to escort”
(Song Hui Yao Ji Gao (《宋会要辑稿》)). Jinzhou Shanxi was close to Bianliang, the
capital of Northern Song Dynasty, and Mingzhou (present-day Ningbo) was a strait
away from Japan, where natural sulfur abounded. The type of sulfur chosen
depended on the location, which seemed to be based on cost considerations.
The methods for sulfur extraction were only seen in individual records by
alchemists and physicians before the Ming Dynasty period, including grinding and
putting in water for stirring (sulfur does not dissolve) to remove dissolvable impu-
rities, or heating, or dissolving impurities with plant juices.
The method for purifying sulfur used for gunpowder was first seen in Wu Bian
(《武编》) by Shunzhi Tang (1507–1560):
10 jins of high-quality sulfur are used, processed with sesame oil, and used after
removal of oil. How to remove oil from sulfur: First, break the sulfur into bean-like
particles, mix each jin of sulfur with two jins of sesame oil, and heat the mixture in
the pot. Then, put half a jin of green cedar leaves in the oil, and fish out the cedar
leaves after they turn black. Then, put sulfur into boiled oil, and after yellow foams
appear on the oil surface, take out the oil and put it into a cooling basin. Remove the
oil from the sulfur, and condense pure sulfur into a [cake], which lies on the bottom
of the pot. Pick it up and break it, put into cedar leaves water for boiling, and wash it
for use. (Shunzhi Tang: Wu Bian – Qian Ji (《武编·前集》) (Volume 5), 60b-61a.
Guangding Liu pointed out Wu Bian (《武编》) was the earliest sourced. Refer to the
previously quoted book).
374 C. Zheng
According to modern explanations, the sesame oil has a higher boiling point
(112.8 Celsius degrees) than sulfur and can turn sulfur into liquid, which floats below
the sesame oil, while impurities such as mud and sand sink to the bottom and are
easy to separate out. After cooling down into clots, the sulfur can be separated from
the oil. (Kuanghua Zhao and Jiahua Zhou: History of Chinese Science & Technology
– Chemistry (《中国科学技术史·化学卷》), p.464)
Li Qi Jie (《利器解》) (1600) recorded a decoction method:
Sulfur Extraction. Five or seven bowls of water is used for each pot and boiled.
Then 30–40 jins of sulfur are put and decocted and put into the basin. After being
dried for 1 day, the sulfur on the bottom is peeled off and soaked with water for
decoction again.
Western military works in the late Ming Dynasty period mentioned similar sulfur
and niter extraction methods to those in previous Chinese works. There were various
sulfur extraction methods, which were similar. In addition to sesame oil, beef tallow
was also used. In Bing Lu – Xi Yang Huo Gong Shen Qi Shuo (《兵录·西洋火攻神器
说》), the “western method for making gunpowder for big and small blunderbusses”
was described:
Raw sulfur is preferable. The sulfur is first squashed, with sand removed, and is heated with
beef tallow. The fire should not be too fierce. Stir at the bottom of the pot with a wooden
stick, and filter with a piece of linen cloth when the sulfur is about to melt. Then, the oil floats
and the sulfur sinks to the bottom. Remove the oil and leave the sulfur, and grind the sulfur
into fine particles for use. (Rubin He: Bing Lu (《兵录》) (Volume 13). Si Ku Jin Hui Shu
Cong Shu – Ji Bu (《四库禁毁书丛刊·集部》) (Book 9), photographed copy of the engraved
version during Emperor Chongzhen’s reign)
Purifying sulfur with heated oil seemed to be a mainstream method in the Ming and
Qing Dynasties periods. Besides, in the 36th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign,
Yonghe Yu was dispatched to purchase natural sulfur in Keelung and Tamsui of
Taiwan. His Dairy of Sulfur Acquisition (《采硫日记》) (1697) described the distinc-
tive local sulfur extraction method (stirring sulfur powder mixed with oil without
heating).
11.5.3 Particle Gunpowder
In the sixteenth century, European gunpowder manufacturing techniques spread into

China along with their firearms, and the gunpowder granulation technique was the
most influential. Granulation is an important innovation in the history of gunpowder
manufacturing as it ensures stable ingredients of the particles and sufficient gaps
between the particles, allows the exposed surface to quickly burn, greatly improves
explosive energy, and is able to control the speed of energy release through the
particle size. (Feuerwerkbuch completed before 1420 already mentioned the char-
acteristics of granular gunpowder and the processing method. See B.S. Hall,
Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics,
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997: 69–74. Regarding the burning
Table 11.1 Formula of Frankish breechloader gunpowder

中文英文
硝 Niter
硫黄 Sulfur
木炭 Charcoal
制粒 Granulation
广东军器局火药方 Gunpowder formula of Guangdong weapon workshop
否 No
葡萄牙人火药方 Portuguese gunpowder formula
是 Yes
mechanism of granular gunpowder and experiment results, see the previously quoted
book: p.79–87).
In the 12th year of Emperor Zhengde’s reign (1517), Yingxiang Gu, Assistant
Judicial Commissioner of Guangdong, acquired Frankish breechloaders from a
Portuguese merchant ship and specially pointed out “its powder is different from
that in China.” (Yingxiang Gu: Jing Xu Zhai Xi Yin Lu (《静虚斋惜阴录》) (Volume
12), 20b). In the mid-sixteenth century, Frankish breechloaders were virtually a
standard firearm of the Ming army. Guangdong Annals during Emperor Jiajing’s
reign (《广东通志》) (1561) recorded the gunpowder formulae of two types of
Frankish breechloaders. The first formula was used by the local weapon workshop,
which “does not fully leverage the power of gunpowder”; the second was acquired
from the Portuguese (“Frankish barbarians”). By comparing the two formulae (see
Table 11.1), we found the key difference is that the latter has an extra granulation
process, where the powder is fully mixed, “grinded into fine particles and the treadle-
operated tilt hammer is used. For each jin, three garlic bulbs are used, pounded with
strong heated liquor, chopped into tofu-like pieces, placed on the roof for drying, and
cut into the size of beans with a knife. One liang and 3-4 qians of this material is put
into the blunderbuss, and the shooting range is a mere 1500 steps.” (Zuo Huang:
Guangdong Annals (《广东通志》) (Volume 32 – Weapons), 18b).
In Jiguang Qi’s Ji Xiao Xin Shu (《纪效新书》) (18-volume version, completed in

1561), a similar formula was recorded (Jiguang Qi: Ji Xiao Xin Shu (18-Volume
Version) (《纪效新书(十八卷本)》) (Volume 15), proofread version, Zhonghua Book
Company. 2001, p.249–250): The proportion of niter, sulfur, and charcoal is 75.8%,
10.6%, and 13.6%, which are mixed in water and fully grinded, “pounded until half
dry, dried in sunlight, and cracked into bean-shape particles.” This method was
376 C. Zheng
described as a “secret method,” suggesting gunpowder granulation was still new

knowledge at that time. This formula was very likely to be the fowling piece formula
acquired by Tang Lu from “barbarian pirates” when he seized Shuangyu in Ningbo
in the 27th year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign (1548). (Shiche Zhang: Dinghai County
Annals (《定海县志》) (Volume 7), 18a, photographed copy of the engraved version
of Ming local annals in the 42nd year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign preserved by
Tianyige). The so-called barbarian pirates were supposedly Portuguese.
The gunpowder granulation technique was first introduced to southeastern coastal
areas and then spread to the north. In the 20th year of Emperor Wanli’s reign (1592),
when Minghe Wang was the general defending Shaanxi, granular gunpowder was
still not in use by the local border troops. His memoir could well explain the defects
of powder:
I used to train troops in Shaanxi, where the Military Supervisory Commission supervised
over the production of gunpowder, which was distributed among the troops. Upon first trial,
the blunderbusses did not fire, and subsequently sounded a loud bang which almost damaged
the barrels. Not knowing why, the supervisor had doubts and asked me, and I replied: There
is a theory. All the gunpowder in the south is pounded in water. The niter, sulfur and ash are
combined together, and all the gunpowder particles are of the bean size, and easy to fit into
the blunderbuss and do not entail the danger of blocking. Today, the three are grinded into
fine particles and have not been pounded in water. The troops are unable to determine the
specified quantities or load with paper or bamboo tubes for use, but can only throw it into a
large bag. As our troops ride on horses, the powder shakes repeatedly, and the niter and
sulfur, which are heavier, sink to the bottom and the ash, which is lighter, floats. Ash is put in
first, and is harmless despite the quantity. Niter and sulfur are put in later, and too much
sulfur can hurt the blunderbuss. The reason is clear. There shouldn’t be any doubts on the
properties of gunpowder. (Yingjing Feng: Huang Ming Jing Shi Shi Yong Bian (《皇明经世
实用编》) (Volume 16), 63b-64a, photographed copy of the engraved version of Book 267 of
Si Ku Quan Shu Cun Mu Cong Shu – Shi Bu (《四库全书存目丛书·史部》) in the 31st year
of Emperor Wanli’s reign. Quoted from Minghe Wang’s Fire Attack Q&A (《火攻答[问]》)
(c.1597)))
Niter and sulfur have high density, while charcoal density is low. If these three
substances are simply mixed, they are susceptible to layering after long-term shaking
and result in failure of the gunpowder. If made into small particles, the gunpowder
has stable ingredients and is free of this defect.
The gunpowder formulae (shooting gunpowder) recorded in the firearm work Li
Qi Jie (《利器解》) (1600) are divided into “usual gunpowder” and particle gunpow-
der, where the proportion of niter, sulfur, and charcoal is 5:1:1 (71.4%: 14.3%:
14.3%). The difference is that the former is simple mixture of niter, sulfur, and
charcoal powder, while the latter is made into particles, and the explosive power is
doubled accordingly.
Five jins of niter, one jin of sulfur, and one jin of eggplant ash are used. The above
materials have a total weight of 7 jins and are divided into three slots and grinded
5800 times. Fished out of the slots, the powder weighs 3 jins, is put into one jin of
cooked liquor, and turns into mud before being put into slots again and grinded
another hundred times. After being fished out of the slots, the powder is made into
particles the size of rice or beans. The particles are placed in the heart of the palm and
burned to the extent that no heat is felt. Usual powder weighs one jin. This powder
weighs only half a jin. As the powder is too powerful, not much can be used. If no
ash is available, willow strips will do. If no willows are available in the south, dried
Chinese first will do. (Lai Fan: Further Investigation of Sea Defenses in Liangzhe
(《两浙海防类考续编》) (Volume 10), 47b. Si Ku Quan Shu Cun Mu Cong Shu – Shi
Bu (《四库全书存目丛书·史部》) (Book No.226), photographed copy of the version
in the 30th year of Emperor Wanli’s reign. The main part of Li Qi Jie (《利器解》) was
completely included in the Further Investigation of Sea Defenses in Liangzhe (《两
浙海防类考续编》) (Volume 10) “Firearm Atlas.” According to his book, cannon
powder does not have to be particles.).
According to the above textual description, the northern border troops had
sophisticated gunpowder manufacturing techniques around 1600, when granular
gunpowder was still not “usual powder” and was a novelty locally. The above
gunpowder formula was later included in Wu Bei Zhi (《武备志》) and distributed
widely. (During Emperor Qianlong’s reign, Xuemin Zhao authored Huo Xi Lue (《火
戏略》) (1780), which contained over one hundred firecracker and fireworks formu-
lae. There was only one granular powder, called “bead gunpowder,” and the textual
description was similar to the granular gunpowder formula in Li Qi Jie (《利器解》).
See Huo Xi Lue (《火戏略》) (Volume 2), 7a-b. Photographed copy of Ancient
Literature Department of Tianjin Library, 1985)
Shen Qi Pu (《神器谱》) (1598) completed around the same period and a series of
Western military works emerging in the late Ming Dynasty period such as Zhu Rong
Zuo Li (《祝融佐理》) (c.1625), Xi Fa Shen Ji (《西法神机》), Bing Lu – Xi Yang Huo
Gong Shen Qi Shuo (《兵录·西洋火攻神器说》) (1628), and Shou Yu Quan Shu (《守
圉全书》) (1636) included a lot of gunpowder formulae (primarily cannon powder,
fowling piece powder, and cannon powder), and all mentioned shooting powder
required granulation. Huo Gong Qie Yao (《火攻挈要》) (1643) said,
After pounding is complete, thick and thin bamboos are used for screening. The
powder for large blunderbusses is screened with thick bamboos into millet-size beads.
Medium bamboos are used to screen the powder for “wolf” blunderbusses into sumi-
size beads. And thin bamboos are used to screen the powder for fowling pieces into
maize-size beads. (Dictated by Ferdinand Verbiest and recorded by Xu Jiao: Huo
Gong Qie Yao (《火攻挈要》) (Volume II). Collection of Science & Technology Works
in China – Technology (Book 5), (《中国科学技术典籍通汇·技术卷》), photo-
graphed copy of Haishan Xianguan series, Henan Education Press, 1994, p.1299)
Heavy firearms fired large gunpowder particles, and light firearms used small
gunpowder particles, which was a customary practice of contemporary European
firearms. In the early nineteenth century, the gunpowder for the cannons and rifles of
European armies was changed into single standard particles, while the Qing army
followed the early tradition. In 1860, a French military surgeon recorded Qing
army’s gunpowder he witnessed near Tongzhou: “Cannons had large gunpowder,
while rifles had small gunpowder, which was round particles and resembled fine lead
sand.” (See Lettres de l’Expédition de Chine et de Cochinchine (《出征中国和交趾
支那来信》) by Adolph Armond and translated by Fang Xu and Shuangshuang
Zhao, Zhongxi Book Company, 2011, p.319).
378 C. Zheng
In summary, we do not yet know whether military granular gunpowder had

appeared in the Song, Yuan, and early Ming Dynasties periods. Even if they did,
they were not effectively passed down. Since the sixteenth century, particle gun-
powder had been used for blunderbusses and cannons, which should have been due
to the influence of foreign knowledge.
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Yamakawa Publishing House.
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Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》): Heyday
of Agriculture and Handicraft Industry 12
in Ancient China
Wusan Dai
Contents
12.1 Historical Background of Tian Gong Kai Wu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
12.2 Author of Tian Gong Kai Wu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
12.3 Chapter Structure of Tian Gong Kai Wu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
12.4 Technological Achievements and Features of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) . . . . . 394
12.4.1 Agricultural Production Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
12.4.2 Sugarcane Planting and Sugar Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
12.4.3 Silkworm Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
12.4.4 Steelmaking Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
12.4.5 Zinc Smelting Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
12.4.6 Coal Mining Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
12.5 Scientific Mindset and Methods in Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
12.5.1 Prioritizing Practical Experience and Advocating Real Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . 403
12.5.2 Attaching Importance to Data Records and Reflecting Quantitative
Proportions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
12.5.3 Attaching Importance to Comprehensive Research and Showing
an Academic Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
12.6 Historical Importance and Influence of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
12.6.1 Academic Importance of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
12.6.2 Spread and Influence of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
Abstract
Completed around the late Ming and early Qing dynasties periods, Tian Gong Kai
Wu (《天工开物》) incorporated the essence of Chinese agricultural production
and handicraft and marked a peak in the history of Chinese technology. This
chapter is going to introduce the book in detail, including historical background,
scientific mindset and methods, historical importance, and influence of the book.
W. Dai (*)
Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
e-mail: daiwusan@tsinghua.edu.cn

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_12
380 W. Dai
Keywords
Tian Gong Kai Wu · Agriculture · Handicraft industry · Zinc smelting technique ·
Coal mining technique · Steelmaking technique · Sugarcane planting
Completed around the late Ming and early Qing dynasties periods, Tian Gong Kai
Wu (《天工开物》) incorporated the essence of Chinese agricultural production and
handicraft and marked a peak in the history of Chinese technology.
Authored by Yingxing Shen, a scientist in the late Ming Dynasty period, Tian
Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) recorded details of production techniques in agriculture
and the handicraft industry from the mid to the late Ming Dynasty period in China
and contained over 100 vivid illustrations. Thanks to the comprehensive information
on traditional technologies, detailed records, and rich technological content, which
led to contemporary Western technologies, the book was entitled as “the world’s first
encyclopedia on agriculture and handicraft production.”1
12.1 Historical Background of Tian Gong Kai Wu
Tian Gong Kai Wu emerged during the 1730s (1637), which was the late Ming Dynasty
period, when the Renaissance was in its heyday, a period marked by rising capitalism,
industrial and commercial booms, and burgeoning thoughts and cultures in Europe. In
China on the other side of the planet, some significant changes also took place.
In the economy of the Ming Dynasty period, agricultural production remained in
a predominant position, with paddies planted in the south and wheat planted in the
north. In the south, sophisticated experience has been garnered in seed soaking, seed
cultivation, rice transplanting, rice cultivation, rice raising, and rice harvesting. In
terms of paddy fertilization, there were a variety of fertilizers, which were applied
depending on the soil to improve the soil and facilitate production growth. Based on
the technologies in previous generations, irrigating machinery was extensively used
in the Ming Dynasty period, operated by human or cattle or hydraulically, which
ensured production and harvest growth. In major areas of paddy production, many
excellent breeds were cultivated, such as those in Jiangxi, hometown of Song
Yingxing. In the north, wheat was planted, and a complete operating procedure
and methodology were formed, covering sowing, fertilization, field tilling, and
harvesting. In particular, arsenic was mixed with the seeds in the north to prevent
pest erosion, while in the south, plant ashes were used, which was a new experience
acquired by farmers based on the work of previous generations. In addition to
paddies in the south and wheat in the north, the production of cormorants, millet,
hemps, and beans was also valued, and new technological progress was made in the
1
A comment from famous technology historian Joseph Needham. Quoted from Shiran Du et al.:
Manuscript of History of Science and Technology in China (《中国科学技术史稿》) (revised),
Science Press, 2012, p.337.
12 Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》): Heyday of Agriculture and Handicraft. . . 381
planting of mulberries, cotton, and sugarcanes. These basic agricultural activities

provided important materials for Song Yingxing’s investigations and research and
creation of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》).
In terms of handicraft and commerce, major progress was made in the mid- and
late Ming Dynasty period. In a burgeoning commodity economy, new forms of
production and coordination emerged, and buds of capitalism appeared. In sectors
such as mining, metallurgy, shipbuilding, textiles, and porcelains, new changes
occurred in technology and size. After the mid-Ming Dynasty period, coal was
used as the fuel in areas in the proximity of coal production, and where the coal
produced was suitable for metallurgical purposes. Official and private metallurgical
industries were massive, with large metallurgical workshops employing 2000–3000
workers and using 6 or 7 furnaces 3.33 m tall; and smaller metallurgical workshops
also employed nearly 1000 workers and had 3 or 4 furnaces. Thanks to the prosperity
of the metallurgy industry, iron production in the Ming Dynasty period exceeded
those in any previous dynasty. In terms of shipbuilding, given convenient transport
in coastal waters and inland rivers, and out of the need for national defense, the
shipbuilding industry became an important sector in the Ming Dynasty period and
reflected the general development of all types of handicraft sectors at that time. Take
for example the fleet used by Zheng He for expeditionary voyages: There were over
60 treasure ships over 100 m long, with the largest one about 150 m long, and the
rudderstock was 11.07 m long.
After the mid-Ming Dynasty period, the silk industry prospered in the Jiangnan
area and formed clusters. Take, for example, the Shengze Town in Wujiang County,
Jiangsu: This was a village of 50 or 60 households in the early Ming Dynasty period
and developed into a town during Emperor Jiajing’s reign (1522–1566). “The town
had a dense population. . .all relied on the silkworm industry.. . .the sound of weav-
ing machines could be heard throughout the night.”2
The porcelain industry continued to expand after the mid-Ming Dynasty period.
Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, Song Yingxing’s hometown, became the largest porcelain
manufacturing hub nationwide, with an area of up to 100,000 square kilometers, a
population of 1 million, and 3000 official and private kilns, which produced white
fumes that clouded the sky in the day and red flames that smoked the sky at night.
Porcelain was extracted from porcelain clay and subject to processing and clay
molding before taking shape and finishing. As Song Yingxing put it in Tian Gong
Kai Wu (《天工开物》: “One mold requires the labor of 72 people, and the tiny details
are too many to exhaust.” Evidently, the production was highly specialized and
formed a complex technology chain.
In terms of the politics of the Ming Dynasty, a highly centralized autocratic
monarch was formed, starting with Zhu Yuanzhang and inherited by his successor.
As a result, eunuchs held power. In the mid-Ming Dynasty period, there were tens
of thousands of eunuchs, who abused power, banded together, and acted wildly
against law. During Emperors Jiajing’s and Wanli’s reigns, a political crisis
2
Menglong Feng: Xing Shi Heng Yan (《醒世恒言》) (Vol.18).
382 W. Dai
emerged. Despite some reforms, all these reforms failed under the attack of elites.
During Emperor Tianqi’s reign, eunuch Wei Zhongxian controlled the state and
fabricated accusations to wipe out dissidents. Another reformist group emerged
and carried on the fight against the eunuchs. This political incident sent
shockwaves across the society.
The economic and political changes after the mid-Ming Dynasty period were also
evident in thoughts and culture. New thoughts emerged among some intellectuals
and literati, who were disgruntled with the ruling group and lashed out at social ills.
They opposed the imperial examination system and eight-legged essays and lectured
and authored books to advocate new thoughts. As the founder of the Taizhou School,
Gen Wang emphasized “whatever is of use to common people is of use to saints,”
measuring the value of things based their value to common people. His thoughts
were quite the opposite of the mainstream thought that advocated divine principles
and opposed mundane desires. Zhi Li, as the representative of the Taizhou School in
its late period, demonstrated a strong rebellious spirit. In his important work Burning
Books (《焚书》), he criticized traditional values and Taoist morality, labeling himself
as a heretic. Zhi Li’s thought antagonized the ruling class and had impact on
contemporary thinkers.
As a latecomer, the Donglin School delivered lectures at academies and engaged
in political rallying. They had distinct academic thoughts and insights as well as
positive political views, demanding clean governance, bureaucratic efficiency, free
speech, and elimination of longstanding government malpractices. The views and
demands of the Donglin School were widely echoed and supported by the society
but also met with strong resistance from the eunuchs and bureaucrats. Due to
different political opinions, fierce competition came into shape between the two
forces in the late Ming Dynasty period.
Echoing the above earlier thoughts of enlightenment, a pragmatic, utilitarian
thought took shape in the late Ming Dynasty period. Realizing traditional meta-
physics “are hollow and stubborn” and “are deceptive and enjoy undeserved
fames,” some ambitious intellectuals abandoned the traditional disdain for practi-
cal science and turned to investigative research, focusing production practice,
utilizing new materials, authoring books, and coining theories. It was under such
a circumstance that prominent scholars such as Li Shizhen, Xu Guangqi, Xu
Xiake, and Fang Yizhi emerged before or after Song Yingxing’s time, and a
number of works with new insights such as Ben Cao Gang Mu (《本草纲目》),
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), Xu Xia Ke You Ji (《徐霞客游记》), and Wu
Li Xiao Shi (《物理小识》) came into existence.
12.2 Author of Tian Gong Kai Wu
Song Yingxing, aka Changgeng, was born in Beixiang Township, Fengxin County,
Jiangxi Province. In 1587, he was born to a bureaucrat landlord family in Fengxin.
Song Yingxing’s ancestors prospered by running land and silkworm business until
Song Yingxing’s great grandfather Song Jing (1476–1547), who started a political
career through the imperial examination. Song Jing, aka Yixian or Nantang,
succeeded in the imperial examination in 1505 and assumed a range of official

positions, until he died as the Minister of Personnel and was granted the posthu-
mous name of “Zhuangjing.” According to the customary practice in feudal times,
Song Jing’s seniors and offspring all benefited, and the Song family became a
“prestigious clan in Fengxin.” Song Jing had five sons, Chuiqing, Jieqing,
Chengqing, Heqing, and Juqing (who died as a child). Song Chengqing was
Song Yingxing’s grandfather, who was intelligent and knowledgeable and had
an ambition for a political career. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 27 and was
survived by a son by the name of Guoling. Song Guoling had no official titles in
his life and gave birth to his eldest son Yingsheng in 1578; second son Yingding in
1582; third son Yingxing in 1587; and youngest son Yingjing in 1590. Among
these sons, Yingsheng and Yingxing were born to the same parents, and Yingding
and Yingjing had different mothers. Starting with Song Guoling, the Song family
ceased to thrive, and when Song Yingxing took the helm, the family declined due
to natural disasters and fires.
In 1615, a 29-year-old Song Yingxing and his brother Song Yingsheng went to
Nanchang to sit a provincial examination, which was attended by over 10,000
candidates. The Song brothers were the only candidates from the Fengxin County.
In the provincial examination, Song Yingxing achieved the 3rd place, and Song
Yingsheng 6th, referred to as “the Song Brothers of Fengxin.”
The success in the provincial examination encouraged the Song brothers to
pursue a higher goal. In 1616, the brothers went to the capital for a national
examination but failed. Not discouraged, the brothers attended another four national
examinations in 1619, 1623, 1627, and 1631. Upon their fifth national examination,
Song Yingxing was 45, and his brother Song Yingsheng was 54. In this examination,
the brothers failed again.
In order to attend their fifth national examination, the brothers traveled
thousands of kilometers from south to the north and witnessed the corruption
of the bureaucratic system and darkness of the governance. As a result, the Song
brothers were disillusioned with the imperial examination system. In 1632, their
mother passed away, and Song Yingxing stayed home for mourning. Before long,
Song Yingsheng “was appointed as the governor of the Tongxiang County” and
went to the Tongxiang County to take office. Tongxiang was in the proximity of
Jiaxing and Huzhou, which were famous hubs of silkworm and textiles nation-
wide. When visiting his brother, Song Yingxing also conducted investigations in
Jiaxing and Huzhou and subsequently wrote Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
(see Fig. 12.1), which reflected his special focus on the textile technology in
this area.
In 1616–1631, Song Yingxing traveled far away from home several times taking
examinations. While failing in the examinations, he broadened his vision, gained a
better understanding of the produce of different places, and acquired a lot of
knowledge beyond books. As he put it in the preface to Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工
开物》): “Through years of traveling, I’ve seen and heard of everything.” Song
Yingxing had been to many cities and rural areas in the capital, Jiangxi, Hubei,
Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and Zhejiang. He had also been to
Guangdong and probably Sichuan and Shanxi, too. During the trips, he learned
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Fig. 12.1 Song Yingxing

writes Tian Gong Kai Wu
about the specific knowledge and operating procedures in agriculture and handicraft
from the fields and workshops, sketched the operating processes, and took a lot of
notes. What he saw and heard laid the foundation for his subsequent writing of Tian
Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》).
In 1634, Song Yingxing was appointed as a minor civilian officer responsible for
local academic governance. In his 4-year tenure, he had lots of leisure time and
focused on writing based on the knowledge he had previously accumulated. In 1636
alone, Song Yingxing published books like Hua Yin Gui Zheng (《画音归正》)
(a book on rhymes), Yuan Hao (《原耗》) (political and economic articles), Ye Yi
(《野议》) (political comments), and Si Lian Shi (《思怜诗》). In the next year, with the
help of his friend Tu Shaokui, he published his representative work Tian Gong Kai
Wu (《天工开物》). From his own experience, Song Yingxing was no longer
passionate about fame. In the preface, he said: “This book has nothing to do with
fame,” and at the end of the book, he wrote “this is a book about daily life by Song
Yingxing of Fengxin.” Evidently, Song Yingxing was disillusioned with vanity and
had a pragmatic mentality.
In 1638, upon expiry of his tenure, Song was promoted to be a local official in
Tingzhou Prefecture, Fujian. He served that position for 2 years before resigning and
getting back home. In the second half of 1643, Song Yingxing was appointed as the
governor of Haozhou, Anhui. When he took office, the Ming Dynasty’s days were
numbered. In less than 1 year after he took office, the situation changed drastically,
and Song Yingxing returned to his hometown again. When the Qing army invaded
the south, Song Yingxing roughly completed Chun Qiu Rong Di Jie (《春秋戎狄
解》) in an effort to create an anti-Qing rhetoric and later went into seclusion, finding
all the efforts to be futile.
Song Yingxing’s elder brother Song Yingsheng was promoted to be the governor
of Guangzhou in 1642. After the Ming Dynasty collapsed in 1644, he resigned and
returned to his hometown as a gesture of resistance to the Manchurians. Tired of life,
he committed suicide by poisoning 2 years later. Song Yingsheng authored Fang Yu
Tang Quan Ji (published in 1638), which recorded details of his younger brother
Song Yingxing.
In 1655, Song Yingxing was nearly 70, and at the invitation of Chen Hongxu
(1597–1665), the editor-in-chief of Nan Chang Jun Cheng (《南昌郡乘》) and his
friend, he wrote his brother’s biography. In 1666, Song Yingxing died at the age 80.
12.3 Chapter Structure of Tian Gong Kai Wu
Song Yingxing used “Tian Gong Kai Wu” as the book title for a reason. The term
“Tian Gong” was derived from a pre-Qin classic Shu Jing (《书经》) and “Kai Wu”
was from Yi Jing (《易经》). By combining the two terms, Song Yingxing created a
new meaning. In modern words, it means “extracting valuables from the nature with
human skills.”
The Ming version of Tian Gong Kai Wu consisted of three volumes, each of
which was made into a book. The entire work contained 53,000 characters and
145 illustrations (which might differ in different versions). Volume 1 had six
chapters, Volume 2 seven, and Volume 3 five.
Each chapter was titled with a term derived from the classics and started with an
introduction “Songzi said,” which was followed by the body text, and at the bottom
of the body text were illustrations matching the chapter (see Table 12.1 for the titles
of the chapters and a summary of the key points).
Table 12.1 Chapters, key points, and illustrations in Tian Gong Kai Wu
中文英文
卷次 Volume
章名 Chapter title
内容要点 Summary of key points
配图 Illustrations
上卷 Volume 1
乃粒第一 Naili (Chapter 1)
主要农作物的种植、栽培和有关 Planting and cultivation of main crops and relevant
生产工具 production instruments
乃服第二 Naifu (Chapter 2)
养蚕、丝纺、棉纺技术 Silkworm breeding, textiles and cotton technologies
彰施第三 Zhangshi (Chapter 3)
植物染料和染色技术 Plant colorants and dyeing techniques
无 NA
(continued)
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Table 12.1 (continued)

中文英文
粹精第四 Cuijing (Chapter 4)
稻、麦等作物的收割、脱粒和谷 Paddy and wheat harvesting, threshing and grain
物加工技术 processing techniques
作咸第五 Zuoxian (Chapter 5)
盐产地和制盐技术 Place of origin of salt and salt making techniques
甘嗜第六 Ganshi (Chapter 6)
甘蔗种植、制糖技术和有关工具 Sugarcane planting and sugar making techniques and
relevant tools
中卷 Volume 2
陶埏第七 Taoshan (Chapter 7)
砖瓦烧制和陶器、瓷器的制作 Brick and tile burning and pottery/porcelain production
冶铸第八 Smelting (Chapter 8)
冶铸的技术和设备, 三种特色铸造 Smelting techniques and equipment and three
方法 distinctive smelting methods
舟车第九 Vessels and Carriages (Chapter 9)
船舶、车辆的技术结构和使用 The technical structure and use of vessels and vehicles
锤锻第十 Forging (Chapter 10)
锤锻制造铁器、铜器的工艺 The technique for making iron ware and copperware
through hammer forging
燔石第十一 Stone Burning (Chapter 11)
烧制石灰、采煤、烧制矾石、硫 The techniques for burning limestone, coal mining, and
黄技术 aluminite and sulfur burning
膏液第十二 Ointments (Chapter 12)
多种油料植物子实的产油率、用 The oil productivity and usage of oilseed plants and the
途和提制油脂的技术 technique for extracting oil
杀青第十三 Shaqing (Chapter 13)
纸的种类、造纸的工艺及设备 Types of paper and papermaking techniques and
equipment
下卷 Volume 3
五金第十四 Five Metals (Chapter 14)
各种金属矿的开采、冶炼、分离 The production, smelting, separation, and processing of
和加工技术 all types of metals
佳兵第十五 Jiabing (Chapter 15)
弓箭、弩、干(盾)和火药及火器的 Techniques for making bows, crossbows, shields,
制造技术 gunpowder, and firearms
丹青第十六 Danqing (Chapter 16)
作颜料用的朱(硫化汞)和墨的制作 The techniques for making vermilion used for colorant
工艺 and ink
曲糵第十七 Qunie (Chapter 17)
酒母、神曲(药用)和丹曲所用原料 The types of raw materials of yeast and production
种类、制造技术 techniques
珠玉第十八 Zhuyu (Chapter 18)
珍珠、玉石、玛瑙等采取、加工 Extracting and processing of pearl, jade, and agate
As can be seen from the chapter titles, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) covered
the production techniques for almost all the articles and instruments in people’s daily
lives.
The content of the chapters is summarized as below:
1. Naili (Chapter 1)
The term “Naili” generally refers to grain, originally from Shu Jing – Yi Ji
(《书经·益稷》): “The people have naili,” which meant people had food to eat. This
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chapter is about agriculture and therefore related to people’s food. Prioritizing grain
over gold or jade, Song Yingxing put this chapter at the beginning of the book.
By subtitle, this chapter could be divided into 12 sections, 4 of which covered
paddies, 3 covered wheat, and the rest covered grain crops, along with an introduc-
tion to several hydraulic irrigation tools. The chapter consisted of two major parts:
the first is paddies, including details about paddy sorting, seed soaking, seedling
raising, planting, farming, field management, fertilization, pest disaster prevention,
and harvesting, and wheat, including the types, yield, and geographical distribution
of wheat, sowing, weeding, fertilizing, pest disaster prevention, and harvesting,
along with an introduction to the structure of a farming tool that could be used for
both plowing and sowing.
2. Naifu (Chapter 2)
Naifu means clothes, derived from Qian Zi Wen (《千字文》): “Naifu is clothes.”
Like food, clothing is the people’s most basic need and was therefore put in the
second place by Song Yingxing.
Naifu was the longest chapter in the book and could be divided into 34 sections by
subtitle. The first 14 sections covered silkworm breeding techniques, and the fol-
lowing 15 sections covered silk processing, textiles, and looming machines; two
subsequent sections covered cotton and cotton spinning, two sections covered linen
and linen spinning, and the rest covered furs and wools, which were the raw
materials used for clothes. By analyzing this chapter, we can see the focus was on
silkworm breeding and textiles, which were most prevalent in Jiaxing and Huzhou of
Zhejiang Province. All the sections on silkworm breeding detailed the entire process
from silkworm species retention, bathing, preservation of silkworm species, silk-
worm species, breeding, foodstuffs, taboos, pests, silkworm disease, to cocoon
spinning. It introduced the “breed bathing” method that eliminated sick and weak
silkworms and the artificial breeding of new silkworm species by “matching white
males with yellow females” and described the characteristics of sick silkworms, the
elimination of silkworms, and the method of speeding up silk making by heating
upon cocooning, which, along with the structurally complex looming machine,
reflected the contemporary technological achievements.
3. Zhangshi (Chapter 3)
The term “Zhangshi” was from Shu Jing – Yi Ji (《书经·益稷》): “Five colors are
applied to make clothes,” which meant making five pieces of clothes with five
colors. As dyeing was directly related to clothes, Song Yingxing assigned Zhangshi
to be Chapter 3.
This chapter consisted of six sections, which recorded the technique of extracting
colorants from plants and the textile dyeing technique, particularly yellow and red
colorants. The section “Various Colorants” recorded the colorants and dyeing
method for red, yellow, purple, green, blue, and their mixtures, including the
methods for resist dyeing and mordant dyeing using alum and copperas.
The section of “Blue Grass” introduced five indigo-making plants, focusing on

the techniques for planting indigos and making dyeing agents. The several sections
about safflowers elaborated on the method for planting and collecting safflowers and
making safflower cakes and covered the preservation of silk fabrics dyed with
safflowers.
Part of the chapter was excerpted from Ben Cao Gang Mu (《本草纲目》). This
was the only chapter without any illustrations probably due to the difficulty in
dyeing.
4. Cuijing (Chapter 4)
“Cuijing” meant extracting the essence of grain. This chapter covered grain
processing and was related to the opening chapter Naili.
This chapter consisted of two sections of “Paddy Processing” and “Wheat
Processing,” of which “Paddy Processing” covered the method for paddy threshing
and shelling; elaborated on the materials, specifications, and effectiveness of pro-
cessing tools such as wooden shoes, earth hoes, fan carts, water leeches, and stone
mills; and illustrated the use of these tools. “Wheat Processing” recorded the process
of wheat threshing and grinding and also covered tools such as water mills, frames,
and sieves.
This chapter contained over 20 illustrations, which made up a major portion in the
book.
5. Zuoxian (Chapter 5)
“Zuoxian” meant making edible salt, originally from Shu Jing – Hong Fan (《书
经·洪范》): “Water moistens. . .whatever moistens is salty.” As a daily necessity, salt
had been long produced in ancient China.
Following “Songzi said,” the chapter consisted of six sections, which were “Salt
Production,” “Sea Salt,” “Pool Salt,” “Well Salt,” “Powder Salt,” and “Cliff Salt.”
The “Salt Production” section divided salt into six types of sea salt, pool salt, well
salt, earth salt, cliff salt, and sand salt depending on the origin of the salt, of which
sea salt production accounted for 80%. The next three sections focused on the
technique and tools for extracting sea salt, pool salt in Shanxi, and well salt in
Sichuan. It introduced three salt drying methods in the salt workshops in the coastal
areas of Huaiyang, Changlu, Guangdong, and Zhejiang and elaborated on salt ovens.
When describing the production of well salt in Sichuan, it placed special focus on the
techniques for making wells through percussion drilling and extracting brine with
shadufs, as well as the techniques for boiling salt with natural gas.
6. Ganshi (Chapter 6)
“Ganshi” is cited from Shu Jing – Gan Shi (《书经·甘誓》): “Taikang lost his
kingdom. . .was particularly fond of sweet liquors.” Gan means sweet and Shi means
fondness.
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This chapter consisted of seven sections and recorded the processes of sugarcane
planting and the production of cane sugar, honey, and maltose. The section of
“Sugarcane Varieties” introduced the varieties of sugarcanes and the planting and
harvesting of sugarcanes and particularly highlighted the sugarcane transplanting
technique. The section of “Sugarcane Products” covered the types of cane sugar and
emphasized on sugarcane harvesting and sugar production by season. The section of
“Sugar Production” detailed the structure of the double roll press (sugar machine),
component dimensions, and sugar production technique, along with illustrations of
how the sugar machine operates. The section of “White Sugar Making” described
the techniques of making white sugar and crystal sugar.
7. Taoshan (Chapter 7)
“Taoshan” refers to the production of potteries, cited from Xun Zi – Xing’e:

“Craftsmen use pottery to make ware.”
This chapter consisted of four sections, “Tiles,” “Bricks,” “Urns,” and “White
Porcelains,” which followed “Scholar Song said.” The sections of “Tiles” and
“Bricks” recorded the entire procedure from sourcing of raw materials of tiles and
bricks to billet making and burning in the kiln. The sections also covered the
technique of “watering to make glaze.” The sections of “Urns” and “White Porce-
lains” detailed the raw materials required, billet making, glaze application, and
burning techniques and recorded the structures and operations of pottery machines
and kilns, with focus on the techniques in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, which was a hub of
the porcelain industry in the Ming Dynasty period. Meanwhile, other places pro-
ducing porcelain were mentioned, with focus on the technique for making white
porcelain. The book also mentioned some important technical data, such as the
consumption of raw materials and fuels and the production capacity of the kilns.
The level of specialization is evident in the section of “White Porcelains”: “it takes
72 workers to make one billet into the final product.”
8. Smelting (Chapter 8)
This chapter described the metal casting technique and serves as a valuable
historical record for understanding the details of metal casting in ancient China.
This chapter consisted of eight sections, with focus on the making of tripods,
caldrons, and coins and covering three traditional casting techniques, lost-wax casting,
physical modeling, and mold-free casting, which were characteristics of ancient casting.
While introducing giant cast items, the chapter recorded the method of continuous
casting by converging streams with several small furnaces, which required timely,
accurate synergy among the craftsmen and reflected the wisdom of ancient craftsmen.
9. Vessels and Carriages (Chapter 9)
Vessels and carriages were important transport vehicles in ancient times, all made
of wood.
This chapter consisted of five sections, “Vessels,” “Vessels for Canal Transport,”
“Ships,” “Other Vessels,” and “Carriages,” which followed “Scholar Song said.”
The focus of this chapter was “Vessels for Canal Transport,” which detailed the
structure, dimensions, and usage of vessels sailing through inland rivers and gave
illustrations, providing accurate, trustworthy materials for subsequent researchers to
study the shipbuilding technique of the time. The section of “Ships” covered grain
transport vessels, and the section of “Other Vessels” introduced seven types of
vessels, which were tailored to the different circumstances of different places in
the northern and southern parts of the country, including the tax transport vessels of
Jianghan, the “wave boats” of Sanwu, the small boats and canopy boats of Fujian,
the eight-paddle boats of Sichuan, the full-canopy boats of the Yellow River, the
“Dark Fortress” vessels of Guangdong, and the Qin vessels of the Yellow River. The
section of “Carriages” focused on four-wheeled carriages in northern China and also
covered a little bit about single-wheeled carriages.
10. Forging (Chapter 10)
This chapter consisted of 10 sections and presented a systematic introduction to

the technique of making ironwork and copper work through hammering. Iron work
includes swords, axes, hoes, wide-mouthed hoes, cones, saws, planes, chisels, and
needles; for copper work, the technique for forging copper gongs, drums, and
Dingning (a kind of bell) was introduced. These included detailed descriptions of
the processes for smelting copper, iron, and their alloys, welding techniques (includ-
ing forging, quenching, and welding), the selection of fuels, and the different
properties of pig iron, wrought iron, copper, red copper, brass, and white copper.
The techniques for forging items such as large iron anchors that weighed over 6 tons
and extremely light needles were introduced. The quenching technique and the
technique of pouring pig iron to the blade of the wrought iron cast to make it stiff
were both pioneered in China and stayed ahead of the rest of the world.
11. Stone Burning (Chapter 11)
This chapter covered the techniques for burning limestone; various kinds of
bauxite, sulfur, and vermiculite; and coal mining.
This chapter consisted of seven sections, which followed “Scholar Song said.”
Each section detailed the places of production, purposes, burning techniques, equip-
ment, and raw materials/fuels with respect to the products, demonstrating the
technological achievements in stone burning in the Ming Dynasty period. As can
be learned from the section of “Coal,” silos were used for coal mining, and two
advanced safety measures were adopted (discharging underground gas with bamboo
tubes and silo protection). According to the records in the section of “Vermiculite,”
the greenish muddy water was first discharged from the well before drilling began.
Upon burning of the vermiculite, the craftsman should stand over 30 meters away in
the upwind direction and switch to another job after 2 years. Both were safety
measures. As can be learned from the records, arsenic was produced in large
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quantities. The mixing of arsenic with soybean seeds and paddy roots was an
achievement in the agricultural technology in the Ming Dynasty period.
12. Ointments (Chapter 12)
Ointments refer to grease. This chapter described the technique for making edible
and everyday vegetable oils.
This chapter consisted of three sections of “Oil Products,” “Tools,” and “Leather
Oil,” which followed “Scholar Song said.” The section of “Oil Products” first
described 16 varieties of oil plants used for making edible oil and oil for lamps;
evaluated the quality, properties, and usage of the oil materials; and elaborated on the
oil production rates of the various oil plants after tests. The section of “Tools”
introduced the oil extraction method and tools, with focus on the squeezing method
and the aqueous extraction method, which were two basic processes, and particularly
gave an accurate description of the structure of southern extraction machinery and
component dimensions, while also explaining the operating know-how. The section
of “Leather Oil” recorded the methodology and equipment for making oil using
Sapium sebiferum and demonstrated the technology that emerged in the Guangxin
Prefecture, Jiangxi (present-day Shangrao area).
13. Shaqing (Chapter 13)
The term “Shaqing” originated from Hou Han Shu – Wu You Zhuan (《后汉书·吴
祐传》): “(Wu) Hui planned to heat the green bamboo slips to write inscriptions.” In
ancient times, bamboo slips were heated with fire, which process was called
“Shaqing” or “Hanqing,” so characters could be written on them. Later on,
“Shaqing” became the synonym of finalization of a book, while Song Yingxing
changed its meaning into “papermaking.”
This chapter consisted of three sections, namely, “Paper Materials,” “Bamboo
Paper Making,” and “Leather Paper Making,” which followed “Songzi said” and
elaborated on the procedures of bamboo shredding, bamboo soaking, heating,
pounding, paper lifting, squeezing and drying, as well as papermaking tools such
as bleaching ponds, cooking pots, paper curtains, paper troughs, and roasters. As the
process for making leather paper was basically the same as that for making bamboo
paper, the book focused on the raw materials and processing of leather paper.
For the first time in history, the book clearly described the process of papermaking
and had great historical value.
14. Five Metals (Chapter 14)
The “Five Metals” originally referred to gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin and
were later expanded to include lead and zinc and therefore also generally referred to
metals.
This chapter consisted of nine sections, which elaborated on the places of origin,
mining, smelting, and processing of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, and zinc, as
well as covered the techniques for making lead powder and lead pellets, demon-
strating the achievements of the smelting technology in ancient China and its
development during the Ming Dynasty period. Examples include the improved
steel pouring technology, the cascading of the iron making furnace with fried iron
directly frying raw iron into wrought iron, the semiautomatic iron production
process, the use of the metal sorting furnace, iron smelting with coal, and blasting
with a large piston bellow.
The chapter also recorded the technique for making zinc and the technique of
separating gold/silver from silver/lead through different physical properties. While
describing metal properties, the book mentioned the concept of “specific weight” as
well as copper alloy ratios. Of course, it also contained some misconceptions. For
example, it claimed gold was soft when initially mined and could be swallowed
without causing harms and mined iron ore “can grow day by day and is exhaustible.”
15. Jiabing (Chapter 15)
The term “Jiabing” was originally used in Chapter 31 of Lao Tzu: “Jiabing is
malicious weapons.” It generally referred to weaponry in this book. This chapter
described the technique for making ancient weapons and their methods of use.
The chapter consisted of seven sections, with the former three elaborating on the
manufacturing of cold weapons such as bows, arrows, crossbows, and shields and
the latter four covering gunpowder and firearms, with focus on “arcs and arrows”
and “gunpowder materials.” “Arcs and arrows” referred to bows and arrows, orig-
inally mentioned in Yi Jing – Xi Ci Xia (《易经·系辞下》): “Stringed wood is used to
make bows and sharpened wood is used to make arrows.” The former part of the
“Bows and Arrows” section elaborated on the materials, procedures, and usage
requirements for bow components, particularly the method for fixing the strength
of the bow; the latter part elaborated on the materials of the arrow shaft and detailed
the different flying patterns of the arrows as a result of the different materials used for
the tail feather. The “Gunpowder Materials” section described gunpowder explosion
and ingredients by using the Yin-Yang theory and introduced the varieties and
ingredients of gunpowder but failed to provide the specific ratios of gunpowder
ingredients.
16. Danqing (Chapter 16)
“Danqing,” originally referring to red and green pigment, subsequently became

the synonym of painting pigment or paintings. This chapter described the techniques
for making cinnabar and ink, while the production of the pigment for other colors
was covered in other chapters such as “Zhangshi” and “Zhuyu.”
The chapter consisted of the two sections of “Cinnabar” and “Ink.” The section of
“Cinnabar” elaborated on the place of origin, mining, and grinding of natural
cinnabar and the method for refining mercury and also described the techniques
for synthesizing cinnabar with mercury and sulfur. The section of “Ink” focused on
the technique for making pine soot ink, including an introduction to the methods for
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removing rosin, naval stores, and smoke burning and a detailed description of the
chamber structure and operations, reflecting the conventional ink making technique
in ancient Huizhou (around present-day Shexian County in Anhui Province).
17. Qunie (Chapter 17)
The term “Qunie” was originally mentioned in Shu Jing – Shuo Ming Xia (《书
经·说命下》): “Only Qunie can be used to make liquors.” “Qu” means the yeast used
for brewing (or making sauce); “Nie” originally means malt and refers to the yeast
used for brewing. The two characters are combined to refer to the distiller’s yeast
used for brewing.
This chapter consisted of three sections, namely, “Jiumu,” “Shenqu” (Yaoqu),
and “Danqu” (Hongqu). The focus was on “Danqu,” which was a new technique
that emerged during the Northern Song Dynasty period and a new variety of yeast
cultivated by craftsmen over the long term. Song Yingxing recorded the details
about the special anticorrosive function of Danqu for food, the ingredients used
and their treatment, the process of cultivating Danqu bacteria, a series of color
changes, and cautions, serving as precious literature on ancient liquor making
techniques.
18. Zhuyu (Chapter 18)
This is the last chapter of the book. As Song Yingxing put it in the preface: “The
chapters have different priorities, with a greater priority attached to daily necessities
and a less priority to luxuries such as jewels and jade,” which reflected his priori-
tization of agricultural production over luxuries such as jewels.
This chapter consisted of three sections, namely, “Pearls,” “Gems,” and “Jade.”
The section of “Pearls” recorded the formation of pearls, the harvesting season, the
characteristics of harvesting, and the variety of pearls; the section of “Gems”
recorded the shapes, colors, and textures of all kinds of gems; the section of
“Jade” introduced the places of origin and characteristics of jade and knowledge
about famous jade, covered the procedure for making jade, and shed light on the
places of origin and purposes of agate, crystal, and glaze.
12.4 Technological Achievements and Features of Tian Gong

Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) systematically summarized the experience gar-

nered by the laboring class in agricultural and handicraft production during the Ming
Dynasty period (and previous historical periods). The technologies it recorded
mostly had Chinese characteristics and were obviously ahead of similar contempo-
rary technologies in the West. At a time when priority is attached to ecological
farming and the preservation of traditional handicraft, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开
物》) is reread, which demonstrates its academic value.
12.4.1 Agricultural Production Techniques
Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) contained detailed records of paddy cultivation

and mentioned many new techniques never mentioned by previous agricultural
works. For example, when introducing cultivation of paddies using the seed soaking
method, the chapter “Naili” wrote “Transplanting starts on the 30th day after the
seedling is cultivated,” and “the seedlings in one mu of field can be transplanted to
25 mus of field,” which pointed out the ratio of 1:25 between the seedling field and
the field for transplanting. This is the first important figure recorded by an ancient
agricultural book and reflects the practical experience of southern peasants.
According to the records in Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》), arsenic was
mixed with seedlings in the Ming Dynasty for pest and rodent control, which was
an invention in China’s agricultural production. The section of “Maigong” in
Naili recorded: “In rural areas between Shanxian and Luoyang, farmers mixed
seeds with arsenic for pest control.” The section of “Pishi” in Fanshi recorded:
“In Ningbo and Shaoxing, seedling roots must be dipped in arsenic to ensure
harvesting.” That is to say, in Ningbo and Shaoxing in southern China, dipping
seedling roots in arsenic was a necessity, which ensured harvesting of paddies.
None of the previous agricultural books mentioned the use of arsenic as pesticide
to kill pests, and Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) was the first to have
recorded it.
In agricultural production, importance was placed on fertilization in the pre-Qin
Dynasty periods, and relevant records abounded in historical works. As for the types
of fertilizers, agricultural books before the Ming Dynasty period recorded feces,
bone juices, silkworm excrement, old wall mud, grass ashes, and barnyard manure,
and Song Yingxing specially introduced the use of oil cases with squeezed oil as the
fertilizer, and there were a total of seven fertilizer cakes, which were ranked by
quality as sesame cakes and radish seed cakes, which were the best; rapeseeds, which
were second best, followed by tung seed cakes, which were followed by camphor
seed cakes, Sapium seed cakes, and cottonseed cakes, which were of the lowest
quality. Meanwhile, Song Yingxing pointed out in the “Daoyi” section of the chapter
of “Naili”: “When soya beans are cheap, they are scattered over the field. One soya
bean requires three cuns of soil and generates manifolds of paddies.” This is not only
a stringent observation and accurate statistics but also “pointed out something never
seen in previous agricultural works.” For fertilization in the paddy field, Song
Yingxing further wrote: “For earthy fields with cold slurry, dip the roots with bone
ashes and soak the seedling feet in limestone. This method is inappropriate for hot
earth facing the Sun.” The so-called “earthy fields with cold slurry” referred to cold
soaked fields or cold slurry fields, which were typically located in mountain basins,
where water and soil temperatures were low and the soil was of an acid nature. This
paragraph suggests scattering animal bone ashes or limestone around the seedling
roots when planting paddies in acid soil with poor drainage and low soil tempera-
tures to neutralize the acid ingredients in the soil and increase the soil temperature.
Dipping seedling roots in bone ashes is reasonable use of phosphate fertilizers;
scattering limestone in cold slurry fields can neutralize the acid in the soil and
396 W. Dai
improve the soil. This is a rather advanced and economical fertilization measure and
the earliest record about the use of phosphate fertilizers in farming in China.
12.4.2 Sugarcane Planting and Sugar Making
Sugarcanes have been planted in China for a long time, recorded in many ancient
agricultural books, such as Jia Simiao’s Qi Min Yao Shu (《齐民要术》) during the
Southern and Northern Dynasties period, Wang Zhuo’s Tang Xiang Pu (《糖霜谱》)
during the Southern Song Dynasty period, Sima Si’s Nong Sang Ji Yao (《农桑辑
要》) during the Yuan Dynasty period, and Xu Guangqi’s Nong Zheng Quan Shu
(《农政全书》) during the Ming Dynasty period, which all summarized sugarcane
planting, fertilization, irrigation, and harvesting from different perspectives. Com-
pared with agricultural books containing sugarcane records in these different
periods, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) by Song Yingxing was unique as it
fully recorded how farmers in the Ming Dynasty period used techniques tailored to
the circumstances to plant sugarcanes (including seed preservation, seedling culti-
vation, seedling transplanting, and planting), the patterns of sugarcane production,
and the equipment and procedures for making sugar from sugarcane (including
squeezing, frying, decoloring, and crystallization) and emphasized the necessity to
plant and harvest sugarcanes by season. Amano Motosuke, a Japanese expert on
China’s ancient agricultural economy, pointed out that Nong Sang Ji Yao (《农桑辑
要》) spent over 500 characters introducing the sugarcane planting and sugar making
method; Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) added another over 100 characters
based on the records of previous works; and Wang Xiangjin’s Er Ru Ting Qun Fang
Pu Guo Pu (《二如亭群芳谱果谱》) dedicated a mere 250 characters to this topic.
On the other hand, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) “used 630 characters to
describe sugarcane cultivation and 521 characters for sugar making, totaling 1151
characters, which suggested it is a noteworthy piece.”3 After in-depth analysis,
comparison, and study, Amano further pointed out: “Based on these, we know his
records were extremely elaborate, and he was the only one to have mentioned the
separate planting method. None of Wang Zhuo, Sima Si, Xu Guangqi or Wang
Xiangjin mentioned transplanting.”4 Derived from the long-term practice of ancient
farmers, this “separate planting” method facilitated reasonable use of land, breeding
of good varieties, and production increase and remains an effective way to increase
sugarcane production.
In terms of sugarcane processing and sugar making, the “Ganshi” chapter
contained more information than other agricultural works. Song Yingxing wrote:
After boiling sugarcane juices to such an extent that they become sticky, “the juices
3
Amano Motonosuke: Tian Gong Kai Wu and Agriculture in Ming Dynasty. Chinese translation of
the Collection of Papers on Tian Gong Kai Wu, the Commercial Press, 1959, p.81.
4
Amano Motonosuke: Tian Gong Kai Wu and Agriculture in Ming Dynasty. Chinese translation of
the Collection of Papers on Tian Gong Kai Wu, the Commercial Press, 1959, p.82.
are yellowish black and placed in a barrel to be condensed into black sand. Then, a
waliu5 is placed above the urn. The waliu is wide in the upper part and narrow in the
lower part, with a hole at the bottom. Stuff the hole with grass, pour the black sand
and after the black sand settles, unplug the hole and rinse with yellowish slurry. With
the black sediments in the urn, white frost-like stuff is left in the waliu. The layer at
the top is about 16 cm thick and is extremely white, called western sugar.” The
so-called waliu is a pottery vessel that separates sugar and honey to acquire sugar by
using the gravity of the massecuite. “Rinsing with yellowish slurry” is to rinse a
piece of heavy paper on the surface of the sugar paste in the waliu with a kind of
muddy water containing active clay or bauxite to remove the milky liquid on the
surface after sedimentation, leveraging the physical and chemical properties of
absorption and decolorization of the clay or bauxite to remove residual honey
from the sugar and leave the sugar in the waliu.
12.4.3 Silkworm Techniques
In the chapter of Naifu, Song Yingxing elaborated on the silkworm breeding

techniques. The practice of silkworm breeding had been longstanding in southern
China, and in mid-Ming Dynasty period, the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou area
became the hub of silkworm production nationwide. Records about silkworm
breeding in Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) shed light on silkworm breeding in
southern China during the Ming Dynasty period.
In the “Variety” section of chapter of Naifu, Song Yingxing wrote: “There are
only two kinds of silkworm cocoons, namely yellow and white ones. There are
yellow cocoons but no white ones in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan; and there
are white cocoons but no yellow ones in Jiaxing and Huzhou. If we make white
males’ mate with yellow females, the spawns are brown cocoons.” In the same
section, he wrote: “Now I make early males’ mate with late females to breed good
varieties.” Song Yingxing divided silkworms into early and late varieties (early
varieties hatch once a year and late varieties hatch twice a year), which was the
world’s first clear record about artificial crossbreeding of silkworms. According to
these two paragraphs, there were two silkworm crossbreeding methods: The first was
crossbreeding of male silkworms spewing white silks and female silkworms
spewing yellow silks to produce silkworms spewing brown silks; the other was to
crossbreed male early silkworms and female late silkworms to produce quality
breeds.
It was in the eighteenth century that crossbreeding of domestic silkworms began
in Europe, over 100 years later than the records in Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》).
As can be seen, the records about crossbreeding of domestic silkworms in Tian Gong
Kai Wu (《天工开物》) has value in the world’s silkworm industry history and
technology history.
A kind of filter vessel in ancient China.

5
398 W. Dai
In terms of the reasonable protection and safekeeping of silkworm varieties, Tian

Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) recorded the bathing method used in the Jiaxing and
Huzhou areas during the Ming Dynasty period: “The silkworm bathing method is
used in Jiaxing and Huzhou alone. In Huzhou, natural dews and limestone are
mostly used, while in Jiaxing, brine is mostly used.” Chemistry knowledge tells us
both salt and limestone are highly bactericidal, and bathing in brine and limestone
water sterilizes the silkworm eggs, not only ensuring the silkworm embryos will not
be affected by bacteria or contaminants but also preventing silkworm larvae from
being infected by bacteria when coming out the egg. This practice still applies in the
modern silkworm breeding industry, and the only difference is the brine and
limestone water are replaced by bleaching powder or diluted Formalin solutions
(see Fig. 12.2).
For silkworm diseases, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) also provided truthful,
vivid descriptions: “If the silkworm is to fall ill, its brain illuminates, the entire body
becomes yellow, the head grows and the tail shrinks, and it lingers sleeplessly when
Fig. 12.2 Silkworm bathing

in Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工
开物》)
Fig. 12.3 Illustration of

silkworm selection in Tian
Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
supposed to sleep and does not eat many leaves, all of which are caused by the
illness. In this case, the sick silkworm should be immediately identified and
removed, so it will not infect the rest of the herd. Strong silkworms must sleep on
the leaves, while those that are weak or lazy are beneath the leaves and produce thin
cocoons. Silkworms that spew silks without end and produce large cocoons are
stupid silkworms, not lazy silkworms.” This paragraph sums up the symptoms of
flacherie, which was a common disease in the silkworm industry. Even today, it is the
No. 1 of all silkworm diseases. The record in Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
suggests flacherie has been a major foe to the silkworm breeding industry since
ancient times (see Fig. 12.3).
12.4.4 Steelmaking Techniques
According to ancient literature, the earliest practitioner of steel pouring was Qiwu
Huaiwen of the Northern Dynasty period, who melted raw iron and poured onto
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malleable iron and repeated this process a few times to produce steel. In the Song
Dynasty period, the steel pouring method was popular nationwide as a major
steelmaking technique and was mentioned in the works of contemporary scholars,
such as Su Song, who pointed out in Ben Cao Tu Jing (《本草图经》) that pouring
steel is to “mingle pig iron and soft iron, which are used to make the steel used for
blades.” Shen Kuo elaborated on the steel pouring technique in Meng Xi Bi Tan (《梦
溪笔谈》): “The wrought iron bars are bent and wrapped in the furnace, pig iron
nuggets are embedded into the wrapped wrought iron bars and the furnace is sealed
with mud for smelting. Upon completion, the steel is hammered, and the pouring
technique is thus successful.” The “soft iron” refers to the wrought iron acquired by
heating pig iron. The use of mud to seal the furnace is aimed at preventing oxidative
decarburization upon heating.
The pouring technique was further advanced during the Ming Dynasty period.
Song Yingxing elaborated on this in the Metals chapter of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工
开物》), where he wrote: “First, wrought iron pieces are hammered into thin pieces
that are as wide as a finger and about 3.33cm long. After such wrought iron pieces
are bundled and tightly clipped, pig iron is placed on them and covered with muddy
grass shoes. Then, the pieces are put into the furnace and heated up to the point
where the pig iron first melts and penetrates into the heated bundled iron pieces
below and is retrieved and hammered.” This process is repeated until forging is
complete.
It is evident that the pouring technique underwent some innovations during the
Ming Dynasty period in comparison to that in the Song Dynasty period: First, pig
iron nuggets were placed on bundled wrought iron pieces instead of being embedded
into “bent and wrapped” wrought iron bars; second, the furnace was no longer
“sealed with mud” upon heating of wrought iron but covered with muddy grass
shoes. Upon analysis, we can see this new technique has the advantage of increasing
the area exposed to pig iron liquid after the wrought iron is hammered into small thin
pieces, so that the pig iron liquid can evenly penetrate into the wrought iron pieces
and the carbon in the pig iron can penetrate into the wrought iron faster and more
evenly. Meanwhile, the furnace that is covered with muddy grass shoes allows full
combustion in the furnace in air, allows pig iron to be melted in the reducing
atmosphere, and enables the flames to deflect into the furnace, thereby increasing
the smelting temperature. It is through Song Yingxing’s records about the steel
pouring technique that we are able to learn about the innovations in steelmaking
techniques in ancient China.
Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) also recorded a featured invention in the Ming
Dynasty period, namely, “letting pig iron shower onto the blade,” which was
developed based on the steel pouring technique. See the chapter of “Forging”:
“For farming work, hoes and wide-mouthed hoes are needed. To make these,
wrought iron is hammered into the desired shape, and pig iron is melted to shower
onto the blade, which becomes hard and stiff after quenching. Every 500g of the hoe
should be showered with 10g of pig iron. If too less, the blade will not be hard
enough; if too much, the blade will be crispy and easy to break.” Upon analysis, this
method is to make wrought iron into blanks, and the blade part of the blank is
showered with melted pig iron, which serves as the carburizing agent of the wrought
iron. As pig iron has a high carbon content of about 4%, while the carbon content of
hoes and blades is below 0.25%, there is a huge gap in carbon concentration, and the
carbon element will quickly penetrate the metal under high temperatures. Thus, the
surface of the blank blade is coated with a layer of pig iron cladding and carburiza-
tion of a certain thickness. Then, the blade is subject to quenching and becomes the
mixture of martensite and cementite and becomes “hard.” A stiff exterior and a
flexible interior are the properties needed by general agricultural tools, handicraft
works, and weaponry. Upon operation, if too much pig iron is used, the blank blade
will become hard high-carbon iron, which is crispy and easy to break. As Song
Yingxing put it: “If too less, the blade will not be hard enough; if too much, the blade
will be crispy and easy to break.”
Agricultural tools made with this method have sharp blades and high durability.
Since its invention in the Ming Dynasty period, this technology has spread nation-
wide over the centuries.
12.4.5 Zinc Smelting Techniques
Zinc was also known as “Japanese aluminum” in ancient China. Historically, Song
Yingxing should be the earliest person to have recorded zinc smelting techniques
with texts and illustrations. In the “Metals” section of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开
物》), Song wrote: “5KG of zinc carbonate is used and loaded into a clay pot, which
is wrapped with mud for gradually drying and should be kept away from fire. Then,
coal cakes are laid layer by layer, and firewood is placed at the bottom and heated,
when the zinc carbonate in the furnace melts into chunks and is taken out when
cooling down. This is the so-called Japanese lead.”
According to chemistry knowledge, it is difficult to smelt zinc, as the reduction
temperature of zinc is above 1000 degrees Celsius, while the boiling point of zinc is a
mere 907 degrees Celsius, which means zinc evaporates once reduced from oxides.
Besides, it is extremely easy for such gaseous zinc to be oxidized into zinc oxide
powder. It should be noted that Song Yingxing missed one important point when
recording the zinc smelting technique, namely, the structure of the reaction tank.
According to the analysis by experts on metallurgy history, there should be a
“funnel”-shaped clapboard made of fire clay on top of the reaction tank, with a
vent on one side. The lid of the reaction tank cannot be tightly sealed and a crescent-
shaped exhaust vent on the side opposite to the vent of the funnel. After heating, the
materials in the reaction tank reach the reduction temperature, zinc vapor enters the
“funnel chamber” between the lid and the funnel, quickly condenses once meeting
the lid and forms liquid zinc, which drops and gathers in the “funnel.” The remaining
zinc vapor is discharged along with CO and CO2 through the vent and generates zinc
oxide, which settles at the mouth rim. Evidently, the zinc smelting method was to
leverage the temperature difference between the reaction zone and the “funnel
chamber” so that the zinc vapor quickly condenses after entering the “funnel
chamber,” and the metal of zinc is acquired.
402 W. Dai
Despite the simplicity of Song’s records about zinc smelting techniques, his
records clearly showed that craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty period had begun
mass production of zinc, which became a major invention in the ancient world.
12.4.6 Coal Mining Techniques
Archaeological excavations found coal blocks and briquettes at smelting relic sites
of the Western Han Dynasty period, indicating the use of coal in China over 2000
years ago. During the Ming Dynasty period, the use of coal was widespread, and a
complete set of techniques on coal mining had come into shape. However, literature
on coal mining techniques was rare in history, highlighting the historical value of
Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) in records about coal mining techniques.
In the chapter of “Stone Burning,” Song Yingxing elaborated on the mining,
classification, and usage of coal, which could be divided into bright coal (inflam-
mable big chunks), crushed coal, and powder coal (powder) by physical property
and purpose, and crushed coal was divided into rice coal and iron coal, of which rice
coal was used for cooking rice and iron coal was used for metallurgy. Upon
mentioning there were two kinds of crushed coal, Song Yingxing pointed out: “the
coal must be moistened after entering the furnace and goes through a bellow for
further additions.” This is an approach of wrought iron craftsmen at that time,
intended to make coal chips stick to one another and prevent them from flying out
or sinking after the blast. This method is also used in modern indigenous smelting.
This method is also used in modern melting.
In particular, Song introduced the steps of exhausting the poisonous gas with
bamboo tubes: “Seasoned practitioners can determine the existence of coal under-
neath based on the surface and dig up to 15 meters to reach the coal formation. When
the coal formation is just reached, the poisonous gas is fierce. Some miners remove
the middle part of a giant bamboo, sharpen its end and pierce through the coal. The
poisonous fumes go upward through the bamboo and miners mine the coal under-
neath. Or there is coal everywhere and can be mined at random. Support is placed
above to prevent collapse.” The “poisonous gas” is a gaseous mixture created during
coal generation, with methane (CH4) as the main ingredient and CO, and other
ingredients include CO2 and hydrogen sulfide. Although colorless, odorless, and
inflammable, the gas is poisonous to the human body and causes explosions when a
certain concentration is reached underground. Therefore, it is important to expel the
gas and guarantee miner safety during coal mining. The practice of inserting a big
hollow bamboo tube and expelling the gas through the bamboo tube as recorded in
Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) reflected the wisdom of ancient miners. For
ancient times, this method is easy to use and effective and more advanced than the
contemporary approach of burning used in the West (see Fig. 12.4).
Another safety issue for underground coal mining is roadway support, which
means support is needed to prevent the coal layer from “collapsing” and causing
casualties. According to the description in Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》), the two
Fig. 12.4 Mine excavation illustration in Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
important safety issues of gas expulsion and roadway support had been solved in
coal mining at that time.
12.5 Scientific Mindset and Methods in Tian Gong Kai Wu

(《天工开物》)
The fact that Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) recorded and reflected so many
technological achievements has much to do with its author Song Yingxing’s scien-
tific mindset and methodology, which include:
12.5.1 Prioritizing Practical Experience and Advocating Real

Knowledge
In the preface of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》), Song Yingxing explicitly

criticized those who seemed knowledgeable but were actually ignorant, advocating
real knowledge and prioritizing practical experience. He wrote: “Some people seem
smart and learned and are considered as knowledgeable by others. However, they
can’t even differentiate between jujube flowers and pear flowers, and arbitrarily
presume they are duckweeds of the Chu Kingdom; they seldom have access to the
molds for forging pots, while talking a lot about ‘the tripods of the Lv Kingdom’.
They are like painters who paint ghosts and monsters which are hardly seen in
404 W. Dai
everyday life while avoiding painting dogs and horses, which are commonplace.
How can these people set an example even if they are as reputable as prominent
personages in history?”
Before writing about anything, Song mostly conducted investigations and
sometimes did the experiments himself. It was for this reason that he could see
and discover what previous generations failed to see or discover. For example, in
the section of “Various Colorants” in the chapter of “Zhangshi,” he mentioned
safflowers: “After the cloth is dyed with safflowers and if you want to reverse the
color, just soak the cloth dyed, and drop a dozen drops of alkaline water and water
with rice husk ash, and the red color is reversed and the original color is restored
instantly. The water was collected in the bean flour and released to dye, without a
single drop wasted, which was regarded as a trade secret by the dyeing workshop
and wouldn’t be disclosed.” In the chapter of Jiabing, he described the safekeeping
of bows: “Bows are most vulnerable to moistures. Generals and military officers
prepared an oven at home and kept charcoal fire underneath the bows all the time;
footmen, who did not have an oven, put the bows on the stove. Once care is
lessened, the bow is immediately vulnerable to decay and disintegration. In recent
years, southern provinces were ordered to make bows, which were shipped to the
north and rejected for quality issues, as they were unaware the bows would break
once away from the fire, and no one had written about it.” Obviously, only after
investigating and learning the genuine knowledge from the producers (or users)
could he summarize it in the book.
Song Yingxing expressed his disapproval of those who talked about things and
wrote books without experiments. He wrote in Jiabing: “Everybody who wants to
get an official position publishes books about gunpowder and firearms without
conducting experiments.” Song Yingxing believed that true knowledge could only
be obtained through practice. He used the smoke as an example: “The smoke from
wolf feces, black in the day and red in the night, can blaze when meeting porpoise
ashes against the wind, the details of which cannot be known unless
experimented.”
Through observations, one could discern authenticity and eliminate superstitions.
Song Yingxing refuted the previous false statements in alchemy and herb writings.
In the chapter of “Naili,” he pointed out that the so-called ghost fire in the rice field
was not “ghost-turned dry wood,” but “this fire is released from the belly of the dead
wood.” In the “Silver” section of the “Five Metals” chapter, he pointed out: “This
treasure is from the mundane world and nowhere else. The claims by the alchemy
and herb books are based on wild speculations, which are extremely abhorrent.” This
is a clear critique of the groundless explanations in the books on alchemy and herbs.
In the section of “Cinnabar Silver” of the same chapter, he also pointed out: “Every
hypocritical alchemist who fools people with the fire actually uses the cinnabar silver
to easily fool people,” reminding people not to be deceived by alchemists’
witchcraft.
Of course, due to historical limitations, Song Yingxing was unable to conduct
“exhaustive experiments,” and therefore his book did contain some wrong conclu-
sions. However, as famous Japanese scholar Kiyoshi Yabuuchi put it: “If interpreted
in good faith, this shows the author’s creative spirit was not bound by his pre-
decessors’ bad habits.”6
12.5.2 Attaching Importance to Data Records and Reflecting

Quantitative Proportions
It can be seen from Tian Gong Kai Wu (“《天工开物》”) that Song Yingxing made
detailed records of the various data involved in the production process as much as
possible, fully reflecting quantitative proportional relationships and leaving valuable
data for future generations.
In the section of Caofang of the chapter of “Vessels and Vehicles,” Song
Yingxing provided a detailed description of the specifications of a grain carrier:
“The bottom is five zhangs and two chis long, and its plate is two chis thick. Phoebe nanmu is
the best suitable material, followed by chestnut wood. The head is nine chis and five cuns long,
and the stern is nine chis and five cuns long. The bottom is 9 chis and 5 cuns wide; the bottom
head is 6 chis wide, the bottom tip is 5 chis wide, the lion statues at the bow are 8 chis wide, the
lion statues at the stern are 7 chis wide, totalling 14.The bow girder is 1 zhang wide and 4 chis
deep, and the wind girder 1 zhang and 4 chis wide and 3 chis and 8 cuns deep. The rear water-
breaking girder is 9 chis wide and 4 chis and 5 cuns deep. The two granaries are 7 chis and
6 cuns wide altogether. The initial design of the ship can carry nearly 120,000 kg of rice.”
This paragraph not only recorded the lengths, widths, heights, and depths of all
major parts of the ship but also pointed out the load capacity of the ship (see Fig. 12.5).
Song Yingxing also noticed the dimensions of production materials and tools.
When talking of the making of tripod cauldrons in the section of “Tripod Cauldrons”
of the “Casting” chapter, he pointed out: “each costs 47,000 jins of bronze, 4,000 jins
of tin, 50 liangs of gold and 120 liangs of silver. A finished product weighs 20,000
jins and is over 1 zhang and 1 chi tall.” In the chapter of Ganshi, he recorded the
sugar making apparatus: “The sugar-making apparatus is made with two horizontal
plates, which are 5 chis long, 5 cuns thick and 2 chis wide. Holes are made at both
ends to mount pillars, which are a little short at the upper end and protrude by 2-3
chis at the lower end. The apparatus is buried in the soil for stability. Two holes are
made in the upper plate, and two axes are inserted. One of the axes is 3 chis long, and
the other 4 chis and 5 cuns. The longer one protrudes, and a plow is mounted. Bent
wood is used for the plow and is 1 zhang and 5 chis long for easy driving of the
cattle.” Had he not visited the site and learned (even measured) the data, he could not
have produced such a detailed description.
Song Yingxing also paid attention to the yield per mu of farmland and had clear
data in most cases. For example, the section of “Paddies” in Naili said: “Seedlings
6
Kiyoshi Yabuuchi: “On Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)”. Chinese translation of the Collection of
Papers on Tian Gong Kai Wu (《h天工开物i研究论文集》中译本), the Commercial Press, 1959,
p.12.
406 W. Dai
Fig. 12.5 Vessel illustration in Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
grown on one mu of farmland can be transplanted to 25 mus.” In the section of

“Oil Products” in Ointments, Song Yingxing recorded the yield of the oil plant
seeds one by one:
“Every shi of flax and castor seeds and camphor tree seeds produces 40 jins of oil. Each shi
of Semen Raphani produces 27 jins of oil. Each shi of rapeseed plant produces 30 jins of oil
or even 40 jins given diligent plowing, fertile land and good extraction techniques. Each shi
of camellia seeds produces 15 jins of oil. Each shi of Tongziren produces 33 jins of oil. When
the tallow seeds are divided, 20 jins of leather oil and 15 jins of water oil can be acquired,
and when tallow seeds are mixed, 33 jins of oil can be acquired. Each shi of Holly produces
12 jins of oil. Each shi of soybeans produces 9 jins of oil. Each shi of Isatis indigotica
produces 30 jins of oil. Each one hundred jins of cotton seeds produce seven jins of oil. Each
shi of amaranth produces 30 jins of oil. And each shi of flax and cannabis kernel produces
over 20 jins of oil.”
Such a detailed record is a true reflection of the oil crop processing capability
during that time.
12.5.3 Attaching Importance to Comprehensive Research

and Showing an Academic Vision
As can be seen from Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》), Song Yingxing examined
agricultural and handicraft production technologies from a broad perspective and
gave a comprehensive explanation to the geographical distribution of minerals and

the main products in various places.
In the “Limestone” section of the “Stone Burning” chapter, Song Yingxing
pointed out that stones in coastal areas such as Wenzhou, Taizhou, Fuzhou, and
Guangzhou could not be burned into ashes, and “God created oysters to take their
place.” When talking of coal, he pointed out open coal “was produced in the
kingdoms of Yan, Qi, Qin and Jin”; fragmented coal “was mostly produced in the
kingdoms of Wu and Chu.” Blue vitriol “was produced in the states of Jin and Xi,”
while the Kunlun alum and iron alum “were both produced in the Western Terri-
tories.” As for arsenic production, he pointed out “arsenic wells existed in both
Xinjun of Jiangxi and Xinyang of Henan and was therefore called the ‘Xin Stone’,
while in recent times, it is produced in Hengyang alone.” As for the place of origin of
gold, he pointed out “mostly from the southwest”; “water gold” (namely, gold dust in
the river) “was mostly from the Jinsha River in Yunnan,” while “in Chuanbei,
Tongchuan, Yuanling and Xupu, gold was derived from the sandy river water.”
Sandy gold mines existed in both counties of Dan and Ya in Hainan, where “gold
was mingled with sand and did not require deep excavation to get it.” Sandy gold
mines existed in the caves in habitats of ethnic minorities in Guangdong and
Guangxi, Runan County, and Gongxian County in Henan and Leping and Xinjian
in Jiangxi. When talking of the geographical distribution of silver, he pointed out:
“There were silver pits in Zhejiang and Fujian, and these pits were either closed or
excavated in early years of this dynasty. In the three counties of Rao, Xin and Rui in
Jiangxi, some pits were never opened. In Hubei, Hunan and Guangdong, Chenzhou
was the primary place of gold production; in Guizhou, it was Tongren; in Henan, it
was Yangzhao, Baoshan, Qiushupo in Yongning, Gaozuier in Lushi and Macaoshan
in Songxian County; in Sichuan, it was Mile Mountain; and in Gansu, it was the
Great Yellow Mountain. All these were fine mines.” He also said: “As for silver
mines in Yunnan, Chuxiong, Yongchang and Dali had the most silver mines,
followed by Qujing and Yao’an, which were followed by Zhenyuan.” As for copper
mines, Song Yingxing pointed out: “Guizhou provides the most copper used cur-
rently in China. There are also many caves in Hubei, Hunan and Guangxin of
Jiangxi. The Heng and Rui Prefectures of Jiangxi produce the most inferior copper.”
As for iron mines, Song Yingxing wrote: “Gansu in the northwest and Quanjun both
produce ingot iron. Yanjing, Zunhua and Pingyang in Shanxi produce sand iron.”
When talking of the above limestone, gold, silver, copper, and iron resources,
Song Yingxing demonstrated a command of abundant knowledge. Instead of focus-
ing on a certain mineral, he set his sights on the entire country and compared
minerals in different areas.
What is valuable is that while recording the local technology, Song Yingxing also
did his best to compare with similar technologies in other countries, leaving valuable
information for future generations.
When recording the domestic cotton fabrication technology in the section of Buyi
in “Naifu,” Song Yingxing pointed out: “Korea adopts a similar approach, while
western countries do not grasp its essence and do not know the secret of the looming
machine.” In the section of “Swords and Axes” of the “Forging” chapter, he wrote:
408 W. Dai
“The back of the Japanese sword is less than 6mm thick and does not fall when
placed on a finger. The method is unknown and not accessible to China.”
When talking about jade in the chapter of Zhuyu, Song Yingxing pointed out:
“There is strange jade in Western Suoli.7 It is usually white, but can be red in the
sunlight, or green during rainy days. This is a type of strange jade. In the Taiwei
Mountain in northwestern Korea, there is a kind of century-old jade, which contains
mutton fat jade and is no different from the jade in the Songling Mountain.” In the
chapter of Stone Burning, he wrote: “Alum is from abroad and refutes the myth that
only China has alum. This type of alum is called Persian alum, which is a special type.”
When talking about the welding of metal objects in the chapter of Forging, Song
Yingxing pointed out: “Western countries have strange powder for welding. White
copper powder is used for minor welding in China, while hammering is used for
major welding, which is durable and lasting. Therefore, western countries can make
cannons by casting, while China can only smelt.” With an objective attitude, Song
Yingxing compared Chinese and foreign technologies and admitted that some
foreign technologies were more advanced than those of China’s. In the chapters of
Zhuye and Jiabing, Song Yingxing specifically talked about the materials, charac-
teristics, and purposes of three kinds of cannons from the Netherlands, Spain, and
Portugal. He wrote: “In terms of cannon making, western, ‘red-cloth’ and Farang
cannons are made with wrought brass,” “western cannons are made with wrought
brass and are round like bronze drums. When launched, these cannons can scare men
and horses within 250 meters to death. The ‘Primary General’ and ‘Secondary
General’ cannons, which were smaller than the “Red Barbarian” cannons, remained
giant cannons for China and were used for sea battles.”
These objective records by Song Yingxing are still valuable for the study of the
production, military, and relevant technologies in Eastern and Western countries at
that time. The cannons were moved with a rotational mechanical device and stopped
when reaching a threshold. The one who fired the fuse reversed into a deep pit so he
would survive. The red-barbarian cannon was made of cast iron and more than 3 m
long, used to defend cities. The cannon contained iron pellets and a dozen kg of
gunpowder, which could fly over one kilometer and shred whomever they met into
pieces. When launched, the cannon would generate a recoil and must be held against
the wall, which often collapsed as a result of the firing.
12.6 Historical Importance and Influence of Tian Gong Kai Wu

(《天工开物》)
Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) was completed in the late Ming Dynasty period
and early Qing Dynasty period. Compared with relevant previous works, it is
academically important and special, while its spread and influence went through
ups and downs.
7
Western Suoli: present-day coastal Coromandel Peninsula of India.
12.6.1 Academic Importance of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
Agricultural works prior to Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) included Guan Zi – Di

Yuan (《管子·地员》) and the four articles of Shang Nong (《上农》), Ren Di (《任地》),
Bian Tu (《辨土》), and Shen Shi (《审时》) in Lv Shi Chun Qiu (《吕氏春秋》) during
the pre-Qin Dynasty period, Qi Min Yao Shu (《齐民要术》) by Jia Sixie in the
Southern and Northern Dynasties period (c.543), Nong Shu (《农书》) by Chen Fu
during the Song Dynasty period (1149), Nong Sang Ji Yao (《农桑辑要》) by Guan
Xiu during the Yuan Dynasty period (1273), Nong Shu (《农书》) by Wang Zhen
(1313), and Nong Shuo (《农说》) by Ma Yilong (1547). Fan Sheng Zhi Shu (《氾胜
之书》) of the Han Dynasty period is important but long lost. Nong Zheng Quan Shu
(《农政全书》) by Xu Guangqi during the Ming Dynasty period was a summarizing
agricultural masterpiece, which however was published later than Tian Gong Kai Wu
(《天工开物》). Among the above agricultural works, Qi Min Yao Shu (《齐民要术》)
is the earliest and most complete comprehensive agricultural book currently avail-
able, consisting of 10 volumes, 92 sections, and nearly 120,000 characters. It
examines the areas along the midstream and downstream of the Yellow River in
northern China and presents the whole picture of agricultural, forestry, husbandry,
and fishing. Chen Fu’s Nong Shu (《农书》), containing more than 10,000 characters,
summarizes the rice farming techniques in areas south of the Yangtze River and
covers buffalos and silkworms. Wang Zhen’s Nong Shu (《农书》) is a masterpiece
that tries to summarize the agricultural techniques and systems in the Yellow River
Basin and areas south of the Yangtze River after Qi Min Yao Shu (《齐民要术》),
consisting of 37 volumes, around 130,000 characters, and over 300 illustrations.
Compared with the above agricultural books by predecessors, Tian Gong Kai Wu
(《天工开物》) is deeper in certain aspects, though not as comprehensive as Qi Min
Yao Shu (《齐民要术》) and Wang Zhen’s Nong Shu (《农书》).
Now let us look at publications on handicraft techniques. Books on handicraft
techniques before Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) were far outnumbered by
agricultural books, including Kao Gong Ji (《考工记》), an official book of the Qi
Kingdom in the pre-Qin Dynasty period, Gu Jin Dao Jian Lu by Tao Hongjing in the
Northern and Southern Dynasties period, Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武经总要》) by Zeng
Gongliang in the Song Dynasty period (1044), Li Jie’s Ying Zao Fa Shi (《营造法
式》)(1100), Su Song’s Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao (《新仪象法要》) (1090), Wang Zhuo’s
Tang Shuang Pu (《糖霜谱》) (c.1154), Ao Bo Tu (《熬波图》) by Chen Chun in the
Yuan Dynasty period (1330), Wu Bei Zhi (《武备志》) by Mao Yuanyi in the Ming
Dynasty period (16,210, Huang Cheng’s Xiu Shi Lu (《髹饰录》) (1625), and Wang
Zhi’s Xin Zhi Zhu Qi Tu Shuo (《新制诸器图说》) (1627). There were several other
important works such as Yu Hao’s Mu Jing (《木经》) and Xue Jingshi’s Zi Ren Yi Zhi
(《梓人遗制》) in the Song Dynasty period but were mostly lost. Among the above
works, Kao Gong Ji (《考工记》) is the earliest currently available collection of
works on handicraft techniques, covering six technical categories of carpentry,
metalworking, leather, dyeing and weaving, jade and pottery, and 30 professions.
However, the records are imbalanced. Other works all focus on a particular tech-
nique and are not comprehensive.
410 W. Dai
It is fair to say Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) is not as specialized as some

previous works on a particular technique. However, it far exceeds any of the
previous works on handicraft in terms of breadth. From a comprehensive point of
view, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) is the only work that combined agriculture
and handicraft techniques and examined 18 categories as a whole.
Many comprehensive technology works during the Ming Dynasty period, such as
Zhu Di’s Jiu Huang Ben Cao (《救荒本草》) (1406), Li Shizhen’s Ben Cao Gang Mu
(《本草纲目》) (1578), Mao Yuanyi’s Wu Bei Zhi (《武备志》) (1621), and Xu
Guangqi’s Nong Zhen Quan Shu (《农政全书》) (1628). These books were all
published or completed before Emperor Chongzhen’s reign, and Tian Gong Kai
Wu (《天工开物》), as a comprehensive work on agricultural and handicraft technol-
ogies, could fully match the above excellent works. In comparison, the representa-
tive technology work during the Reconnaissance was Georgius Agricola’s De re
Metallica and its Chinese counterpart was Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》). No
wonder world-famous technology historian Dr. Needham called Song Yingxing
“China’s Agricola.”
12.6.2 Spread and Influence of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) began to influence after its publication. In the early
days of Emperor Kangxi’s reign during the Qing Dynasty period, Fujian book
merchant Yang Suqing reprinted Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》), facilitating its
spread. During Emperor Kangxi’s reign, Chen Bulei of the Imperial Academy
authored Gu Jin Tu Shu Hui Bian (《古今图书汇编》), which was revised by Jiang
Tingxi as ordered in the early period of Emperor Yongzheng’s reign and was
renamed as Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《古今图书集成》). The book consisted of
10,000 volumes and 32 categories, including calendars, local governance, ethics,
natural history, science, and economics. In terms of handicraft and food/clothing, the
book cited a great number of texts and illustrations from Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工
开物》). In the 2nd year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1737), Zhang Tingyu et al.
were ordered to make Shou Shi Tong Kao (《授时通考》), which consisted of
78 volumes and made multiple references to Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》),
further facilitating the spread of the book.
However, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) had fared badly for a period during
the second half of the eighteenth century. When ordering the making of Si Ku Quan
Shu (《四库全书》), Emperor Qianlong found anti-Qing slurs such as the “northern
barbarian horde” and “northeastern barbarians” when checking the book, and as a
result, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) was among those banned books. After
Emperors Jiaqing and Daoguang’s reigns, there was a trend of removal of the ban,
and scholars began to publicly cite Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》), such as famous
scholar Wu Qijun, who made multiple references to Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开
物》) in his Dian Nan Kuang Chang Tu Lue (《滇南矿厂图略》) (1840) and Zhi Wu
Ming Shi Tu Kao (《植物名实图考》) (1848). During Emperor Tongzhi’s reign, Qing
people’s citation of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) reached a new culmination.
For example, Liu Yueyun, who was an expert on both Western and Chinese cultures,
almost excerpted everything from Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) and other
relevant technological works in his Ge Wu Zhong Fa (《格物中法》) (1870), catego-
rized them, and added supplementary annotations. However, the entire book of Tian
Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) was missing from bookshelves or scholars’ desks.
During the rush for studying in Japan in the early twentieth century, Zhang
Hongzhao, the then international student, spotted Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开
物》) at the Imperial Library in Tokyo. Deeply struck, he asked someone to make a
handwritten copy of it. After returning to China, Zhang was appointed to a series of
positions, including the director of the Geology Research Institute under the Beiyang
government, and later taught mineralogy and natural history at Peking University
and Beijing Women’s Advanced Normal School. In 1927, Zhang Hongzhao
published the book Shi Ya (《石雅》), which cited many texts and illustrations from
Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) and referred to the layout.
In 1914, Ding Wenjiang, a returnee from Britain, went to Yunnan for a survey.
When reading Yun Nan Tong Zhi – Kuang Zheng Pian (《云南通志·矿政篇》), he
noticed references to copper smelting from (《天工开物》) and was immensely
interested. After returning to Beijing the next year, he searched all the bookstores
only to find nothing and could not get answers from book collectors, either. It was
not until 1922 that he ran into Luo Shuyun and learned that he had run into a
Japanese collector of ancient coins and exchanged ancient coins for a copy of Tian
Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) made in Japan after years of searching. As a congenial
and generous friend, Luo lent his copy to Ding.
The culture craze in the 1920s promoted the publication of Tian Gong Kai Wu
(《天工开物》). In 1927, book collector Tao Xiang excerpted most of Tian Gong
Kai Wu (《天工开物》) based on Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《图书集成》), published a new
version of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) after adding missing parts based on
Yan Fa Zhi (《盐法志》), invited Ding Wenjiang to write the preface, and wrote the
“Biography of Mr. Song Changgeng from Fengxin.” After Tao Xiang’s version,
Shanghua Huatung Press published Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) in 1930. In
1933, the Commercial Press published Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) in two
forms, including a one-volume version that was included in Guo Xue Ji Ben Cong
Shu Jian Bian (《国学基本丛书简编》) and a three-volume version that was
included in the famous Wan You Wen Ku (《万有文库》). The version by the
Commercial Press was the first modern lead-printed version of Tian Gong Kai
Wu (《天工开物》) and played a great role in its popularization. In 1936, Shanghai
World Book Company published a lead-printed version of revised Tian Gong Kai
Wu (《天工开物》).
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the publication and study
of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) ushered in a new era. In 1954, the Commercial
Press reprinted Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) based on the 1933 version. In
1959, Zhonghua Book Company published Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
based on the 1637 version discovered in Ningbo, providing a reliable sample for
studies domestically and abroad. In 1976, Guangdong People’s Publishing House
published Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) in simplified Chinese characters in
412 W. Dai
rows, used new-style punctuations, added various annotations, and inserted mod-
ern Chinese translations, greatly promoting the popularization of Tian Gong Kai
Wu (《天工开物》).
Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) also exerted positive influence when spread
overseas. In the late seventeenth century, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) entered
Japan through merchant ships, drawing the attention of Kaibara Ekken (1630–1714),
a famous scholar during the Edo Era. He listed Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) in
his Hua Pu (《花谱》) (1694) as important reference and directly cited Tian Gong Kai
Wu (《天工开物》) in the subsequent work of Yamato Sohon (Grasses of Japan)
(1708). In the eighteenth century, another version of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开
物》) spread into Japan and caught the attention of more Japanese scholars. In 1771,
Kanseido in Osaka published and made a version of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开
物》), which was extensively spread in Japan. Japanese science historian Kiyoshi
Yabuuchi wrote: “Many people read this book during the Tokugawa era (or Edo era),
particularly in terms of technology. It became valuable reference for many average
scholars.”8 In 1953, Japanese scholars led by Kiyoshi Yabuuchi translated the entire
text of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) into modern Japanese and added annota-
tions, notes, and punctuations. Meanwhile, they incorporated relevant papers into a
book and published it with the title “Study of Tian Gong Kai Wu,” further expanding
its influence.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
attracted the attention of Korean scholars. Joseon scholar Bak Jiwon spotted the
book when visiting China in a delegation and introduced the irrigation carts recorded
in Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) in his Jehol Diary (1780) after returning to
Korea, expecting his country to make a similar one. Soon afterward, the original Tian
Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) was spread into Korea. In the nineteenth century,
famous scholar Kyu-gyong Yi (1788–1862) published Wu Zhou Yan Wen Chang
Zha San Gao (《五洲衍文长笺散稿》) (c.1850), which made multiple references to
Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》).
At a time not later than the eighteenth century, Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》)
was also introduced to Europe and first caught the attention of the French academia.
In the 1930s and 1940s, famous sinologist Stanislas Julien excerpted and translated
five chapters of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) into French and published on
science publications such as the Proceedings of the French Academy of Sciences and
the Chemistry Yearbook. Some translations were then translated from French into
English, German, Italian, and Russian. In 1869, Julien worked with scientist Paul
Champion to publish Industries ancinnes et moderns de l Empire Chinois in French,
excerpting and translating the chapters of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) involv-
ing the handicraft industry and adding annotations. Julien’s translations played an
important role in Sino-Western exchange of science and culture. Darwin, the famous
English biologist, had read the translations about silkworms and used the practice of
8
Kiyoshi Yabuuchi: “About Tian Gong Kai Wu”. Chinese translation of the Collection of Papers on
Tian Gong Kai Wu, the Commercial Press, 1959, p.23.
fostering good breeds through artificial hybridization in ancient China as proof for
artificial selection and species mutation.
In 1966, the first full translation of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) was
published in London and Pennsylvania at the same time, with the translation done
by Dr. E-Tu Zen of the University of Pennsylvania and her husband Shiou-chuan
Sun. The translation was based on the Ming version Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开
物》), with reference to other versions in Chinese and foreign languages, and
annotations were added. The translation was titled as Tian Gong Kai Wu by Song
Yingxing: Technology Book in 17th Century China. The translation and publication
of the full text of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) expanded its influence
worldwide.
In the 1980s, China ushered in a spring for science, when new works and papers
on Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》) emerged, including influential works such as
Song Yingxing – Science in Ming Dynasty (《明代科学宋应星》) (Science Press,
1981) and the Translation and Annotations of Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物译注》)
(Shanghai Classic Publishing House, 1990) by Pan Jixing, which reflected new
developments of research.
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》)
and Xu Guangqi 13
Xiongsheng Zeng
Contents
13.1 About Xu Guangqi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
13.2 Xu Guangqi’s Contributions to Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
13.3 Xu Guangqi’s Agricultural Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
13.4 About Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
13.5 Content and Contributions of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
13.5.1 Content and Writing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
13.5.2 Contributions to Agricultural Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
13.5.3 Analysis of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
13.5.4 Historical Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
13.5.5 Influence on the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
Abstract
Nong Zheng Quan Shu 《 ( 农政全书》) had almost all the characteristics of
agricultural works. Nong Zheng Quan Shu is not only an official agricultural
book, but also a private work at the same time. It represented the highest level of
traditional Chinese agriculture, and it could even be considered an embodiment of
traditional Chinese agriculture. Its author Xu Guangqi was one of the greatest
scientists in ancient China and a pioneer of cultural exchanges between China and
the West.
Keywords
Nong Zheng Quan Shu · Xu Guangqi · Agricultural practice · Agricultural
science
X. Zeng (*)
The Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
e-mail: zeng@ihns.ac.cn

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7844-1_13
416 X. Zeng
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) had almost all the characteristics of agricul-
tural works. If you assume it was an official agricultural book, its author was indeed
in a high position; if you assume it was a private work, it was not his duty to write
agricultural books, and the book was written in spare time and was a nonduty
invention; if you assume it was a national agricultural book, it indeed aimed to
benefit the country as its mission and was a book oriented toward the entire nation;
but you can also assume it was a local agricultural book, as the author was indeed
writing about the agriculture in his hometown (the southeastern part of the country
represented by Songjiang) and more or less demonstrated some local protectionism
tendencies. But in any case, it represented the highest level of traditional Chinese
agriculture, and it could even be considered an embodiment of traditional Chinese
agriculture. Its author Xu Guangqi was one of the greatest scientists in ancient China
and a pioneer of cultural exchanges between China and the West. He made important
contributions in many fields of science, and his biggest contribution was Nong
Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》).
13.1 About Xu Guangqi
Xu Guangqi, alias Zixian or Xuanhu, was born in Shanghai in the forty-first year of
Emperor Jiajing’s reign of the Ming Dynasty (1562). In the ninth year of Emperor
Wanli’s reign (1581), when he was 20 years old, he was admitted to Jinshanwei as a
scholar and started his teaching career. In the twenty-fifth year of Emperor Wanli’s
reign (1597), he became the first in Shuntian Township Examination at the age of
36 and became a Juren. After passing the exam, he still made a living by teaching. It
was not until around the age of 40 that Xu Guangqi’s life path changed.
In the twenty-eighth year of Emperor Wanli’s reign (1600), Xu Guangqi was
39 years old. He failed the previous year’s test and went to Beijing for the exam. He
visited the Jesuit Ricci (Mate Ricci, 1552–1610) while passing through Nanjing, and
started interacting with missionaries. In the thirtieth year of Emperor Wanli’s reign
(1603), Xu Guangqi met another missionary Joao de Rocha (1566–1623), and under
the guidance of the latter, he joined the Catholic Church with the name “Paul.” In the
following year, Xu Guangqi served as a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and later
served as a reviewer of the Hanlin Academy, a teacher in the Interior Study, a
compiler of the Hanlin Academy, Zanshan of Zuochunfang, Shaozhanshi, Henan
Provincial Supervisor, and other positions. At the age of 68, he served as the
Assistant Minister of Rites, and was promoted to be the Minister of Rites. In the
fifth year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign, he became a grand secretary (1632) and
died during his tenure the following year (1633).
Missionaries used science as a means of mission. After Xu Guangqi contacted
Matteo Ricci and others, he began to learn and explore Western scientific knowl-
edge. Together with Matteo Ricci and others, he translated “Euclid’s Elements,”
“Measurement Methodology,” “Taixi Water Method,” and Western calendars,
among others, and also made astronomical instruments such as heaven disks, earth
disks, timing scales, and Xuanji jade scales. He also wrote many books on
13 Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) and Xu Guangqi 417
astronomy, arithmetic, and measurement, such as Measurement Similarities and

Differences, Pythagoras, and so on.
13.2 Xu Guangqi’s Contributions to Science
Xu Guangqi made outstanding contributions in many fields of science. He presided

over the revision of the calendar and the compilation of Chongzhen Calendar, which
began in the fourth year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign (1631) and was completed in
the eleventh year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign (1638). The book contained
46 categories and 137 volumes and was submitted in five parts. The first three
parts were submitted by Xu Guangqi himself (23 categories and 75 volumes), and
the last two parts were submitted by Li Tianjing after Xu Guangqi died. The fourth
part was still revised by Xu Guangqi himself (13 categories and 30 volumes), while the
fifth part was “half-revised” by Xu and finally completed by Li Tianjing (10 categories
and 32 volumes). Xu Guangqi “interpreted the texts, focused on polishing, and collated
tests,” taking overall responsibility for the editing of the entire book of the “Chongzhen
Almanac.” In addition, he personally participated in the specific compilation work of
books such as Measuring Sky, Great Measurement, Ri Chan Li Zhi, Measurement
Methodology, Ri Chan Biao, and other books. “Chongzhen Almanac” adopted the
Tycho system. This system believed that the earth is still the center of the solar system.
The sun, moon, and stars all move around the earth, while the five stars move around
the sun. This was slightly more progressive than the Ptolemy system introduced by
Matteo Ricci when the missionaries first arrived in China, but the missionaries did not
introduce the more scientific Copernicus system that had emerged in the West at that
time. The “Chongzhen Almanac” still used a set of interrelated circular motions such as
the current wheel and the equal wheel to describe and calculate astronomical phenom-
ena and movements of the sun, the moon, and the five planets. The missionaries did not
introduce the three more advanced planetary laws (Kepler’s three laws) that existed in
the West at that time. Nevertheless, the accuracy of the solar and lunar eclipse
calculated according to Western law was higher than that of the traditional Chinese
Datong Calendar. In addition, the “Chongzhen Almanac” also introduced the idea that
the earth is spherical, the calculation of the latitude and longitude of the earth, and the
spherical triangulation method, which distinguished between the near (distal) point of
the sun and the winter (summer) solstice, and adopted the corrected value of astro-
nomical refraction.
In addition to the work of the astronomical calendar, Xu Guangqi also discussed
the reasons for the backwardness of Chinese mathematics in the Ming Dynasty;
discussed the wide range of mathematics applications; and also translated and
published Euclid’s Elements with the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci. Xu Guangqi
believed that there were two reasons for the backwardness of mathematics after the
Song and Yuan Dynasties. “The first reason was that the Confucian scholars cared
little about technology and actual matters; another reason was that frauds ascribed
everything to divine powers and used divine powers to explain everything. None of
the theories based on divine powers worked, and none of the studies of actual science
418 X. Zeng
were passed down. None of the methods developed by ancient great minds for
practical purposes were inherited by officials, who were far inferior to the ancients
in terms of professionalism and governance ability” (Preface to Tong Wen Suan Zhi
(《同文算指》)). Xu Guangqi believed that mathematics could be used in a wide
range of fields. He mentioned ten aspects: (1) astronomical calendar; (2) water
conservancy engineering; (3) music; (4) weaponry and military engineering;
(5) accounting and financial management; (6) various construction projects;
(7) machinery manufacturing; (8) land measurement; (9) medicine; and (10) making
of clocks and other timers. Xu Guangqi’s greatest contribution to mathematics was
the translation of Euclid’s Elements, which was authored by the ancient Greek
mathematician Euclid in the third century BC on the basis of summarizing the
achievements of predecessors. This masterpiece of ancient mathematics used a series
of theorems to organize elementary geometry knowledge into a complete system in
the form of rigorous logical reasoning, starting with axioms, postulates, and defini-
tions. The logical reasoning method it represented, coupled with scientific experi-
ments, was an important prerequisite for the emergence and development of modern
science in the world. Xu Guangqi rightly pointed out: “This book is beneficial,
allowing scholars to get rid of impetuous mentality and hone their patience to
develop their own methods and ingenuity. Therefore, everyone in the world should
study it. . .Nothing cannot be refined. Those who have learned this book well can be
masters of everything” (Xu Guangqi’s Collection – Ji He Yuan Ben Za Yi (《徐光启
集·几何原本杂议》)). In 1 year, six volumes of Euclid’s Elements were translated
and published.
Xu Guangqi has been concerned about military affairs since he was a child. When
he was selected as a member of the Hanlin Academy, Xu Guangqi suggested in his
Suggestions on Guarding the Frontier that “barriers be set up, chariots and horses be
prepared, weapons be prepared, generals be appointed, soldiers be trained, discipline
be strictly adhered to and reward be offered and penalties be imposed.” “Among
several things, two are especially important: refinement and practicality.” Based on
the pursuit of “refinement” and “practicality,” Xu Guangqi also made great efforts to
promote the “Eight Invincibles” advocated by Guan Zhong (materials, crafts, weap-
onry, selection of troops, political and educational qualities of the army, training,
intelligence, and command) to prevent the “Four Shortcomings” pointed out by
Chao Cuo (inferior weaponry, inappropriate selection of soldiers, generals’ igno-
rance of their soldiers, and emperors’ ignorance of their generals). Xu Guangqi paid
special attention to the selection and training of soldiers, suggesting that ““selection
should be proper selection, and training should be practical training.” In February of
the forty-eighth year of Emperor Wanli’s reign (1620), Xu Guangqi was appointed to
supervise the training of the new army in Tongzhou and Changping. During this
period, he wrote Xuan Lian Bai Zi Jue (《选练百字诀》), Xuan Lian Tiao Ge (《选练
条格》), Lian Yi Tiao Ge (《练艺条格》), Shu Wu Tiao Ge (《束伍条格》), Xing Ming
Tiao Ge (《形名条格》) (array method), Huo Gong Yao Lue (《火攻要略》) (Overview
of Cannons), and Zhi Huo Yao Fa (《制火药法》). Besides, Xu Guangqi also paid
special attention to the manufacture of weapons, especially artillery. Xu Guangqi
also explored the use of firearms in practice and the collaboration between firearms
and urban defense, firearms and siege, firearms and infantry, cavalry, and other
aspects.
13.3 Xu Guangqi’s Agricultural Practice
As a translator of astronomy and arithmetic works, Xu Guangqi did not intend to

become experts in these areas but aimed to serve farmland water conservancy. He
studied arithmetic to “widen his skills and use it to control water and land for great
benefits and urgent matters.”(Ti Ce Liang Fa Yi (《题测量法义》), Xu Guangqi’s
Collection (Vol.2), Zhonghua Book Company, 1963, P.82). He claimed “If any
matter in terms of agriculture involves my business, I will go there with this book
(the arithmetic book) and analyze it with arithmetic.” (Ke Tong Wen Suan Zhi Xu
(《刻同文算指序》), Xu Guangqi’s Collection (Vol.2)). The purpose of his study of
astronomy and calendars was also to serve agriculture. As Guan Zi (《管子》) put it:
“If you know nothing about the four seasons, the foundation of the country is lost; if
you do not know about the five grains, the country goes astray,” (Quote from Nong
Zheng Quan Shu – Fan Li (《农政全书·凡例》).) requiring an understanding of the
times through observations to benefit agriculture, so “there are specific tasks for the
four seasons and suitable things for the twelve months respectively” (Nong Zheng
Quan Shu – Nong Shi – Shou Shi (《农政全书·农事·授时》)). It was his very study of
astronomy and arithmetic that laid a solid foundation for his future study of
agriculture, etc.
From the thirty-fifth year (1607) to the thirty-eighth year of Emperor Wanli’s
reign (1610), Xu Guangqi had been back in his hometown for bereavement leave for
his father. In the second year of his return, a devastating flood struck Jiangnan. On
the one hand, Xu Guangqi suggested “setting aside tax money of 50,000 for relief in
the towns of Su, Song, and Chang; distributing salt and providing tax money of
150,000 respectively to relieve Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou. If these suggestions
are followed, many towns will suffer zero casualties.” On the other hand, he tried to
save himself through production: “I will do planting in preparation for emergencies.”
So he built two orchards and farms for agricultural experiments and gained much
experience in the planting, introduction, and farming of crops. Hearing the profit of
sweet potatoes was marginal in Fujian, he “sent people to deliver seeds to Fujian and
planted sweet potatoes that were no different than those elsewhere.” Therefore, he
planned to “roll it out” and wrote Gan Shu Shu (《甘薯疏》) for extensive promotion.
(Gan Shu Shu Xu (《甘薯疏序》)). He also wrote a range of agricultural works such as
Wu Jing Shu (《芜菁疏》), Ji Bei Shu (《吉贝疏》), Zhong Mian Hua Fa (《种棉花
法》), and Dai Yuan Zhong Zhu Tu Shuo (《代园种竹图说》). In 1610, he wrote the
Letter to My Local Folks, where he proposed measures to contain floods and
demonstrated his understanding of agriculture, disasters, and water conservancy.
The full text is as follows:
Recently, floods have flooded the low fields. Now that the water is receding, the crops are
already rotten. As a farmer, you should not leave them to waste. If you seek to plant
420 X. Zeng
seedlings, there will be no time. Crops can be planted in 60 days and the harvest will be
small. There is a method today. Although the rice can still be grown a few days after the
beginning of autumn and it is as ripe as usual, you must buy late rice from the neighboring
higher fields. Though completed, these crops can be bought at a high price. Each field covers
2 mus, and one mu is bought. This one mu of rice is divided into five mus of low-lying fields,
and more dung cakes are laid, when they will be ripe around the usual time. Although the
high fields are sold for half, with dung relay, the rice grows up and generally harvests. If the
grass grows high and makes planting hard, a few leaves must be removed and the stubs shall
be planted up and down one chi. The late rice is cooked after the summer heat, and it is better
to separate the seeds before making the stomach. If they have been planted and are
submerged and cannot afford to buy rice seedlings, they will also have to drive to collect
water to make them slightly moist. Although the rice seedlings are rotten, the roots of the rice
can still grow in the soil. However, more rice seedlings will be required. The previous
method is commonly used by farmers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, who even by one mu of grain
and divide the one mu into ten mus. As for the latter approach, I personally test it often. In
recent years, the water conservancy has not been built, and there is no way to discharge the
water of the Taihu Lake. As a result, the flood in the Wushen year still has not receded, and
whenever there is heavy rain, it overwhelms, otherwise why hadn’t there been long rainy
days before? It was in this year alone that days of rain could produce floods, and with the
water conservancy not built, it will be like this every year. This approach should be rolled
out. If there is a severe drought and it rains in the fall, this method can also be used. If you
don’t believe it, you can ask anyone who has been to Jiangsu or Zhejiang: In famine years,
with every additional mu of barren land, there will be an additional person starving to death.
This is no small matter and should not be neglected. (p.144-145 of the photographed copy
and p.189-191 of the handwritten copy).
In the fortieth year of Emperor Wanli’s reign (1612), Xu Guangqi began to turn to
systematic research in agriculture and water conservancy. In The Preface of the
Pythagorean Theorem, he explained the reason why he switched from “the study of
calendar and phenomena” to “farmland water conservancy.” He said: “The study of
calendar and phenomena can be put aside; there are various theories and this field
may not be in urgent need; it is river management in the northwest and water
conservancy in the southeast that are the top priorities of our time.” (Gou Gu Yi Xu
(《勾股议序》), Xu Guangqi’s Collection (《徐光启集》) (Vol.2)). This change was
closely related to the late-Ming Dynasty period when Xu Guangqi lived, a period
marked by frequent natural and man-made disasters and internal and external
troubles. He believed that “the country is weak” and must “strengthen its military”
(see the letter “Fu Tai Shi Jiao Zuo Shi” (《复太史焦座师》)). To strengthen its
military, the country must increase taxes, and to increase taxes, it must develop
agriculture (Chen Zilong’s Letter to Minister Zhang Yusi said: “Xu’s agricultural
book. . .. . .treats water and clarifies agricultural knowledge, which applies to all. To
strengthen the military, we must first treat taxation.” Xu’s Ni Shang An Bian Yu Lu
Shu (《拟上安边御虏疏》) says: “all the defense proposals I made require money”.
“Agriculture is what generates money.”). He pointed out “all the powers in ancient
times started with agriculture” and felt sad that “the country has never appointed
agriculture officials, officials have never valued agriculture, scholars have never
talked about agriculture and people have never engaged in agriculture since the Tang
and Song Dynasties periods.” He emphasized “agriculture” was the “essential and
ultimate key” to the national defense at that time (See Ni Shang An Bian Yu Lu Shu
(《拟上安边御虏疏》)) and “said it to whomever he met,” demanding prioritization

of the “essential industry.” This emphasis on the essential industry was not only
intended to strengthen the country, but also enrich it. He said “the country is poor”
because “we do not engage in agriculture” and lamented “the people in the Central
Plains have been off agriculture for too long.” (Chen Zilong: Nong Zheng Quan Shu
Fan Li (《农政全书凡例》)). In this situation, he suggested “solving the crux” with
agriculture, and believed not only the country needed to “appoint agricultural
officials,” “handle agricultural matters,” and “develop agriculture,” scholars should
also “study agriculture.” Chen Zilong, Xu’s disciple, commented on Xu’s lifelong
academic pursuit as follows: “he (Xu Guangqi) spent his lifetime studying practical
science, particularly in agriculture, because he believed agriculture is the source of
people’s livelihood and the foundation of the country’s prosperity” (Nong Zheng
Quan Shu – Fan Li).
From the autumn of the forty-first year (1613) to the forty-sixth year of Emperor
Wanli’s reign (1618), Xu Guangqi had conducted the second agricultural experiment
in Tianjin. In the first year of Emperor Tianqi’s reign (1621), he went back to Tianjin
for an agricultural experiment at a larger scale. During his stay in Tianjin, he wrote a
range of books such as Bei Geng Lu (《北耕录》), Yi Keng Ling (《宜垦令》), and
Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》). The agricultural experiment and writing conducted
during these two relatively concentrated periods laid a solid foundation for his future
writing of “Nong Zheng Quan Shu” (《农政全书》).
In the second year of Emperor Tianqi’s reign (1622), Xu Guangqi returned to his
hometown due to illness and lived as a civilian. Despite his seniority, he continued to
plant experimental crops while collecting and sorting out data and writing agricul-
tural books to fulfill his lifelong wish. In the first year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign
(1628), Xu Guangqi resumed his previous official tenure, when significant progress
was made in his agricultural works. However, he was too busy revising calendar
books after taking office and had no time finalizing the agricultural books, and later
died on duty. In the sixth year after Xu’s death, namely the twelfth year of Emperor
Chongzhen’s reign (1639), Xu Guangqi’s disciple Chen Zilong obtained a dozen
volumes of drafts from Xu’s second grandson Xu Erjue, and accepted Songjiang
governor Fang Yuegong’s order to revise the drafts, creating 60 volumes of Nong
Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》).
Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Fan Li (《农政全书·凡例》) summarized Xu Guangqi’s
writings as “a collection of information from various sources and distinctive
insights.” (Regarding Xu Guangqi’s work approach, you may refer to Liang Jiamian:
“Discussion of Process of Writing of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) and
Several Related Issues”. Collection of Papers in Memory of Xu Guangqi (《徐光启
纪念论文集》), p.78–109). According to statistics, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全
书》) cited 225 previous works. While citing these works, Xu Guangqi distinguished
between the essence and dross and never blindly followed. In addition to necessary
selection, he also made comments in the name of “Mr. Xuanyi,” pointed out mis-
takes, and filled gaps. According to recent statistics, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政
全书》) contained about 61,400 of Xu’s own words, which embodied his main
achievements. If the previous literature cited was the result of Xu’s extensive
422 X. Zeng
reading, these over 60,000 characters were the result of Xu’s extensive traveling. Xu
Guangqi was a practical scientist. His son Xu Ji had such an impression of him: “He
liked nothing but economics, using ancient evidence to prove today’s matters and
consulting widely. He asked anyone he ran into, asked questions wherever he went
and recorded what he got. He would get to the bottom of everything and would not
rest until finding out the ultimate truth. So all his theories had roots and all his
comments were based personal witnessing. He explored the mysteries of the calen-
dar, algorithms, fire attacks and water conservation, which were used for military and
agricultural applications and benefitted future generations.” Xu Guangqi himself
once said: “When I was young, I traveled widely and asked wherever I went.” (Nong
Zheng Quan Shu – Planting – Woods – Sapium Sebiferum (《农政全书·种植·木
部·乌臼》)). Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) was written in this way. The
“Examples” said: “(He) personally operated agricultural instruments, tasted herbs,
made collections anytime and asked questions to form a book.” According to his
investigations of the lifecycles of locusts in the book, and his experience in sweet
potatoes, cotton, sapium sebiferum, privets, rice, and wheat and rape, he always
combined interviews with his own practice, so his records were better than other
agricultural books. His agricultural book was profound. For example, in Volume
38, when referring to the question of increasing the rate of birth of sapium sebiferum,
he said: “I heard experienced farmers in the mountains saying: the sapium sebiferum
trees do not require connection, but we need to twist the branches in the spring and
break the inside without hurting the skin, which can achieve the same effect as
connection. I tried and found it was true. In remote areas where good seeds are not
available, this method can be used. This method has never been recorded in
agricultural books and not heard of by farmers. I reckon it is applicable to other
trees, too and should be tried for every other tree species” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu –
Planting – Woods – Sapium Sebiferum (《农政全书·种植·木部·乌臼》)).
13.4 About Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》)
Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》) was written by Xu Guangqi when he was reclaiming

wasteland in Tianjin and was regarded as the “prototype” of Nong Zheng Quan Shu
(《农政全书》). Wang Yuhu said: “As this book was seen in the collection of Qi’s
Danshengtang, it must have been completed before the end of Emperor Wanli’s
reign. The original book was lost and can only be learned from the quotation in Dai
Xi’s Yang Yu Yue Ling (《养余月令》) that the content of the book involved agron-
omy, horticulture, animal husbandry and many other aspects, very similar to the
prototype of the author’s later masterpiece Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》).”
From the word “Za Shu” in the title of the book, it can be speculated that this book
might contain a variety of special topics written by the author, such as “Gan Shu
Shu” (《甘薯疏》), “Wu Jing Shu” (《芜菁疏》), and “Ji Bei Shu” (《吉贝疏》) were all
included. However, the term “Nong Yi” cannot be explained, which is thought-
provoking (Wang Yuhu: Catalogue of Chinese Agricultural Books (《中国农学书
录》), p.179).
In addition to Yang Yu Yue Ling (《养余月令》), the Annals of Songjiang Prefec-

ture (《松江府志》) completed in 1631 was also found to have quoted this book, as
follows:
The variety of Maizhengchang, planted in March and ripe in June, competes with
wheat for the field. All farmers in Songjiang who have some extra energy plant a
small quantity to ease hunger. Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》) says: This seed gets
ripe early, and farmers heavily rely on it, which is the target of bidding. In drought
years, its price doubles.
For the variety of Yizhanghong, Xu Xuanhu says: “I farmed the barren land and
recently acquired indica, calling it Yizhanghong, which can be harvested in August if
planted in May, and is highly capable of withstanding water. With the water 1m deep,
the seeds are distributed inside and can sprout from the bottom, and the seeds are as
ripe as regular rice but require thick manure. In the watery area of Songjiang, this
variety is not vulnerable to flooding and therefore most suitable for planting.”
Regrown paddies were mentioned in Wu Du Fu (《吴都赋》) and never afterwards.
Jiang Tang’s poem Deng Song Jiang Ting (《登松江亭》) goes: “Sun-oriented early
grass attracts calves and paddies become ripe after the fall. There were paddies that
went ripe again in that year, which should have been during Emperor Huangyou’s
reign (1049–1054). Now the paddies in the field have been mowed in the harvest
year, while the paddy roots regrow and the seeds are extremely easy to grow and
soon become paddies, which are ready for harvesting and are called “re-harvested
paddies,” which is probably how the ancient name was derived. Nong Yi Za Shu (《农
遗杂疏》) goes: The aged root grows again, called “self-growing” or “re-harvested”
seeds. Farmers should plow before the paddies appear, or the field’s fertility will be
damaged.
The variety of Songjiangchi has a red tip color and hard texture, planted in April
and ripe in July, called the Jincheng Rice, which was planted in highlands. Nong Fu
Si Shu (《农圃四书》) goes: The red rice of Songjiang is inferior grain. The red rice
used in this county, which produces few, is mostly imported from Central Chu. As Za
Shu (《杂疏》) goes: It is resistant to brine in nature and can withhold salty tides,
planted in fields near the sea.
Lenglinuo (the Cold Grain Glutinous Rice), which was suitable for long fields,
had round particles that are yellowish white. It can be mowed during the summer,
and with its color hardly changeable, it was not suitable for wine making. Known as
the fall wind glutinous rice, it could replace japonica, also known as manguannuo.
As Nong Pu Si Shu (《农圃四书》) put it: This was called lenglinuo in Songjiang.
Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》) says: There is the variety of “budaonuo,” which is
easy to plant and produces good harvest, and is favored by the farmers. This variety
can be used as rice or for brewing.
In terms of cloth, Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》) says: The south is damp, and
therefore the cloth is dense and firm. In the north, the weather is dry, and the cloth
made is weak and insufficient for use. In the central south (“south” in Nong Zheng
Quan Shu (《农政全书》)), two approaches are used to make paper paste: The first is
to twist the cotton and paste in a bowl, then drive the wheel to make silk and form
cloth, which is called sizing in the native language (“the Wu people” in Nong Zheng
424 X. Zeng
Quan Shu (《农政全书》); the other is to make the cotton into silk with a machine and
put onto a grill for brushing with a broom, which is called cotton brushing in the
native language (“the Wu people” in Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》)). All of
today’s (“south” in Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》)) high-quality cloth is made
with the brushing method (p.146 of the photographed copy and p.194–195 of the
handwritten copy).
For the kapok, Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》) says: There are a variety of kapoks
in China.
Jianghua is produced in Central Chu. This cotton is not very heavy, weighing
twenty-five and strong (one additional “tight” character in Nong Zheng Quan Shu).
There is Beihua (no “there is” in Nong Zheng Quan Shu), which is produced in Jifu
(another character with the same pronunciation “Ji” is used in Nong Zheng Quan
Shu) and Shandong, and is soft, thin, and slightly heavy (“light” in Nong Zheng
Quan Shu), weighing twenty-four or twenty-five. Zhehua is produced in Yuyao and
is slightly heavy, weighing twenty-seven. Varieties in the Wu area are mostly like
that. There are slightly different varieties, one of which is the yellow pedicle, which
is yellow and as big as corn, producing heavier cotton; another is the green core, with
green cores, thinner than other species, and producing heavier cotton; another is the
ink core, whose core is also thin and pure black, producing heavy cotton; the other is
the “wide coat,” whose core is white and floating, and the cotton is heavy. These four
varieties all weigh twenty-nine. Another kind is the purple flower, which is thin and
has a large core, and the cotton is light. And there is also the dark blue variety, which
is also a unique variety and not widely distributed. (Note this sentence in Nong
Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》)) (p.961, vol.35, Nong Zheng Quan Shu) (p.148 of
the photographed copy and p.198–199 of the handwritten copy).
For the taro, Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》) says: “There are about three kinds of
local taros, one of which is the sweet yam, which tastes better than the others and has
few offspring and thin stems; another is the taro, whose stem is 1.2m tall; the other is
called the chicken nest taro, whose stem is 1.2m tall. These varieties are the best in
the counties in Jiangnan, Liudu and Jingkou. There are also dry taros, which are not
as good as those in the north. The soils are different, and the crops planted vary with
the soils. I returned from the south with these seeds and planted them and have kept
doing this for many years” (p.153 of the photographed copy; p.212–213 of the
handwritten copy).
Although the above also appears in Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), there is
great difference in terms of content. For example, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全
书》) also contains the names of rice varieties such as “Maizhengchang” and “Re-
ripening Rice,” but they were quoted from Huang Shengzeng’s Dao Pin (《稻品》),
which says: “The crop that is planted in March and gets ripe in June is called
Maizhengchang.” “The crop whose root regrows after being mowed and whose
seedlings come to fruition again is called the Re-ripening Rice; also known as the
‘Re-harvested Rice’.” As for the cultivation of this variety in Songjiang, no infor-
mation is available. It was mentioned in Dao Pin (《稻品》): “The variety of
Songjiangchi has a red tip color and hard texture, planted in April and ripe in July,
called the Jincheng Rice, which was planted in highlands. Called the red rice in
Songjiang, it was inferior grain.” Unlike the “Songjiangchi” in Za Shu (《杂疏》), it

was in the highlands instead of salty tides. On the other hand, varieties such as
“Yizhanghong” and “Budaonuo” were nowhere to be found in Nong Zheng Quan
Shu (《农政全书》).
As can be seen from the quotation in Songjiang Annals, Xu Guangqi did a lot of
research on agricultural production in Songjiang, especially the local rice and cotton.
Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》) is more like a local farming book, written by Xu
Guangqi during his agricultural practice in his hometown Songjiang. When he was
reclaiming in Tianjin, he wrote Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》) in an obvious attempt
to summarize the agricultural techniques in his hometown and promote them to the
north. Given the above, although the writing of Nong Yi Za Shu (《农遗杂疏》)
prepared for the writing of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), it is not well
reflected in the currently available version of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》).
13.5 Content and Contributions of Nong Zheng Quan Shu

(《农政全书》)
13.5.1 Content and Writing Style
The 60-volume Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) was divided into 12 categories
and contained more than 500,000 words. The 12 categories were agricultural
fundamentals, field systems, agricultural affairs, agricultural instruments, water
conservancy, arboriculture, sericulture, sericulture in a broad sense, planting, animal
husbandry, manufacturing, and famine preparation. “Nong Ben,” consisting of one
category and three volumes, selectively enumerated the classics focusing on agri-
culture in historical and contemporary times, as well as an article “Emphasis on
Agriculture” by contemporary Feng Yingjing. “Field Systems,” consisting of one
category and two volumes, included “Jing Tian Kao” by Xu Guangqi himself and
“Tian Zhi Men” excerpted from the Agricultural Books: Atlas of Agricultural
Instruments, which was mainly about the use of land. Nong Shi, consisting of one
category and six volumes, was divided into four parts of management, reclamation,
timing, and occupation for waiting, covering soil cultivation, wasteland develop-
ment and utilization, and agricultural production seasons and climate. “Water Con-
servancy,” consisting of one category and nine volumes, was divided into the
“General Overview,” “Northwest Water Conservancy,” “Southeast Water Conser-
vancy,” “Water Conservancy Strategy,” “Water Conservancy Dredging,” “Irrigation
Atlas,” and “Utilization Atlas,” quoting the theories of various schools and including
Taixi Water Conservancy Method, which covered water conservancy projects, farm-
land irrigation, and water source utilization; “Agricultural Instruments,” consisting
of one category and four volumes, was drawn from “Wang Zhen’s Agricultural Book
– Agricultural Tools Atlas,” which mainly covered agricultural instruments used for
farming, sowing, harvesting, storage, and daily use. “Arboriculture,” consisting of
one category and six volumes, was divided into four parts: grain part, leaf part,
vegetable part, and fruit part, discussing the cultivation techniques of more than
426 X. Zeng
110 kinds of grain, vegetables, and fruit crops. “Sericulture,” consisting of one
category and four volumes, was divided into six parts: a general introduction,
sericulture methods, mulberry planting methods, sericulture atlas, mulberry atlas,
and weaving atlas, quoting mulberry sericulture techniques in ancient agricultural
books. “Sericulture and sericulture,” consisting of one category and two volumes,
introduced production techniques for fiber crops other than sericulture, mainly kapok
(i.e., cotton) and hemps. “Planting,” consisting of one category and four volumes,
covered the cultivation techniques for bamboo, wood, tea, and medicinal plants.
“Husbandry,” consisting of one category and one volume, described the techniques
for breeding “six animals,” geese, ducks, fish, and bees. “Manufacturing,” consisting
of one category and one volume, mostly introduced food processing, household
management, decontamination, and insect removal techniques. “Famine prepara-
tion,” consisting of 1 category and 18 volumes, was divided into two parts of the
“General Introduction to Famine Preparation” and “Preparations for Famine,” while
including “Famine Relief Materia Medica” and “Wild Recipe,” which described
famine preparations and relief.
While summarizing Xu Guangqi’s writing style, Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Fan
Li (《农政全书·凡例》) pointed out: “Xu collected the opinions of various sources
and contributed his unique insights.” Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》)
consisted of two parts: a quotation of previous authors’ works and Xu’s own
experience and insights based on his practice, and these two parts were intricately
connected. It was through previous authors’ literature that Xu expressed his own
thoughts. According to statistics, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) quoted
225 pieces of previous literature. While quoting such literature, Xu differentiated
between essence and dross and never blindly followed. For example, he excluded
the descriptions of witchcraft and superstitious practices in Fan Sheng Zhi Shu
(《氾胜之书》) and Qi Min Yao Shu (《齐民要术》), and for Tian Jia Wu Xing (《田家
五行》) of the late Yuan Dynasty period, he excerpted the part about weather
proverbs only, and excluded anything else, such as “San Xun,” “Liu Jia,” “Juan
Ji,” and “Xiang Rui.” The “Qibao” chapter created by Chen Fu and Wang Zhen in
Agricultural Book (《农书》) was also nowhere to be seen in Nong Zheng Quan Shu
(《农政全书》). Even for previous literature included in Nong Zheng Quan Shu
(《农政全书》), Xu Guangqi adopted an analytical and critical approach. As long as
he believed that he could not agree or had different views, he would point out the
mistakes and supplement its deficiencies in the form of “Mr. Xuanhu’s Comment”;
at the same time, he made efforts to avoid the mistake of judging ancient times
with today’s rules, which could be spotted in many parts of the book. Given the
differences between ancient and modern times and different regions, and changes
in weights and measures, he timely pointed out these differences and reminded
readers to pay attention to these differences at the end of the quote, which reflected
his scientific attitude of seeking truth. According to recent statistics, Nong Zheng
Quan Shu (《农政全书》) contained about 61,400 of Xu Guangqi’s own words. In
terms of the variety of crops alone, he added annotations or texts in the form of
“Mr. Xuanhu’s Comment” to nearly 80 crop entries. It was in these texts that his
main achievements were demonstrated.
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) is another large-scale comprehensive

agricultural book after Wang Zhen’s Nong Shu in the Yuan Dynasty period.
Although Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) was based on Wang Zhen’s Nong
Shu in many parts, many of its own characteristics could be seen through system
comparison. The greatest feature is the addition of descriptions of policies on
agriculture, reclamation, water conservancy, and famine preparation. While summa-
rizing the content of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), Ren Shusen of the Qing
Dynasty period pointed out: “In this book of Wending’s, importance was placed on
people’s livelihood, farming, tools, functions, trees and animals, and planting, which
were covered in great detail and clarity; and also on government matters, such as
farmland reclamation, water conservancy and famine preparation, which were
described once and again.” In short, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) was
mostly about agriculture and governance, or “people’s matters” and “government
matters.” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Ren Shusen’s Preface (《农政全书·任树森序》),
inscription version by Guizhou Grain Bureau). That is why this book was called
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (literally, the Comprehensive Book on Agriculture and
Governance) rather than Nong Ye Quan Shu (the Comprehensive Book on Agricul-
ture). In what follows, we will separate agriculture and governance in describing
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》). It should be noted that separating agriculture
and governance is for convenience, while in fact, these two are closely related in
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), as governance is the guideline of the entire
book, and agriculture is the technical measures to implement the guideline. Despite
their respective priorities, governance and agriculture were always mutually inter-
polated. Therefore, issues like natural conditions were discussed in the category of
“Agriculture” and repeated in “Arboriculture.” While “Agriculture” was intended to
focus on discussing agricultural technologies, it spent two volumes discussing the
organizational management, labor, and funding in relation to “reclamation.” An
example is that “Famine Preparation” contained detailed descriptions of the patterns
of locust disasters and prevention/treatment measures, while it was supposed to
focus on the various policy measures in preparation for famines. This close combi-
nation of agriculture and governance constituted the greatest hallmark of the book.
13.5.2 Contributions to Agricultural Science
In the first place, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) is an agricultural book,
namely a publication about agricultural science and technologies. The book
consisted of 12 categories, at least 8 of which were specifically about agricultural
technologies. Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) inherited the tradition of China’s
traditional agriculture, mostly planting, and some forestry, husbandry, sidelines, and
fishery. Planting included six categories, namely “Field Systems” (land use), “Agri-
cultural Matters,” “Agricultural Instruments,” “Arboriculture,” “Sericulture,” and
“Sericulture in a Broad Sense”; and descriptions of forestry, husbandry, sidelines,
and fishery were mostly seen in the categories of “Planting,” “Husbandry,” and
“Manufacturing.” Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) focused more on
428 X. Zeng
“Arboriculture” (namely crop cultivation). “Arboriculture” consisted of one cate-

gory and six volumes, demonstrating its core status. The “Arboriculture” here is
different from the arboriculture in Zhou Li (《周礼》), where “arboriculture” did not
include grain planting, which was called “sowing and reaping,” and planting activ-
ities other than “sowing and reaping” are called “arboriculture.” Nong Zheng Quan
Shu (《农政全书》) divided “arboriculture” into four parts of grain, melons, vegeta-
bles, and fruit. The grain part introduced grain crops such as millet, rice and paddies,
bean crops, wheat crops, and flaxes. The melon part introduced melon, vegetables,
fruit, and miscellaneous grains, such as cucumbers, watermelons, gourds, and sweet
potatoes; the vegetable part was about the cultivation of vegetable crops, including
over 20 types of crops such as sunflowers, vines, black pines, garlics, onions, leeks,
and fungus; the fruit part was also divided into the first and second volumes, with the
first volume introducing northern fruit trees, including the cultivation of 14 types of
fruit trees such as jujubes, peaches, and plums and the second volume introducing
southern fruit trees, including 25 types of fruit such as lychees, longans, olives,
tangerines, grapefruit, and sugarcanes. Like other categories, “Arboriculture” was
based on previous works and contained Xu’s own experience and insights. The
greatest contribution was a summary of experience in cultivating barley, wheat, rape,
and sweet potatoes.
13.5.2.1 Summary of Experience in Cultivating Barley, Wheat, Rape,

and Sweet Potatoes
Barley and wheat are dryland crops, originally produced in North China. Since the
Song Dynasty moved to South China, southern wheat had also developed so fast that
“the scale was no smaller than that in the north” and formed the paddy-wheat duality
system. Land reclamation was the key to the paddy-wheat duality system, which was
a rotary system. Although Chen Yan’s Agricultural Book (《陈旉农书》) in the Song
Dynasty period and Wang Zhen’s Agricultural Book (《农书》) both discussed rice
and wheat double cropping, with the former mentioning “drying through exposure to
sunlight” and the latter mentioning “simmering,” while the problem of double
maturity of paddies and wheat remained in the south. Based on predecessors’
work, Xu made further explorations. He said: “Cultivation of wheat fields requires
sunny weather. If the cultivation is in the rain, the soil will be firm, and the wheat will
not grow easily. It will not be easy to grow wheat in the autumn next year. Wheat is
most resistant to water and wetness. Each farmer should only plough to 60% a day. It
should be very thin and made like a turtle back. For wheat, 7 shengs should be
planted per mu if planted early; or 9 shengs if planted late. For barley, one dou should
be planted if planted early; or two dous if planted late. Beans are planted at the wheat
ditch, and beans should be kept away from water and chill and should be covered
with ash in the twelfth lunar month. The wheat ditch should be cleaned in winter to
make it deep and straight, and drain water. When it is easy to drain spring rain, which
will not soak the wheat roots, one person first uses the hoe to loosen the soil in the
ditch, and then another person holds the shovel and spreads the soil evenly. The ditch
mud is fertile, and the wheat root is deeper” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Arboriculture
– Buckwheat). Compared with the works of Chen Yan, Wang Zhen, and others, Xu
Guangqi’s discussion of rice cultivation in southern rice fields not only paid attention
to land preparation, but also planting and field management after sowing, because
the humidity problem not only troubles wheat sowing, but also the growth and
maturity after sowing. Therefore, it is necessary to combine land preparation and
field management to finally solve the humidity problem of wheat growing in the
south.
Rape is an important oil crop. At first it is a vegetable mainly comprised of its
stems and leaves, called Brassica oleracea. After the Song and Yuan dynasties,
rapeseed was used for oil, and its cultivation was also developed in the Yangtze
River Basin. With relative hardness and the characteristics of surviving winter and
being able to grow even if covered by snow, rape is suitable for winter cropping in
rice fields. Besides, rape is a fertile crop which not only does not hurt the soil, but
also makes up for the shortage of wheat. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties
periods, rape became an important winter crop in rice fields in the south and formed a
dual-cropping system with paddies.
Since rape is also cultivated in dry land, there is the same drainage problem upon
planting in rice fields, and the solution to this problem also starts with soil prepara-
tion. The “Wu Ben New Book” (《务本新书》) of Yuan Dynasty records: “Rape is
planted in November after rice is harvested, and the field is hoed in the same way as
the wheat field.” (The original book was lost. This was based on the introduction of
Volume 6 of Shou Shi Tong Kao (《授时通考》)). It is assumed “hoed the same way as
the wheat field” refers to the “dual-cropped field” method for paddies and wheat as
mentioned in Wang Zhen’s Nong Shu (《农书》). Land preparation is certainly the key
to rice-oil rotation, but the failure to keep up with other cultivation measures will
definitely affect the harvest. Therefore, relevant cultivation techniques must also be
valued, and the experience in planting rapeseed in the downstream areas of the
Yangtze River summarized by Xu filled that gap left by predecessors. He said: “This
is how the people there plant rape: First, they hoe grassroots along with mud in the
day before the time of bailu, dry and pile them up, set them on fire with range grass
and simmer the grassroots. Then, they mix it up with thick feces, which look like
river mud. They pile it up again and make a hole at the top, which looks like a well
top. In the fall and winter, the pile is irrigated with thick feces three times. These
feces and gray mud are rich fertilizers for planting vegetables. In the ninth lunar
month of the next year, the field is hoed and made extremely thin, with ridges and
ditches 1.38m wide made. There are four rows on the ridges, which are 0.35m apart.
The feces mud is evenly distributed over the soil, and the vegetable is transplanted
for future planting, and covered with feces. In the case of wet soil, 30% is feces and
70% water; in the case of dry soil, 10% is feces and 90% water. This process is
repeated three or four times, and the vegetable flourishes, with feces added gradually.
In the winter months, the field is hoed again to make ridges, and mud is shoveled and
put onto the ridges. The roots are cultivated while the ditch is deepened in prepara-
tion for spring rain. In the 12th lunar month, thick feces are added again to generate
mud. When the frozen soil melts in the spring month, the mud is broken. In the 2nd
lunar month, feces are added four times depending on the richness and dryness of the
field. In the middle of the second lunar month, mosses are generated and acquired for
430 X. Zeng
making pickles. When mosses are generated, the flowers and fruits are increasingly
exuberant. After the time of lixia, the fruits are harvested. For every 12.7kg of seeds,
63.5kg of firewood is used, and silkworm clusters are within the firewood” (Nong
Zheng Quan Shu – Arboriculture – Vegetables (《农政全书·树艺·藏菜》)). As rape
was used as a stubble crop for rice, in order to compensate for the consumption of
nutrients in the field by rice and meet the needs of rape growth itself, there was great
demand for fertilizers, so the farmers’ rapeseed method started with treatment of
manure; second, the greatest disadvantage of growing rapeseed in southern rice
fields is soil wetness. Therefore, ridges must be built and ditch drainage work must
be carried out. In winter, ridges must be hoed and ditch mud is added to the ridges to
facilitate drainage. With the fertilizer and water problems solved, rapeseed planting
in rice fields can proceed smoothly.
The sweet potato is native to America and was introduced to China during
Emperor Wanli’s reign of the Ming Dynasty. Xu Guangqi quickly realized that this
crop has many advantages in production and processing and summed it up as
“thirteen benefits of the sweet potato,” namely “first, 666 square meters of field
can produce dozens of kgs of sweet potatoes; second, sweet potatoes are white and
sweet, which is rare among native species; third, they have the same health benefits
as yams; fourth, they can be planted everywhere, and a stem cut down can be used to
plant over several tens of thousands of square kilometers in the next year; fifth, the
branches and leaves are attached to the ground and mixed with the roots, thus
protected from wind and rain; sixth, they can be used as grain during famines;
seventh, they can be used as baskets for fruits; eighth, they can be used for brewing;
ninth, they can be made into cakes after preservation under dry conditions and taste
better than honey; tenth, they are edible either raw or cooked; eleventh, they use less
soil and produce more fruits, and are easy to irrigate; twelfth, the seeds are planted in
the spring and summer and fruits are harvested in early winter, with exuberant
branches and leaves. Grass and waste are not tolerated, and the only work is to
block the soil and no agricultural work such as plowing is needed; and thirteenth, the
roots are deep in the soil and the plant can regrow even if the leaves and stems are
totally consumed by pests and locusts” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Arboriculture –
Melons – Sweet Potatoes (《农政全书·树艺·蓏部·甘薯》)). Given the various ben-
efits of sweet potatoes, Xu was quite enthusiastic about promoting sweet potatoes. In
the thirty-sixth year of Emperor Wanli’s reign (1608), the downstream areas of the
Yangtze River were hit by a drought, and Xu Guangqi sent a man surnamed Xu to
transplant potato vines into the barrel in Fujian and ship to Shanghai for planting,
which is the earliest record of sweet potatoes being introduced from Fujian to the
Yangtze River Basin.
The key issue for sweet potato introduced from Fujian to the Yangtze River
Basin is to keep the seeds for winter. Xu Guangqi repeatedly sought seeds from
Fujian three times, which showed that he has repeatedly failed in preserving seeds
for winter. For this reason, he conducted many experiments and proposed several
methods for sweet potatoes to survive winter. Xu Guangqi realized there were two
concerns when it came to preserving sweet potato seeds for winter, “one concern is
for dampness and the other for freezing.” Due to cold weather in northern China,
sweet potatoes could not survive the winter on the ground and could be stored in
cellars. Storage in cellars in the south could also solve the problem of frost damage,
but due to the high groundwater level, the moisture problem could be solved. For
this reason, he introduced three ways to prevent freezing without entering the soil.
The first was to “pile up straws over 1.3m wide and o.66m high at a spot without
westward winds and exposed to east sunlight southeast of the house before frost,
and a perimeter 0.6m high is set above, with the center left empty. The pile is over
0.6m and steadily supported with straws, and seeds are placed and covered.
Bamboos are tied for support and coverage. The top is covered with a tall pile of
straws to protect against winds, rain and snow.” These seed preservation methods
proposed by Xu Guangqi successfully solved the key problem in introducing sweet
potatoes from South China to the Yangtze River Basin, so that sweet potatoes could
be rolled out in the Yangtze River Basin and areas to its north. In addition to seed
preservation, Xu Guangqi also summarized new seed cultivation and cutting
methods. One of them is “to support the bottom with straws over 0.3m thick,
place seeds inside and cover with ashes. Straws are used at the top make it
extremely thick.” Xu considered both methods as appropriate for preserving
vines and potatoes, especially potatoes. The other method is the seed preservation
method used in Fujian. “Before the frost, old vines are cut as seedlings. A big urn is
used for cleaning and drying, and vines are then cut and dried by 70–80%. Dry
straws are used to support the urn, and vines are bent and placed within the straws.
The soil is excavated to make ditches, and humidity is measured to ensure freedom
from moisture. The ditch can be over 60cm at the deepest part or leveled with the
ground at the shallowest part. First, the bottom is paved with straw or rice hulls,
which are 6.6–10cm thick, and the urn is placed above. The sub-substance soil is
full of ridges and still elevated by filling, making the bottom soil of the urn 13–
15cm high. When picked up after the Qingming Festival in the following year, the
seeds will have sprouted in the urn. In other words, all the hypothetical methods are
feasible.” Regarding the timing of seed preservation, Xu Guangqi believed that
“seeds must be preserved before the frost, and the seeds must be planted after the
Qingming Festival. It is better to leave half of them for planting after guyu, as thin
frost probably remains around Qingming.” The sweet potato is a type of crop that
reproduces asexually with the cutting method. Seed potatoes or seed vines are
used, planted in the nursery field to germinate and grow, and then cuttings are done.
Xu Guangqi summarized a seedling raising method involving the use of cutting:
“Potato seeds are cut into pieces 7–10cm long, planted, and covered with soil. The
roots are about 0.16cm deep, planted in roughly the same way as seed potatoes. The
plants are about one meter apart from one another. After the vine grows prosper-
ously, cut its stem, and insert it elsewhere, and it will grow to be the same as the
original seed.” Cutting into pieces and direct transplanting can increase the utili-
zation rate of potato seeds. He also summarized a method of cutting stems and
seeding, “wait until the seedlings are exuberant and the branches are more than one
meter long, cut the tender head by a dozen centimeters, bury both ends into soil by
10–12cm, press the middle part with soil, and the seedling will grow in several
days.”
432 X. Zeng
Before the Song Dynasty, cotton was mainly planted in the border areas of
southern, southwestern, and western China. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties,
it began to be introduced into the Yangtze River Basin and the Central Plains through
two routes. It was Nong Sang Ji Yao (《农桑辑要》) of the Yuan Dynasty and Wang
Zhen’s Nong Shu (《农书》) that provided a brief summary of the techniques, and
further progress was made in the cotton planting technique during the Ming Dynasty
period, for which a comprehensive summary was made by Xu Guangqi in Nong
Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》). To plant cotton well, it is important to “carefully
select nuclei, plant seeds early, ensure roots are deep and stems are short, and spread
fertilizers sparsely,” according to Xu (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Broad Categories of
Silk – Cotton ((《农政全书·蚕桑广类·木棉》); same below).
“Carefully selecting nuclei” means carefully selecting seeds. The book intro-
duced the water selection method. “When planting, wet it with water for more than
15 min, and then weed it out. Those that are stubborn, old, burnt, oily, and coarse will
all float; those that are solid and not damaged will sink. Those that sink can be
planted.” He also said: “Early planting means early harvest. Even in years of turmoil,
there will be fruits near the roots and the field will not be completely barren.” To
ensure early sowing of cotton, Xu Guangqi proposed two measures. The first was to
plant barley to protect cotton roots with barley roots. He said: “After ploughing in the
winter or spring, plant some barley, then plant cotton, switch to ploughing, and
submerge it with wheat seedlings. With the wheat roots in the soil, cotton roots will
not be exposed to coldness. With this method, the seeds can be planted in another
field for half a month or ten days.” The other method is to carry out early sowing by
wheat field interplanting: “Plant wheat in the winter and plant the wheat in the hole,
and plant cotton in the middle of the wheat in spring.” Likewise, both early sowing
and antifreeze effect can be achieved.
“Early planting” means moving forward the sowing period. Xu Guangqi said:
“It’s always better to plant early. In my coastal hometown, tides are frequent, and if
you plant ten days earlier than usual, you will have a small harvest of several pieces
by the August tide.”
“Deep roots and short stems” means cotton roots must be deep and stems must be
short and firm. The greatest adverse factor to early planting is the climate. Because of
the cold climate, cotton is often frozen to death after budding. This is the same as the
rotten rice seedlings. Xu Guangqi believed shallow roots are to blame for the death
of crops planted early. And the shallow roots could be ascribed to seed diseases, seed
exposure, excessive density, and excessive thinness. Therefore, in order to prevent
excessive mortality upon early planting, measures must be taken in terms of seed
selection, sparse planting, thick ridges, and soil coverage, and only so “can the roots
be deep and resistant to rain and drought, and why worry about the mortality issue?”
Deep roots provide assurance for early planting. Short stems are achieved through
topping and pruning, in addition to the seeding density. The pruning issue was
pointed out in Nong Sang Ji Yao (《农桑辑要》) of the Yuan Dynasty, while Xu
Guangqi furthered the specific technical measures. He said: “The seedling is 60 cm
tall, and if we remove the core to let the branches grow. The branches will be
exuberant. The branches are 15cm tall, and also have their cores removed, and the
branches are integrated. The timing of harvesting depends on the seedling: either
before dashu or upon liqiu. The crops fixed after the fall and should not be harvested.
If you harvest them, they will not survive anyway.”
“Sparse planting and fertilizers” means scattered planting and fertilization. Xu
Guangqi believed cotton crops should be distant from one another and must not be
dense, as dense planting has four cons: “First, When the seedling grows, no buds
appear, and when the flower blooms, no seeds are produced; second, when the flower
blooms and bears fruits, they evaporate after the rain and fall; third, the roots are
shallow and cannot bear the wind and drought; and fourth, the fruits are wormed.”
Therefore, sparse planting is required. The standards for sparse planting are “two
seedlings one step apart and a crop every meter,” and only so “are the crops resistant
to water and droughts, exuberant and fertile.” To achieve sparse planting requires
separating seedlings through weeding, in addition to sparse planting upon sowing,
called “simple separation” by Xu Guangqi. There were two “simple separation”
methods. One of them was adopted by experienced farmers: “Big leaves are removed
once or twice, mostly cotton seeds with big cores. After three times of plowing, small
leaves are removed, mostly cotton seeds without fruits or with diseased fruits.” This
method is suitable for nonselect seeds. Xu pointed out: “If you only use good species
such as ink cores, choose them carefully. If you don’t have large core hybrids, you
should remove all the small ones. If pure good seeds are used and carefully selected,
there will be no undesirable seeds with large cores.” Nevertheless, the hoe plays a far
greater role than separating seeds. Xu Guangqi proposed to hoe early and repeatedly.
He said: “Cotton must be hoed over seven times and preferably be hoed before
summer.” Hoeing must be dense, “if hoed deeply and densely, the cotton will be
highly ripe.” In terms of fertilization, Xu Guangqi proposed to use base fertilizers.
“Cotton fields should be first decongested before Qingming; feces, or ashes, or
soybean chunks or raw mud can be used, and the amount of manure determines
the fertility of the field.” Xu Guangqi recommended green manure, namely “grass
manure,” which led to multifold yields. He also emphasized on the use of raw mud,
believing “raw mud can relieve the coldness of water and soil and heat the manure to
achieve fertility.” However, raw mud must be used after fertilization, otherwise “the
mud will be useless.”
In addition to the four key points of cotton planting, Xu also summarized the
experience in rotational planting of rice and cotton, and wheat and cotton. In terms of
rice-cotton rotation, he pointed out: “For elevated fields where both cotton and
paddies can be planted, cotton should be planted for two years and paddies for one
year, and the roots will decay, the soil will be rich and no pests can survive. Cotton
can be planted for a maximum of three years, or pests will appear. If paddies cannot
be planted after three years, make a field after harvesting cotton and retain water for
the winter, and in spring, the water melts and plough in the same way, and cotton can
be planted and free of pests.” In terms of cotton-wheat rotation, he suggested: “for
ordinary fields planned for planting paddies, wheat can be planted; for fields planned
for planting cotton, no wheat should be planted. The proverb goes: ‘the field can rest
for a season to maintain fertility.’ In densely populated areas, the last resort is to plant
barley and make up for it with manure, and wheat can never be planted.”
434 X. Zeng
13.5.2.2 Expansion of Forestry and Animal Husbandry

Although Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) is an agricultural book focusing on
small-scale agriculture, it also covers forestry, animal husbandry, sideline, and
fishery. The content of forestry production technology is mainly found in the
“planting” category, which consists of four volumes. Xu Guangqi also put forward
his own unique views on some technical issues while collecting information about
tree planting and afforestation. Regarding the freeze resistance of orchards, Xu
Guangqi pointed out, “In an orchard, bamboos should be planted on the west and
north sides to fend off the wind so that fruit trees vulnerable to chill will not be
damaged by the freeze. If a pool is opened in the orchard for raising fish and
irrigation, the earth excavated should be directed toward the west and north sides
to build earth ridges, which are particularly suitable for planting bamboos. Although
bamboos are available to fend off the wind on the north and west sides, the wind can
still penetrate through the lower part of the bamboos, and experienced gardeners tie
straws to the bamboos for full coverage. If mountain bamboos are planted, both the
upper and lower parts can be covered.” He also introduced over 30 plants that can be
used as orchard fences, including the purposes of their different parts, shortcomings,
and timing of grafting. In terms of fruit tree grafting, he not only pointed out
“grafting involves three knacks: green lining; joint connection; and seam alignment.
As long as these three methods are used, nothing could go wrong.” Besides, he
conducted intensive studies of some specific granting techniques, such as opening of
body-connected stocks, for which Xu suggested “it is better to use Thunbergia.” “As
tall as a horse and as low as a tile.” For the timing of grafting, he suggested: “If
grafting is carried out in spring, you must wait until it turns green, and it surely
survives. It is done mostly around chunfen, while some choose guyu; so why say ‘no
grafting upon chunfen’? In that case, the season will be unsuitable for grafting after
lixia.” For tree trimming, he proposed to cut off the superfluous branches and
preserve aged branches at least 3 years old; if trees are used, branches should be
cut off; it is quite the opposite if flowers, leaves, buds, and fruits are used, as more
branches are needed. In terms of pest control, Xu argued: “To treat the pests in the
trees, one can grind sulfur into extremely fine powder and mix it with river sludge,
which used to fill the pest holes. If the holes are numerous and small, apply to the
trunks and branches, and the pests will be all dead. Another method is to use a hook
made with iron wires. Use sulfur fumes and the pests will drop dead. Or stuff the
holes with burning oil paper, which also works. For caterpillar worms, pour water
with fishy smell to the roots or bury silk moths underground” (Nong Zheng Quan
Shu – Planting – Planting Methodology (《农政全书·种植·种法》). Xu Guangqi
elaborated on the techniques for cultivating over 30 tree species, which were not
covered in previous works, and for those species that had been covered in previous
works, Xu added new information. Among these, privets and tallow trees were
described in the greatest detail.
Privets are evergreen shrubs or arbors, most commonly distributed in southern
China and across the Yangtze River Basin as customary garden or fence species.
Privets can be used to raise wax insects to acquire white wax. Zhou Mi of the
Southern Song Dynasty recorded the processes of wax insects making wax and
reproducing in Kui Xin Za Shi (《癸辛杂识》). However, there were few records of
raising wax insects on the privets before the Yuan Dynasty period. Therefore, Xu
Guangqi wrote in his book: “No records about using privets for obtaining white wax
were available before the Yuan Dynasty period.” It was after the Yuan Dynasty
period that people found privets could be used to raise wax insects to acquire white
wax, which was used as a lighting fuel and was planted in massive quantities. Xu
Guangqi attached great importance to this nascent industry, not only trying to plant
hundreds of privets to be used for making wax, but also conducting a lot of
investigations and researches. The section of “Privets” was a report based on his
own investigations, observations, and practice. In this report, Xu Guangqi described
“larva fostering,” a key technique in raising wax insects, while quoting predecessors’
records of the relationship between privets and white tax, the process of wax insects
producing wax and offspring and all the operating procedures: “larva fostering
means transferring larva from other trees and to this one.” Privets cease to produce
wax insects when they die, and this is the best solution, as well as the best way to roll
out wax insect raising. He described the seasonality of “larva fostering” in Jiangsu
and Zhejiang areas, the principles for determining reasonable timing for larva
fostering and the relevant changes of wax insects producing wax and offspring in
Sichuan, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. Afterwards, Xu Guangqi introduced some plants
where wax insects could be raised (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Planting – Planting
Methodology (《农政全书·种植·种法》).
Uji, a deciduous tree, is an oil-bearing tree species, whose white stalk on the outer
shell can be made into mortar fat (skin oil), which is called “white oil” in Xu
Guangqi’s book. The origin was said to be Xuan Zhong Ji (《玄中记》) by Guo Pu
of the Jin Dynasty: “Jinyang produces Uji, whose fruit is like a chicken head, which
tastes like sesames when fried, and the juice tastes like lard.” Evidently, the tallow oil
had been in use for quite some time. Song Zhuangchuo’s Ji Lei Bian (《鸡肋编》) also
mentioned the tallow seed oils in Chuzhou and Wuzhou of Zhejiang (Ji Lei Bian
(《鸡肋编》)). Gui Xin Za Shi (《癸辛杂识》) recorded the story of “Chen E making
oil,” which said Chen E went to fetch a transfer certificate upon expiry of his tenure.
He stayed at a mountain inn on his way back home and saw a long-bearded old man
making oil by pounding tallow seeds (Zhou Mi: Sequel to Gui Xin Za Shi (《癸辛杂
识》), Zhong Hua Book Company, 1988, p.204; Jiang Zizheng’s Shan Fang Sui Bi
(《山房随笔》) had similar records, but replaced tallow oil with Tung oil (see Select
Materials on Chinese Technology History – Agricultural Machinery), Tsinghua
University Press, p.278).) Lin Jiang Xian (《临江仙》) by Song Dynasty poet Song
Qiji also said “the tallow tree planted in front of the door is now very tall.” Evidently,
the practice of planting tallow trees existed in the Song Dynasty period. In the Ming
Dynasty period, tallow oils were used as lighting fuels. In Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工
开物》), Song Yingxing mentioned: “When lit, water and oil float in the tallow.” The
book also mentioned: “when tallow seeds are pounded separately, you get 10kg of
skin oil and 7.5kg of water oil; when tallow seeds are mixed for pounding, you get
16.5kg (pure clean).” This described the oil output per unit weight of tallow seeds. In
his Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), Xu Guangqi first described the importance
of tallow in economic life, then introduced the methods of planting tallow, pointing
436 X. Zeng
out tallow trees need not be planted as there were lots of wild tallow trees, which
however must be grafted or branch-folded to be usable, and finally covered the
harvesting and processing of tallow seeds (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Planting – Wood
– Tallow (《农政全书·种植·木部·乌臼》)).
Why did Xu Guangqi go to such great lengths of introducing the two important
economic crops of Ligustrum and Uji? In addition to previous agricultural books’
disregard for these two crops, one important reason was to prepare for famines. As
people generally used some herbal oil crops as lighting fuels, such as hemps, beans,
and rapes, while Xu Guangqi attempted to cultivate some woody oil wax plants by
utilizing “barren mountains and marginal land” to broaden the range of oil sources
for the public and supply lighting materials (“cultivate mashu to replenish grain and
elegans and lai fields to grow grain” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Planting – Wood –
Tallow (《农政全书·种植·木部·乌臼》)). The use of white wax to make candles
could avoid “showering” and save oil consumption in two ways. Therefore, the
planting of Ligustrum and Uji would not only increase income, but also have more
positive implications.
In the category of “Planting,” Xu Guangqi also described the methods for
cultivating and utilizing 22 plants, such as bamboos, bamboo shoots, tea, chrysan-
themum, safflower, blue, comfrey, rehmannia, wolfberry, cornel, cassia, Poly-
gonatum, lily, coix, plantain, Hemerocallis, Chinese kale, Ulva, reed, cattail, mat
grass, and light grass, most of which had been covered in previous agricultural
books, while wujia and Hemerocallis were newly added. Wujia is a Chinese herb
whose root and stem barks are used to make the famous wujia liquor, which was
recorded by predecessors. However, records of cultivating techniques were first seen
in the contemporary work Qun Fang Pu (《群芳谱》). Hemerocallis, also known as
Nepenthes, could produce vegetables known as the “Golden Needle vegetable.”
Records of cultivation techniques also first appeared in this book. Even many of the
original records were Xu Guangqi’s experience, such as the technique of bamboo
transplanting, the renovation of aged bamboo gardens, and the use of bamboos to
defend against burglars (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Planting – Hybrids Volume 1 –
Bamboos (《农政全书·种植·杂种上·竹》)).
In Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), records about husbandry and fishing
techniques can be found in the section of “Animal Husbandry,” which covered cats,
geese, ducks, fish, and honey bees, in addition to the six traditional domestic animals
of horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, and chickens. Xu Guangqi proposed to develop
husbandry tailored to the local circumstances: “In places near lakes and with
expansive grassland, twenty ponies and two or three big mules can be bought; thirty
calves and three or five big yaks can be bought; a dozen huts can be built and two
shepherds can be dispatched. The two were given a pot each for daily dieting. In
time, the herd grows and more shepherds are sent. The herd can be left to rest by the
lake. When appropriately raised, the herd will necessarily thrive and produce much
manure, which can be used for the farmland.” Xu’s ideas of leveraging local
circumstances and comprehensive utilization are fully reflected in sheep raising.
He suggested: “Build a sheepcote on the riverbank to keep sheep, and sweep their
manure into the pond to feed grass carps, whose manure can be used to feed silver
carps – killing three birds with one stone.” Modern scholars regard him as a pioneer
in ecological agriculture.
13.5.3 Analysis of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》)
If Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) is an agricultural book, its first impression is
“political.” As a book about governance, it differs from general agricultural books.
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) discusses the relationship between agriculture
and politics, including the influence of agriculture on political governance on the one
hand, and the adjustment of politics to agricultural production on the other. In Nong
Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), agricultural politics involve reclamation, water
conservancy, and famine preparation.
Xu Guangqi inherited and developed past dynasties’ prioritization of agriculture
as the foundation of politics, prosperity of the country, and people’s livelihood. The
book quoted various predecessors, such as Kang Cang Zi (《亢仓子》), Guan Zi (《管
子》), and Xiao Jing (《孝经》), emphasizing on the importance of agriculture. Xu
Guangqi’s contribution was to include some of his important agricultural theories
into the “agriculture-oriented mindset.” The volume of Nong Ben included the
“Types of Land” chapter from Guan Zi (《管子》) and the “Terrain” chapter from
Wang Zhen’s Nong Sang Tong Jue (《农桑通诀》), which talked about the classifi-
cations of land and plants suitable for planting; the “Timing” chapter, “Geography”
chapter, and “Soil Identification” chapter in Lv Shi Chun Qiu (《吕氏春秋》) talked
about the importance of agricultural timing and some principles and measures for
cultivation; Ma Yilong’s Nong Shuo (《农说》) explained the principles of cultivation
with the yin-yang theory. It is most noteworthy that Xu Guangqi talked about the
terroir theory while quoting Wang Zhen’s Nong Sang Tong Jue – Land Conditions
(《农桑通诀·地利篇》).
13.5.3.1 Role in Development of Terroir Theory

Xu Guangqi inherited the positive opinions of agronomists in the Yuan Dynasty and
used a lot of historical facts to prove that it is possible to transplant between different
places. In Nong Yi Mi Shu (《农遗杂疏》), he used his own experience of trans-
planting taro from the north to prove that the practice is feasible. He mentioned
“yams in dry areas are not as good as those grown in northern lands. Some say this
may result from different types of soil and seeds change with the soil. I returned from
the south with these seeds and planted them, which have not changed over years.”
(p.153 of the photographed copy and p.212–213 of the manuscript). In Nong Zheng
Quan Shu (《农政全书》), he dedicated more chapters to the expression of his
opinions on the terroir. He said: “Even ancient rites are applicable nowadays. It is
ridiculous to claim that a certain species can only be planted on suitable land and
must not be transplanted. Such an assertion has been repeated by subsequent
generations of officials and people as an excuse for their sloth. Since ancient
times, a lot of vegetables and fruits such as pollen genus, ananas, begonia and
garlics have been imported from foreign lands. Now gingers and water chestnuts
438 X. Zeng
have been transplanted to the north and grow particularly well on so-called
unsuitable land. If these plants are not planted anywhere, it is because their seeds
are not available; or their seeds may appear occasionally but go extinct soon. As long
as the proper techniques are used, there is no such thing as unsuitable land. If
anything is unsuitable, it may be the season or lack of manpower. Practice is better
than empty words.” In “Arboriculture” of Volume 25 of Nong Zheng Quan Shu –
Nong Ben – Theories of Various Schools II (《农政全书·农本·诸家杂论下》), he
further criticized the “unsuitable terroir” theory with the historical fact of successful
transplanting rice in Zhancheng in the Song Dynasty period. The Zhancheng rice is
an early rice variety, which produces fruit early, and is resistant to drought and
suitable for planting in elevated land, therefore considered an early rice variety,
while the real early rice was recorded in Jia Sixie’s Qi Min Yao Shu (《齐民要术》)
during the Northern Wei Era, so Xu Guangqi raised a series of questions: “Jia’s Qi
Min Yao Shu (《齐民要术》) describes in detail the technique of early price planting,
that means this variety was available in the Central Plains, so why go the long way to
fetch it from Zhancheng? Jia was the governor of Gaoyang (translator’s note –
around present-day Zibo, Shandong), which was close to the places of You and
Yan (translator’s note – around present-day Hebei and Beijing), and this suggests the
variety existed in the north at that time. And the north and south were isolated from
each other at that time, so how did they get it? Or was it that it existed during the
North Wei era and went extinct afterwards? Now it is possible the variety had existed
and went extinct, why is it not possible it didn’t exist before and exists today?
Emperor Zhenzong translated it from Zhancheng to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and
Jianggao translated it from Jian’an to Zhongzhou. A single transplant could satisfy
the local needs. It is inappropriate to dissuade people from transplanting at the
excuse of unsuitable terroir” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Arboriculture – Grain 1 –
Rice). Agronomists of the Yuan Dynasty ascribed the failure in transplanting to
“inappropriate planting practice” or “failure to grasp the trick.” Xu Guangqi
inherited their views, and further analyzed the cause of the failure in transplanting
or reluctance to transplant, pointing out laziness is the root cause of “failure to
transplant good varieties.” He said: “As I see it, perhaps one or two out of every one
hundred cases can be attributed to unsuitable terroir; the other cases of inability to
transplant all result from laziness. Commoners hold that view because of their
limited access to information; and intellectuals are reluctant to talk about it. So is
my theory going to be empty words for hundreds of years to come? Therefore, in
order to disprove the terroir theory, I purchased seeds from various areas and did the
planting myself; once I tried and proved feasibility, I would inform all the others. If
anyone wishes to plant the same, I give them seeds. They will see the benefits in one
or two years, and so will not need to be persuaded” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu –
Arboriculture – Grain 1 – Rice) (《农政全书·树艺·谷部上·稻》).
Second, Xu Guangqi held the view that due to limitations of climatic conditions,
an extremely small handful of species could face the problem of unsuitable terroir
upon transplanting. He said: “The only unsuitability is climatic unsuitability, which
has nothing to do with the soil. For example, lychees and longans can’t be planted on
the other side of the mountain, and oranges can’t be planted on the other side of the
Huaihe River; as for other species such as jasmine, a mere one or two of every
thousand will face the terroir problem. Therefore, the Twenty-Eight Mansions
recorded in books are quite irrelevant. I will record the latitude to clarify the
temperature, determine the crops suitable for planting, develop arboriculture and
that’s it” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Nong Ben – Theories of Various Schools II (《农
政全书·农本·诸家杂论下》)).
Though a theory involving transplantation of species, the terroir theory was
closely related to the national policy, as transplanting between difference areas was
often a state act in ancient times. During the Song Dynasty period, for example, the
court issued multiple orders to roll out rice planting in dry lands in the north and roll
out dryland crops in rice planting areas in the south. Also, Zhancheng rice seeds were
introduced from Fujian to Jianghuai and Liangzhe areas (Song Dynasty History –
History of Food (《宋史·食货志》)). In the process of introduction, some introduc-
tions were not as successful as people had imagined due to natural and technical
reasons, so the so-called “ unsuitable terroir” theory was produced and became
resistance to introduction. When the Yuan Dynasty introduced cotton, ramie, and
other crops to the Central Plains, it encountered such resistance. At that time, when
cotton and ramie were transplanted from the Western regions and the south to
Shaanxi and Henan and succeeded, and preparations were made for a further rollout,
many people doubted that cotton and ramie could be successfully transplanted to the
Central Plains due to “unsuitability of terroir.” In response to these doubts, Nong
Sang Ji Yao (《农桑辑要》) edited by the Minister of Agriculture articulated his
position. It can be seen from this that in ancient China, terroir was not only a
scientific issue, but also a political one. Therefore, it was precisely out of political
considerations that Xu Guangqi included the issue of the terroir theory into the
category of Nong Ben. This is also an important aspect of Nong Zheng Quan Shu
(《农政全书》) as a political book.
13.5.3.2 On Locust Disasters

As can be seen from the proportions of the categories, it is evident “famine
preparations” are the focus of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》). Agriculture is
the foundation of a nation, and famines incurred by poor harvests threaten the rule of
the country. Xu Guangqi lived in an era of frequent disasters and famines. Riots
resulting from famines were even more commonplace, threatening the rule of the
Ming government. In this situation, Xu Guangqi wrote the “Famine Preparations” to
save the people from suffering and eradicate the root cause of social unrest. In the
words of Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Ordinary Examples (《农政全书·凡例》): “This
volume is based on the decrees of previous dynasties and blueprints of previous
scholars, intended to prioritize people’s lives and suppress unrest.” This is the
essential reason why Xu Guangqi dedicated such a major portion of the book to
“famine preparations.” Based on the principles of “prevention as the top priority,
preparation as the general approach and relief as the last resort,” Xu Guangqi talked
about locust removal in the “Famine Preparation” chapter on the ninth day of the
sixth lunar month of 1630.
440 X. Zeng
Xu Guangqi believed flooding, droughts, and locusts were the three key causes of
famines, while locusts “are particularly hazardous, worse than flooding and
droughts.” While flooding and droughts can hardly be prevented, locusts “can be
exterminated and go extinct.” While flooding and droughts can be treated with
individual strength, locusts can only be exterminated with collective strength.
After comparing locusts with floods and droughts, Xu Guangqi reached such a
conclusion: “Locust disasters are hazardous but easy to eradicate. As long as
combined efforts are made, it will be easy.” As for the method of eliminating locusts,
Xu proposed to “thoroughly study their birth and death and determine the method for
their extermination.” Then, he studied the time and locations of locust disasters and
provided treatment measures based on the lifecycles of locusts.
To determine the time and locations of locust infestation, Xu Guangqi studied the
records of the months in which 111 locust disasters had occurred from the Spring and
Autumn Period to the Yuan Dynasty period, and drew the conclusion that locust
disasters “mostly occurred during summer and fall.” Besides, according to historical
records and personal experience, he asserted “the key to solving the locust problem
is to drain the swamp,” believing “locusts are generated around swamps,” especially
where “the swamp suddenly fills and dries up” and “the filling and drying are
irregular.” Xu Guangqi also gave a detailed description of the lifecycles of locusts:
“The larvae of locusts are called nymphs, which are from eggs of the last year, not
adult locusts. According to seasoned farmers, locusts have the size of corns when
just born, and grow into the size of flies in several days and can hop and fly, called
nymphs. After another several days, they fly in hordes, called locusts, which gnaw
everything wherever they go, therefore called ‘hungry insects’ in Yi Lin (《易林》).
After another a few days, they give birth to spawns on the ground, and the spawns
become nymphs in eighteen days, and nymphs become locusts again, and so forth,
wreaking havoc at an extensive scale. Those that have spawns in the fall take shelter
on the grass and trees and do not hibernate for the winter, while the majority of
locusts have spawns in the fall; and one or two of every hundred locusts form a
disaster in the spring. After the rain and snow in the winter, most of the locusts die.
Those locusts that wreak havoc in the fourth lunar month are this year’s newborns,
not spawns left from the last year.” Xu Guangqi also made careful observations of
the process of locusts breeding, pointing out: “Locusts always choose upland with
dark soil for breeding and insert tails into the soil to breed spawns. The depth is less
than 3.33cm, with holes left. As they are born at the same time and fly and seek food
in hordes, they necessarily breed at the same time and location, and their spawns are
just like beehives and easy to find. One locust breeds a dozen eggs, which resemble
peas and produce white juices in the middle. These eggs gradually grow and divide
into particles, each of which contains over a hundred spawns. Some say a locust
breeds ninety-nine spawns over its lifespan, which is not true.”
After studying the lifecycles of locusts and the time and locations of locust
infestation, Xu Guangqi proposed methods for treatment locusts. Based on the
principles of “prevention as the top priority, preparation as the general approach
and relief as the last resort,” Xu Guangqi proposed to “take preventive measures
first” and “take extermination measures later.” There are two “preventive measures”:
removing water and weeds; and temporary capturing and treatment. As for captur-
ing, different measures can be taken depending on the different lifecycles of locusts.
The so-called “extermination measures” are to “excavate and kill the insects”
according to the method in Chun Xi Ling (《淳熙令》) of the Song Dynasty period.
Xu Guangqi also included five “countermeasures for locusts” in the appendix,
including the planting of some locust-resistant crops, banishing, use of pesticides,
paddy fields, and fall ploughing.
Xu Guangqi’s study of locust infestation is one of the most fascinating as well
as one of the most controversial parts of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》). The
controversy lies in Xu’s viewpoint “locusts evolved from fish,” which was men-
tioned in Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》). Wan Guoding suggested this
wrong assertion could not have been made by Xu himself and was not Xu’s
responsibility. It could have been amended or added by Chen Zilong. He proposed
two reasons: First, Xu was a highly practical and observant scientist, who
conducted “detailed and accurate” studies of some issues and would not have
drawn such a wrong conclusion; and second, Xu Guangqi’s On Removal of
Locusts, which was a paragraph in Xu’s Qin Feng Ming Zhi Tiao Hua Tun Tian
Shu (《钦奉明旨条画屯田疏》) submitted on the ninth day of the sixth lunar month
of 1630, did not contain any reference to the viewpoint that locusts evolved from
shrimps. Besides, this paragraph was inconsistent with Xu’s description of locusts’
lifecycles in the same submission. (Wan Guoding: “Xu Guangqi’s Academic
Route and Contributions to Agriculture.” Collection of Papers in Commemoration
of Xu Guangqi (《徐光启纪念论文集》), Zhong Hua Book Company, 1963, p.24.)
However, it was not without reason that Xu drew such a conclusion. First,
although Xu was a highly practical scientist, it was inevitable for him to make
mistakes, as the saying goes: “No man is wise all the times.” Second, although the
submission did not contain the conclusion that locusts evolved from shrimps, it did
mention “the species become shrimps in water and locusts on land” at the end of
the next paragraph, suggesting Xu at least believed the theory that locusts evolved
from shrimps. In fact, the assertion that locusts evolved from shrimps was pro-
posed by Xu himself, as clearly put in the submission: “Some say they evolved
from fish, while I hold the unique view that they evolved from shrimps.” He drew
such a conclusion to prove “locusts must be born near great rivers” and provide
theoretical basis for “capturing locusts for food,” and that was why he wrote the
section of “Eating Locusts” in the following volume Studying Predecessors’
Locust Treatment Methods, and mentioned locusts “taste in the same way as dry
shrimps” and “eating locusts is no different from eating shrimps.” Besides,
although the submission contained descriptions of locusts’ lifecycles, these did
not contradict with the assertion “locusts evolved from shrimps,” as Xu was just
trying to prove locusts and shrimps have the same origin, and was not claiming
shrimps are shrimps. Second, Xu Guangqi’s description of locusts’ lifecycles was
based on “seasoned farmers’ account” rather than his own observations. The
submission did not contain this paragraph probably due to the limit of the space
or deletion, while the Locust Extermination Submission included in Nong Zheng
Quan Shu (《农政全书》) was very likely to be the original.
442 X. Zeng
13.5.3.3 On Wasteland Reclamation and Water Conservancy

While studying the issue of “famine preparation,” Xu Guangqi naturally paid
attention to wasteland reclamation, regarding field water conservancy as the key to
solving problems. The rationale was simple: Only by reclaiming land for planting
could people produce enough food to satisfy the population’s needs, and to reclaim
land requires solving the irrigation issue. Xu Guangqi pointed out: “Reclaimed land
does not count unless used for growing paddies.” Why did Xu Guangqi emphasize
on the use of reclaimed land for paddy fields? In addition to the much higher yield of
paddies than those of other dryland crops, an important reason is paddy fields are
more resistant to natural disasters and will not turn barren again. He quoted Fu Xuan
of Jin Dynasty period as saying: “Dry fields are weather dependent. Even with
sufficient manpower, one year’s effort could still be wasted if the weather conditions
do not fit. With wet fields, the soil resources can be fully exploited as long as
manpower is sufficient. Furthermore, wet fields are less vulnerable to pest infestation
than dry fields. Wet fields have double benefits and are not equivalent to dry fields”
(Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Famine Preparation – Locust Extermination Submission –
Methods for Locust Prevention (《农政全书·荒政·除蝗疏·备蝗杂法》)). However,
Xu Guangqi did not blindly emphasize on wet fields. He said: “In areas far from
rivers, dry grain should be grown. If wells are made to make wet fields, farmers will
work hard around the year” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Field System). He also
criticized Xu Zhenming’s practice of “talking about wet fields only and not talking
about dry fields,” believing “few areas in the north are suitable for wet fields, mostly
suitable for dry fields,” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Water Conservancy (《农政全
书·水利》)). However, it does not mean dry fields do not need water conservancy. If
wet paddy fields cannot be made due to natural conditions, water conservancy
should also be assured. “Dry fields must be close to fountains, creeks or rivers,
which provide endless flows of water day and night or flow into the heartland and all
around through canals. Therefore, dry paddies, barley, wheat, cotton and millet can
be planted in these areas, and water transport vehicles should be prepared to relieve
dryness; embankments should be built around to prevent flooding. After the crops
are ripe, these can serve as precedents for reclaiming wet fields in the future” (Nong
Zheng Quan Shu – Nong Shi – Reclamation II (《农政全书·农事·开垦下》, same
below). That is to say, reclaimed barren land must become arable land capable of
producing crops regardless of the weather to be counted as reclaimed land, which
makes flood treatment essential for land reclamation. Xu Guangqi further proposed
the standards for field water conservancy and these standards were also divided into
those for dry fields and wet fields. For dry fields, it is required that ditches and canals
account for at least 10% of the reclaimed area, in addition to the original require-
ments of rivers and lakes. If this criterion was not met, the reclaimed area recognized
would be discounted. However, the percentage might not be lower than 2%; for wet
fields, canals must account for over 5% of the total area, and this percentage could be
reduced by one-third in areas close to great rivers or abundant water resources. These
criteria must be met.
Xu Guangqi believed “water conservancy is the foundation of agriculture. No
water, no fields” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – General Examples (《农政全书·凡例》)),
arguing that “any land that has access to water can serve as fields.” Meanwhile, he
pointed out water conservancy was an important prerequisite for improving land
productivity, believing “The land cannot produce much grain because the soil is not
fully exploited. The soil is not fully exploited because water conservancy is not built.
Reasonable use of water can not only relieve droughts, but also prevent
droughts. . .reasonable use of water can not only relieve flooding, but also prevent
flooding” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Water Conservancy – Water Conservancy in
Zhejiang (《农政全书·水利·浙江水利》)). Water conservancy is key to solving
various problems in disasters, famines, and reclamation. Water conservancy must
serve agricultural production, and flood treatment must be tightly integrated with
field management. The two volumes of “Reclamation” also demonstrated Xu
Guangqi’s idea of flood treatment serving field management. All but one piece of
the literature included, such as Kai Huang Shi Yi (《开荒十议》), Hai Bin Tun Tian
Shu (《海滨屯田疏》), Shan Dong Ying Tian Shu (《山东营田疏》), and Kai Huang
Shen (《开荒申》), focused on water conservancy (with the sole exception of Shan
Dong Ying Tian Shu (《山东营田疏》)) while talking about wasteland reclamation.
The first measure suggested in Kai Huang Shi Yi (《开荒十议》) was to “build dams
to streamline water flows,” and the last one was to “dispatch laborers for dredging”;
Hai Bin Tun Tian Shu (《海滨屯田疏》) also mentioned “building canals for water to
flow” as a key issue; when talking about the cause of barren fields in Changshu
County in Kai Huang Shen (《开荒申》), Geng Ju also identified “failure to build
water conservancy and prepare for droughts and flooding” as the primary cause. In
fact, Kai Huang Shen (《开荒申》) was an appendix in the Book of Water Conser-
vancy in Changshu County (《常熟县水利全书》) by the author. All these demon-
strated the connection between water conservancy and barren land reclamation and
also represented Xu Guangqi’s own opinions. Even Tai Xi Shui Fa (《泰西水法》)
included in the book was aimed at serving agriculture. General Examples said: “the
water conservancy approach of Taixi is not as ingenious as that of Moxun. Among
the several volumes about water conservancy, choose those that benefit agriculture.”
Xu Guangqi advocated water conservancy projects to fundamentally eliminate the
serous social consequences brought by canal transport, enhance grain self-
sufficiency in the north and reduce and even end dependency on southern grain.
For this reason, the book dedicated large portions to the discussion of water
conservancy issues.
Xu Guangqi divided the water conservancy issues into two aspects of northwest-
ern and southeastern issues, which were actually related to one issue. Since and Tang
and Song Dynasties periods, the economic center of China had been shifting
southward, while the political center had long remained in the north. As a result,
“the Jianghuai area determines the fate of the country,” and grain produced in the
south increasingly had to be transported to the north. Canal transport became the
lifeline of the regime. There was a heated debate over whether water conservancy
should serve agriculture or canal transport. In particular, as the political and eco-
nomic centers parted after the Ming Dynasty relocated the capital to Beijing, “the
lifeline of the state was solely dependent on canal transport” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu
– Nong Ben – Guo Chao Zhong Nong Kao). Therefore, the Ming government had
444 X. Zeng
insisted that water conservancy serve canal transport – “canal transport is foremost,
and irrigation is second,” and “irrigators must not compete with canal transporters.”
(Ming Shi – Zhi Guan Zhi (《明史·职官志》)). The long-term implementation of this
policy brought about serious social consequences. First, it aggravated river over-
flows. From 1506 to 1644, the Yellow River overflew 195 times in Henan, Shan-
dong, and Southern Zhili – once every eight and a half months on average, wasting
expanses of farmland and causing catastrophes to agricultural production in northern
China. (“The arable land is domestic areas like Guan, Shan, Xiang, Deng, Xu, Luo,
Qi and Lu and foreign areas like Sufang, Wuyuan, Yun, Dai and Liaoxi was all
rendered barren. How could the country not get into a predicament?”) (Nong Zheng
Quan Shu – General Examples (《农政全书·凡例》)). Second, it consumed signifi-
cant water resources. As water resources were scarce at the middle part of the South–
North Great Canal, water resources along the canal were used to replenish the canal
to meet transport needs. In Shandong alone, over 100 fountains were used to
replenish the canal (every drop was used for transport). As a result, no water was
available to irrigate large swaths of farmland, which became deserts (“Between the
areas of Qi and Lu was endless barren land that stretched along 2–3 km”) (Nong
Zheng Quan Shu – Nong Ben (《农政全书·农本》)). “As the water generated in the
southeast was used for irrigation in the northwest, the water consumed was doubled
for producing grain,” (“Cao He Yi”, Xu Guangqi’s Collection (《徐光启集》) (Vol.1).)
which was a huge waste of water resources. Third, the rerouting of water imposed
heavy toil and financial burden on the people, and consequently, both the northern
and southern areas got into a predicament. Instead of developing agricultural pro-
duction in the north, the regime focused on exploiting the southeastern areas and
transported over 24 million kg of grain and other materials from the southeast each
year, and the grain and materials contributed by the southeast were embezzled at
each level of the bureaucratic system (Only a small portion of the shipment from the
southeast was ultimately received at the destination). As a result, the tax burden on
the people in the southeast was increasingly heavy. In volume 15 of Nong Zheng
Quan Shu (《农政全书》), Geng Ju, governor of Changshu, was quoted as saying:
“As I see it, the trouble of the southeast all lies in the tax.” According to Geng Ju’s
calculation of the tax burden on farmers in Changshu County, the farmers had to
contribute 40% of the grain harvested as the tax. Xu Guangqi added: “Suzhou and
Songjiang had the heaviest tax burden, followed by Changshu, Jiaxing and
Huzhou.” The tax burdens were so heavy that “once there was a minor flood or
drought, people immediately became destitute and sought refuge everywhere,”
which consequently affected the normal operation of agricultural production. In
volume 8, the book also quoted Geng Ju’s Kai Huang Shen (《开荒申》) as saying:
“For this reason, the fields were mostly barren and it was wilderness everywhere.”
The final outcome, as mentioned in Xu Zhenming’s Request for Building Water
Conservancy for Reserve (《请亟修水利以预储蓄疏》) quoted in Volume 12 of the
book, was “the resources of the southeastern areas were depleted.” The southeastern
areas were originally rich, while Xu Guangqi wrote in the book: “I was born in a
place of wealth, and lament its imposed poverty.” All this was caused by canal
transport, which not only added to the economic depression in the north, but also
made the southeastern areas increasingly poor and became the greatest factor of
social instability. Therefore, Xu Guangqi asserted: “canal transport could impoverish
the country, cause water waste and ruin rivers.” (“Cao He Yi”, Xu Guangqi’s
Collection (《徐光启集》) (Vol.1)). As can be seen, canal transport was the greatest
social issue in those days and became a common topic among intellectuals.
As to how to solve this problem, Xu Guangqi inherited the solution of Xu
Zhenming and Geng Ju and proposed to address this problem in two ways: First,
prospering the economy in the southern areas to maintain northward transfer of
water; and second, developing grain production in the northwestern areas to enhance
self-sufficiency and reduce dependency on canal transport. The top priority was to
build water conservancy projects and reclaim wasteland. He believed “water con-
servancy projects in six cities including Suzhou and Hangzhou can provide for half
of the country’s needs; and the entire country’s water conservancy projects can be
built in the six cities,” articulating that water resources should be first used for
agriculture and measures must be taken to save water, including the use of water
originally used for canal transport for irrigation of fields, to increase grain produc-
tion. Given the political, economic, and military situations, he strongly suggested
building water conservancy projects and reclaiming wasteland in the north, starting
with the capital and extending toward the northwest, in hope of turning the tide in the
unreasonable practice of transferring southern grain to the north by developing
agricultural production in the north, while enhancing border defense and increasing
revenue. It was also for this purpose that he chose Tianjin, which was near the
capital, for the reclamation experiment. The nine volumes of the category of “Water
Conservancy” included one volume on irrigation and utilization maps, and two
volumes on the Taixi Water Conservancy Method, which was a general introduction;
the rest included one volume on water conservancy in the northwest (with three
general introductions), three volumes on water conservancy in the southeast, and one
volume on the water conservancy in Zhejiang (with submissions on building
embankments, water conservancy in Diannan, and the use of water for dry fields).
All but the Submission of Water Use (《用水疏》), which was a systematic introduc-
tion to water use theories, was about specific issues of local water conservancy.
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) first discussed “water conservancy in the
northwest,” demonstrating the author’s concern for water conservancy in the north-
west. According to Xu, “water conservancy is the foundation of agriculture. No
water, no fields. The most urgent need for water conservancy lies in the northwest,
where water conservancy has been defuncted for long. Among areas in the north-
west, the area east of the capital is in the direst need, as it is close to the suburban area
of the capital” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – General Examples (《农政全书·凡例》)).
The northwest mentioned here is different from that generally contemplated by
people nowadays. Some believe it referred to the entire Yellow River Basin, which
started with Gansu in the west and stretched to Hebei and the coastal areas of
Shandong in the east (Wan Guoding: “Xu Guangqi’s Academic Route and Contri-
butions to Agriculture. Collection of Papers in Memory of Xu Guangqi (《徐光启纪
念论文集》), Zhong Hua Book Company, 1963, p.27). Some believe Xu Guangqi
was not familiar with the real “northwest.” His version of the “northwest” was the
446 X. Zeng
area west of Beijing, namely the area from Taihang Mountain to Henan and
encompassing Shaanxi for most, while Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang were not
included (Shi Shenghan: “Xu Guangqi and Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》).
Collection of Papers in Memory of Xu Guangqi (《徐光启纪念论文集》), Zhong
Hua Book Company, 1963, p.65).
The volume of “Water Conservancy in Northwest” was primarily included in Guo
Shoujing’s biography, Qiu Xun’s comments on the ancient well-field system, and Xu
Zhenming’s comments on water conservancy in the northwest. Guo Shoujing (1231–
1316), a famous scientist of the Yuan Dynasty period, had outstanding achievements
in astronomy and water conservancy projects. He proposed to build water conser-
vancy projects and fields in the north and was praised by the emperor of the Yuan
Dynasty as a “genius.” As Qiu Xun saw it, though the well-field system was not
feasible, the ditch system must not be abolished. This was a draining and flood
prevention measure aimed at possible floods in the north due to concentrated
precipitation in the summer. Xu Guangqi himself wrote an article of the Study of
Well-Field System, which was included in Vol.4 Field System of Nong Zheng Quan
Shu (《农政全书》), with a view to “clarifying an ancient system for present usage,”
expecting this old field system to play a role in barren land reclamation in the
northwest. Xu Zhenming was a prominent water conservancy expert in the Ming
Dynasty period, who had presided over the farmland water conservancy develop-
ment projects around the capital. Xu Zhenming’s Urgent Request for Building Water
Conservancy in Preparation of Storage and Drainage (《请亟修水利以预储蓄疏》)
quoted by Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) was the earliest to have proposed to
build water conservancy and develop agricultural production in the north to reduce
or end dependency on the southeast. Xu Zhenmin’s discussion of water conservancy
in the northwest quoted in Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) further elucidated
the vision of developing water conservancy in the northwest, and provided 13 rea-
sons to prove developing water conservancy in the northwest was a top priority of
the state. It is noteworthy that Xu added some notes when referring to this article. For
example, when talking of the implications of building water conservancy and
developing agricultural production in the northwest for the southeast, Xu Zhenming
said: “One kilogram of input to the northwest requires several kilograms of output
from the southeastern provinces. The more the input, the greater the loss.” Xu added
such a comment: “This argument is a taboo for Northwesterners and should be used
with caution! With caution!” Besides, Xu Zhenmin believed it was easier to build
water conservancy in the north than in the south, while Xu Guangqi said: “It is hard
to determine whether it is easier in the north or south.” According to rough statistics,
there were over 30 such comments in the volume of “Water Conservancy in the
Northwest.” These notes formed Xu Guangqi’s unique perspective on water conser-
vancy in the northwest.
Xu Guangqi’s views of water conservancy in the northwest were different from
Xu Zhenmin’s in that Xu Guangqi focused on the actual circumstances of the
northwest and developing water conservancy in a way tailored to those actual
circumstances. On the one hand, he emphasized on the development of irrigation,
claiming “anywhere in the world is suitable for building water conservancy”. On the
other hand, he also attached priority to water storage in dry farming areas, pointing
out “fields in the north are mostly wet fields instead of dry ones,” and criticized Xu
Zhenmin’s preferring wet fields to dry ones. Xu Guangqi also realized it was
obviously impractical to solely rely on irrigation for agricultural water in the
north, where water resources were scarce. Therefore, he actively called for building
wells and developing and utilizing underground water while attaching special
importance to water storage. Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) quoted a lot of
relevant materials and summarized abundant experience in water storage. From the
perspective of water use, the three most important tips are: accumulating snow,
winter irrigation, water storage in late summer, and early fall. All these tips were
tailored to the climatic characteristics of the north, namely frequent rain and snow in
the fall and winter, and dryness in the spring.
So-called “water conservancy in the southeast” referred to water conservancy in
Suzhou and Songjiang, or a relatively larger geographical area that encompassed the
six prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou.
As the economic center began to shift southward in the Sui and Tang Dynasties
periods, “the area between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River became the
lifeline of the kingdom,” and the six prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou,
Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou were more vital, contributing almost a half of the
entire kingdom’s tax revenue. However, the Taihu area was of a disc shape, with a
depression in the center, which was vulnerable to flooding; and the surroundings
were elevated and vulnerable to droughts. The situation at that time was once there
was a minor flood or drought, people had to leave their hometowns and fled
everywhere due to derelict water conservancy. As a result, tax evasions were
ubiquitous and affected the kingdom’s tax revenue. Under this circumstance, intel-
lectuals strongly called for building water conservancy: “water conservancy is no
harm in days of prosperity and serves to relieve dire situations like today’s” (Nong
Zheng Quan Shu – Water Conservancy – Water Conservancy in Southeast Part III).
“Water Conservancy in Southeast” consisted of three parts. Part 1 recorded
comments about water conservancy in areas like Suzhou made by Fan Zhongyan
of the Song Dynasty, Ren Renfa of the Yuan Dynasty, and Liu Feng and Wu En of
the Ming Dynasty, and Xu Guangqi’s own comments on water conservancy in the
Taihu area were added. The key issue in water conservancy in the southeast was
“draining through the Taihu Lake.” Xu Guangqi approved of Fan Zhongyan’s
proposal to drain the flood through the Taihu Lake, which connected to major rivers
and the ocean. He also agreed with Ren Renfa’s proposal to expand the Taihu Lake’s
drainage to rinse the slurry of the Wusong River and smoothen the waterway. Nong
Zheng Quan Shu – Water Conservancy – Water Conservancy in Southeast Part 1
(《农政全书·水利·东南水利上》) partially included the imperial orders and minis-
terial submissions on water conservancy around the Taihu Lake during the Ming
Dynasty period as well as Xu Guangqi’s own “methods for river projects measure-
ment and terrain surveying” and “spring identification method.” The “methods for
river projects measurement and terrain surveying” were submitted by him to the
governor of his hometown Shanghai County as reference for building water conser-
vancy projects in 1603 and were the earliest of Xu Guangqi’s currently available
448 X. Zeng
scientific work. Part 2 included the entirety of Geng Ju’s Da Xing Shui Li Shen (《大
兴水利申》), which focused on the discussion of construction of water conservancy
projects, including nine entries on “river making methods,” which covered the
organization and management of labor upon water conservancy building, and five
entries on “embankment building,” which were about concrete embankment build-
ing techniques.
The southeast supposedly includes Zhejiang. However, Nong Zheng Quan Shu
(《农政全书》) contained a separate section of “Water Conservancy in Zhejiang” in
addition to “Water Conservancy in Southeast.” This section mainly discussed the
embankment and water storage projects around the Jinghu Lake in Shaoxing, the
Xiagai Lake in Shangyu, the Donghu, Guangde and Dongqian Lakes in Ningbo, and
the hazards of making fields on silted lakes. Unlike others who opposed undermining
the balancing effect of rivers and lakes, Xu Guangqi believed the erosion of lakes by
silt was the result of a natural instead of manmade cause and therefore could not be
treated; besides, he believed lakes could be reclaimed, but not excessively. In the
volume of “Water Conservancy in Zhejiang,” the most noteworthy was Xu
Guangqi’s own “Water Usage for Dry Fields,” which was originally the section of
“Water Usage” in Xu Guangqi’s Tun Yan Shu (《屯盐疏》), which elucidated the
theories and measures of water usage in a simple and systematic manner. As Xu
Guangqi saw it, the use of water could not only relieve droughts, but also eliminate
the root cause of droughts (“the one pro of proper water use can help avoid several
cons,” emphasizing on proper water use. As for how to appropriately use water, Xu
Guangqi proposed the famous “Five Tips for Water Use” based on historical
experience in conjunction with the contemporary western technological achieve-
ments and his own practice, suggesting taking water from five kinds of sources, so
that “each and every drop of water is used.” These five kinds of water sources
included (1) flowing springs on the mountain, springs on the ground, and creeks in
the mountains; (2) branches of rivers; (3) the rippling water of swamps; (4) the
estuary section of the sea supported by the tide; and (5) underground water and rain/
snow water. He believed these were the only five methods for water use – “As long
as these five methods are exhausted, few fields will lack access to water, and there
will be few cases where water is not used for fields.”
How to “exhaust the five methods”? To address the different circumstances, Xu
proposed a series of concrete steps. In summary, there were seven measures, which
could be found in Vol.6 and 19 of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》): The first
was to introduce water, which was carried out in two ways: If the water source is
higher than the field, the water should be introduced without a dam – “create a ditch
at the source to introduce water into the field”; if “the water is fetched from a river,” a
dam should be used to introduce the water – “build a valve and dam in the river to
create channels and introduce into the field”; the second measure was to store water
by building a dam to block and accumulate the local river or stream for use for the
fields. If there is a spring on the flat ground, “introduce the water for use if too
abundant, or make ponds around if the water is sufficient”; if there are no water
sources in the mountains, “ponds are made to accumulate rain and snow water.” The
third method was to transfer water. If water sources are scarce in a certain area, the
measure adopted was to “transfer water from elsewhere” – “the spring here is used
there, and if the two places are separated by a creek, make a canal across the creek to
introduce water” The fourth measure was to defend against water – “if any river or
pond overflows and overwhelms fields, build an embankment to defend against it,”
to prevent the flood from overwhelming the field. The fifth measure was to drain
water to avoid hazards and facilitate benefits: “if the water up there cannot get down
here, dredge to make it come down; if the water cannot go down there, dredge to
make it go down there.” “Make the water come down here to prevent hazards in the
upstream; make the water go down there to prevent hazards in the downstream. Both
bring benefits.” The sixth measure was to drill a well to fetch water. “In mountains
and plateaus where water sources are scarce, only wells can save the day.” He
proposed to develop and utilize underground water in areas with inadequate ground
water sources. He said: “For a household in the highlands, a well can save its field
even if there is a great drought. If several households share a well, they will not face
the danger of hunger and will not have to flee.” “A lot of wells were made near
Henan and Zhending to irrigate fields, which proved to be quite useful in drought
years and should be rolled out.” In order to promote the benefits of wells, he also
specifically introduced the methods of seeking springs and making wells. The
seventh measure was to pull up water, namely using manpower, cattle, water, and
winds to lift water to irrigate fields in places where water is below the fields and
cannot automatically flow for irrigation.
After proposing the “Five Methods for Using Water,” Xu Guangqi also proposed
the “Four Methods for Collecting Water,” namely (1) spraying the water upwards;
(2) collecting water flowing downwards in a specific direction; (3) lifting water using
machinery; and (4) getting water mechanically by leveraging the siphon effect. Xu
Guangqi analyzed the applicable conditions, methodologies, and pros/cons of each
method. He said: “there are two ways to collect flowing water: the first is single
collection, namely collecting water from a torrent, where the water collected can
reach several meters high. The second is several rounds of collection, where any
flowing water, fast or slow, is collected in three rounds. There are two ways to collect
water flowing downwards: The first is to collect water flowing from a higher level
and accumulate water until the two are leveled. The second is to use human force to
collect. There are many methods to collect water by lifting with machinery. Any
method that involves the use of an axle as recorded in this book is one of these
methods. Through an intricate mechanism of apparatuses, one can collect the water
that stretches several kilometers to the mountain top. However, the spraying method
only applies to flowing water. The second method only applies to water that is above,
flowing or static. The machinery method lifts flowing water with hydraulic power,
while for static water, wind power or human/cattle power must be used. Only the
suction method only uses machinery to naturally collect water, whether it is from a
spring, a pond, a river or a well, and does not involve the use of wind, human or
cattle. However, with this method, not much water can be collected – only sufficient
to drinking use, and much more is required for irrigation.” The “Four Methods for
Collecting Water” summarized by Xu Guangqi was the first summary of the water
introduction and irrigation technique. The “Four Methods for Collecting Water” and
450 X. Zeng
the “Five Methods for Using Water” constituted an essential part of Xu Guangqi’s
thoughts on water conservancy.
Xu Guangqi had realized that water could not only be used for drinking and
irrigating farmland, but also was an important source of natural energy. Therefore,
while focusing on the discussion of farmland irrigation, he dedicated one chapter to
the discussion of using water as a source of power, namely “hydraulic power,” which
was covered in the “Utilization Atlas” in Vol.18 of this book, which was also based
on Wang Zhen’s Nong Shu (《农书》) of the Yuan Dynasty. As can be seen, hydraulic
power had been widely used in many fields in ancient China, such as air blowing,
grain processing, and even textiles, which was at the forefront of the world. But in
the era when Xu Guangqi lived, western science and technology began to advance
by leaps and bounds, while traditional Chinese science and technology did not
develop as rapidly. As an open-minded scientist and thinker, Xu Guangqi actively
introduced western science and technology while inheriting traditional Chinese
technological achievements. For this reason, Xu Guangqi added two volumes of
Tai Xi Shui Fa (《泰西水法》) in the water conservancy part of Nong Zheng Quan
Shu (《农政全书》). The original book of Tai Xi Shui Fa (《泰西水法》) was dictated
by Italian missionary Sabatino de Ursis in Beijing and noted down by Xu Guangqi.
The original book consisted of six volumes. Of the two volumes included in Nong
Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), the first one introduced “dragon-tail carts,” a
vehicle used for river water, and “yuheng carts” and “hengsheng carts,” which
were vehicles used for well and spring water; the second volume introduced the
method for building reservoirs, and attached descriptions of methods for identifying
spring sources, making wells and testing water quality.
13.5.4 Historical Value
As an agricultural book, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) has extremely

important value in agriculture. First, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) system-
atically summarized the dry farming techniques of rice fields in the south. Rice is the
most important crop in southern China, but since the Tang and Song Dynasties, rice
cultivation alone had been difficult to meet people’s needs for food due to the
massive increase in population. As a result, dryland crops such as wheat, oilseed
rape, rape, and even cotton were planted along with rice in rice fields. Although
Chen Fu’s Nong Shu (《农书》) of the Song Dynasty, Wang Zhen’s Nong Shu (《农
书》) of the Yuan Dynasty and Lu Mingshan’s Non Sang Yi Shi Cuo Yao (《农桑衣食
撮要》) contained records of the dry farming techniques in the south, these records
were scattered. In the late Ming Dynasty period, the wet-dry dual cropping tech-
niques in the south developed significantly, and Xu Guangqi made a systematic
summary of these techniques, including techniques for rice field wheat, rice field
rape, and rice field cotton, greatly enriching the reservoir of wet-dry rotation
techniques, some of which are still considered technical principles that must be
followed for dry rice field farming in the south. Second, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农
政全书》) presented a comprehensive summary of the experience in cultivating
sweet potatoes, cotton, privets, and wujiu¸ enriching the vault of experience in
cultivating conventional crops. Sweet potatoes are a food crop newly introduced in
the Ming Dynasty period. While actively promoting it, Xu Guangqi instantly
summed up his cultivation experience, which contributed to the promotion of
sweet potato and the increase of grain production. Although cotton and ligustrum
had been cultivated and used before the Ming Dynasty, their economic value was not
been fully exploited by people. The relevant cultivation techniques, especially the
cotton cultivation techniques in the Jiangnan region, had not been comprehensively
summarized. By writing about them in the agricultural book, Xu Guangqi filled the
gaps left by predecessors. Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) recorded 159 culti-
vated crops, (“Preliminary Discussion of 159 Cultivated Plants in Nong Zheng Quan
Shu (《农政全书》)”, 1813, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) Annotated (Appen-
dix 2)) over half of which (80) had annotations by Xu Guangqi, which was
unprecedented. Xu Guangqi also expanded the harvest of crops (the grain) to the
stems, transforming the economic yield into the concept of biomass.
Although Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) generally took the stance of
defending the dynasty’s rule as a political book, it sometimes did show a tendency
of local protectionism. However, he was concerned about people’s livelihood, lives,
and production. He was particularly struck by the miseries suffered by the people in
the southeastern areas, and particularly emphasized on relieving their burden, which
was demonstrated in many parts of his book. He inherited the traditional prioritiza-
tion of agriculture in China, believing agriculture is “the source of people’s fertility
and the foundation of the nation’s strength” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – General
Examples) (《农政全书·凡例》), and trying to turn the precarious situation with
agricultural production, which was quite insightful at that time. Nong Zheng Quan
Shu (《农政全书》) spent a large portion on “famine preparation,” “reclamation,” and
“water conservancy,” which demonstrated Xu’s concern for people’s miseries. The
“famine preparation” issue was essentially an issue of food supply and livelihood.
The food issue had been the greatest political issue of all the dynasties in China. With
the insight of a politician, Xu Guangqi provided the solution, which was to reclaim
barren land, and to reclaim barren land required building of water conservancy in the
first place. These insights have eternal value for guiding on the development of
agriculture.
Xu’s farsightedness led to nothing in his lifetime for political reasons, while his
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) had tremendous impact in history. When first
acquiring Xu Guangqi’s manuscript from Xu Guangqi’s second eldest grandson,
Chen Zilong decided to “abridge the piece and fill the missing parts for the purpose
of enriching the nation and civilizing the people” and completed the revision of the
book, which was perused by Zhang Guowei, the Minister of Official Affairs and
Fang Yuegong, the governor of Songjiang, who thought Xu’s book could “treat the
root cause and save the plight” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Zhang Guowei’s Preface)
(《农政全书·张国维序》), and “there will be no barren fields or famines if sugges-
tions in this book can be adopted” (Nong Zheng Quan Shu – Fang Yuegong’s
Preface) (《农政全书·方岳贡序》). Thus, the book’s printing and distribution were
ordered. After its publication, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) was praised as
452 X. Zeng
“an economic masterpiece that stands the test of time. . .and serves to reinforce the
nation’s foundation.” In the second year after the book’s completion, the Central
Plains were hit by a great famine, and Fang Yuegong et al. adopted some agricultural
policies in the book to suppress food prices, and in subsequent tenures, Fang
Yuegong carried out multiple water conservancy projects for fields as described in
the book. In Fang’s own words: “Although I have not taken all the measures
mentioned in Xu’s book, I bear in mind its tenets and will never forget.” In the
fifth year after its completion (1643), Xu Guangqi’s was summoned by the emperor
and presented 60 volumes of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), when Emperor
Chongzhen ordered its printing and publication. After the mid-Qing Dynasty period,
the book was printed multiple times, spread widely and had great influence, even
overseas.
13.5.5 Influence on the World
Around the late period of Emperor Shunzhi’s reign and the early period of Emperor
Kangxi’s reign (mid-seventeenth century), Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》)
spread to Japan, China’s neighbor to the east, and caught scholars’ attention. In 1666,
Tekisai Nakamura (1627–1700), a famous scholar in the Edo Period (1603–1868),
published Xun Meng Tu Hui (《训蒙图汇》), which listed Xu’s book in its bibliogra-
phy. In 1696, agronomist Miyazaki Yasushi (1623–1697) published the Encyclope-
dia of Agriculture (《农业全书》), which quoted Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全
书》) once and again. In 1716, herb expert Genda Matsuo (1668–1746) added
annotations to the attachments Jiu Huang Ben Cao (《救荒本草》) and Ye Cai Pu
(《野菜谱》) in Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) and published in Kyoto.
Although Chinese agricultural books such as Qi Min Yao Shu (《齐民要术》) had
spread to Japan, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) was more popular for two
reasons: First, as Xu Guangqi was born in Shanghai, his book recorded a lot of
agricultural intelligence about the wet areas of Jiangnan, which was more relevant to
Japan, which had the same climate; and second, prominent scholars like Miyazaki
Yasushi provided an authentic, stringent translation of the book (Takeshi Watanabe:
On the Spread and Acceptance of Qi Min Yao Shu (《齐民要术》) in Japan. A paper
on the academic symposium of the Natural Science History Institute of Chinese
Academy of Sciences on the “Traditional Handicraft Techniques and Folk Culture of
China, 21 June 2008). In 1697, Miyazaki Yasushi wrote the Encyclopedia of
Agriculture (《农业全书》), which was exactly based on Xu Guangqi’s Nong Zheng
Quan Shu (《农政全书》) as the blueprint. Miyazaki Yasushi said in the preface: “I
have been studying Chinese agricultural books represented by Nong Zheng Quan
Shu (《农政全书》), with a sideline interest in herb studies. Any Chinese agricultural
technique which is useful to country is selected and included in my book” (p.24,
vol.12 of the Full Collection of Japanese Agricultural Books). A comprehensive
agricultural book oriented toward the entire Japan, his book was published in Kyoto
in 1697 after proofreading by Genda Matsuo. The book consisted of 11 volumes,
namely the general introduction, the “Five Categories of Grains” (19 varieties),
vegetables (56 varieties), mountain vegetables (19 varieties), the “Three Categories
of Grasses” (11 varieties), the “Four Categories of Trees” (4 varieties), fruit trees
(15 varieties), trees (13 varieties), animal (livestock, poultry and fish) husbandry,
medications (20), and appendices (written by Genda Matsuo, covering the origin of
agriculture and the method for famine relief). The general introduction consisted of
10 sections, which covered farming, seeds, land treatment methods, seasons, hoeing,
manure, water conservancy, harvesting, saving and frugality, and mountain forests.
Sections about farming and manure accounted for nearly a half of these ten sections,
with contents about farming mostly excerpted from Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全
书》). Although the types of manure and fertilization methods had strong Japanese
characteristics, descriptions of the effects of fertilization were mostly translated from
the Chinese agricultural book, and descriptions of the process of field farming were
also mostly translated from the Chinese agricultural book. Volume 2 contained
descriptions of 109 crops (21 more than those in Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全
书》)). Although certain parts were based on the Japanese circumstances, more parts
were partially or even entirely based on Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》), which
also influenced the writing of other subsequent agricultural books in Japan.
In Korea, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) was deeply advocated by
eighteenth-century thinker Bak Jiwon (1737–1805), who quoted this book once
and again in his Ke Nong Chao (《课农抄》). Zhong Shu Pu (《种薯谱》) by Yu-gu
So (1766–1847) quoted 17 pieces of literature of China, Korea, and Japan, of which
Xu Guangqi’s Gan Shu Shu (《甘薯疏》) was quoted most (31 times), followed by
Kim’s Gan Shu Pu (《甘薯谱》) of Korea (22 times), Wang Xiangjin’s Qun Fang Pu
(《群芳谱》) of the Ming Dynasty (11 times), and Kang’s 《甘薯谱》Gan Shu Pu (《甘
薯谱》) of Korea (10 times). Zhong Shu Pu (《种薯谱》) might quote directly from Xu
Guangqi’s original Gan Shu Shu (《甘薯疏》) instead of quoting through Nong Zheng
Quan Shu (《农政全书》). Appropriate additions were made to Xu Guangqi’s original
Gan Shu Shu (《甘薯疏》) when the latter was included in Nong Zheng Quan Shu
(《农政全书》) (Osamu Shinoda: Zhong Shu Pu (《种薯谱》) and Korean Sweet
Potatoes (《朝鲜甘薯》)”. Appendix to the combined version of Jin Shu Chuan Xi
Lu (《金薯传习录》) and Zhong Shu Pu (《种薯谱》), Agriculture Press, 1982). Yu-gu
So also authored the 16 Notes of Garden Economy (《林园经济十六志》), which
contained 123 volumes and 52 books, which quoted 845 pieces of ancient Chinese
and Korean literature, including Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》).
Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) spread to Europe in the eighteenth century.
In 1735, a four-volume Full History of Chinese Empire and Chinese Tatars (《中华
帝国及华属鞑靼全志》) in French was published in Paris, and vol.2 of this book
was an excerpted French version of Silkworm Silk in Vol.31–39 of Nong Zheng Quan
Shu (《农政全书》), with great influence in Europe. In the nineteenth century, Nong
Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) still caught Europeans’ attention. In 1849, British
sinologist Walter Henry Madhust retranslated the chapter of “Silkworm Silk” into
English and published it under the title of the Overview of Silk Making in Shanghai.
In 1864, C. Show translated vol.35 of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) (Cotton
Planting) into English and published it under the title of the Overview of Cotton
Planting in Shanghai Area. In 1865, Russian Anthony translated the parts about
454 X. Zeng
silkworms in Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) and Nong Sang Ji Yao (《农桑辑
要》) into Russian and published it under the title of “On Chinese Silkworm Breeding
Technique.” In Europe, Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) was entitled as an
“agricultural encyclopedia.”
References
1. Chengyi, K. (1960a). An exploration of origins of citations in Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《h农政全
书i征引文献探源》). Agriculture Press, p.16.
2. Chengyi, K. (1960b). An exploration of origins of citations in Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《h农政全
书i征引文献探源》). Agriculture Press, p.34.
3. Ji, X. “Wen Ding Gong Xing Shi”. Reviewed by Wang Chongmin: Xu Guangqi’s Collections (《徐
光启集》) (Appendix), Zhonghua Book Company, p.1963.
4. Jiyu, Z. (1983). Ji Lei Bian (《鸡肋编》). Zhonghua Book Company, p.36.
5. Jixing, P. (1984). “Overseas spread of Xu Guangqi’s Nong Zheng Quan Shu”. Xin Hua Wen Zhai
(《新华文摘》), (11).
6. Xiongsheng, Z. (2010). The letter to my local folks: A newly discovered posthumous article by
Xu Guangqi and its interpretation. Study of Natural Science History (《自然科学史研究》), (1),
p.1–12.
7. Xiuling, Y. (1983). On Characteristics and Achievements of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全
书》) by Comparing large agricultural book systems“. Chinese Agriculture History (《中国农
史》), (3).
8. Xiuling, Y. (1999). “On features and achievements of Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) by
Comparing large agricultural book systems”. Collection of Papers on Agricultural History
Studies (《农史研究文集》), China Agriculture Press, p.154.

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History of Science

and Technology in China

Xiaoyuan Jiang Editor

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/16685

A New Phase of Systematic

With 163 Figures and 16 Tables

ISSN 2730-910X ISSN 2730-9118 (electronic)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021

1 Pottery-Making in Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2 Porcelain Techniques in Ancient China ..................... 51

3 The Invention and Evolution of the Compass ................ 77

4 Overview of Textile Technology in Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

5 Ancient Chinese Food Technology and Food Materials . . . . . . . . . 131

6 Pouring and Lifting: Two Different Papermaking Technique

7 Liquor Making and Folk Customs in Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . 175

8 Chinese Ancient Loom and Textile Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

9 The Silk Road and East-West Textile Culture Exchange . . . . . . . . 257

10 Invention and Evolution of Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

11 Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient China ................. 335

12 Tian Gong Kai Wu (《天工开物》): Heyday of Agriculture and

13 Nong Zheng Quan Shu (《农政全书》) and Xu Guangqi . . . . . . . . . 415

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 1

1.5 Late Chalcolithic Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Furthermore, the ﬁring technique used in pottery-making led to the smelting

Table 1.1 Periods and types of pottery-making in ancient China

1.1 Early Neolithic Age

1.1.1 Raw Materials for Pottery-Making

1.1.2 Forming of Clay Body

Table 1.2 Carbon-14 dating data of the Early Neolithic Age

1.1.3 Firing of Pottery

Picture 1.1 Pottery jar from

1.1.4 Various Origins of Pottery Worldwide

1.2 Middle Neolithic Age

1.2.1 Raw Materials for Pottery-Making

1.2.2 Pottery-Making with Mat

1.2.3 Origin of the Slow Wheel

1.2.4 Rise of Pottery Kilns

Picture 1.5 Pit kiln in Jiahu

Picture 1.6 Trench kiln in Jiahu Ruins, Wuyang County, Henan

1.3 Late Neolithic Age

1.3.1 Hunan as the Center of White Pottery-Making

pottery-making. High-alumina refractory clay is characterized by low silicon mon-

1.3.2 Origin of the Fast Wheel

Picture 1.9 Small-mouth

Picture 1.10 Pottery wares made by wheel-throwing

1.3.3 Development in the Making of Painted Pottery

1.3.4 Improvement of the Updraft Trench Kiln

1.4 Early Chalcolithic Age

1.4.1 Disparate Development in Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making

1.4.2 Moulding Method of the Miaodigou Culture at Excavation

1.4.3 Highly Advanced Technique of Painted Pottery-Making

1.4.4 Reducing-Atmosphere Firing with Updraft Shaft Kiln

Picture 1.16 Pottery kiln of

Picture 1.17 Pottery kiln of

preventing it from re-oxidation. Pottery wares produced in such process appear

1.5 Late Chalcolithic Age

1.5.1 The First Climax of Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making

1.5.2 Popular Moulding Method in Midstream Yellow River Region

The swollen-legged Li (a caldron-like ancient Chinese vessel) (see Picture 1.20)

1.5.3 Maturity of Reducing-Atmosphere Firing and Carburization

Thanks to popularization and maturity of reducing-atmosphere ﬁring, a great

1.5.4 Development in Painted Pottery Craftsmanship

1.6 Xia and Shang Dynasties

1.6.1 Decline of Fast-Wheel Pottery-Making