The Invention of the Compasss

In the history of China there were four major inventions and three of which were invented during the Sung dynasty. These three innovations were gunpowder, printing and paper, also called typography and the compass. The Compass was a very important invention that was needed for traveling and other activities. The compass vehicle, which was an earlier primitive form of the compass, consisted of moving parts like gears, ropes and wheels to find magnetic north. The compass was first mentioned in a book in 1086, the book was called “Dream Pool Essays” by Shen Kuo of the Sung dynasty.

            The idea of the compass was brought to Europe from China shortly after its invention. It was being used in the Mediterranean as the 12^th century. The first record of the compass in a book during the Sung dynasty was about a century before the compass was first mentioned in Europe in 1190. In Europe people were using the compass but most didn’t know how it worked.

            Even today the compass changes people’s lives every day and makes them easier. When the compass was invented, even though they might have had an estimate on where north was it made trade, traveling and many other essential activities much easier for them. Also today people still use the compass to find magnetic north. If someone is on a hike and gets lost, using a compass will help get them back to where they are supposed to be. If a sailor did not have a compass on the boat and he was in the middle of the sea he would have no idea where to go without it.

(http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_madeinchina/2005-05/25/content_69098.htm)

(http://www.sacu.org/greatinventions.html)

(http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112189/compass.htm)

 

(http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/confucian4.html)

 

(http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/confucian4.html) - picture

(http://toptenplus.com/category/misc/inventions/) - picture

 

 

Conquest of the North

Anna Beltramini, Writer

             

             During the few years there has been controversy about the land between the Sung dynasty and the Jurchens. This battle ended with the Sung dynasty losing a little less than half of its Empire. The fact that we didn’t start the battles yet we still lost a major and valuable part of our Empire, which included our capital, is incredibly unfair and one-sided. The Jurchens are a part of the Liao Empire but they decided on their own, to rebel and make their own state, also known as the Jin dynasty. After the Jurchens made themselves their own dynasty the Song dynasty wanted them to be allies. One of the Sung dynasty officials told the Emperor to make an alliance and so he did. Once the alliance was made the Sung dynasty took advantage of being allies with the Jin dynasty. They took advantage because once the alliance was made they completely conquered the Liao Dynasty by 1125 A.D.

The Jurchens thought that the Sung dynasty had a weak military so they took advantage of that and broke the alliance. “Launching an invasion into Sung territory in 1125 and another in 1127; in this later invasion, the Jurchens captured not only the Sung capital at Kaifeng, but the retired emperor Huizong,” (Song). This act performed by the Jin dynasty was an unfair act in several ways one being that The two dynasties has an alliance but just because one of them did not have the best military the other has to go and take half of the others territory. Also that part of the Sung dynasty contained our capital, and to add on to it they captured a retired emperor! That is an unfair and unnecessary action just because one army had a “poor performance and military weakness”. If it was not bad enough to attack your allies, the Jurchens had to take the capital and emperor too. “Withdrew south of the Yangtze River to establish the Song Dynasty's new capital at Lin'an,” (Song). To attack and conquer your allies land and make them switch their capital to another city in completely unfair and untrustworthy.

 



Picture Collage

Emperor Zhao Kuangyin

Zhao Kuangyin was the first emperor of the Sung dynasty and also the founder. He was once called Emperor Taizu. Around 960 Zhao launched a millitary attack, took the trone and established the Sung dynasty.

 

Gunpowder

During the Sung dynasty one of the great innovations was the invention of gunpowder. The first record of the main ingredient in gunpowder was found in a military manual from about 1044 A.D. In the manual there was also directions for making bombs so it is believed that they were one of the first to use explosives in battle.

 

Landscape Paintings

 

At the time of the Sung dyansty landscape paintings became better in several differrnt ways.

They made it so painters could paint a longer distance by bluring the objects that were farther away. Emphasis was put on revealing the inner harmony of man and nature.

 

 

Pottery and Porcelain

During the Sung dyansty pottery was a big part of the art. It is said that the pottery of this time had the foremost expression of art not only in China but the ancient world. The coming together of key components like shape, techinques and decoration made the pottery better.

Currency

During the Sung dyansty the system of bronze coins they used changed often. They weighted anywhere from 1 gram to 27 grams. There were also various iron coins with the same weight variations.

 

http://totallyhistory.com/song-dynasty-960-1279/

http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/chinahist/song.html

http://history.culturalchina.com/en/56History2386.html  

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Song_Dynasty_Porcelain_Bottle.jpg

http://xinjingrushui.com/node/175

 

A Map of the Sung Empire

 

The Sung (Song) dynasty had to parts, North and South. The Capital city in the north was Kaifeng but when the north was lost to the Jin Empire in 1126, the capital changed to Hangzhou, in the south. The land around some of the major rivers, like the Yangtze and Pearl, are very fertile and fed the majority of the 50 million people. When the Northern Empire was taken of the Sung Empire lost major rivers and a lot of land. They also lost the birthplace of China, which was located along the Yellow River.Yet the south still had 60% of the population and most of the agricultural land.

 

http://www.art-virtue.com/history/sung/sung.htm