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Concept
Science and technology of the Song dynasty
Summary
The Song dynasty (; 960–1279 CE) invented some technological advances in Chinese history, many of which came from talented statesmen drafted by the government through imperial examinations.
The ingenuity of advanced mechanical engineering had a long tradition in China. The Song engineer Su Song admitted that he and his contemporaries were building upon the achievements of the ancients such as Zhang Heng (78–139), an astronomer, inventor, and early master of mechanical gears. The application of movable type printing advanced the already widespread use of woodblock printing to educate and amuse Confucian students and the masses. The application of new weapons employing the use of gunpowder enabled the Song to ward off its militant enemies—the Liao, Western Xia, and Jin with weapons such as cannons—until its collapse to the Mongol forces of Kublai Khan in the late 13th century.
Notable advances in civil engineering, nautics, and metallurgy were made in Song China, as well as the introduction of the windmill to China during the thirteenth century. These advances, along with the introduction of paper-printed money, helped revolutionize and sustain the economy of the Song dynasty.
Polymaths—that is, people knowledgeable across an encyclopaedic range of topics—such as Shen Kuo (1031–1095) and Su Song (1020–1101) embodied the spirit of early empirical science and technology in the Song era. Shen is famous for discovering the concept of true north and magnetic declination towards the North Pole by calculating a more accurate measurement of the astronomical meridian, and fixing the calculated position of the pole star that had shifted over the centuries. This allowed sailors to navigate the seas more accurately with the magnetic needle compass, also first described by Shen. Shen was made famous for his written description of Bi Sheng, the inventor of movable type printing. Shen was also interested in geology, as he formulated a theory of geomorphology and climate change over time after making observations of strange natural phenomena.
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