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111-467: The ancient Chinese invented a mobile-like armored cart in the 5th century BC called the Dongwu Che ( Chinese : 洞屋车 ). It was used for the purpose of protecting warriors on the battlefield. The Chinese war wagon was designed as a kind of mobile protective cart with a shed-like roof. It would serve to be rolled up to city fortifications to provide protection for sappers digging underneath to weaken

222-704: A Di -ruled state that had briefly unified northern China. In the aftermath of that battle, the Former Qin state splintered, and Jin armies recaptured the lands south of the Yellow River . The Eastern Jin was eventually usurped by General Liu Yu in 420 replaced with the Liu Song dynasty . The Eastern Jin dynasty is considered the second of the Six Dynasties . During the Three Kingdoms period,

333-463: A bitter blow from which they never quite recovered. There was also conflict between the various northern immigrant clans. This led to a virtual balance of power, which somewhat benefited the emperor's rule. Special "commanderies of immigrants" and "white registers" were created for the massive amounts of northern Han Chinese who moved south during the Eastern Jin. The southern Chinese aristocracy

444-499: A cannon or a force of hand-gunners, archers and crossbowmen , supported by infantry using spears, pikes and flails. Groups of them could form defensive works, but they also were used as hard points for formations or as firepower in pincer movements. This early use of gunpowder and innovative tactics helped a largely peasant infantry stave off attacks by the Holy Roman Empire 's larger forces of mounted knights. The wagon

555-520: A compass for long periods. The spectators could have been shown the machinery, and would have seen that the charioteer could not manipulate the doll. They would presumably have been impressed by the apparent accuracy of the mechanism. It is possible that this type of chariot was sometimes constructed with the prime purpose of fraudulently impressing spectators. Possibly, people who built these chariots deceived their own employers with them, which could have gained them fame and fortune provided nobody tried using

666-427: A compass if turns were always made so that one of the two wheels was stationary and only the other rotated, with the pointing doll connected to it by gears. The charioteer could have kept the stationary wheel from turning by controlling the horses appropriately. (A brake would have helped, but there is no mention of one in the description.) The radius of the curve around which the rotating wheel moved would have equalled

777-447: A control to do this just before and after making each turn, or maybe shouted commands to someone inside the chariot who connected and disconnected the doll and the differential. This could have been done without stopping the chariot. If turns were brief and rare, this would have greatly reduced the pointing errors, since they would have accumulated only during the short periods when the doll and differential were connected. However, it raises

888-428: A design myself and have succeeded in completing it". "The method involves using a carriage with a single pole (for two horses). Above the outside framework of the body of the carriage let there be a cover in two stories. Set a wooden image of a xian (immortal) at the top, stretching out its arm to indicate the south. Use 9 wheels, great and small, with a total of 120 teeth, i.e. 2 foot-wheels (i.e. road-wheels, on which

999-493: A fixed radius of curvature. A third wheel might have been used to fix the turning radius. If the chariot was turning, the pointing doll was connected by gears to one or other of the two main road wheels (e.g. whichever was on the outside of the curve around which the chariot was moving) so the doll rotated at a fixed speed, relative to the rate of the chariot's movement, to compensate for the predetermined rate of turn. The doll turned in opposite directions depending on which road wheel

1110-637: A heavily outnumbered Eastern Jin force inflicted a devastating defeat on the state of Former Qin at the Battle of Fei River . After this battle, the Former Qin—which had recently unified northern China—began to collapse, and the Jin dynasty recovered the lands south of the Yellow River . Some of these lands were later lost, but the Jin regained them once more when Liu Yu defeated the northern states in his northern expeditions of 409–416. Despite successes against

1221-405: A mechanical compass that transports a direction, given by the pointer, along the path it travels. Mathematically the device performs parallel transport along the path it travels. The chariot can be used to detect straight lines or geodesics . A path on a surface the chariot travels along is a geodesic if and only if the pointer does not rotate with respect to the base of the chariot. Because of

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1332-676: A non-mechanical direction-finding method. It might have been operated non-mechanically by someone riding in it, as outlined above. Alternatively, if it had a mechanical mechanism, it must have been frequently re-initialized non-mechanically to eliminate accumulated errors and uncertainties. The only chariots that might not have needed non-mechanical methods of finding the south would have been those that were never used for long-distance navigation. If some chariots were used only for amusement or fraud, they could have worked purely mechanically. Even initialization could have been avoided by simply declaring some arbitrary direction to be "south". While none of

1443-499: A pair on either side. Each of the lower component gears was 2.1 ft. in diameter and 6.3 ft. in circumference, with 32 teeth, at intervals of 2.1 inches apart. Each of the upper component gears was 1.2 ft. in diameter and 3.6 ft. in circumference, with 32 teeth, at intervals of 1.1 inches apart. On each of the road-wheels of the carriage, left and right, was a vertical wheel 2.2 ft. in diameter, 6.6 ft. in circumference, with 32 teeth at intervals of 2.25 inches apart. Both to left and right at

1554-493: A tassel. In the upper story there were at the four corners trip-mechanisms , and also 13 horizontal wheels, each 1.85 ft. in diameter, 5.55 ft. in circumference, with 32 teeth at intervals of 1.8 inches apart. A central shaft, mounted on the partition, pierced downwards. In the lower story were 13 wheels. In the middle was the largest horizontal wheel, 3.8 ft. in diameter, 11.4 ft. in circumference, and having 100 teeth at intervals of 2.1 inches apart. (On vertical axles) reaching to

1665-745: A wall's foundation. The early Chinese war wagon became the basis of technologies for the making of ancient Chinese south-pointing chariots. There are legends of earlier south-pointing chariots, but the first reliably documented one was created by the Chinese mechanical engineer Ma Jun ( c.  200  – 265) of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms . No ancient chariots still exist, but many extant ancient Chinese texts mention them, saying they were used intermittently until about 1300. Some include information about their inner components and workings. There were probably several types of south-pointing chariot which worked differently. In most or all of them,

1776-411: A wheel was present. No gears would have been attached to it, so perhaps the author of the description did not mention it because he did not realize that it was an important part of the mechanism. Putting such a wheel on the chariot and making it function properly would not have been difficult. It might have been attached to the pole to which the horses were harnessed. Stops would have been provided to limit

1887-850: Is not exactly known. Then the lodged Huaide County was also established in Jiankang, around 320. According to the Book of Song : 晉永嘉大亂，幽、冀、青、並、兗州及徐州之淮北流民，相率過淮，亦有過江在晉陵郡界者……又徙流民之在淮南者于晉陵諸縣，其徙過江南及留在江北者，並立僑郡縣以司牧之。徐、兗二州或治江北，江北又僑立幽、冀、青、並四州……(After Disaster of Yongjia, the refugees from You, Ji, Qing, Bing, Yan and Xu provinces came across the Huai River, some even came across the Yangtze River and stayed in Jinling Commandery... The lodged administrative divisions were established to govern them. The seats of Xu and Yan provinces perhaps were moved to

1998-442: Is well known for the quality of its greenish celadon porcelain wares, which immediately followed the development of proto-celadon . Jar designs often incorporated animal, as well as Buddhist, figures. Examples of Yue ware are also known from the Jin dynasty. After the fall of Chang'an and the execution of Emperor Min of Jin , Sima Rui, posthumously known as Emperor Yuan , was enthroned as Jin emperor in 318. He reestablished

2109-560: The Book of Jin : 今九域同規，大化方始，臣等以為宜皆蕩除末法，一擬古制， 以土斷 ，定自公卿以下，皆以所居為正，無復懸客遠屬異土者。 然承魏氏凋弊之跡，人物播越，仕無常朝，人無定處，郎吏蓄於軍府，豪右聚於都邑，事體駁錯，與古不同。謂九品既除，宜先開移徙，聽相並就。且明貢舉之法，不濫於境外，則冠帶之倫將不分而自均，即 土斷 之實行矣。 Hence, it was perhaps initially proposed by these two people, but was only seriously implemented during the Eastern Jin and the Southern dynasties. Taoism was polarized in the Jin dynasty. The Jin emperors repressed Taoists harshly, but also tried to exploit it, given

2220-672: The Weilüe , written by the East Han dynasty politician Yuan Huan also described the south-pointing chariot of belonging to the Chinese mechanical engineer and politician Ma Jun . The Jin dynasty (266–420) era text of the Shu Zheng Ji (Records of Military Expeditions), written by Guo Yuansheng, recorded that south-pointing chariots were often stored in the northern gatehouse of the Government Workshops (Shang Fang) of

2331-530: The Later Qin dynasty). The latter was obtained by emperor An Di of the Jin in the 13th year of the Yi-xi reign-period (417), and it finally came into the hands of emperor Wu Di of the Liu Song dynasty when he took over the administration of Chang'an . Its appearance and construction was like that of a drum-carriage ( odometer ). A wooden figure of a man was placed at the top, with its arm raised and pointing to

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2442-677: The Qin and Former Han dynasties, however, nothing more was heard of the vehicle. In the Later Han period, Zhang Heng re-invented it, but owing to the confusion and turmoil at the close of the dynasty it was not preserved. In the State of Wei, (in the San Guo period) Gaotong Long and Qin Lang were both famous scholars; they disputed about the south-pointing carriage before the court, saying that there

2553-659: The Sima clan—with its most accomplished individual being Sima Yi —rose to prominence within the kingdom of Cao Wei that dominated northern China. Sima Yi was the regent of Cao Wei, and in 249 he instigated a coup d'état known as the Incident at Gaoping Tombs , the Sima clan began to surpass the Cao clan's power in the kingdom. After Sima Yi's death in 251, Sima Yi's eldest son Sima Shi succeeded his father as regent of Cao Wei, maintaining

2664-493: The curvature of the Earth's surface (due to it being curved around as a globe), the chariot would generally not continue to point due south as it moves. For example, if the chariot moves along a geodesic (as approximated by any great circle ) the pointer should instead stay at a fixed angle to the path. Also, if two chariots travel by different routes between the same starting and finishing points, their pointers, which were aimed in

2775-409: The qiaoren : the qiaozhou ( 僑州 , 'province'), qiaojun ( 僑郡 , 'commandery'), and qiaoxian ( 僑縣 , the lodged county), these lodged administrative divisions were merely nominal without possessing actual domain, or rather, they were local government in exile; what could scarcely be denied was their significance in Jin's legitimacy for the northern territory as somewhat an announcement. Furthermore, it

2886-402: The south-southeast or south-southwest , depending on which wheel is the larger. If the chariot travels nine kilometres, the figure will end up pointing almost due north. Obviously, this would make it useless as a south-pointing compass. To be a useful navigational tool, the figure would have to rotate no more than a couple of degrees over a journey of a hundred kilometres, but this would require

2997-504: The Eastern Jin throughout its 104-year existence. The local aristocrat clans of the south were often at odds with the immigrants from the north. As such, tensions increased, and rivalry between the immigrants and southern locals loomed large in the domestic politics of the Jin. Two of the most prominent local clans, the Zhou ( 周 ) clan of Yixing and the Shen ( 沈 ) clan of Wuxing , were dealt

3108-480: The Jin dynasty conquered Eastern Wu in 280 and united China proper, thus ending the Three Kingdoms period. The period of unity was relatively short-lived, as the Jin state was soon weakened by corruption, political turmoil, and internal conflicts. Emperor Wu's son Zhong, posthumously known as Emperor Hui , was developmentally disabled . Emperor Wu died in 290, and in 291 conflict over his succession caused

3219-571: The Jin dynasty with its capital in Jiankang (modern Nanjing ), inaugurating the Eastern Jin (317–420). The Eastern Jin dynasty remained in near-constant conflict with its northern neighbors for most of its existence, and it launched several invasions of the north with the aim of recovering its lost territories. In 383, the Eastern Jin inflicted a devastating defeat on the Former Qin ,

3330-449: The Jin government at Jiankang (present-day Nanjing ), which became the dynasty's new capital. This marked the start of the Eastern Jin period. One of Sima Rui's titles was the prince of Langya , so the recently established northern states , who denied the legitimacy of his succession, occasionally referred to his empire as "Langya". The Eastern Jin period witnessed the pinnacle of menfa ( 門閥 'gentry clan') politics. The authority of

3441-485: The Jin refugees Sima Fei  [ zh ] ( 司馬朏 ) and Sima Chuzhi  [ zh ] ( 司馬楚之 ). They both married Xianbei princesses. Sima Fei's wife was named Huayang ( 華 陽 公主 ), who was a daughter of Emperor Xiaowen ; Sima Chuzhi's son was Sima Jinlong , who married a Northern Liang princess who was a daughter of the Lushuihu king Juqu Mujian . More than fifty percent of Tuoba Xianbei princesses of

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3552-613: The Northern Wei were married to southern Han Chinese men from the imperial families and aristocrats from southern China of the Southern dynasties who defected and moved north to join the Northern Wei. Much later, Sima Guang (1019–1086), who served as chancellor for the Song and created the comprehensive history Zizhi Tongjian , claimed descent from the Jin dynasty (specifically, Sima Fu , brother of Sima Yi ). The uprising of

3663-497: The Sima clan's tight grip on the Cao Wei political scene. After Sima Shi's death in 255, Sima Shi's younger brother Sima Zhao became the regent of Cao Wei. Sima Zhao further assisted his clans' interests by suppressing rebellions and dissent. In 263, he directed Cao Wei forces in conquering Shu Han and capturing Liu Shan (the son of Liu Bei ), marking the first demise of one of the Three Kingdoms. Sima Zhao's actions awarded him

3774-514: The Three Kingdoms. The 6th century text, translated by the British scientist and historian Joseph Needham , reads as follows (the south-pointing chariot is referred to as the south-pointing carriage): The south-pointing carriage was first constructed by the Duke of Zhou (beginning of the 1st millennium BC ) as a means of conducting homewards certain envoys who had arrived from a great distance beyond

3885-581: The Tian-Sheng reign period of the emperor Renzong (1027), Yan Su, a Divisional Director in the Ministry of Works, made a south-pointing carriage. He memorialised the throne, saying, [after the usual historical introduction]: "Throughout the Five Dynasties and until the reigning dynasty there has been, so far as I know, no one who has been able to construct such a vehicle. But now I have invented

3996-780: The Western Jin ended the Three Kingdoms period and reunited China proper for the first time since the end of the Han dynasty . From 291 to 306, a series of civil wars known as the War of the Eight Princes were fought over control of the Jin state which weakened it considerably. In 304, the dynasty experienced a wave of rebellions by non- Han ethnicities termed the Five Barbarians , who went on to establish several short-lived dynastic states in northern China . This inaugurated

4107-592: The Xiongnu's powerful cavalry charges , and allowed Han troops to utilize their ranged weapons ' advantages of precision . Wei Qing neutralised the Xiongnu 's initial cavalry charges, forcing a stalemate and buying time for his troops to recover strength, before using the cover of a sandstorm to launch a counteroffensive which overran the nomads . The Guangwu Emperor (AD 25–57) introduced an ox-pulled war wagon several stories high with an observation tower, which

4218-658: The Zhou period was the Gu Jin Zhu book of Cui Bao (c. 300), written soon after the Three Kingdoms era. Cui Bao also wrote that the intricate details of construction for the device were once written in the Shang Fang Gu Shi ( Traditions of the Imperial Workshops ), but the book was lost by his time. The invention of the south-pointing chariot also made its way to Japan by the 7th century. The Nihon Shoki (The Chronicles of Japan) of 720 described

4329-496: The ancient Chinese descriptions in ways that agreed with their own ideas. Essentially, they re-invented the south-pointing chariot, as it had previously been re-invented several times in antiquity. Working chariots that use differentials have been constructed in recent decades. Whether any such chariots existed previously is not known with certainty. Although the Antikythera mechanism is believed to have used differential gears,

4440-458: The area north of the Yangtze River, where the lodged You, Ji, Qing, Bing provinces were established.) The lodged Pei, Qinghe, Xiapi, Dongguang, Pingchang, Jiyin, Puyang, Guangping, Taishan, Jiyang, and Lu commanderies were established when Emperor Ming ruled. The rebellions and invasions occurring in Jianghuai area led to more refugees switching to settle in the south of the Yangtze River, where

4551-413: The back end of the pole there were small wheels without teeth ( pulleys ), from which hung bamboo cords, and both were tied above the left and right (ends of the) axle (of the carriage) respectively. If the carriage turns to the right, it causes the small pulley to the left of the back end of the pole to let down the left-hand (small horizontal) wheel. If it turns to the left, it causes the small pulley to

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4662-477: The capital city. However, the later written Song Shu ( Book of Song ) (6th century) recorded the south-pointing chariot's design and use in further detail, as well as creating the background legend of the device's (supposed) use long before Ma's time, in the Western Zhou dynasty (1050–771 BC). The book also provided a description of the south-pointing chariot's re-invention and use in times after Ma Jun and

4773-413: The carriage moves due west, but still the wooden figure stands crosswise and points south. If one wishes to travel northwards, the turning round, whether by east or west, is done in the same way." After this initial description of Yan Su's device, the text continues to describe the work of Wu Deren, who crafted a wheeled device that would combine the odometer and south-pointing chariot: It was ordered that

4884-450: The carriage runs) 6 ft. high and 18 ft. in circumference, attached to the foot wheels, 2 vertical subordinate wheels, 2.4 ft. in diameter and 7.2 ft. in circumference, each with 24 teeth, the teeth being at intervals of 3 inches apart. "... Then below the crossbar at the end of the pole, two small vertical wheels 3 inches in diameter and pierced by an iron axle, to the left 1 small horizontal wheel, 1.2 feet in diameter, with 12 teeth, to

4995-432: The chaotic and bloody Sixteen Kingdoms era of Chinese history, in which states in the north rose and fell in rapid succession, constantly fighting both one another and the Jin. Han-Zhao , one of the northern states established during the disorder, sacked Luoyang in 311 , captured Chang'an in 316, and executed Emperor Min of Jin in 318, ending the Western Jin era. Sima Rui , who succeeded Emperor Min, then reestablished

5106-425: The chariot's wheels to be equal in diameter to within one part in a million. Even if the process of manufacturing the wheels were capable of this precision (which would not be possible with ancient Chinese methods), it is doubtful that the equality of the wheels could be maintained for long as they are subjected to the wear and tear of travelling across open country. Irregularity of the ground would add further errors to

5217-423: The chariots for real navigation. Other mechanical designs for the south-pointing chariot are also possible, including ones that employ a device that is used today, the gyrocompass . However, there is no indication that the ancient Chinese knew of these. Some south-pointing chariots may not have been purely mechanical devices. Someone riding inside the chariot may have used some non-mechanical method of determining

5328-437: The compass directions, and turned the doll on top of the chariot accordingly. There are several methods that could have been used, for example: Unlike mechanisms that rely on the rotation of road wheels, most of these methods can be used at sea. This may account for the mention (see "Earliest sources" above) that a marine version of the south-pointing chariot existed. These methods can work accurately over long distances, unlike

5439-444: The destination in question would typically not be in an unknown direction. The fact that the sources cited above mention that the chariot was placed at the front of processions, its high level of mechanical complexity and fragility, and that it was 'reinvented' several times contribute to the conclusion that it was not used for navigation, as a truly practical and useful navigational tool would not be forgotten or left unused. Although

5550-575: The devastating War of the Eight Princes . The dynasty was greatly weakened by this civil conflict, and it soon faced more upheaval when the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians began in 304. During this unrest, the Jin capital Luoyang was sacked by Han-Zhao ruler Liu Cong in 311, and Jin emperor Sima Chi, posthumously known as Emperor Huai , was captured and later executed. Emperor Huai's successor Sima Ye, posthumously known as Emperor Min ,

5661-732: The development of field-piece artillery: a battle wagon wall "fortress" of approximately 300 wagons was broken at the Battle of Wenzenbach on September 12, 1504 by the culverines and muskets of the landsknecht regiment of Georg von Frundsberg . Jin dynasty (266%E2%80%93420) The Jin dynasty or Jin Empire , sometimes distinguished as the Sima Jin or the Two Jins , was an imperial dynasty in China that existed from 266 to 420. It

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5772-444: The device's functioning. Considerable scepticism is therefore warranted as to whether this type of south-pointing chariot, using a differential gear for the whole time, was used in practice to navigate over long distances. Conceivably, the south-pointing doll was fixed to the body of the chariot while it was travelling in straight lines, and coupled to the differential only when the chariot was turning. The charioteer could have operated

5883-421: The direction in which it aimed by making turns that were more or less sharp. This would sometimes have given him opportunities to use the chariot dishonestly. If it was being demonstrated to spectators, for example, and was being driven around in front of them, making many turns, the charioteer, who would have known which way was south, would have been able to make the chariot appear to work extremely accurately as

5994-433: The doll did not rotate. When the chariot turned, the wheels rotated at different speeds (for the same reason as in an automobile), so the differential caused the doll to rotate, compensating for the turning of the chariot. The hypothesis that there were south-pointing chariots with differential gears originated in the 20th century. People who were familiar with modern (e.g. automotive) uses of differentials interpreted some of

6105-426: The earlier Chinese Buddhist monks Zhi Yu and Zhi You constructing several south-pointing Chariots for Emperor Tenji of Japan in 658. This was followed up by several more chariot devices built in 666 as well. The south-pointing chariot was also combined with the earlier Han dynasty era invention of the odometer , a mechanical device used to measure distance traveled, and found in all modern automobiles . It

6216-756: The earliest example of using conjoined wagons in warfare as fortification is described in the Chinese historical record Book of Han . During the 119 BC Battle of Mobei of the Han–Xiongnu War , the famous Han general Wei Qing led his army through a fatiguing expeditionary march across the Gobi Desert only to find Yizhixie Chanyu 's main force waiting to encircle them on the other side. Using armored heavy wagons known as "Military Sturdy Wagon" ( Chinese : 武剛車 ; pinyin : wŭ gāng chē ) in ring formations as temporary defensive fortifications, which provided archers , crossbowmen and infantry protection from

6327-623: The emperors was limited, while national affairs were controlled by powerful immigrant elite clans like the Wang ( 王 ) clans of Langya and Taiyuan , the Xie ( 謝 ) clan of Chenliu , the Huan ( 桓 ) clan of Qiao Commandery , and the Yu ( 庾 ) clan of Yingchuan . Among the people, a common remark was that " Wang Dao and Sima Rui , they dominate the nation together" ( 王與馬，共天下 ). It was said that when Emperor Yuan

6438-408: The external world. They are conveniently labelled A, B, and C. The gears cause the rotation speed of Shaft A to be proportional to the sum of the rotation speeds of Shafts B and C. There are no other limitations on the rotation speeds of the shafts. In an automobile, Shaft A is connected to the engine (through the transmission), and Shafts B and C are connected to two road wheels, one on each side of

6549-422: The first true differential gear definitely known to have been used was by Joseph Williamson in 1720. He used a differential for correcting the equation of time for a clock that displayed both mean and solar time . If the south-pointing chariot were built perfectly accurately, using a differential gear, and if it travelled on an Earth that was perfectly smooth, it would have interesting properties. It would be

6660-438: The five barbarians led to one in eight northerners migrating to the south. These immigrants were called qiaoren ( 僑人 'lodged people'), accounting for one-sixth of the population of the south at the time. With consideration of the material loss refugees had experienced before arrival, they were exempt from the diao ( 調 ) tax, and other services. Those whose registers were bound in white paper were called baiji ( 白籍 ), while

6771-551: The frontiers. The country to be traversed was a boundless plain, in which people lost their bearings as to east and west, so (the Duke) caused this vehicle to be made in order that the ambassadors should be able to distinguish north and south. The Gui Gu Zi book says that the people of the State of Zheng , when collecting jade, always carried with them a 'south-pointer', and by means of this were never in doubt (as to their position). During

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6882-511: The help of someone inside to adjust the machinery. The ingenious man from Fanyang , Zi Zu Chongzhi frequently said, therefore, that a new (and properly automatic) south-pointing carriage ought to be constructed. So towards the close of the Sheng-Ming reign period (477–479) the emperor Shun Di , during the premiership of the Prince of Qi, commissioned (Zi Zu Chongzhi) to make one, and when it

6993-620: The historic south-pointing chariots remain, full sized replicas can be found. The History Museum in Beijing , China, holds a replica based on the mechanism of Yen Su (1027). The National Palace Museum in Taipei , Taiwan, holds a replica based on the Lanchester mechanism of 1932. Dongwu Che A war wagon is any of several historical types of early fighting vehicle involving an armed or armored animal-drawn cart or wagon . One of

7104-434: The horses that pulled the chariot were harnessed. When the horses moved to one side or the other, in order to turn the chariot, the pole moved and the cords lowered the appropriate small gear wheel into its working position. When the horses returned to walking straight ahead, the small gear wheel was raised out of contact with the main horizontal and vertical gears. Thus the system functioned automatically. The mirror-symmetry of

7215-528: The hypothesis that the south-pointing chariot used differential gears has gained wide acceptance, it should be recognized that functional south-pointing chariots without differential gears are possible. The ancient descriptions are often unclear, but they suggest that the Chinese implemented several different designs, at least some of which did not include differentials. Some of the ancient descriptions suggest that some south-pointing chariots could move in only three ways: straight ahead, or turning left or right with

7326-408: The imperial hierarchy. As a result, popular Taoist religions were considered heterodoxy while the official schools of the court were supported, but the popular schools like Tianshi Taoism were still secretly held dear and promulgated amongst ordinary people. Disunity, disintegration, and chaos also made Buddhism more popular, in part due to the focus on addressing suffering. The Jin dynasty marked

7437-406: The lodged Huainan Commandery was established afterwards. However, carrying these out was more complex than the policy was formulated. Several actual counties were under the jurisdiction of the lodged commanderies. A few lodged administrative divisions are still retained in China nowadays. For instance, Dangtu County was originally located in the area of Bengbu , however, the lodged Dangtu County

7548-469: The magnetic compass used for seafaring navigation was not used until the time of Shen Kuo (1031–1095). Although the Song Shu text describes earlier precedents of the south-pointing chariot before the time of Ma Jun, this is not entirely credible, as there are no pre-Han or Han dynasty era texts that describe the device. In fact, the first known source to describe stories of its legendary use during

7659-443: The mechanical designs for the chariot. Some non-mechanical method of finding the south must have been used when a mechanical south-pointing chariot was initialized , aiming its pointer to the south at the start of a journey. Any of the methods mentioned above in "Non-mechanical possibilities" could have been used. If any south-pointing chariot was really used for long-distance navigation, it must have relied (after initialization) on

7770-538: The method should be handed down to the (appropriate) officials so that the machine might be made. In the first year of the Da-Guan reign period (1107), the Chamberlain Wu Deren presented specifications of the south-pointing carriage and the carriage with the li-recording drum (odometer). The two vehicles were made, and were first used that year at the great ceremony of the ancestral sacrifice. The body of

7881-424: The motions of the pole to left and right. If a third road wheel was included, this type of south-pointing chariot could have worked quite accurately as a compass when used for short journeys under good conditions, but if used for long journeys it would have been subject to cumulative errors, like chariots using the differential mechanism. If in fact there was no third road wheel, the chariot might have functioned as

7992-470: The northern states like the Battle of Fei River, paranoia in the royal family and a constant disruptions to the throne often caused loss of support for northern campaigns. For example, lack of support by the Jin court was a major cause of Huan Wen's failure to recover the north in his expeditions. Additionally, internal military crises—including the rebellions of generals Wang Dun and Su Jun , but also lesser fangzhen ( 方鎮 'military command') revolts—plagued

8103-410: The numbers of teeth on them, suggests that it worked this way, without a third road wheel. The gear ratios would have been correct if the pointing doll was attached directly to the large horizontal gear wheel, and the track-width of the chariot equalled the diameter of the road wheels. Wu Deren's chariot also appears to have been designed to work this way. The width of the chariot, and therefore presumably

8214-401: The others with registers bound in yellow paper were called huangji ( 黃籍 ). When the crisis had subsided, this preferential increasingly seemed a heavy burden on the people, arousing dissatisfaction in the natives. Hence, tu duan was an increasingly important issue for the Eastern Jin. The Eastern Jin court established three levels of administrative divisions which served as strongholds for

8325-484: The pointer aiming in a constant direction, to the south. Thus the mechanism did a kind of directional dead reckoning , which is inherently prone to cumulative errors and uncertainties. Some chariots' mechanisms may have had differential gears. The south-pointing chariot, a mechanical-geared, wheeled vehicle used to discern the southern cardinal direction (without magnetics), was given a brief description by Ma's contemporary Fu Xuan . The contemporary 3rd century source of

8436-439: The problem of how the chariot could have been kept travelling in straight lines with sufficient accuracy without using the pointing doll. If the real purposes of the chariot and the accounts of it were amusement and impressing visiting foreigners, rather than actual long-distance navigation, then its inaccuracy might not have been important. Considering that a large mechanical wagon or chariot would be obligated to travel on roads,

8547-421: The radius of the Earth, these discrepancies are small and may have no practical importance. Nevertheless, they show that this type of chariot, based on differential gears, would be an imperfect compass even if constructed exactly and used in ideal conditions. Real machines are never built perfectly accurately. Simple geometry shows that if the chariot's mechanism is based on a differential gear and if, for example,

8658-433: The right 1 small horizontal wheel, 1.2 ft. in diameter, with 12 teeth, in the middle 1 large horizontal wheel, of diameter 4.8 ft. and circumference 14.4 ft., with 48 teeth, the teeth at intervals of 3 inches apart; in the middle a vertical shaft piercing the center (of the large horizontal wheel) 8 ft. high and 3 inches in diameter; at the top carrying the wooden figure of the xian . "When the carriage moves (southward) let

8769-522: The right of the back end of the pole to let down the right (small horizontal) wheel. However, the carriage moves the xian and the boys stand crosswise and point south. The carriage is harnessed with two red horses, bearing frontlets of bronze. The English engineer George Lanchester proposed that some south-pointing chariots employed differential gears. A differential is an assembly of gears, nowadays used in almost all automobiles except some electric and hybrid-electric ones, which has three shafts linking it to

8880-405: The rotating road wheels mechanically operated a geared mechanism to keep the pointer aimed correctly. The mechanism had no magnets and did not automatically detect which direction was south. The pointer was aimed southward by hand at the start of a journey. Subsequently, whenever the chariot turned, the mechanism rotated the pointer relative to the body of the chariot to counteract the turn and keep

8991-608: The ruler of the new Song dynasty (which is referred to as the Liu Song dynasty by historians in order to prevent confusion with the Song dynasty established in 960). Sima Dewen was then asphyxiated with a blanket in the following year. In the north, Northern Liang , the last of the Sixteen Kingdoms , was conquered by Northern Wei in 439, ushering in the Northern dynasties period. The Xianbei Northern Wei accepted

9102-428: The same direction at the start, usually do not point in the same direction at the finish. Likewise, if a chariot goes around a closed loop, starting and finishing at the same point on the Earth's surface, its pointer generally does not aim in the same direction at the finish as it did at the start. The difference is the holonomy of the path, and is proportional to the enclosed area. If the journeys are short compared with

9213-721: The south at different times resulted in distinct groups of aristocratic lineages. In 403, Huan Xuan , the son of esteemed general Huan Wen , usurped the Jin throne and declared the dynasty of Huan Chu . Huan Xuan was soon toppled by Liu Yu , who reinstated Jin rule by installing Sima Dezong on the throne, posthumously known as Emperor An . Meanwhile, the civilian administration suffered, as there were further revolts led by Sun En and Lu Xun, and Western Shu became an independent kingdom under Qiao Zong . In 419, Liu Yu had Sima Dezong strangled and replaced by his brother Sima Dewen, posthumously known as Emperor Gong . Finally, in 420, Sima Dewen abdicated in favour of Liu Yu, who declared himself

9324-488: The south, (and the mechanism was arranged in such a way that) although the carriage turned round and round, the pointer-arm still indicated the south. In State processions, the south-pointing carriage led the way, accompanied by the imperial guard. These vehicles, constructed as they had been by barbarian ( Qiang ) workmen, did not function particularly well. Though called south-pointing carriages, they very often did not point true, and had to negotiate curves step by step, with

9435-422: The south-pointing carriage was 11.15 ft. (long), 9.5 ft. wide, and 10.9 ft. deep. The carriage wheels were 5.7 ft. in diameter, the carriage pole 10.5 ft. long, and the carriage body in two stories, upper and lower. In the middle was placed a partition. Above there stood a figure of a xian holding a rod, on the left and right were tortoises and cranes, one each on either side, and four figures of boys each holding

9546-666: The title of King of Jin, the last achievable rank beneath that of emperor. He was granted the title because his ancestral home was located in Wen County , on the territory of the Zhou -era state of Jin , which was centered on the Jin River in Shaanxi . Sima Zhao's ambitions for the throne were visible, but he died in 265 before any usurpation attempt could be made, passing the opportunity to his ambitious son Sima Yan . The Jin dynasty

9657-494: The top (of the compartment) left and right, were two small horizontal wheels which could rise and fall, having an iron weight (attached to) each. Each of these was 1.1 ft. in diameter and 3.3 ft. in circumference, with 17 teeth, at intervals of 1.9 inches apart. Again, to left and right, were attached wheels, one on each side, in diameter 1.55 ft., in circumference 4.65 ft., and having 24 teeth, at intervals of 2.1 inches. Left and right, too, were double gear-wheels (lit. tier-wheels),

9768-471: The track-width of the chariot, and the gears turning the doll would have been chosen accordingly. This design would have worked as a compass for short journeys, but would have suffered from cumulative errors if used for long ones. Also, the chariot would have been slow and awkward to turn. This might not have mattered if turns were rarely executed. The Song Shi description of the gears in Yan Su's chariot, and

9879-405: The track-width, was greater than the diameter of the wheels. The gear ratios were appropriate for these dimensions. The charioteer would have had to use great skill to ensure that the radius of each turn of the chariot was correct to make one of the wheels exactly stop rotating. Unless he did this correctly, the pointing doll would not have kept aiming to the south. He would have been able to adjust

9990-415: The two main road wheels were attached to vertical gear wheels. A large horizontal gear wheel was linked (possibly via intermediate gearing) to the pointing doll, and was positioned so a diameter almost spanned the space between the uppermost points of the vertical gear wheels. When the chariot was moving straight ahead, there was no connection between these gears, but when the chariot turned, a small gear wheel

10101-411: The vehicle. When the vehicle turns, the wheel going around the outside of the turning curve has to roll further and rotate faster than the wheel on the inside. The differential permits this to happen while both wheels are being driven by the engine. If the sum of the speeds of the wheels is constant, the speed of the engine does not change. In a south-pointing chariot, according to the hypothesis, Shaft B

10212-419: The vertical gears being linked by the small gears to the horizontal gear at diametrically opposite points caused the horizontal gear to rotate in opposite directions depending on which road wheel was linked to it, thus rotating the pointing doll in opposite directions when the chariot turned left and right. The description does not mention a third road wheel to fix the turning radius, but it is possible that such

10323-616: The way it had been used near the end of the Han era in the Yellow Turban Rebellion . Amidst the political turmoil of the era, many successful merchants, small landowners, and other moderately comfortable people found great solace in Taoist teachings and a number of major clans and military officers also took up the faith. Ge Hong emphasized loyalty to the emperor as a Taoist virtue; he even taught that rebels could never be Taoist immortals, which made Taoism more palatable to

10434-427: The width of the track of the chariot (the separation between its wheels) is three metres, and if the wheels are intended to be identical but actually differ in diameter by one part in a thousand, then if the chariot travels one kilometre in a straight line, the "south-pointing" figure will rotate nearly twenty degrees. If it initially points exactly to the south, at the end of the one-kilometre trip it will point almost to

10545-424: The wooden figure point south. When it runs (and goes) eastwards, the (back end of the) pole is pushed to the right; the subordinate wheel attached to the right road-wheel will turn forward 12 teeth, drawing with it the right small horizontal wheel one revolution (and so) pushing the central large horizontal wheel to revolve a quarter turn to the left. When it has turned around 12 teeth, the carriage moves eastwards, and

10656-434: The wooden figure stands crosswise and points south. If (instead) it turns (and goes) westwards, the (back end of the) pole is pushed to the left; the subordinate wheel attached to the left road-wheel will turn forward with the road-wheel 12 teeth, drawing with it the left small horizontal wheel one revolution, and pushing the central large horizontal wheel to revolve a quarter turn to the right. When it has turned round 12 teeth,

10767-489: Was also an action done to appease the refugees' homesickness, which was evoking their desire to reacquire what had been lost. During the rule of Emperor Yuan, Emperor Ming, and Emperor Cheng, the lodged administrative divisions were concentrated in the area south of the Huai River and the Lower Yangtze Plain. At first there was the lodged Langya Commandery within lodged Fei County in Jiankang, but when it began

10878-479: Was completed it was tested by Wang Seng-qian, military governor of Tanyang, and Liu Hsiu, president of the Board of Censors. The workmanship was excellent, and although the carriage was twisted and turned in a hundred directions, the hand never failed to point to the south. Under the Jin, moreover, there had also been a south-pointing ship. The last sentence of the passage is of great interest for navigation at sea, since

10989-565: Was connected to it, so its rotation compensated for the chariot turning left or right. This design would have been simpler than using a differential gear. The chariots of Yan Su and Wu Deren appear to have used this type of mechanism. (See descriptions quoted from the Song Shi , above.) Apart from the presence of components in Wu Deren's vehicle to make it function as an odometer , there were only minor differences between them. In each chariot,

11100-412: Was connected to one road wheel and Shaft C was connected through a direction-reversing gear to the other road wheel. This made Shaft A rotate at a speed that was proportional to the difference between the rotation speeds of the two wheels. The pointing doll was connected (possibly through intermediate gears) to Shaft A. When the chariot moved in a straight line, the two wheels turned at equal speeds, and

11211-633: Was deployed at the Great Wall against the Xiongnu . By the 6th century such war wagons reached several meters in height and had up to 20 wheels. A medieval European war wagon was developed in the Hussite Wars around 1420 by Hussite forces led by the Czech general Jan Žižka rebelling in Bohemia . It was a heavy wagon given protective sides with firing slits and heavy firepower from either

11322-418: Was established in where it is now, and the latter replaced the former, inheriting its place name. The tu duan ( 土斷 ) is the abbreviation for yi tu duan ( 以土斷 , means classifying people according to their present habitation to register). It was a policy to ensure the ancient hukou system working since the Western Jin. These terms were first recorded in the biographies of Wei Guan and Li Chong included in

11433-696: Was first used in war in Battle of Sudoměř on March 25, 1420, where it was found to be a powerful weapon for the Hussite army. Despite being outnumbered by approximately 400 to 2000, the war wagon allowed the Hussite forces to emerge victorious in the battle. The wagon was then used throughout the rest of the Hussite Wars with great success. After the Hussite wars, they stayed in usage as the special tactical weapon of Bohemian mercenaries which prevailed against knights or foot soldiers. Its successful history came to an end, at least for large scale engagements, with

11544-478: Was formed from the offspring of these migrants. Particularly in the Jiangnan region, Celestial Masters and the nobility of northern China subdued the nobility of southern China during the Jin dynasty. Southern China overtook the north in population due to depopulation of the north and the migration of northern Chinese to southern China. Different waves of migration of aristocratic Chinese from northern China to

11655-547: Was founded by Sima Yan , eldest son of Sima Zhao , who had previously been declared the King of Jin. There are two main divisions in the history of the dynasty. The Western Jin (266–316) was established as the successor to Cao Wei after Sima Yan usurped the throne from Cao Huan . The capital of the Western Jin was initially in Luoyang , though it later moved to Chang'an (modern Xi'an ). In 280, after conquering Eastern Wu ,

11766-492: Was founded by Sima Yan, who was known posthumously as Emperor Wu (the "Martial Emperor of Jin"). After succeeding his father as the King of Jin and regent of Cao Wei in 265, Sima Yan declared himself emperor of the Jin dynasty in February 266 and forced the final Wei ruler Cao Huan to abdicate. Emperor Wu permitted Cao Huan to live with honor as the Prince of Chenliu, and buried him with imperial ceremony. Under Emperor Wu,

11877-400: Was holding court, he even invited Wang Dao to sit by his side so they could jointly accept congratulations from ministers, but Wang Dao declined the offer. In order to recover the lands lost during the fall of the Western Jin, the Eastern Jin dynasty launched several military campaigns against the northern states, such as the expeditions led by Huan Wen from 354 to 369. Most notably, in 383,

11988-413: Was lowered into contact with the horizontal gear and one of the vertical gears, thus linking the doll to one of the road wheels. Two small gear wheels were available, one to connect the horizontal gear to each of the vertical ones. Of course, they were not used simultaneously. The small gear wheels were raised and lowered by an arrangement of weights, pulleys and cords which were attached to the pole to which

12099-405: Was mentioned in the Song dynasty (960–1279) historical text of the Song Shi (compiled in 1345) that the engineers Yan Su (in 1027) and Wu Deren (in 1107) both created south-pointing chariots, which it details as follows. (In Needham's translation, inches and feet (ft) are used as units of distance. 1 inch is 25.4 millimetres. 1 ft is 12 inches or 304.8 mm.) In the 5th year of

12210-658: Was no such thing, and that the story was nonsense. But during the Qing-long reign period (233–237) the emperor Ming Di commissioned the scholar Ma Jun to construct one, and he duly succeeded. This again was lost during the troubles attending the establishment of the Jin dynasty . Later on, Shi Hu (emperor of the Jie Later Zhao dynasty) had one made by Xie Fei, and again Linghu Sheng made one for Yao Xing (emperor of

12321-600: Was then also captured and executed by Han-Zhao forces when they seized Chang'an (present-day Xi'an ) in 316. This event marked the end of the Western Jin. The surviving members of the Jin imperial family, as well as large numbers of Han Chinese from the North China Plain , subsequently fled to southern China. These refugees had a large impact on the lands they moved to—for example, they gave Quanzhou 's Jin River its name upon their settlement there. The Jin dynasty

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