Interesting Facts

Who was the first emperor of China?
Who invented martial arts?
Where is the oldest known astronomical observatory?
What are four great Chinese inventions?

Who was the first emperor of China?

Many people believe that the first emperor of China was the founder of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shihuangdi – from the dynasty of rulers who created the Great Wall and many of Chinas first bridges and roadways. Actually, Qin was the first emperor to unify the warring states of China into one empire, but he was not the first emperor of China.

Archaeologists in the Henan Valley have been making discoveries that point to the existence of many dynasties before the Qin dynasty, in effect proving that the Henan Province is actually the cradle of Chinese civilization. The first emperor of China, who lived in Henan Province was called Xia Yu Di.

Xia Yu Di was an irrigation specialist who engineered the draining of water during the flood of the Yellow River. According to legend, he made the royal line hereditary in his family and was credited with founding the first imperial dynasty in China. Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Anyang, Henan Province, in 1928, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the Xia. But since then, and especially in the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the existence of Xia civilization in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. At minimum, the Xia period marked an evolutionary stage between the late Neolithic cultures and the typical Chinese urban civilization of the Shang dynasty.

Who invented martial arts?

Founded in AD 496 under the Northern Wei, the Shaolin Temple became a great center of Chinese Buddhism. An Indian monk, Bodhidarma (known to the Chinese as Da Mo), founded the Mahayana sect of Buddhism, which became known as Chen (or Zen). It is reported that he lived here for nine years until his death in 535.

Some accounts relate that Da Mo, seeing the monks becoming fat and lazy due to the sitting meditation, came up with walking meditations that imitated the natural motions of animals and birds that eventually evolved into a form of unarmed combat or martial arts (Wu Shu or Kung Fu).

During the centuries, the monks of Shaolin have intervened many times on the side of righteousness, in the political struggles of the Chinese empire, and as a result, the monastery has suffered repeated sackings. The most recent round of destructive visits was in 1928, by a local war-lord, and then again in the early ’70s by bands of Red Guards (during the Cultural Revolution). Today, the monks are still practicing their ever-evolving forms of Wu Shu to the amazement of Temple-goers.

Where is the oldest astronomical observatory?

Long before the Gregorian calendar was instituted in the Western world, the Chinese of the Yuan Dynasty practiced sophisticated methods for observing the heavens. The oldest standing astronomical observatory, located southeast of Dengfeng in China, was built in 1279 under the Yuan Dynasty. This observatory is just 20 meters from the site of other earlier observatories built nearby that are purported to be from the Zhou Dynasty (3000 BCE).

The structure is a tower made of brick, approximately 33 feet high, with slightly sloping sides and flights of stairs leading to the top. A flat wall runs from the bottom of the structure for almost 100 feet. Its purpose was to measure the shadow thrown by the tower, so that accurate measurements could be made at various times of the year. This is the site that Chinese astronomers used to create the Shou Shi calendar, as accurate (to the second) as the Gregorian calendar calculated 300 years later.

What are four great Chinese inventions?

For most of us in America, we read the morning paper and check out the fireworks each year. These are just two examples of how China has impacted the world with its widely used inventions. Papermaking, printing, gunpowder, and the compass are four great Chinese inventions!

We all use paper…one wonders today how we could do without it? The process of silk reeling inspired papermaking. People succeeded in first making a kind of paper, which they called “bo” (silk). Another type of paper known as Cellulose paper was created out of hemp. In the early days of the second century, Cai Lun produced a kind of paper from bark, rags, wheat stalks and other raw materials that was cheap, light, thin and durable. At the beginning of the third century, the papermaking process spread to Korea and then to Japan. It reached the Arab world during the Tang Dynasty, and had reached Europe by the twelfth century.

The art of printing is the technology of pressing images or markings onto a surface. It is often used to produce copies of an original. Bi Sheng of the Northern Song Dynasty invented movable type printing in the 1040s. Movable type printing has a very important position in the history of printing, for all later printing methods such as wooden type, copper type and lead type printing invariably developed on the basis of movable clay types. Bi Sheng created movable type printing more than four hundred years earlier than it was invented in Europe.

The invention of gunpowder was no doubt one of the most significant achievements of the Middle Ages in China. The correct prescription for making gunpowder with nitre, sulphur and carbon was probably discovered in the ninth century. In fact, in his book dated to the third century, Ge Hong records the procedures for making a kind of mixture that could be ignited! The method of powder making was introduced into the Arab world in the 12th century, and then into Europe in the 14th century.

According to ancient records, natural magnets were employed in China as direction-finding devices. This led to the first compass, called a sinan (south-pointing ladle) during the Warring States Period. In the Han Dynasty compasses consisted of a bronze piece on which 24 directions were carved and a rod made from a natural magnet. Such devices were in use until the eighth century.

In the Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo described the floating compass, suspended in water, a technique that minimized the effect of motion on the instrument. This enabled the compass to be used for sea navigation for the first time. The invention of the compass promoted maritime undertakings, and its use soon spread to the Arab world, and then onto Europe.