Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Western world is the writings of a Byzantine emperor in the sixth cen-
tury A.D. Thus, stirrups were apparently known and used in China
for about 300 years before they became known to the West. The stirrup
was probably transmitted to the West by the Avars, a warlike tribe of
pastoral nomads who were also known to the Chinese.
The seismograph, an instrument for detecting earthquakes when no
perceptible local earthquake activity is felt, is a Chinese invention. This
supposedly modern instrument was actually invented by a scientist
and mathematician, Zhang Heng, in the second century A.D. We have
only documentary descriptions of it, but apparently Zhang's instru-
ment consisted of a metal urn on the outside of which several metal
balls were held in the mouths of cast-metal dragons. Cast-metal frogs
with open mouths waited below for the balls to fall, and when a
certain ball fell into a frog's mouth, it indicated the direction in which
the earthquake occurred. This was important information for a
Chinese government to know, since it could launch relief efforts
quickly without having to wait for word to arrive from the affected
province, a process that might take several days, depending on its
distance from the capital city. This seismograph did not measure the
intensities of quakes, but even as a direction finder it found use in
China more than 1,400 years before it was known in Europe.
The Chinese invented hang gliding and parachuting. A Taoist
alchemist of the fourth century A.D. experimented successfully with
man-carrying tethered kites, and by the sixth century the Chinese
emperor of a minor dynasty was compelling his prisoners and
erstwhile enemies to jump from heights while mounted on tetherless
kites. One such flight was so successful that its terrified passenger
managed to fly for a distance of about two miles. As far as parachutes
are concerned, every red-blooded schoolchild knows that Leonardo da
Vinci recorded in his notes the concept of parachutes. The Chinese,
however, went beyond conceptual sketches of parachutes and actually
used them successfully as early as the second century B.C. The great
Han historian Sima Qian records in his history a story of how a man
fleeing from a pursuer jumped from a height using several large coni-
cal straw hats tied together to his body and landed on the ground
safely. Another anecdote dating to the thirteenth century A.D. records
how a robber jumped from a high tower in southern China with two
large umbrellas in his hands and managed to land without injury.
Parachutes were not used safely and effectively in Europe until the
late 1700s.
