Abstract
For over 2,000 years Chinese society was pre-eminent in technological development. It was only at the beginning of the fifteenth century that it began to decline and was passed by Europe. Its technology began with agricultural, textile, and war machines; it was enhanced with hydraulic machines; and it was completed with the ingenious clocks and automatons that were built while the rest of the world was just waking up.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
M. Ceccarelli, The Challenges for Machine and Mechanism Design at the Beginning of the Third millennium as Viewed from the Past. Proceedings of COBEM2001, 2001
F. di Giorgio, Trattato di Architectura e Machine (16th century)
G. Murray, J.M. Izaga, J.M. Sole, El Real Ingenio de la Moneda de Segovia: maravilla tecnológica del siglo XVI (The Royal Machine of the Segovia Mint: 16th Century Technological Marvell) (Foundation Juanelo Turriano, 2006)
S. Song, Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao (Treatise about the Clock Tower) (1089)
Various authors, El oro y la plata de las Indias en la época de los Austrias (The Gold and Silver of the Indies in the Period of the Austrias) (Fundación ICO, 1999)
Various authors, International Symposium on the History of Machines and Mechanisms, ed. by M. Ceccarelli (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2000)
W. Zeng, Nong Shu (Medieval Treatise on Agriculture, 1313)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Paz, E.B., Ceccarelli, M., Otero, J.E., Sanz, J.L.M. (2009). Chinese Inventions and Machines. In: A Brief Illustrated History of Machines and Mechanisms. History of Mechanism and Machine Science, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2512-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2512-8_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2511-1
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2512-8
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)