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Xie Fei (inventor)
Xiè Fēi (; fl. 334–349) was a scholar of the Later Zhao state during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He served as Head of the Healing (Medicinal) Department in the State Chancellery. He is known as a mechanical engineer who built a south-pointing chariot (also called a "south-pointing carriage"), a directional compass vehicle which apparently did not use magnetic principles, but was operated by use of differential gears (which apply equal amounts of torque to driving wheels rotating at different speeds), or a similar angular differential principle.J.Needham (1986), ''"Science and Civilization in China"'', Taipei, Caves Books, Ltd, Volume 4, Part 2, pp. 40 and 287, For the great ingenuity shown in the construction of the device, the Later Zhao Emperor Shi Hu granted him the noble title of ''hou Hou or HOU may refer to: Places * Hou (Odder Municipality), a town in Denmark * Hellenic Open University, in Patras, Greece * Hounslow railway station (National ...
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Xie (surname 解)
Xiè is the pinyin romanization of the surname 解. The character 解 is also pronounced "Jiě". A 2013 study found that it was the 182nd-most common surname, shred by 710,000 people or 0.053% of the population, with Shandong being the province with the most. Notable people * Xie Feng, politician * Xie Jin, mandarin * Xie Zhenhua, politician * Xie Jingxian () (born October 31, 1983), Chinese pianist * Xie Zhong (; born September 19, 1998), Chinese pair skater * Xie Xuegong (; October 6, 1913–March 3, 1993), Chinese politician, also known as Xie Bin ( Chinese: 谢宾) * Xie Fei (; fl. 334–349), Chinese inventor and scholar of the Later Zhao * Chieh Yuan (1945–1977), Malaysian-born Hong Kong actor and martial artist Fictional * Xie Bao Xie Bao is a fictional character in '' Water Margin'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Twin-tailed Scorpion", he ranks 35th among the 36 Heavenly Spirits, the first third of the 108 Stars ...
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Floruit
''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicating the time when someone flourished. Etymology and use is the third-person singular perfect active indicative of the Latin verb ', ' "to bloom, flower, or flourish", from the noun ', ', "flower". Broadly, the term is employed in reference to the peak of activity for a person or movement. More specifically, it often is used in genealogy and historical writing when a person's birth or death dates are unknown, but some other evidence exists that indicates when they were alive. For example, if there are Will (law), wills Attestation clause, attested by John Jones in 1204 and 1229, as well as a record of his marriage in 1197, a record concerning him might be written as "John Jones (fl. 1197–1229)", even though Jones was born before ...
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Later Zhao
Zhao, briefly known officially as Wei (衛) in 350 AD, known in historiography as the Later Zhao (; 319–351) or Shi Zhao (石趙), was a dynasty of China ruled by the Shi family of Jie ethnicity during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Among the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Later Zhao was the second in territorial size to the Former Qin dynasty that once unified northern China under Fu Jian. In historiography, it is given the prefix of "Later" to distinguish it with the Han-Zhao or Former Zhao, which changed its name from "Han" to "Zhao" just before the Later Zhao was founded. When the Later Zhao was founded by former Han-Zhao general Shi Le, the capital was at Xiangguo (襄國, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), but in 335 Shi Hu moved the capital to Ye (Hebei), Yecheng (鄴城, in modern Handan, Hebei), where it would remain for the rest of the state's history (except for Shi Zhi's brief attempt to revive the state at Xiangguo). After defeating the Han-Zhao in 329, the Later Zhao ruled a ...
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Sixteen Kingdoms
The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded by the "Five Barbarians", non- Han peoples who had settled in northern and western China during the preceding centuries, and had launched a series of rebellions against the Western Jin dynasty in the early 4th century. However, several of the states were founded by the Han people, and all of the states—whether ruled by Xiongnu, Xianbei, Di, Jie, Qiang, Han, or others—took on Han-style dynastic names. The states frequently fought against both one another and the Eastern Jin dynasty, which succeeded the Western Jin in 317 and ruled southern China. The period ended with the unification of northern China in 439 by the Northern Wei, a dynasty established by the Xianbei Tuoba clan. This occurred 19 years after the Eastern Jin collapsed i ...
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Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems. It is one of the oldest and broadest of the List of engineering branches, engineering branches. Mechanical engineering requires an understanding of core areas including mechanics, Analytical dynamics, dynamics, thermodynamics, materials science, design, structural analysis, and electricity. In addition to these core principles, mechanical engineers use tools such as computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), and product lifecycle management to design and analyze manufacturing plants, industrial equipment and industrial machinery, machinery, HVAC, heating and cooling systems, transport systems, ...
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South-pointing Chariot
The south-pointing chariot (or carriage) was an ancient Chinese two-wheeled vehicle that carried a movable pointer to indicate the south, no matter how the chariot turned. Usually, the pointer took the form of a doll or figure with an outstretched arm. The chariot was supposedly used as a non-magnetic compass for navigation and may also have had other purposes. The ancient Chinese invented a mobile-like armored cart in the 5th century BC called the Dongwu Che (). 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 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 creat ...
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Compass
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with North magnetic pole, magnetic north. Other methods may be used, including gyroscopes, magnetometers, and GPS receivers. Compasses often show angles in degrees: north corresponds to 0°, and the angles increase clockwise, so east is 90°, south is 180°, and west is 270°. These numbers allow the compass to show azimuths or bearing (angle), bearings which are commonly stated in degrees. If local magnetic declination, variation between magnetic north and true north is known, then direction of magnetic north also gives direction of true north. Among the Four Great Inventions, the magnetic compass was first invented as a device for divination as early as the history of science and technology in China, Chinese Han dynasty (since c. 206 BC),#Li, ...
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Magnetic
Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, magnetism is one of two aspects of electromagnetism. The most familiar effects occur in ferromagnetic materials, which are strongly attracted by magnetic fields and can be magnetized to become permanent magnets, producing magnetic fields themselves. Demagnetizing a magnet is also possible. Only a few substances are ferromagnetic; the most common ones are iron, cobalt, nickel, and their alloys. All substances exhibit some type of magnetism. Magnetic materials are classified according to their bulk susceptibility. Ferromagnetism is responsible for most of the effects of magnetism encountered in everyday life, but there are actually several types of magnetism. Paramagnetic substances, such as aluminium and oxygen, are weakly attracted to an ...
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Differential (mechanical Device)
A differential is a gear train with three drive shafts that has the property that the rotational speed of one shaft is the average of the speeds of the others. A common use of differentials is in motor vehicles, to allow the wheels at each end of a drive axle to rotate at different speeds while cornering. Other uses include clocks and analogue computers. Differentials can also provide a gear ratio between the input and output shafts (called the "axle ratio" or "diff ratio"). For example, many differentials in motor vehicles provide a gearing reduction by having fewer teeth on the pinion than the ring gear. History Milestones in the design or use of differentials include: * 100 BCE–70 BCE: The Antikythera mechanism has been dated to this period. It was discovered in 1902 on a shipwreck by sponge divers, and modern research suggests that it used a differential gear to determine the angle between the ecliptic positions of the Sun and Moon, and thus the phase of the Moon. ...
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Torque
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational analogue of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). The symbol for torque is typically \boldsymbol\tau, the lowercase Greek letter ''tau''. When being referred to as moment of force, it is commonly denoted by . Just as a linear force is a push or a pull applied to a body, a torque can be thought of as a twist applied to an object with respect to a chosen point; for example, driving a screw uses torque to force it into an object, which is applied by the screwdriver rotating around its axis to the drives on the head. Historical terminology The term ''torque'' (from Latin , 'to twist') is said to have been suggested by James Thomson and appeared in print in April, 1884. Usage is attested the same year by Silvanus P. Thompson in the first edition of ''Dynamo-Electric Machinery''. Thompson describes his usage of the term as follows: Today, torque is referred to using d ...
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Shi Hu
Shi Hu (; 295 – 26 May 349), courtesy name Jilong (季龍), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Wu of Later Zhao (後趙武帝), was an emperor of the Jie-led Chinese Later Zhao dynasty. He was the founding emperor Shi Le (Emperor Ming)'s distant nephew and adopted brother, who took power in a coup after Shi Le's death from Shi Le's heir Shi Hong. Due to Tang dynasty naming taboo, he is referred to as Shi Jilong (石季龍) in the ''Book of Jin''. Shi Hu was a talented general who rarely lost battles, and Shi Le relied on him heavily in his conquest of northern and central China. However, he was also exceedingly cruel in his military campaigns. After he became the ruler of Later Zhao under the title of "heavenly king" ('' Tian Wang''), he ruled the empire with a heavy hand, imposing heavy tax and labor burdens and spending much of his effort on constructing palaces and collecting concubines. When two of his crown princes crossed him on separate occasions, h ...
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Hou (title)
Hou () was a title for an ancient Chinese ruler, equivalent to King/Queen or Emperor/Empress. The Chinese character ''Hou'' (后) is an ideogrammic compounds; in oracle bone script, it is written the same as ''Si'' (司, means "to rule") as the combination of mouth (口) and hand (手). Hou usually refers to female rulers in oracle bone script. In the Xia dynasty The Xia dynasty (; ) is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, it was established by the legendary figure Yu the Great, after Emperor Shun, Shun, the last of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Fiv ..., the title for Kings of Xia was ''Hou''; for example, the term ''Xia Hou Shi'' () means King of Xia. Kings of Shang and Zhou dynasties only used the term ''Hou'' to refer to the kings posthumously. Instead of ''Hou'', they had their own title, ''Wang'', and ''Hou'' turned to refer to the Queen, ''the'' wife of the King. References {{Reflist Ancient China Positions ...
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