Who invented the compass and in which dynasty?

According to ancient mine records, it first appeared in the Cishan area during the Warring States Period. The predecessor of compass is Sinan, one of the four great inventions in ancient China.

According to Guangming Daily in March 1982, Cishan (now Wu 'an, Handan City, Hebei Province) is the birthplace of the compass, one of the four great inventions in China. According to ancient mine records, Geography of Ming Dynasty records that there is a magnetic mountain in the southwest of Wu 'an County, Cizhou, which produces magnetite. "

The Ming Yi Award also said: "There is a magnetic mountain in the southwest of Wu 'an County, Cizhou, which produces magnetite". It is also recorded in the ancient mine records that the first dynasty of the Ming Dynasty was called Cishan, which was located 30 miles southwest of the county seat and was a primary mine. This is the name of this country. Cishan is the hometown of compass.

Sinan was regarded as a compass in ancient China, which was the shape of an early compass. Compass, together with papermaking, gunpowder and printing, is called the "four great inventions" in ancient China, which occupies a high position in the history of science and technology.

Sinan consists of a magnetic spoon and a copper website. The spoon is made of a natural magnet, and the handle corresponds to the south pole of the magnet. The regional form embodies the idea of "the sky is round and the place is round" in bronze wares. Outside the middle circular area, there are four dimensions, eight trunks and twelve branches, which are used to represent 24 directions.

The fourth dimension is Qian (northwest), Gen (northeast), Xun (southeast) and Kun (southwest); The eighth dimension is eight of the top ten heavenly stems except Wu and Ji (Wu and Ji are not selected because they grow soil, so they represent the central soil); The twelfth dimension is twelve above-ground branches, in which "Zi" stands for North.

There are 28 constellations outside, that is, the seven constellations of the East Black Dragon are horn, health, earth, square, heart, tail and jump; The seven stars in North Xuanwu are Dou, Niu, Anger, Xu, Wei, Shi and Bi; The seven stars of the West White Tiger are Kui, Lou, Wei, Pleiades, Bi, Xi and Shen.

The seventh house of Southern Cardinal is well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, Yi and Fu. It seems to refer to the other 24 directions (Fang, Xu, Pleiades and Venus correspond to east, south, west and north, so four directions are missing).

The circular area in the middle of the copper plate is as smooth as a mirror. When in use, the spoon is placed in the central area of the copper plate and rotated. When the rotation stops, the direction of the spoon handle is just south, and the direction of the spoon mouth is just north-theoretically.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Sina

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