The Development of Ancient Chinese Agricultural Tools .....

China is an ancient civilization, but also a large agricultural country. The development of agriculture has a direct relationship with agricultural tools, advanced production tools can greatly promote the development of social productivity. In thousands of years of production practice, China's ancient working people created a wide variety of agricultural tools, and constantly improved and perfected, making it one of the levers to promote the development of China's agriculture. From the half-slope site and Hemudu site unearthed period to the Shang and Zhou era of bronze, from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States iron farming tools and oxen plowing is common only to the Sui and Tang dynasties, the invention of the plough, the cylinder car. All show the wisdom and talent of our working people. Below we divided into four major stages, briefly described the emergence and development of the main agricultural tools.

One of the stone farming tools before the Western Zhou Dynasty

Primitive agriculture began seven or eight thousand years ago in the Neolithic era. From then on, human beings got rid of the situation of living by collecting and hunting for food for a long time, and entered into a new historical stage. At that time, the agricultural tools used by our ancestors were ground stone (there were also some bone and wooden tools). Stone tools were used as our main agricultural tools until around the Spring and Autumn period, a period of 4,000 to 5,000 years.

During the period of matrilineal clan communes, there were two important sites in China where primitive people lived, namely, the Half Slope Site and the Hemudu Site. These two places have unearthed a lot of primitive agricultural tools, stone axes, stone knives, stone shovels, stone sickle, wooden Lei, bone plowshares, etc., which are the earliest agricultural tools in China. Among them, Lei and ??ê were tools used to turn the soil, dig ditches and make holes.

Patriarchal clan communes, men replaced women as the main force of productive labor. An important progress of agricultural tools in this period was the appearance of triangular stone plows. According to "Shanhaijing? Hai Nei Jing" records, "(after) Jikji's grandson said Shuji Jun, is the beginning of oxen plowing", Shuji Jun, when it was the end of the patriarchal clan communes. However, this record may not be credible, and the plow at that time was probably drawn by human power. The adoption of plowing was an epoch-making progress in the history of agriculture. In addition, during this period, bamboo poles for twisting river mud appeared in the south of the Yangtze River as a farming tool for paddy fields. Other agricultural tools were also improved, such as stone hoe and clam hoe, which were important for reclaiming dry and hard dry land and crop field management. The most illustrative of the degree of improvement of agricultural tools during this period is a stone knife unearthed in recent years in Xuejiagang, Qianshan, Anhui Province, which has 13 holes neatly drilled on the back side of the knife. The stone knife is sharper and longer than the previous one, and it makes an excellent scythe as long as it is fitted with a wooden handle.

The Shang Dynasty was a developed bronze age. China around the excavated bronze in large quantities, the shape of the large, the quality of the fine, the shape of the beauty of the world to praise. However, it should be noted that, from the large number of bronzes unearthed in China's north and south of the Yangtze River, mainly used for religious rituals and decorations rather than agricultural production. Therefore, until the Spring and Autumn and Warring States, China's agricultural tools are still mainly stone tools. Of course, this does not exclude in some economically developed areas, the occasional use of some bronze. In recent years in henan, hubei, jiangsu and other places have unearthed some bronze grab, bronze shovel, bronze sickle and so on. Although the promotion of bronze agricultural tools by the cost, production and other restrictions, but the metal agricultural tools represent the future of China's agricultural tools.

During the Bronze Age, the types of agricultural tools in China did not change much compared with the past, and Lei?ê remained the most widely used tool for turning the soil. However, the emergence of ox plowing in the Shang Dynasty can not be said to be a major event in the history of Chinese agriculture. Jiangxi Oceania Shang tomb (said to be the ritual pit) unearthed bronze plow, for the study of China's history of cattle plowing provides valuable physical materials, can support the oracle bone inscription about plowing records.

Two, the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period of iron and oxen plowing widely used

Entering the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, iron farming tools have been widely used. Iron as agricultural tools, has the advantages of low price, hard and sharp edge, forging and molding convenience. Iron farming tools is a major leap in the evolution of China's agricultural tools. The widespread use of iron farming tools, greatly improved labor productivity, the expansion of the arable land area, increased production, arable land way also changed. All this gave a strong impetus to the changes in productive forces and relations of production, and Chinese society slowly moved from a slave society to a feudal society.

During the Spring and Autumn period, in addition to a great variety of iron farming tools, it is worth mentioning that the orange pulley was used as an irrigation tool. It will be a long piece of wood tied to a stake, one end tied to a stone or other heavy objects, one end hung on the bucket, the use of leverage, so that the weight and the bucket up and down to move. With this method of carrying water is extremely labor-saving and lightweight. Zhuangzi? Heaven and Earth" has Confucius' great disciple Zigong praised the words of orange water pulley: "There are instruments in this, a day to dip a hundred beds, the force is very little and see more work."

Iron farming tools to the Warring States period, especially after the change of law in the middle of the Warring States period, more to the unprecedented scale of promotion. Since the founding of new China, in the north from Liaoning, south to Guangdong, east from Sulu, west to Sichuan and Shaanxi in the vast area, there are iron tools of the Warring States have been unearthed. Such as,, hoe, shovel, spade, sickle, plow, everything.

Three, the invention of the Han dynasty columbine, turning carts, fan carts and plow wall

The Han dynasty is the most invented and transformed the results of the dynasty, many mechanical farm tools are produced in the Han dynasty. The columbarium is the world's earliest sowing machine. It was invented by Zhao Chou, the lieutenant of corn searching in the time of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. The columbine was drawn by oxen to complete the three processes of furrowing, seeding and covering in one go, a bold and imaginative design that is remarkable. The columbine has a columbine frame, columbine bucket, columbine legs and columbine shovel, etc. There are one-legged, two-legged, three-legged, and later there are as many as seven-legged. One leg can sow one row. Zhao over invented the three-legged columbarium, that is, can sow three rows at the same time. Sowing with a columbarium, one person a day can be seeded a hundred acres, and the depth of the buried seed and seed spacing rows and rows to maintain the same spacing, thus greatly improving the efficiency and quality of sowing.

Turning cart, also known as keel waterwheel, is China's most important ancient irrigation tools. Turning the car is the Eastern Han Dynasty Bi Lan first, the Three Kingdoms of Wei mechanical manufacturing experts Ma Jun and improve. As an irrigation tool, it has been used in China for more than 1800 years. Turning the car using the principle of gears, foot pedal driven long wooden chain (i.e., keel), the wooden chain is equidistant from the chain full of vertical scraper, outside the set of water tank. Scraper with the wooden chain around, the water will be scraped into the water tank, scraper will be blocked into a grid of water tank, equivalent to a mobile water tank, with the wooden chain around, the water flow into the field. Later, there were oxen pulling millstones and wind-driven tumblers, which were even more labor-saving and labor-intensive.

Fan car, also known as Yang fan, windmill, is a kind of Yang field net grain apparatus, invented in the Western Han Dynasty, has been used to date. Fan car by the frame, shell, fan, into the bucket and adjust the door and other components. When working, the grain will be poured into the wooden bucket, and then one hand shakes the fan, the other hand slowly open the regulating door, into the bucket of grain drop, the falling grain meets the wind, gently, shriveled grain and other debris from the rear of the car discharged, full grain from the car armpit slides into the baskets. It can be used to clean the grain that just threshed from the threshing floor or need to be divided into chaff after milling.

As the most important tool for farming - the plow, in the Han Dynasty, there are also major improvements, which is the invention of the plow wall. Spring and Autumn and Warring States period of the plow only a plowshare. At that time, the plowshare into a "V" shape, the opening is too wide, it is not easy to deep plowing, the plowshare breaks the soil, it is difficult to turn the large soil to the side of the folding, and can only play a role in breaking the ground to open the furrow. In this way, the cattle and animals, the plow operator is not easy, the efficiency of plowing is not high. In order to overcome these weaknesses, the Western Han Dynasty invented the plow wall. It is a slanting roll of iron plate, mounted on the back of the plowshare, plowing, the plowshare can be shoveled up to the side of the soil flip and put to one side, the effect of soil loosening is good, but also for the field ridge. Han Dynasty plowing form many, in addition to a person and an ox single plow, there are two oxen and three people's plows, two oxen a person's combined plows and a cow's double set of plows and so on. Among them, a person holding an ox, two people each holding a plow labor mode had been vigorously promoted. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was also a kind of lightweight short-regulator plow. China's agricultural tools developed to the Han Dynasty, has basically complete.

Four, the emergence of the Sui and Tang Dynasty tube car and the curved plow

Three Kingdoms, two Jin and North and South Dynasties of the centuries, the development of China's agricultural tools is a relative hiatus. With the rise of the Sui and Tang dynasties, China's feudal society entered a period of prosperity, the country's long-term unity and stability, the development of the economy, prompted the improvement of agricultural tools, the emergence of the cylinder and the plough, representing the most important achievements of this period.

The cart is an irrigation tool that utilizes water energy exclusively, and before the invention of the steam engine, it would have been the most advanced scientific "automatic" device. Cylinder car by flowing river water, canal water impulse water wheel to lift water, water wheel around the outside of the body diagonally tied to a number of bamboo or wooden water cylinder, the water wheel by the hydraulic impact, constantly rotating, the water cylinder with the water wheel first into the water full, and then out of the water to turn the soil to be on the cylinder turned over the highest place, the cylinder of water naturally poured out into the water tank, and finally flowed into the field. After the cylinder car is loaded, there is no need for personnel to take care of, extremely trouble-free.

The curved plough, the Tang Dynasty poet Lu Guimeng in the Leiyuanjing has a detailed record. Before the Sui and Tang dynasties, the plow frame is straight, large and heavy, difficult to adjust the depth of the plow. After changing the straight shaft to a curved shaft, the plow frame became smaller and more flexible. The wood of the bend makes plowing in the plowing process can freely adjust the depth of the plow, thus changing the past two oxen to lift the bar type of traction, only one ox can easily pull a plow. This improvement, again improved the efficiency of plowing. China's plowing has been basically finalized. Today, the plows used in rural areas of China are still in this form.

China's agricultural equipment development to the Sui and Tang dynasties on the basic rest. Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties after nearly a thousand years are basically along the ancient invention of agricultural tools.