Ancient celebrity examples of innovation

1. The story of Lu Ban's invention of the saw

Lu Ban was born in about 507 B.C.E. His real name was Gongboban, and he was called Lu Ban because "般" and "班" have the same sound, and he was a native of the state of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

He was mainly engaged in carpentry. At that time, there was no good way for people to make trees into planks that were both flat and smooth. Lu Ban observed and imitated biological forms in his practice, and invented many carpentry tools, such as saws and planes. How did Lu Ban invent the saw?

Legend has it that once he went into the mountains to cut trees, a careless slip, his hand was a kind of weed leaves cut, oozing blood, he took off the blade gently touch, the original leaves on both sides of the long sharp teeth, he used these dense teeth in the back of the hand gently scratch, actually cut a mouth.

His hand was cut by these small teeth, he also saw a large locust on a weed, two large teeth are also arranged in many small teeth, so can quickly grind the blade. Lu Ban was inspired by these two things.

He thought to himself, "Wouldn't such a toothed tool also be able to saw through trees very quickly? So after many trials, he finally invented the sharp saw greatly improving the efficiency of his work.

2. Zhang Heng invented the armillary sphere and the geodesic instrument

In the history of China, in addition to the literati, emperors and generals, there are also many scientists, and Zhang Heng is one of the very famous. Zhang Heng did a lot of things in his life, but his most famous invention is the "geodesic instrument". Earthquakes happened very often in that period. Sometimes several times a year. One big earthquake would bring a lot of harm to the people and the country.

The emperor and the people at that time regarded earthquakes as an unlucky sign and thought that they were caused by ghosts and gods. Zhang Heng, however, did not believe in ghosts and gods, and after careful examination and testing of the recorded seismic phenomena, he invented an instrument that could measure earthquakes, which was called the "Geodesic Instrument".

The geodesic instrument was made of bronze, shaped like a wine altar, surrounded by eight dragons, the dragon's head stretched out in eight directions. Each dragon's mouth contains a small bronze ball, under the dragon's head, squatting a toad with a big mouth.

Which direction there is an earthquake, the dragon's mouth in that direction will automatically open and spit out the copper ball. When the copper ball fell into the toad's mouth, it made a loud sound and told people that an earthquake had occurred there.

3. Cai Lun made paper?

Chinese people since ancient times are written or engraved in bamboo, and then compiled into a book, the kind of silk used to write is called paper. Silk was expensive and bamboo slips were too bulky and heavy to use. Cai Lun came up with a way to make paper out of bark, hemp, rags and fishnets. In the first year of Yuanxing (the year of Emperor He of Han Dynasty), Cai Lun presented his paper to the emperor, who praised his talent and adopted his paper from then on, so the whole world said, "Cai Hou paper"

4. Shang Yang Changed the Law

After Duke Xiaogong of Qin came to the throne of Qin during the Warring States period, he was determined to make strong reforms, and so he ordered the recruitment of scholars. Shang Yang entered the state of Qin from the state of Wei, and put forward a set of development strategies to change the law and seek new ideas, such as abolishing the well-field, emphasizing agriculture and mulberry farming, rewarding military service, implementing unified measurement and establishing the county system, etc. He won the trust of the Duke of Qin and was appointed as the left minister.

In 356 B.C. and 350 B.C., he implemented the "abolition of the well-field, the opening of the road, the county system, incentives for farming and weaving and fighting, and the law of guilt-by-association" on two separate occasions, and then in 356 B.C. and 350 B.C., he was appointed as the first governor of Qin, and the second governor was elected as the first governor of Qin.

After Shang Yang's change of law, Qin's economy developed and the army's combat power was strengthened, and it became the richest and strongest centralized state in the late Warring States period.

5, Zheng Banqiao original one

Zheng Banqiao was a painter and calligrapher in the Qing Dynasty, one of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou". He was a hobby of calligraphy since childhood, determined to master the main purpose of ancient and modern calligraphy. He studied hard, but the beginning of just repeatedly copying the famous posters, not much progress, y distressed. It is said that once practicing calligraphy got lost in thought, and even drew on his wife's back. When his wife asked him what he was doing, he said he was practicing calligraphy.

His wife scolded: "People have one body, your body is your body; the human body is the human body, you are always in other people's body wrapped what?" Zheng Banqiao heard, snapped to the realization that: calligraphy is valuable in the original, self-contained, always copying other people's post, how can it! From then on, he strove to innovate, groping for the skills of bamboo painting in the art of calligraphy, and finally formed his own unique style - Banqiao body.

References:

Baidu Wikipedia - Cai Lun Paper Making

Baidu Encyclopedia - Zhang Heng

Baidu Encyclopedia - Saw

Baidu Encyclopedia - Shang Yang Changes Law

Baidu Encyclopedia - Banqiao Body