When was irrigation invented in ancient china

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Are supply chain disruptions here to stay? Why is the North American fall so red, compared with Europe? It is a great invention of the working people in China to adapt to dry climate with high evaporation and low rainfall. The main design principle of the Karez is to transport water through an artificial underground channel from the aquifer to the above-ground channel for irrigation. The project is composed of four parts: vertical access shafts, an underground channel, an above-ground channel and a dam.

Water in the aquifer mainly comes from melted snow that infiltrates into the ground. People would first find an aquifer and design a route to distribute water. This paper aimed to uncover the evolutionary pattern of ancient Chinese agricultural technologies. It established a hierarchical structure that contained five technological subsystems over six geographical regions, from the Neolithic Period approximately BC to the end of the imperial dynasty in AD.

Three historical encyclopaedias were used as data sources, from which unstructured technological information was extracted using content analysis. Both temporal and spatial analyses were conducted to understand the transformation of the technology system.

The key findings and implications for future research and practices are summarised below:. The development of agricultural technology in ancient China was an extremely slow process. Our findings showed that approximately major technologies were initiated during the Neolithic Period. That number generally doubled in the following periods, with a greater than 10 times increase over years Fig.

The growth rate with respect to time the slope in Equation 1 was only 0. Technological pre-development was characterised by a primitive society with a loose social structure, very low population, and low motivation for production during the Neolithic Period.

The growing population and transitions to slavery and feudal societies from the XSZ to CQZG periods coincided with the take-off stage of the agricultural technology system. Technology development started to accelerate in the Qin Dynasty BC and lasted until the SY Period due to bureaucratic feudal structures that centralised resources for development.

However, as confirmed by numerous scholars Needham and Bray, ; Shen, ; Wang et al. It was unable to achieve a new dynamic equilibrium that featured contemporary scientific knowledge. Although most of the emperors in China considered agriculture to be the foundation of a stable society and central to societal, political and economic activities, long-term stability and extreme power concentration favoured experience-based, labour-intensive agricultural practices over innovative tools and scientific theories.

This eventually resulted in technological lock-in in the MQ Period. This study, for the first time, empirically and quantitatively observed the development of an ancient agricultural technology system and uncovered its specific transition pathway. As in ancient China, other ancient civilisations grappled with the development of agriculture MacNeish, As ancient civilisations relied on large rivers to flourish, natural landscapes determined the types of agricultural activities and technologies adopted Sadori et al.

Pottery tools were common in the Mesopotamian civilisation due to rich clay sources in the Tigris-Euphrates River Basin, the ancient Egyptians developed advanced irrigation and land distribution systems to harness the Nile River flooding, and ancient Indians focused on a philosophical human-nature relationship along the Indus and Ganges rivers Liu, Different technologies adopted in turn greatly influenced the degrees of soil erosion, sedimentation and flow regime changes, which was correlated closely to the longevity of civilisations Dunning et al.

However, collapses of ancient civilisations do not necessarily lead to the termination of traditional technology. Basu and Weil observed that traditional ploughs and sickles are still widely used for farming in India, while Buckley and Boudot showed that traditional agricultural techniques are still commonly practised in most of South-east Asia.

This study provides an important evidence-based case for comparative studies between different ancient agricultural civilisations from a technological system perspective. We found limited studies investigating the development of modern technologies with the same equation Eq.

The growth rate in time was 0. This study establishes a case study-based baseline for understanding the differences in technology and its impacts between the pre-industrial society and industrial society, which defined the beginning of the Anthropocene era. The five technological subsystems in this study are interrelated, each with uneven development over time Fig.

The early emergence and maturity of agricultural theories in the CQZG Period highlighted the harmonic relationship between human development and natural conditions soil, climates and crops. The focus shift from development of engineering to scientific theories and then practices, demonstrated a knowledge generation mode of early human civilisation, which is different from the typical consensus that scientific understanding induces engineering and practice development.

The narrative findings on key agricultural technology in ancient China outlined above could be further explored. Network analysis could provide insights into how technologies evolved by determining the degree, betweenness and density of a technological network. Furthermore, while it could be difficult to distinguish the causal relationships between technology evolution and socio-economic changes Turnheim et al.

The development of ancient Chinese agricultural technology also had distinctive spatial characteristics. Societal structures, political concentrations, economic development and the frequency of war were identified by many studies as key drivers of transition of agricultural technology, and the shift of an agricultural centre from the Yellow River region to the Yangtze River region Wong, ; Zhang, The availability of natural resources and constraints on the natural environment and climate change have also contributed to the shaping of spatial characteristics for the technology system Unruh, This study provides empirical evidence of long-term regional inequality for agricultural technology development.

It should be noted that this study focused on textual data collected from three historical encyclopaedias. Data on spatial diffusions were also limited to multiple regions within which a specific technology appeared. Additional information could be incorporated to specify the directions of such spatial diffusion and to further define the spatial locations.

In conclusion, ancient Chinese agricultural technology evolved in a non-linear pattern at an extremely slow rate. These technologies were initiated, diffused and used purposely or non-purposely under complex natural and socio-economic settings. More studies on the mechanisms of technological development are needed. With a greater understanding of such development, we will be in a better position to understand the implications of purposely increasing or limiting the speed and scale of certain technological development; promoting stage transitions e.

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They express the importance of utilizing natural features to their fullest in constructing an irrigation system as well as Qingcheng Mountain's importance as one of the birth places of Tao ideology. Dujiangyan Irrigation System is not only a living heritage of 2, year-old design and engineering ideas; it is also still in use today.

The functions, religious traditions and the special religious status of the Taoist temple cluster of Mount Qingcheng are fully preserved while still maintaining traditional building styles. Furthermore, internationally accepted protection guidelines and rules have been adhered in conservation and repair projects in terms of location, design, materials, and techniques. The buffer zone of the property has been designated. Currently, the conservation condition of both properties is excellent.

During the Sichuan earthquake on May 12th, , Dujiangyan Irrigation System was basically undamaged, but some Taoist shrines were damaged to varying degrees. Subsequently, these ancient structures were successfully repaired with the help of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Shanghai Municipal Government and the Macao Foundation.

The Outstanding Universal Value of Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System is kept through regular and rigorous maintenance and protection of the properties. About us. Special themes. Major programmes. For the Press.