Ma Jun
Encyclopedia
Ma Jun style name
Deheng (徳衡), was a Chinese mechanical
engineer
and government official during the Three Kingdoms
era of China
. His most notable invention was that of the South Pointing Chariot
, a directional compass
vehicle which actually had no magnetic function, but was operated by use of differential gears (which applies equal amount of torque
to driving wheels rotating at different speeds). It is because of this revolutionary device (and other achievements) that Ma Jun is known as one of the most brilliant mechanical engineers and inventors of his day (alongside Zhang Heng
of the earlier Eastern Han Dynasty). The device was re-invented by many after Ma Jun, including the astronomer and mathematician Zu Chongzhi
(429-500 AD). In the later medieval dynastic periods, Ma Jun's South Pointing Chariot was combined in a single device with the distance-measuring odometer
.
and philosopher Fu Xuan
(217-278 AD), Ma Jun was born in Fufeng, located in the Wei River
valley between Wugong
and Baoji
. In his youth Ma Jun traveled throughout modern day Henan
province, and obtained a minor literary degree, or bo shi. Despite this degree, Ma Jun was relatively poor in his youth, yet found means to gain recognition by employing his natural genius in creating mechanical contraptions and inventions.
Ma Jun was a somewhat distinguished official serving under the northern state of Wei
, becoming a Policy Review Advisor (Ji Shi Zhong). Ma Jun once oversaw the construction of Chong Hua's palace, under the orders of Emperor Ming of Wei, Cao Rui
. Ma Jun was very well known in Wei as a very gifted designer of weapons and certain types of contraptions, and was praised especially by Fu Xuan
in an essay of his. Fu Xuan noted that Ma Jun was not the best orator or master of rhetorics, and had trouble conveying his ideas to others with his somewhat introverted personality. Nonetheless, he gained fame for his mechanical genius, and is universally considered one of the greatest mechanical engineers of ancient China.
One of Ma Jun's early inventions was an improved silk
loom
, which, according to Fu Xuan, earned Ma Jun considerable recognition for his innovative skill. In his time, silk looms generally had fifty heddles and fifty treadles, some even up to sixty of each. Ma Jun crafted a loom that had only twelve treadles, which not only made the process faster and more efficient, but also allowed the weaving of new intricate patterns.
While serving the Wei court, Ma Jun got into a dispute with the Permanent Counsellor Gaotang Long and the Cavalry General Qin Lang
at court over the concept of the south-pointing carriage, or the South Pointing Chariot
. The minister and the general mocked Ma Jun for his belief in historical texts that the South Pointing Chariot had actually been invented in the past (as the legend goes, by the Yellow Emperor
), something they viewed as nonsensical, non-historical myth. Ma Jun retorted against them, saying "Empty arguments with words cannot (in any way) compare with a test which will show practical results". After being instructed to craft such a device, Ma Jun completed his fully functional design of the South Pointing Chariot in the year 255 AD. With this mechanical-driven compass-vehicle device, Ma Jun created one of the first mechanical devices in the world to employ differential gear designs. Referring to history of differential gears, Ma Jun's differential gear is the earliest historically verifiable design. In China the directional South Pointing Chariot
was re-invented a second time by Zu Chongzhi
(429-500 AD) due to the original detailed instructions being lost.
For the Emperor Ming of Wei, he once invented an intricate hydraulic-powered, mechanical-operated puppet
theatre
(much more complex than the mechanical puppet set discovered by Liu Bang, first Emperor of the Han Dynasty
, when he observed the state-absorbed items taken from the old treasury of the deceased Qin Shi Huang
). His puppet theatre is similar to that of a Greek model invented by Heron of Alexandria, the difference being that the latter used instead a rotating cylindrical cogwheel with ropes and pulleys to operate his mechanical theatre. Joseph Needham
describes Ma Jun's mechanical theatre in a passage taken from the Sanguo Zhi, Records of the Three Kingdoms:
Possibly inspired by this incredible mechanical theatre of puppets, Qu Zhi of the subsequent Jin Dynasty made similar mechanical sets with wooden dolls. Joseph Needham states that he was famous for his "wooden dolls' house, with images which opened doors and bowed, and for his 'rats' market', which had figures which automatically closed the doors when the rats wanted to leave".
Ma Jun was also responsible for the construction of square-pallet chain pumps
meant for irrigation. However, Ma Jun was not the first in China to invent such a device. An earlier account was made in the year 80 by philosopher Wang Chong
, in his Discourses Weighed in the Balance. The Eastern Han Dynasty court eunuch
Zhang Rang
once ordered the engineer Bi Lan to construct a series of chain pumps outside the capital city of Luoyang
, used for irrigation
and means of fresh water source. Ma Jun constructed his square-pallet chain pumps to water newly designated garden
space established within Luoyang by Emperor Ming of Wei (Cao Rui).
Chinese style name
A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...
Deheng (徳衡), was a Chinese mechanical
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and government official during the Three Kingdoms
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms period was a period in Chinese history, part of an era of disunity called the "Six Dynasties" following immediately the loss of de facto power of the Han Dynasty rulers. In a strict academic sense it refers to the period between the foundation of the state of Wei in 220 and the...
era of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. His most notable invention was that of the South Pointing Chariot
South Pointing Chariot
The south-pointing chariot 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...
, a directional compass
Compass
A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
vehicle which actually had no magnetic function, but was operated by use of differential gears (which applies equal amount of torque
Torque
Torque, moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....
to driving wheels rotating at different speeds). It is because of this revolutionary device (and other achievements) that Ma Jun is known as one of the most brilliant mechanical engineers and inventors of his day (alongside Zhang Heng
Zhang Heng
Zhang Heng was a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar from Nanyang, Henan. He lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty of China. He was educated in the capital cities of Luoyang and Chang'an, and began his career as a...
of the earlier Eastern Han Dynasty). The device was re-invented by many after Ma Jun, including the astronomer and mathematician Zu Chongzhi
Zu Chongzhi
Zu Chongzhi , courtesy name Wenyuan , was a prominent Chinese mathematician and astronomer during the Liu Song and Southern Qi Dynasties.-Life and works:...
(429-500 AD). In the later medieval dynastic periods, Ma Jun's South Pointing Chariot was combined in a single device with the distance-measuring odometer
Odometer
An odometer or odograph is an instrument that indicates distance traveled by a vehicle, such as a bicycle or automobile. The device may be electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two. The word derives from the Greek words hodós and métron...
.
Biography
According to his friend and contemporary poetPoet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and philosopher Fu Xuan
Fu Xuan
Fu Xuan was a Chinese poet of the Western Jin Dynasty. An impoverished orphan, he became rich due to his literary fame...
(217-278 AD), Ma Jun was born in Fufeng, located in the Wei River
Wei River
The Wei River is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization....
valley between Wugong
Wugong
Wugong may refer to:* Wugong County, in Shaanxi, China* Wugong, Henan* Wugong, Hebei* Chinese martial arts, also known as Wugong,...
and Baoji
Baoji
Baoji is a prefecture-level city in Shaanxi province, China.-Geography:The prefecture-level city of Baoji has a population of 3,716,731 according to the 2010 Chinese census, inhabiting an area of . The city itself has a population of approximately 800,000. Surrounded on three sides by hills,...
. In his youth Ma Jun traveled throughout modern day Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
province, and obtained a minor literary degree, or bo shi. Despite this degree, Ma Jun was relatively poor in his youth, yet found means to gain recognition by employing his natural genius in creating mechanical contraptions and inventions.
Ma Jun was a somewhat distinguished official serving under the northern state of Wei
Cao Wei
Cao Wei was one of the states that competed for control of China during the Three Kingdoms period. With the capital at Luoyang, the state was established by Cao Pi in 220, based upon the foundations that his father Cao Cao laid...
, becoming a Policy Review Advisor (Ji Shi Zhong). Ma Jun once oversaw the construction of Chong Hua's palace, under the orders of Emperor Ming of Wei, Cao Rui
Cao Rui
Cao Rui , formally known as Emperor Ming of Wei, was the second emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He was a son of Cao Wei's first emperor Cao Pi according to Liu Song dynasty historian, Pei Songzhi, but was a son of Yuan Xi according to modern...
. Ma Jun was very well known in Wei as a very gifted designer of weapons and certain types of contraptions, and was praised especially by Fu Xuan
Fu Xuan
Fu Xuan was a Chinese poet of the Western Jin Dynasty. An impoverished orphan, he became rich due to his literary fame...
in an essay of his. Fu Xuan noted that Ma Jun was not the best orator or master of rhetorics, and had trouble conveying his ideas to others with his somewhat introverted personality. Nonetheless, he gained fame for his mechanical genius, and is universally considered one of the greatest mechanical engineers of ancient China.
Engineering and technological achievements
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
loom
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
, which, according to Fu Xuan, earned Ma Jun considerable recognition for his innovative skill. In his time, silk looms generally had fifty heddles and fifty treadles, some even up to sixty of each. Ma Jun crafted a loom that had only twelve treadles, which not only made the process faster and more efficient, but also allowed the weaving of new intricate patterns.
While serving the Wei court, Ma Jun got into a dispute with the Permanent Counsellor Gaotang Long and the Cavalry General Qin Lang
Qin Lang
Qin Lang, style name Yuanming , was a military general of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. During the Battle of Wuzhang Plains in 234 against the rival state of Shu Han, Qin personally led a night raid on Zhuge Liang's camp...
at court over the concept of the south-pointing carriage, or the South Pointing Chariot
South Pointing Chariot
The south-pointing chariot 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 minister and the general mocked Ma Jun for his belief in historical texts that the South Pointing Chariot had actually been invented in the past (as the legend goes, by the Yellow Emperor
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor or Huangdi1 is a legendary Chinese sovereign and culture hero, included among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he reigned from 2697–2597 or 2696–2598 BC...
), something they viewed as nonsensical, non-historical myth. Ma Jun retorted against them, saying "Empty arguments with words cannot (in any way) compare with a test which will show practical results". After being instructed to craft such a device, Ma Jun completed his fully functional design of the South Pointing Chariot in the year 255 AD. With this mechanical-driven compass-vehicle device, Ma Jun created one of the first mechanical devices in the world to employ differential gear designs. Referring to history of differential gears, Ma Jun's differential gear is the earliest historically verifiable design. In China the directional South Pointing Chariot
South Pointing Chariot
The south-pointing chariot 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...
was re-invented a second time by Zu Chongzhi
Zu Chongzhi
Zu Chongzhi , courtesy name Wenyuan , was a prominent Chinese mathematician and astronomer during the Liu Song and Southern Qi Dynasties.-Life and works:...
(429-500 AD) due to the original detailed instructions being lost.
For the Emperor Ming of Wei, he once invented an intricate hydraulic-powered, mechanical-operated puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
(much more complex than the mechanical puppet set discovered by Liu Bang, first Emperor of the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
, when he observed the state-absorbed items taken from the old treasury of the deceased Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang , personal name Ying Zheng , was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC...
). His puppet theatre is similar to that of a Greek model invented by Heron of Alexandria, the difference being that the latter used instead a rotating cylindrical cogwheel with ropes and pulleys to operate his mechanical theatre. Joseph Needham
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...
describes Ma Jun's mechanical theatre in a passage taken from the Sanguo Zhi, Records of the Three Kingdoms:
Possibly inspired by this incredible mechanical theatre of puppets, Qu Zhi of the subsequent Jin Dynasty made similar mechanical sets with wooden dolls. Joseph Needham states that he was famous for his "wooden dolls' house, with images which opened doors and bowed, and for his 'rats' market', which had figures which automatically closed the doors when the rats wanted to leave".
Ma Jun was also responsible for the construction of square-pallet chain pumps
Chain pumps
The chain pump is type of a water pump in which several circular discs are positioned on an endless chain. One part of the chain dips in to the water, and the chain runs through a tube, slightly bigger than the diameter of the discs. As the chain is drawn up the tube, water becomes trapped between...
meant for irrigation. However, Ma Jun was not the first in China to invent such a device. An earlier account was made in the year 80 by philosopher Wang Chong
Wang Chong
Wang Chong , courtesy name Zhongren , was a Chinese philosopher active during the Han Dynasty. He developed a rational, secular, naturalistic and mechanistic account of the world and of human beings and gave a materialistic explanation of the origin of the universe. His main work was the Lùnhéng...
, in his Discourses Weighed in the Balance. The Eastern Han Dynasty court eunuch
Eunuch
A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...
Zhang Rang
Zhang Rang
Zhang Rang was a eunuch of the late Han Dynasty, who served Emperor Ling of Han; he was also the leader of the Ten regular attendants , a group of court eunuchs who held great influence in the Han imperial court...
once ordered the engineer Bi Lan to construct a series of chain pumps outside the capital city of Luoyang
Luoyang
Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...
, used for irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
and means of fresh water source. Ma Jun constructed his square-pallet chain pumps to water newly designated garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
space established within Luoyang by Emperor Ming of Wei (Cao Rui).
See also
- List of people of the Three Kingdoms
- List of mechanical engineers
- History of science and technology in ChinaHistory of science and technology in ChinaThe history of science and technology in China is both long and rich with many contributions to science and technology. In antiquity, independently of other civilizations, ancient Chinese philosophers made significant advances in science, technology, mathematics, and astronomy...