Fu Xi's invention of the bamboo raft canoe Chinese earliest patent

Water is the source of life. All the movements of life begin in the water; all the dance music of civilization is inseparable from the accompaniment of the water. The birthplace of the world's major civilizations has flourished because of water, and China is no exception.

China is a country that has both land and sea. On the map, China is bordered by a vast continental border in the northwest and a vast ocean from south to southeast. The vast land, scattered islands, long-standing rivers, and lakes everywhere have provided unique geographical and water conservancy conditions for the development and progress of Chinese civilization. The long coastline of the mainland and the coastline of the islands are the starting line for Chinese to go to the ocean; the vast ocean land is the stage for Chinese to beat the waves and explore the mysteries of the ocean.

The exploration of the mysteries of the ocean began in ancient times. Rivers, lakes and seas provide people with a vast living space. However, at that time, people's water activities were extremely limited. Because, the ship has not yet been invented and manufactured.

In the process of dealing with water for a long time, it has been found that wooden things can float on the water. This gave people inspiration, and the simplest floats of the early days were born. According to the "Wuyuan", "The Fu people clan uses the water to save water. "The dagger is the gourd. This shows that in the time of the Fu ren clan, people had learned to use gourds to cross the water.

The Fu ren clan was a native of the Ming Dynasty (located in present-day Shangqiu, Henan) in ancient times. People know his name because of "drilling wood for fire". The Fu ren clan taught people to make fire and taught people to cook food with fire, ending the history of human beings drinking blood in ancient times, distinguishing the living habits of humans from animals and animals, and creating Chinese civilization. As a result, the Fu ren clan was worshipped as the "Fire Ancestor" by later generations.

The Fu people lived in the Paleolithic age. Limited by the means of production and the tools of labor, it is impossible to make decent floating gear. At that time, people could only sit across a tree trunk, or hold a dry gourd, drift in the water, or use it as a means of transportation to cross the river.

Later, it was found that the buoyancy of a gourd and a section of tree trunk was not large enough, and a large part of the human body would still be soaked in water. Therefore, people use the method of addition, several gourds are connected together with ropes, and then tied on the back or waist to increase buoyancy. This means of crossing the water is called "waist boat". The invention of the "waist boat", not only the buoyancy is greatly increased, but also people can use the liberated hands, cooperate with their feet, paddle in the water, play a role in speeding up.

While using wood materials such as gourds as floats, it has been found that some materials can also float on water after being filled with gas. As a result, leather floats made of animal skin inflated have appeared in some areas. Sealed hides can only be inflated. People didn't have needles and threads at that time. Therefore, only by peeling off the entire animal skin and tying it with a rope to the hole can the air be blown full and float on the water.

In the Paleolithic Age, this form of floating gear was the main means of water crossing.

This is perhaps the earliest documented means of crossing the water. Of course, the so-called "waist boat" cannot be counted as a boat in the true sense.

Even so, it is not an exaggeration to call the Lingren clan "Water Ancestor". After all, he was the first person recorded in the historical record to use a floating water tool.

What kind of water was the Flintstone clan carrying a gourd to cross? Probably the Yellow River. Because, north of Shangqiu is the old road of the Yellow River. At that time of the Fu ren clan, the Yellow River may not have been diverted. It is also possible that he crossed the waters such as lakes. Because, there are some lakes around Shangqiu.

This matter is unverifiable. After all, the Flintstones lived too far away. However, in this short line, there is a clear flash of the wisdom of the ancients.

History says that there were ten major inventions of the Fu ren clan, however, it does not list his pioneering works of crossing the river with a gourd. One may not realize that, although this act may seem childish today, however, at the time it was a great act of enlightenment wisdom. For the ancient Chinese maritime industry, this is the most primitive attempt. No matter how awkward the Flintstone clan looked like they were soaking in the water with a gourd, it was enough to make future generations pay the highest respect for it.

Since several gourds can be used as a means of crossing the water, people will of course think of tying several trunks together, which can make people stand on them, or put objects on them, which is far more stable than a trunk rolling back and forth in the water. When this idea came to mind in the minds of the ancients, the initial form of the boat had begun to take shape.

According to the "Wuyuan" record, from the beginning of the Fuxi clan, people began to "ride on the fence". A raft is a raft. Therefore, Fu Xishi should be the inventor of the raft. Modern scholars have concluded that rafts were invented by the Baiyue people of the Neolithic age. And the Fuxi clan is the ancestor of the Baiyue people.

Compared with the gourd crossing invented by the Furen clan, the raft invented by the Fuxi clan has more practical value. Rafts can carry not only people, but also objects.

With the raft, the body of the ancients was completely liberated. Standing on the raft, the ancients must find a way to control the direction of the raft' travel, and at the same time, they must also solve the problem of the raft's power. After all, relying solely on the current as a driving force not only prevents people from completing their assigned water work goals, but is also easily swept away by turbulent currents. At this time, the penny came into being.

Although there is no relevant documentary record, it can be inferred that raft and penny should have been invented at the same time. Because, the bamboo raft is the original creation of the ancient Chinese. Compared with the completion of a more complex bamboo raft, cutting off the branches and leaves to make a bamboo penny is obviously not a difficult task for the ancients.

With the cooperation of the pen and raft, people can complete more water operations, such as using the raft to transport materials, standing on the raft to fish, etc. This has an obvious role in promoting the production efficiency of the ancients.

In the Neolithic period, people living in coastal areas mainly relied on fishing and hunting as a source of livelihood. The invention of the raft provided a broader space for people's fishing activities. Fishing is carried out from the shore, or from shallow water to deep water areas, so that more fruits of labor can be obtained to improve living conditions.

The invention of the waist boat and raft has enabled people to have a primary ability to cross water and carry. However, both water tools have one thing in common – both are immersed in water. The waist boat can only be used as a pure means of crossing the water. Although the raft can carry items, once the items are too heavy, the raft will have too deep a draft, resulting in the items being soaked in water, resulting in losses. At this time, canoes with a similar cabin form appeared.

To make a canoe, you need to hollow out part of the trunk. This requires the corresponding tools. With the progress of the Neolithic Era, people's ability to innovate and use tools such as stone knives, stone axes, stone axes, and stone hammers has been greatly enhanced. Since then, people have been processing and transforming raw materials such as wood.

In the early 1970s, on canoes unearthed in Lianjiang County, Fujian Province, traces of fire axes were found. This reveals the tools and general process used by the ancients to make canoes - burning the parts of trees that need to be processed by burning, and then cutting and chiseling with stone axes or stone hammers, and finally making canoes.

Archaeologists have excavated the remains of a canoe from the neo-paleocene site of Hangzhou Cross-Lake Bridge, which has a history of seven or eight years. This is the earliest canoe found in the world to date.

In the humble sound of wood and stone, the ancestors of the ancient times invented and built the canoe, the direct ancestor of the ship, and also played the prelude to the sea.

Along with the canoe, there are oars. In the Zhou Yi Zhi Ci, there is such a record: "Fu Xi's wood is a boat, and the wood is a boat", which means hollowing out the middle of the trunk and cutting the wood into a paddle. The patent for the invention of the canoe and oar is again recorded in the name of Fu Xishi — perhaps just an act of pretending to be a celebrity. However, it is also possible. Because, the Fuxi clan lived in the Neolithic Age. The canoe was invented in this era.

To this day, rafts and canoes are still commonly used water transport in some areas.

At the Neolithic site of Hemudu in Yuyao, Zhejiang, six pieces of wood pulp made of whole planks and a model canoe sandwiched with carbon black pottery were found. After investigation, this belongs to the remnants of the fourth generation of Cultural Layer of Hemudu.

With boats and oars, the ancient ancestors could engage in more abundant water activities.

According to archaeological findings, the ancient ancestors had the imprint of cross-sea boating and even ocean voyages. In some areas of southern Korea, the Yongsan culture has found the Use of Stone Axes, Stone Knives and Black Matter Pottery. This shows that the People of Longshan have been to these places. At that time, the only means of transportation on the water were rafts and canoes.

On some islands in Oceania, people have also found a section of stone in the Baiyue culture. Five or six thousand years ago, the Baiyue people could only reach these islands by ocean voyage. It's hard to imagine how they crossed the ocean. Especially in ancient times, people's knowledge of marine climate was extremely limited, and the only means of transport used at sea were bamboo rafts and canoes, which was incredible to be able to complete such a sailing task.

In order to restore the scene at that time, modern people have done such a drift experiment in the Pacific Ocean. Among them, someone took a raft made of nine logs, and after three months, completed a five-thousand-nautical-mile drift. This proves that it is feasible to cross the Pacific Ocean on a raft.

On islands such as Tonga and Samoa in the Pacific, canoes have been spotted. This is also the masterpiece of the Baiyue people. From this point of view, both rafts and canoes can carry people across the ocean. However, it is considered relatively safe to travel long distances on a raft or bamboo raft. Because the stability, seaworthiness and sinking resistance of bamboo rafts are stronger than that of canoes.

In the ancient times, when the navigation conditions were extremely simple, the ancestors, with an incredible spirit of adventure, drove canoes and bamboo rafts, carrying grain, water and the tools they used to conquer and transform nature- stone axes and stone axes and stone hammers, set sail on the vast sea, interpreting the realistic scene of "who is the river is wide, a reed hangs" in the "Book of Poetry", leaving a beautiful and mysterious legend for posterity. It is said that when Dayu ruled the water, the water transportation used was the canoe.

In ancient times, the Yellow River flooded and flooded, and the ancestors really lived in the depths of the water. Shun ordered Dayu to cure the waters, save the people from danger, and relieve the people from hanging upside down. After Dayu was ordered, "land travel by car, water by boat", drifting on the water for thirteen spring and autumn seasons, three times through the door of the house without entering, and finally subdued the flood.

At that time, the boat should refer to the canoe. A plank boat that is more advanced than a canoe is a patent of the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age began with the Xia Dynasty. The Xia Dynasty was founded by Qi, the son of Dayu. Perhaps, by the time Dayu was ruling the water, the plank boat had already appeared. However, shipbuilding technology may not be mature, or it is only in the research stage, and it has not yet reached the level of popularization. Therefore, the water transportation that Dayu was taking at that time should be a canoe.

Although the canoe has a small load capacity, it has the advantages of flexibility and mobility, which is convenient for Dayu to patrol around and deal with dangerous situations at any time. The ancestors who followed Dayu to control the water, under the leadership of Dayu, drove a leaf boat, organized into a huge water control army, and fought tenaciously against the monstrous flood. In those difficult years, Dayu and his people, canoeing, traveling between land and water, gathering the strength of tiny individuals, converging into the power of moving mountains and reclaiming the sea, conquering nature, transforming the environment, and finally completing the great cause of controlling floods.

Dayu led the people to dredge and control both, through the river and sea, to eliminate floods, and to revitalize water conservancy, providing a successful case for future generations to deal with floods, leaving behind knowledge and experience in water control that can be referred to. It can be said that the small canoe has also made a great contribution.