Speaking of the glory of ancient Chinese civilization, the exchange of maritime Chinese and Western civilizations, dominated by the Maritime Silk Road, is definitely a great evidence, and all this is due to the development of ancient Chinese navigation technology. However, why is the shipbuilding technology of ancient China so developed? In fact, it is because China's shipbuilding history is very early, how early is it?
According to archaeological indications, the inhabitants of ancient China began to build ships as early as the Neolithic Age. For example, neolithic sites in coastal areas such as Hemudu in Zhejiang, Guojia Village in Rongcheng, Shandong, Wuxing in Zhejiang, and Lianjiang in Fujian have found the remains of wooden boats or pulp.
By the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu Yue's ship army system was quite complete, and shipbuilding technology was already very impressive. In the Qin and Han Dynasties and Sui and Tang Dynasties, shipbuilding technology was further developed, and the basic trend was that ships continued to increase and increase in load capacity. The ancient book "Wuyuan. It is recorded in the Jiyuan that "Fu Xi began to ride on the rafters, and Xuanyuan was used as a boat." ”
In addition, the most typical is the emergence of rudder technology. According to archaeological findings, it is likely that as early as the Warring States period, ships were already equipped with "ship" and "ship". The invention of the rudder is undoubtedly a sign of the development of shipbuilding technology, which appeared in China four hundred years before the West. Moreover, as early as the Western Han Dynasty, shipbuilding technology has reached the ability to sail long distances. In the Tang Dynasty, Chinese ships could not berth in many ports in Western Asia because the load was too large and the water was too deep, so they had to transport the goods in small boats to Cherov (near present-day Iran) and then transferred to Chinese ships.
In the Song Dynasty, Jiangsu Chongning built an ocean-going ship called the "sand-proof flat-bottomed vessel". The ship type has a square head and tail, with a load capacity of 4000-6000 stones and about 500-800 tons. This kind of ship has a wide deck, a flat bottom, a shallow draft, is not easy to run aground, has more masts and sails, has good stability, and is not afraid of wind and waves, which is very suitable for ocean transportation. The "sea boat" made in Fujian is a four-layer pointed bottom boat, with a wide bottom tip, a high head and tail, a guard plate on both sides, a draft of up to four meters, and is also known for sailing the open sea.
The above two types of ships of the Song Dynasty can basically be regarded as the basic types of ocean-going ships of the Song Dynasty. In addition to the increase in load capacity, there were also many innovations in the shipbuilding technology of the Song Dynasty, such as setting up watertight compartments, enhancing sinking resistance and lateral strength, and reforming the previous tradition of using wooden anchors and replacing them with iron anchors. The Song ships found in Ningbo also have a ganoderone, a longitudinal fin-like component fixed to the outside of the mid-section of the hull (that is, the curved part between the bottom and the side of the ship), which can be shaken and shock-resistant during navigation.
By the Yuan Dynasty, only the ships built by China were larger, stronger, and more powerful than before. At that time, the main manufacturing places of ships were Yangzhou, Shanghai, Shaoxing, Quanzhou, Guangzhou and other places, and the sea vessels made in Quanzhou and Guangzhou were even more famous in the world. In the Ming Dynasty, on the basis of the previous generation, the sea ship became more and more solid, large, and large in carrying capacity.
For example, the treasure ship used by Zheng He during his voyage to the West was a large ship, and according to the History of the Ming Dynasty and the Yingya Shengguan, this treasure was about forty-four zhang in length and about eighteen zhang in width. In the Ming Dynasty, one foot was equivalent to the current 1.1 feet, so this large ship was about 160 meters long and about 66 meters wide. However, it was the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago, and such a ship could not only carry a large amount of cargo as far as the Atlantic Ocean, but also be used as an armament ship with armed forces, which was undoubtedly powerful.
And these also directly prove how advanced and superb the ancient Chinese shipbuilding technology is. This has also attracted the imitation of Western countries, and the continuous progress of shipbuilding technology has also created the necessary conditions for the development and creation of the necessary conditions for the development of Huaihai road traffic in China and the West, but this is only one of the conditions necessary for long-distance navigation, and the magnetic tile also needs to be promoted by navigation, positioning technology and power technology.