The original diagram of the book by Su Song in 1092, showing the inner workings of his clock tower, with the clepsydra tank, a waterwheel with scoops and the escapement, a chain drive, the armillary sphere crowning the top, and the rotating wheel with clock jacks that sounded the hours with bells, gongs, and drums. These advances, along with the introduction of paper-printed money, helped revolutionize and sustain the economy of the Song dynasty. Notable advances in civil engineering, nautics, and metallurgy were made in Song China, as well as the introduction of the windmill to China during the thirteenth century. The application of new weapons employing the use of gunpowder enabled the Song to ward off its militant enemies-the Liao, Western Xia, and Jin with weapons such as cannons-until its collapse to the Mongol forces of Kublai Khan in the late 13th century. The application of movable type printing advanced the already widespread use of woodblock printing to educate and amuse Confucian students and the masses. The Song engineer Su Song admitted that he and his contemporaries were building upon the achievements of the ancients such as Zhang Heng (78–139), an astronomer, inventor, and early master of mechanical gears. The ingenuity of advanced mechanical engineering had a long tradition in China. The Song dynasty ( Chinese: 宋朝 960–1279 CE) invented some technological advances in Chinese history, many of which came from talented statesmen drafted by the government through imperial examinations.
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