Greco-Roman vs. Han Chinese Extant Architecture

 

However, one quote from the section about the water mills in Barbegal, France seriously bothered me.

 

"At their time, the Romans were the only ones able to build geared vertical water wheels."

 

This is historically false, as I've already proven to you in another thread at simaqianstudios (while using your other name, Tibet Libre).

 

Here's an excerpt from that conversation we had, just to set the record straight once and for all. Here's the first post by me...

 

Ok, so far so good, but then you said this...

 

Add to that the reference to saw mills in the 4th century (poem of Ausonius).

Roman watermill technology featured beside horizontal wheels also

- geared undershot wheels
- geared overshot wheels
- turbines

Since the Greeks were the first to the invent watermill, there is a fair chance that the Greco-Romans kept the technological lead throughout antiquity.

The last part of which, I rebutalled...

 

 

So please, go back into your post, for the sake of historical accuracy, Gun Powder Ma, and edit that statement about the Romans being the only ones with geared vertical waterwheels. It's not true. I'll admit the horizontal waterwheel was not as efficient as the vertical, and that the horizontal water wheel was more often used in ancient China than the vertical, but the vertical waterwheel was used as well, regardless.

 

For information on this, refer to these:

 

Edelberg, Lennart and Schuyler Jones, 1979, Nuristan, Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria.

Gies, Frances and Joseph, 1994. Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages, Harper Perennial, New York.

Reynolds, Terry S.,1984. "Medieval Roots of the Industrial Revolution," Scientific American, July pp.122-130.

Please consider revising,

Eric

 

 

Shang Dynasty Bronze Ritual Vessel (Chia), 12th century BC

 

 

Shang Dynasty Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel (Huo) in the form of an elephant with separate elephant lid, 12th-11th century BC

 

 

Shang Dynasty Halberd, 12th-11th century BC, crafted of bronze, turquoise and jade

 

 

Shang Dynasty Bronze Wine Server (Huo), circa 1200-1100 BC

 

 

Shang or Western Zhou Bronze Ceremonial Blade, 11th century BC

 

 

Shang Dynasty Bronze Axle Cap Chariot Fitting, 1600-1050 BC

 

 

Western Zhou Bronze Ritual Vessel, late 11th century - early 10th century BC

 

Western Zhou Dynasty Bronze Ritual Vessel (Yu) and Cover, late 11th century/early 10th century BC

 

 

First one: Bronze Chariot fitting from the Shang Dynasty, 1600-1050 BC, and the next: Bronze Chariot Linchpin Fitting from the Zhou Dynasty, 1050 - 221 BC

 

 

Western Zhou Dynasty Bronze Tiger, 9th century BC

 

 

Eastern Zhou Dynasty Bronze Ceremonial Basin (Chien), 5th century BC

 

 

Eastern Zhou Dynasty Sleeve Weight, 5th-4th century BC, iron, gold, inlaid with jade

 

 

Eastern Zhou Dynasty Jade Belt Hook, 4th-3rd Century BC

 

 

Eastern Zhou Dynasty Jade Hair Comb, 5th-4th century BC

 

 

Eastern Zhou Dynasty Glass Ring, 5th-4th century BC

 

 

Eastern Zhou Dynasty Bronze Mirror, 5th-4th century BC

 

 

Eastern Zhou Dynasty Ceremonial Stemmed Oval Offering Cup, 5th-4th century BC, made out of lacquer

 

 

Eastern Zhou Dynasty Wooden Tray Covered in Lacquer, 4th-3rd century BC

 

 

Western Han Dynasty Green-Glazed Hu Shaped Jar, circa 100 - 9 BC, stoneware with green glaze (celadon)

 

 

Western Han Dynasty Green-Glazed Covered Tripod, 2nd Century BC, stoneware with green glaze (celadon)

 

 

Western Han Dynasty Incense Burner (Boshan Xianglu), 2nd century BC, carfted of bronze, gold, silver, turquoise, and carnelian

 

 

Eastern Han Dynasty Ding Tripod Vessel, early 1st-3rd century AD, earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze

 

 

Western or Eastern Han Dynasty Bronze Mirror, 206 BC- 220 AD

 

 

Eastern Han Dynasty Tomb Jar, early 1st century - 3rd century AD, earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze 

 

 

Eastern Han Dynasty Tomb Jar, early 1st century - 3rd century AD, earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze 

 

 

Eastern Han Dynasty Tomb Dish, early 1st century - 3rd century AD, earthenware with copper-green lead-silicate glaze

 

 

Eastern Han Dynasty Jade Ritual Disk (Bi), 2nd century AD

 

 

Western Jin Dynasty Yue Ware Basin, 265-316 AD, glazed stoneware

 

 

Bronze Mirror, period of division (220-589 AD)

 

 

One thing people here tend to ignore is that an invention is only useful if it is widely applied throughout the society, which the Greeks never managed to do. Lots of Archimedes invention never spread out throughout Greek world. In China, because of strong central authority(or authorities), lots of high level technology were spread through a much wider domain. Greek city states are much smaller than Chinese kingdoms, they usually held one or several cities at most, while most Chinese states during the warrring states period held at least upwards of 100. The blast furnace production and canal projects for example, were on a scale unseen in the west because the central government had a monoply in these constructions. Only the Roman empire manged to create a central administration, though their roads might have been somewhat more impressive than their Chinese counterparts, their canal system were dwarfed by the Chinese in scope and efficiency. According to estimation, China had 2,500 km of canal system, thats many times more than what the Romans had. Roman applied physical technology were also relatively backwards in comparison to China's(especially in the area of energy efficiency). What they were strong at were intellectual and architectural engineering.

 

About what? About Roman being superior to Chinese? 

 

But it seems the scope here went beyond that.