lambskin rug 
Life and works
A scale model of Su Song's Astronomical Clock Tower.
Career as a scholar-official
Su Song was born in modern-day Fujian, near medieval Quanzhou. Like his brilliant contemporary Shen Kuo (10311095), the discoverer of true north for better navigation with a compass, Su Song was a polymath. It was written by his junior colleague and Hanlin scholar Ye Mengde (10771148) that in Su's youth, he mastered the provincial exams and rose to the top of the examination list for writing the best essay on general principles and structure of the Chinese calendar. From an early age, his interests in astronomy and calendrical science would lead him onto a distinguished path as a state bureaucrat. In his spare time he was fond of writing poetry, which he used to praise the works of artists such as the painter Li Gonglin (10491106). He also was an antiquarian and collector of old artworks from previous dynasties.
In matters of administrative government, he had attained the rank of Ambassador and President of the Ministry of Personnel at the capital of Kaifeng, and was known also as an expert in administration and finance. After serving in the Ministry of Personnel, he became a Minister of Justice in 1086. He was appointed as a distinguished editor for the Academy of Scholarly Worthies, where in 1063 he edited, redacted, commented on, and added a preface for the classic work Huainanzi of the Han Dynasty (202 BC220 AD). Eventually, Su rose to the post of Vice President of the Chancellery Secretariat. Among many honorable positions and titles conferred upon him, Su Song was also one of the 'Deputy Tutors of the Heir Apparent'. At court, he chose to distance himself from the political rivalries of the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Sima Guang (10191086), and the Reformists, led by Prime Minister Wang Anshi (10211086); although many of his associates were of the Conservative faction. In 1077 he was dispatched on a diplomatic mission to the Liao Dynasty of the Khitan people to the north, sharing ideas about calendrical science, as the Liao state had created its own calendar in 994 AD. In an embarrassing event, Su Song admitted to the emperor that the calendar of the Khitan people was in fact a bit more accurate than their own, resulting in the fining and punishment of officials in the Bureau of Astronomy and Calendar. Su was supposed to travel north to Liao and arrive promptly for a birthday celebration and feast on a day which coincided with the winter solstice of the Song calendar, but was actually a day behind the Liao calendar. Historian Liu Heping states that Emperor Zhezong of Song sponsored Su Song's clocktower in 1086 in order to compete with the Liao for "scientific and national superiority." In 1081, the court instructed Su Song to compile into a book the diplomatic history of Song-Liao relations, an elaborate task that, once complete, filled 200 volumes. With his extensive knowledge of cartography, Su Song was able to settle a heated border dispute between the Song and Liao dynasties , cloth shower curtain .
Astronom , ancient chinese calligraphy .
A star map with equidistant cylindrical projection, from Su Song's Xinyi Xiangfayao, 1092.
Su Song also created a celestial atlas as well (in five separate maps), which had the hour circles between the xiu (lunar mansions) forming the astronomical meridians, with stars marked in an equidistant cylindrical projection on each side of the equator, and thus, was in accordance to their north polar distances. Furthermore, Su Song must have taken advantage of the astronomical findings of his political rival and contemporary astronomer Shen Kuo. This is so because Su Song's fourth star map places the position of the pole star halfway between Tian shu (-350 degrees) and the current Polaris; this was the more accurate calculation (by 3 degrees) that Shen Kuo had made when he observed the pole star over a period of three months with his width-improved sighting tube. There were many star maps written before Song's book, but the greatest significance of these star maps by Su Song is, that they represent the oldest existent star maps in printed form.
Pharmacology, botany, zoology, and mineralogy
Su categorized and accurately described the attributes of many minerals, including the red, pitted surface of realgar seen above.
In the year 1070 Su Song and a team of scholars compiled and edited the Bencao Tujing ('Illustrated Pharmacopoeia', original source material from 10581061), which was a groundbreaking treatise on pharmaceutical botany, zoology, and mineralogy. In compiling information for pharmaceutical knowledge, Su Song worked with such notable scholars as Zhang Yuxi, Lin Yi, Zhang Dong, and many others. This treatise documented a wide range of pharmaceutical practices, including the use of ephedrine as a drug. It includes valuable information on metallurgy and the steel and iron industries during 11th century China. He created a systematic approach to listing various different minerals and their use in medicinal concoctions, such as all the variously known forms of mica that could be used to cure ills through digestion. He wrote of the subconchoidal fracture of native cinnabar, signs of ore beds, and provided description on crystal form. Similar to the ore channels formed by circulation of ground water written of by the later German scientist Georgius Agricola, Su Song made similar statements concerning copper carbonate, as did the earlier Rihua Bencao of 970 with copper sulphate. Su's book was also the first pharmaceutical treatise written in China to describe the flax, Urtica thunbergiana, and Corchoropsis tomentosa (crenata) plants. According to Edward H. Schafer, Su accurately described the translucent quality of fine realgar, its origin from pods found in rocky river gorges, its matrix being pitted with holes and having a deep red, almost purple color, and that the mineral varied in sizes ranging from the size of a pea to a walnut. Citing evidence from an ancient work by Zheng Xuan (127200), Su believed that physicians of the ancient Zhou Dynasty (1046256 BC) used realgar as a remedy for ulcers. As believed in Su's day, the "five poisons" used by Zhou era physicians for this purpose were thought to be cinnabar, realgar, chalcanthite, alum, and magnetite. Su made systematic descriptions of animals and the environmental regions they could be found, such as different species of freshwater, marine, and shore crabs. For example, he noted that the freshwater crab species Eriocher sinensis could be found in the Huai River running through Anhui, in waterways near the capital city, as well as reservoirs and marshes of Hebei. Su's book was preserved and copied into the Bencao Gangmu of the Ming Dynasty (13681644) physician and pharmacologist Li Shizhen (15181593).
Horology and mechanical engineering
Armillary sphere on roof.
Su Song compiled one of the greatest Chinese horological treatises of the Middle Ages, surrounding himself with an entourage of notable engineers and astronomers to assist in various projects. Xinyi Xiangfayao (lit. "Essentials of a New Method for Mechanizing the Rotation of an Armillary Sphere and a Celestial Globe"), written in 1092, was the final product of his life's achievements in horology and clockwork. Fortunately, this book of Su's that was handed down included 47 different illustrations of great detail of the mechanical workings for his astronomical clocktower.
Su Song's greatest project was the 40-foot-tall water-powered astronomical clocktower constructed in Kaifeng, the wooden pilot model completed in 1088, the bronze components cast by 1090, while the wholly finished work was completed by 1094 during the reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song. The emperor had previously commissioned Han Gonglian, Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Personnel, to head the project, but the leadership position was instead handed down to Su Song. The emperor ordered in 1086 for Su to reconstruct the hun yi, or "armillary clock", for a new clock-tower in the capital city. Su worked with the aid of Han Gong-lian, who applied his extensive knowledge of mathematics to the construction of the clock-tower. A small-scale wooden model was first crafted by Su Song, testing its intricate parts before applying it to an actual full-scale clock tower. In the end, the clock-tower had many impressive features, such as the water-powered, rotating armillary sphere crowning the top-level and weighing some 10 to 20 tons, a bronze celestial globe located in the middle that was 4.5 feet in diameter, mechanically-timed and rotating manikins dressed in miniature Chinese clothes that would exit miniature opening doors to announce the time of day by presenting designated reading plaques, ringing bells and gongs, or beating drums, a sophisticated use of oblique gears and an escapement mechanism, as well as an exterior facade of a fanciful Chinese pagoda. Upon its completion, the tower was called the Shui Yun Yi Xiang Tai, or "Tower for the Water-Powered Sphere and Globe". Joseph Needham writes:
Star map of the south polar projection for Su's celestial globe, Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao, 1092.
After the invention of the escapement in ~AD 725 (Tang Dynasty), there was a great flourishing of gear-wheels in clockwork and jackwork, culminating in the bronze and iron of Su Song's elaborate masterpiece in ~AD 1088.
Years after Su's death, the capital city of Kaifeng was besieged and captured in 1127 by the Jurchens of the Manchurian-based Jin Dynasty. The clock-tower was dismantled piece by piece by the Jurchens, who carted its components back to their own capital in modern-day Beijing. However, due to the complexity of the tower, they were unable to successfully piece...
