Science and Technology in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period

Although the Sui Dynasty was only a short interlude in the history of Chinese technology，we can observe technological progress in certain fields of science.The Confucian scholar Liu Zhuo（544-610）was also an important astronomer.He used more sophisticated methods to calculate the beginning of the year and created The Huangji Calendar，which served as the base for later calendric calculations of the Tang Dynasty.Liu Zhuo calculated the positions and the paths of five planets.Zhuge Ying（536-612）wrote a book Sowing and Cultivation on agriculture.Chao Yuanfang wrote a medical compendium called General Treatise on the Etiology and Symptomatology of Diseases. The geographer Pei Ju（547-627）observed topographical features and customs of the population in the western regions and compiled An Illustrated Book of the Western Regions. The oldest extant segment arch stone bridge of China，the Anji Bridge near Zhaozhou in Hebei Province，was constructed by the architect Li Chun between 595 and 605 in the Sui Dynasty.In 605，Emperor Yangdi（569一618）gave an order to excavate the Grand Canal linking Beijing and Hangzhou.The canal became the bridge of economic and cultural communication between the north and the south.

In the Tang Dynasty，the government supported the development of several branches of technology.Two technologies that helped the administration to function well were astronomy and agriculture，among others.In the field of astronomy，a handful of people worked on calculating the paths of the sun and the moon，the eclipses and the movement of different constellations，among whom Yixing（683-727）and Xu Ang（the 9th century）were the most famous.They compiled The Dayan Calendar respectively.In mathematics，Wang Xiaotong（the 7th century）wrote his book Continuation of Ancient Mathematics where he explains the solution of third degree equations. The corpus of The Ten Mathematical Classics was compiled by Li Chunfeng（602-670），Liang Shu（the 7th century）and Wang Zhenru（the 7th century）in 656.In the field of agriculture，quite a few books were published:Lu Yu’s（733-804）The Classic of Tea ，Li Shi’s（783-845）A Collection of Articles on Herding and Relieving Horses about horse diseases，Lu Guimeng’s（？-881）The Classic of the Plough，and Han E’s（the 10th century）Essential Farm Activities in Four Seasons . In this period，ceramics made a great improvement especially in the field of glazing，and trio-colored glazed pottery appeared. Gold and silverwork was widespread.Physical phenomena like rainbow，waves，echo，and crystals were given scientific description.

Of great importance for the further development of the whole Chinese culture is the invention of bookprinting，which was first used by Buddhist monks to spread their sermons，sutras and illustrations in a cheap and easy way.5 The technique was also employed by the courts of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.It developed quickly，especially after the Later Tang Period（923-936）.The Nine Confucian Classics were printed in 953 after 20 years of carving characters.

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