'Lei Si Jing' and the Curve-Beam Plough of the Tang Dynasty of China

摘要

The curve-beam plough, widely used in the region of the lower reaches of Yangtze River towards the end of the Tang Dynasty (about the 9th century A.D.) occupies an important position in the development of agricultural machinery in China. The curve-beam plough was recorded in the book "Lei Si Jing", composed by Lu Guimeng, a scholar from the Tang Dynasty. Based on the records in "Lei Si Jing" and a review of available literature, the author studied the shape, structure, size of the curve-beam plough, and identified the following issues: (1) The curve-beam plough was in fact measured with the short ruler of the Tang Dynasty; (2) The length of the curve-beam plough should be reasonable; (3) The curve of the curve-beam plough should be reasonable. Based on these view-points, the author carried out a full-size reconstruction of plough in 1998. For the purpose of comparison, the pictures of the plough by Watabe and the one by Bray are also shown in the paper.