Ancient China was rich with culture during the time of the dynasties like the Qin, Jin, and
Ming Dynasty, but the one thing that the Chinese are known for is the revolution of new
technology during those times. Technology was starting to bloom, as new creations were
being developed everyday, inventions like: paper, metal castings, deep drilling, and gun
powder, but what I believe to be one of the most important if not the most important one is
the compass. The compass was created in Ancient China by using naturally occurring
magnetic objects called lodestones, to magnetize an iron pointer. They designed the
compass on a square slab, which had markings for the cardinal points and the
constellations. The first compasses had iron spoons as pointers and would have the handle
of the spoon pointing to the south, but later changed to make the handle point to the North.
The center was circular and it was believed to represent the Heavens, as the square plate
represented the Earth. The spoon itself represented the Big Dipper. Knowing what
direction you are facing is a very valuable piece of information, and with the creation of
the compass, the Chinese began to make traveling more effective and easy. The Chinese
however, utilized the compass in a different way, it served as designators of direction that
the Chinese primarily used to order and harmonize their environments and lives. The
Chinese jade hunters would use the “south pointer”, as they called it, to prevent them form
