A memoir written by a Northern Song poet about the first half of his wandering and turbulent life.
I still remember when we met at the Zhao's house in Hangzhou, the Minister rubbed the point of a needle with lodestone and hung it with a silk thread, then the tip of it would point to the south. Though it was often biased to the east. The Minister jokingly said that its heart wanted to go east. Another method was to apply wax to the magnetic needle and put it in a bowl of water, in which case its tip would still show the direction but it was not
as steady as the silk suspended needle.
(When I asked about the principles, the Minister showed something to the crowd. It turned out to be a magnetic spoon shaped like the Big Dipper. Take a stone from the sky, carve it, and place it on a plate from the earth, and the tip of it will point to the south. The viewers were all amazed.
| Keywords | Translated keywords |
|---|---|
| Hanging with a silk thread | A south pointing method by suspending a magnetic needle with silk |
| Big Dipper | Spoon-shaped House of the Zodiac |