Knowledge Transmission of Seismological Instruments

Timeline

1. 132–200Lingtai, Luoyang · LuoyangZhang Heng developed the wind-sensing seismoscope in Luoyang, cast in fine bronze with internal mechanisms; according to the Book of Later Han it could detect the direction of distant earthquakes, representing an early peak of mechanical earthquake observation in ancient China.
2. 1001–1010Bianjing (Kaifeng) · KaifengIn the early Northern Song, the Guozijian and Historiography Bureau printed and collated earlier classics, allowing records of the seismoscope such as the Biography of Zhang Heng in the Book of Later Han to circulate widely; scholar-officials still cited Zhang Heng when discussing astronomical instruments, forming a textual line of knowledge transmission.
3. c. 1000–1100Bianjing (Kaifeng) · KaifengThe Northern Song Astronomical Bureau continued building large astronomical instruments such as the water-powered celestial globe, while earthquakes were understood mainly through disaster records in histories and textual citations; Zhang Heng's seismoscope was included as a historical exemplar in narratives of science and technology, but no record of a physical reconstruction is seen.