Overview
Key data
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Su Song (1020–1101) |
| Completed | 1094–1096 (Shaosheng reign, Song) |
| Volumes | Three |
| Core content | The structure of the water-driven tower, star charts, the armillary |
Book and instrument
Su Song and Han Gonglian built the water-driven armillary-and-globe tower in the Yuanyou period;
the Xin Yixiang Fayao is the monograph on it: the armillary first, then the celestial globe, then the tower and its driving mechanism.
Its mechanical drawings and star charts are among the earliest such images in China.
The star charts it contains
The book carries two star charts: one of the Purple Forbidden enclosure on the globe, and one of the central and outer star-officials of the northeast and southwest.
The positions and numbers of the stars drawn are important material for the star-officials of the Song.
The charts rest on a systematic stellar survey of the Northern Song.
The machinery
The book describes the transmission of the tower in detail: driven by water,
through a gear train turning the globe and a time-announcing device — a masterpiece joining astronomy to mechanics.
Value
The Xin Yixiang Fayao is the earliest and most complete Chinese monograph on astronomical instruments.
Its combination of text and image allows the Song instrument to be reconstructed from words, and it is prized in the history of technology.
Compiled and arranged by Chujia Kuang.