Scientific and technological achievements and their characteristics in Song and Yuan Dynasties

During the Northern Song Dynasty, because most parts of the country were unified and some areas were relatively peaceful, productivity and scientific and technological progress were obvious. Among the four great inventions in China, movable type printing, compass and gunpowder were all produced and developed during this period. Due to the need of war, gunpowder was first used in the military in the Song Dynasty. Modern weapons of war in western countries were developed on the basis of gunpowder manufacturing technology spread through western Asian countries in the Northern Song Dynasty. These three great inventions of the Northern Song Dynasty can be said to have worldwide significance. At the same time, also known as the era of mathematicians, a group of outstanding scientists, represented by Shen Kuo, appeared. If the Tang Dynasty was the flowering period of many scientific and technological achievements, the Song Dynasty was a fruitful period.

In the Yuan Dynasty, it made progress in earth science, medicine and astronomy. With the support of the government, science and culture have also developed rapidly: a series of large-scale astronomical observation activities organized by the government have made China at the advanced level in the world in many astronomical fields; Geographically, Dayuan Unification Annals is the first official annals in China and the largest official annals in ancient China history. There are 160 kinds of local chronicles compiled in Yuan Dynasty, more than in Song Dynasty. The Yuan government also organized the first field trip to the source of the Yellow River in the history of China. In terms of agricultural technology and agronomy extension, crops in the north and the south are widely exchanged, and agricultural technologies in various places learn from each other. Cotton planting was fully popularized in the Yuan Dynasty, and many crops were popularized. The government has strengthened the summary and popularization of agricultural science and technology. The Summary of Agriculture and Mulberry edited by the Ministry of Agriculture is the earliest comprehensive agricultural book compiled by the ancient Chinese government to guide the national agricultural production. Lu Mingshan's Agricultural Summary and Mulberry's Food and Clothing are the oldest agricultural books in China, and Wang Zhen's Agricultural Book is the first agricultural book that systematically studies ethnic agriculture in China. On the basis of the invention of movable type printing in Song Dynasty, metal movable type, wheel typesetting and color printing were invented in Yuan Dynasty. In addition, the Yuan regime also attached great importance to medicine, shipbuilding, pottery making and water conservancy. It created the most prosperous era of cultural exchange between China and the West during the feudal period in China.