Stories of Chinese and Foreign Scientists - (New Curriculum Standards)

Author: Wu Linghui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: The Ancestor of Civil Engineers – Lu Ban
Lu Ban was an outstanding ancient Chinese civil engineer and architect, renowned for his numerous ingenious inventions.
Lu Ban, whose surname was Gongshu and given name was Ban, was a native of Lu during the Spring and Autumn Period. Because "Ban" and "Ban" are homophones in ancient times, they were often used interchangeably, so people frequently referred to him as Lu Ban.
Before the mid-Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the labor of civil engineers was extremely arduous. Lu Ban, using his wisdom, created many clever tools, enabling craftsmen to be freed from those primitive and heavy labors.
Lu Ban's ancestors were all craftsmen. Influenced by his family environment, he followed his family in participating in civil engineering labor from a young age, learning to build houses and work as a carpenter, gradually mastering relevant production skills and accumulating rich practical experience.
One year, Lu Ban was ordered to build a palace, which required a large amount of materials. His apprentices went to the mountains every day to cut wood with axes (saws had not yet been invented), resulting in low efficiency and great hardship. The project's progress was slow, and Lu Ban was very anxious about it. One day, while climbing the mountain to inspect the work, he suddenly slipped and instinctively grabbed a nearby wild grass, which tore his hand and drew blood. Through careful observation, Lu Ban noticed that the sides of the grass were covered with sharp small teeth. He thought: If the teeth of this small grass can tear my hand, then an iron strip with many small teeth should be able to saw through trees.
With the help of a blacksmith, Lu Ban made an iron strip with many small teeth and used it to fell trees, which indeed saved time and effort. He named it "saw" and attached a wooden handle shaped like a square, making it both convenient and safe to use. This greatly advanced the development of carpentry technology and was a great invention.