I once read a timeline about Roman bicycles on this forum and realised that Romans hadn’t wheelbarrows.
Wheelbarrows in China came in two types. Prior types were universally front-wheeled wheelbarrow, similar to the western design. The more common type after the third century has a large, centrally mounted wheel with shafts pointing forward (so that it was pulled). With central-wheeled wheelbarrows, the weight of the burden is distributed equally between the wheel and the puller.
Such design enables them to hold large amounts of heavy baggage. By placing a large wheel in the middle of the vehicle instead of a smaller wheel in front, one could easily carry three to six times as much weight than if using a European wheelbarrow. In other words, when the load is 100 kg, the operator of a European wheelbarrow carries a load of 50 kg while the operator of a Chinese wheelbarrow carries nothing. He (or she) only has to push or pull, and steer.
The civilian version of this one-wheeled vehicle appeared around the time the extensive Ancient Chinese road infrastructure began to disintegrate. Instead of holding on to carts, wagons and wide paved roads, the Chinese turned their focus to a much more easily maintainable network of narrow paths designed for wheelbarrows. The Europeans, faced with similar problems at the time, did not adapt and subsequently lost the option of smooth land transportation for almost one thousand years.
The Chinese wheelbarrow - which was also widely in use in present-day Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos - originally appeared in two basic variants. One was originally termed the "wooden ox" ("mu niu"), which had the shafts projecting in front (so that it was pulled), while the other was termed the "gliding horse" ("liu ma"), which has the shafts projecting behind (so that it was pushed). A combination of both types was also used, being pulled and pushed by two men. From these two basic types, many variations evolved. Later, the Chinese also used western-style wheelbarrows alongside their own design.
Big central-wheeled wheelbarrows were also is one of the common means of transporting people, especially Chinese women, and four, six and even eight may be seen riding together, propelled by a single wheelbarrow man.
This website is highly informative :
- https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/12/the-chinese-wheelbarrow.html
The wooden ox (木牛流馬; lit. wooden ox and flowing horse) was a single-wheeled cart with two handles (i.e., a wheelbarrow) whose invention within China is sometimes credited to Zhuge Liang while he served Shu Han around the year 230 CE. The wooden ox purportedly allowed a single man to transport enough food to supply four others for up to three months, and this allowed for the feeding of large armies in the field. The basic device, however, appears to have been recorded centuries earlier in stone carvings dating from as early as 206 BCE.
Wheelbarrows in China came in two types. Prior types were universally front-wheeled wheelbarrow, similar to the western design. The more common type after the third century has a large, centrally mounted wheel with shafts pointing forward (so that it was pulled). With central-wheeled wheelbarrows, the weight of the burden is distributed equally between the wheel and the puller.
Such design enables them to hold large amounts of heavy baggage. By placing a large wheel in the middle of the vehicle instead of a smaller wheel in front, one could easily carry three to six times as much weight than if using a European wheelbarrow. In other words, when the load is 100 kg, the operator of a European wheelbarrow carries a load of 50 kg while the operator of a Chinese wheelbarrow carries nothing. He (or she) only has to push or pull, and steer.
The civilian version of this one-wheeled vehicle appeared around the time the extensive Ancient Chinese road infrastructure began to disintegrate. Instead of holding on to carts, wagons and wide paved roads, the Chinese turned their focus to a much more easily maintainable network of narrow paths designed for wheelbarrows. The Europeans, faced with similar problems at the time, did not adapt and subsequently lost the option of smooth land transportation for almost one thousand years.
The Chinese wheelbarrow - which was also widely in use in present-day Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos - originally appeared in two basic variants. One was originally termed the "wooden ox" ("mu niu"), which had the shafts projecting in front (so that it was pulled), while the other was termed the "gliding horse" ("liu ma"), which has the shafts projecting behind (so that it was pushed). A combination of both types was also used, being pulled and pushed by two men. From these two basic types, many variations evolved. Later, the Chinese also used western-style wheelbarrows alongside their own design.
Big central-wheeled wheelbarrows were also is one of the common means of transporting people, especially Chinese women, and four, six and even eight may be seen riding together, propelled by a single wheelbarrow man.
This website is highly informative :
- https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/12/the-chinese-wheelbarrow.html
Last edited: