Lu Ban (–444BC). was a Chinese architect or master carpenter, structural engineer, and inventor, during the Zhou Dynasty. He is revered as the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

(Patron) of builders and contractors.

Life

Lu Ban was born in the

state of Lu Lu (, c. 1042–249 BC) was a vassal state during the Zhou dynasty of ancient China located around modern Shandong province. Founded in the 11th century BC, its rulers were from a cadet branch of the House of Ji (姬) that ruled the Zhou dyn ...

; a few sources claim he was born further to the west, in

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in Northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Dunhuang was a major ...

, to a family of carpenters or artisans during the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

. His original name was He was also referred to as or Pan. He was supposed to have been an indifferent pupil until his love of learning was kindled by the scholar

Zi Xia Bu Shang (507 BC – 400 BC), commonly known by his courtesy name Zixia or as Buzi (Master Bu), was an ancient Chinese philosopher and a prominent disciple of Confucius who was considered one of the most accomplished in cultural learning. He was ...

. He later learned woodworking from Bao Laodong. The great demand for his work supposedly compelled him to invent or improve several carpenter's tools—the

saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mo ...

, the

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

, the

planer The term planer may refer to several types of carpentry tools, woodworking machines or metalworking machine tools. *Plane (tool), a hand tool used to produce flat surfaces by shaving the surface of the wood *Thickness planer (North America) or thi ...

, the

drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...

, the

shovel A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made of ...

, and an ink marking tool—to complete his many projects more quickly. His wife was also credited with inventing the

umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used ...

in order to permit him to work in inclement weather.

Inventions

According to tradition, he was responsible for several inventions: * Cloud ladder—a mobile, counterweighted siege ladder. * Grappling hooks and ram—implements for naval warfare. * Wooden bird—a non-powered, flying, wooden bird which could stay in the air for three days. It has been suggested to be a prototype of a kite. *The

. Legend has it that when Lu Ban was grabbing hold of tree trunks in order to climb a steep slope while gathering firewood, his hand was cut by a leaf with spiny texture. He then realized that he could turn the leaf's texture into a more efficient tool for tree-cutting, namely the saw. Other inventions were also attributed to him, such as a lifting implement to assist with burial, a wooden horse carriage and coachman, a pedal-powered cycle, and other woodworking mentioned in various texts, which thereafter led Lu Ban to be acknowledged as a master craftsman: * ''The Book of Lineages'' (''

Shiben The ''Shiben'' or ''Book of Origins'' (Pinyin: ''shìběn''; Chinese; 世本; ) was an early Chinese encyclopedia which recorded imperial genealogies from the mythical Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors down to the late Spring and Autumn period ...

''), written c. the 3rd century BC. * ''The Tales of the Marvelous'' (), by Ren Fang, written c. the 5th century AD. * ''The Records of Origin on Things and Affairs'' (), by Gao Cheng, written c. the 11th century. * ''The Origin on Things'' (), by Luo Qi, written c. the 15th century. * ''The Treatise of Lu Ban'' (), attributed to Lu Ban, written in the 13th, 14th, or 15th century.

Legacy

Lu Ban is revered as the god of carpentry and masonry in

Chinese folk religion Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...

. His personality is assumed by the master carpenter involved in the construction of houses among the Dong. He is sometimes counted among the Five Kings of the Water Immortals,

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

water gods A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Anoth ...

invoked by sailors for protection while carrying out journeys.. & He is referenced in a number of Chinese idioms. The Chinese equivalent of "teaching one's grandmother to suck eggs" is to "brandish one's axe at Lu Ban's door". His cultural companion is the stone worker Wang Er, who lived around the same time. The modern artist

Shi Lu Shi Lu (; 1919–1982), born Feng Yaheng (), was a Chinese painter, wood block printer, poet and calligrapher. He based his pseudonym on two artists who greatly influenced him, the landscape painter Shitao and writer Lu Xun. Life and art Shi Lu ...

has claimed that Lu Ban was an alias of his contemporary

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

, but this seems dubious..

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . * . * . * . * . * . * .

External links

A Restoration of Lu-Ban's Wooden Horse Carriage
(PDF)
Mozi (Chinese text and Mei translation)
-

Chinese Text Project The Chinese Text Project (CTP; ) is a digital library project that assembles collections of early Chinese texts. The name of the project in Chinese literally means "The Chinese Philosophical Book Digitization Project", showing its focus on books ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Ban 500s BC births 444 BC deaths Year of birth uncertain 5th-century BC Chinese people Chinese carpenters Chinese gods Crafts gods Chinese inventors Chinese structural engineers Deified Chinese people Engineers from Shandong Lu (state) Water gods

Life

Inventions

Legacy

See also

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links