Lu Ban

Key takeaways

Lu Ban belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lu Ban to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lu Ban from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lu Ban (c. 507–444 BC) was an ancient Chinese master carpenter, architect, structural engineer and inventor during the Spring and Autumn period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. He is revered as the Chinese Deity (Patron) of builders and contractors.

Life Lu Ban was born in the state of Lu; a few sources claim he was born further to the west, in Dunhuang, to a family of carpenters or artisans during the Spring and Autumn period of the Zhou dynasty. His original name was Gongshu Yizhi. He was also referred to as Gongshu Ban or Pan. He was supposed to have been an indifferent pupil until his love of learning was kindled by the scholar Zi Xia. 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, the square, the planer, the drill, the shovel, and an ink marking tool—to complete his many projects more quickly. His wife was also credited with inventing the umbrella 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 saw—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. The Lu Ban lock— a toy made of six interlocking wooden sticks using mortise techniques. 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), written c. the 3rd century BC. The Tales of the Marvelous (述異記), by Ren Fang, written c. the 5th century AD. The Records of Origin on Things and Affairs (事物紀原), by Gao Cheng, written c. the 11th century. The Origin on Things (物原), by Luo Qi, written c. the 15th century. The Treatise of Lu Ban (魯班經), 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. His personality is assumed by the master carpenter involved in the construction of houses among the Kam people. He is sometimes counted among the Five Kings of the Water Immortals, Taoist water gods 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" (班门弄斧). His cultural companion is the stone worker Wang Er, who lived around the same time. The Lu Ban Ruler (魯班尺) is used in feng shui practices. The modern artist Shi Lu has claimed that Lu Ban was an alias of his contemporary Confucius, but this seems dubious.

See also Shuixian Zunwang Lo Pan Temple, Kennedy Town, Hong Kong Pisatao

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography Du Shiran (1992), "Lu Ban", Biographies of Ancient Chinese Scientists Series One, Beijing: Kexue Chubanshe, pp. 22–25, ISBN 7-03-002926-7. Le Chevoir, Patrick (1998). "L'Unite de Mesure de Lu Ban (魯班尺): Une Unité de Mesure Conceptuelle au Service des Statuaires d'Yilan (宜蘭市) à Taiwan". Anthroepotes (in French). III (1): 2–14. Archived from the original on 2010-04-27. Retrieved 2008-12-18.. Li Shaoyuan; et al. (1996), Stories of Chinese Scientist and Inventors, Beijing: Jindun Publishing House, pp. 1–8, ISBN 7-5082-0168-X. Needham, Joseph (1994), The Shorter Science and Civilization of China, vol. 4, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521329958. Wang Fu (1994), Records of Lu Ban: China's Earliest Inventor: Lu Ban, Beijing: Zhongguo Kexue Jishu Chubanshe, pp. 3–6, ISBN 7-5046-1676-1. Yan, Hong-sen (2007), Reconstruction Designs of Lost Ancient Chinese Machinery, History of Mechanism and Machine Science, No. 3, Dordrecht: Springer, §8.1: "Lu Ban the Man", ISBN 9781402064609. Yu Xuecai; et al. (May 2004), "Gongshu Ban, Monograph in Research Library of Chinese Architectural Culture No. 22" (PDF), Huazhong Architecture Bimonthly.

External links

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

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lu Ban

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lu Ban claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lu Ban before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lu Ban ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lu Ban

In research: Lu Ban appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lu Ban in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lu Ban is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 444 BC deaths, 507 BC births, 5th-century BC Chinese people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lu Ban outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Lu Ban in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lu Ban means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lu Ban out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lu Ban in simple terms?

Lu Ban (c. 507–444 BC) was an ancient Chinese master carpenter, architect, structural engineer and inventor during the Spring and Autumn period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. He is revered as the Chinese Deity (Patron) of builders and contractors.

Why does Lu Ban matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lu Ban?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lu Ban.