ENGINEERS from China

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Chinese Engineers of all time. This list of famous Chinese Engineers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Zhuge Liang (181 - 234)

With an HPI of 74.14, Zhuge Liang is the most famous Chinese Engineer.  His biography has been translated into 42 different languages on wikipedia.

Zhuge Liang () (181 – September or October 234), also commonly known by his courtesy name Kong Ming or Kongming, was a Chinese statesman, strategist, and inventor who lived through the end of the Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220) and the early Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of China. During the Three Kingdoms period, he served as the Imperial Chancellor (or Prime Minister) of the state of Shu Han (221–263) from its founding in 221 and later as regent from 223 until his death in September or October 235. He is recognised as the most accomplished strategist of his era. His reputation as an intelligent and learned scholar grew even while he was living in relative seclusion, earning him the nickname "Wolong" or "Fulong" (both meaning "Sleeping Dragon"). Zhuge Liang was Legalist in his methods, but also Confucian oriented, as Zhuge Liang was critical of the Legalist thought of Shang Yang and advocated benevolence and education as tenets of being a ruler. He compared himself with Guan Zhong, developing Shu's agriculture and industry to become a regional power. He attached great importance to the works of Shen Buhai and Han Fei, refusing to indulge local elites and adopting strict, but fair and clear laws. In remembrance of his governance, local people maintained shrines to him for ages. Zhuge is an uncommon two-character Chinese compound family name. In 760, when Emperor Suzong of the Tang dynasty built a temple to honour Jiang Ziya, he had sculptures of ten famous historical military generals and strategists placed in the temple flanking Jiang Ziya's statue: Zhuge Liang, Bai Qi, Han Xin, Li Jing, Li Shiji, Zhang Liang, Tian Rangju, Sun Tzu, Wu Qi, and Yue Yi.

2. Lu Ban (-507 - -440)

With an HPI of 59.52, Lu Ban is the 2nd most famous Chinese Engineer.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

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

3. Su Song (1020 - 1101)

With an HPI of 59.38, Su Song is the 3rd most famous Chinese Engineer.  His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Su Song (Chinese: 蘇頌; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: So͘ Siōng, 1020–1101), courtesy name Zirong (Chinese: 子容; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chú-iông), was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman. Excelling in a variety of fields, he was accomplished in mathematics, astronomy, cartography, geography, horology, pharmacology, mineralogy, metallurgy, zoology, botany, mechanical engineering, hydraulic engineering, civil engineering, invention, art, poetry, philosophy, antiquities, and statesmanship during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Su Song was the engineer for a hydro-mechanical astronomical clock tower in medieval Kaifeng, which employed an early escapement mechanism. The escapement mechanism of Su's clock tower had been invented by Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Yi Xing and government official Liang Lingzan in 725 AD to operate a water-powered armillary sphere, although Su's armillary sphere was the first to be provided with a mechanical clock drive. Su's clock tower also featured the oldest known endless power-transmitting chain drive, called the tian ti (天梯), or "celestial ladder", as depicted in his horological treatise. The clock tower had 133 different clock jacks to indicate and sound the hours. Su Song's treatise about the clock tower, Xinyi Xiangfayao (新儀象法要), has survived since its written form in 1092 and official printed publication in 1094. The book has been analyzed by many historians, such as the British biochemist, historian, and sinologist Joseph Needham. The clock itself, however, was dismantled by the invading Jurchen army in 1127 AD, and although attempts were made to reassemble it, the tower was never successfully reinstated. The Xinyi Xiangfayao was Su's best-known treatise, but the polymath compiled other works as well. He completed a large celestial atlas of several star maps, several terrestrial maps, as well as a treatise on pharmacology. The latter discussed related subjects on mineralogy, zoology, botany, and metallurgy. European Jesuit visitors to China like Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault briefly wrote about Chinese clocks with wheel drives, but others mistakenly believed that the Chinese had never advanced beyond the stage of the clepsydra, incense clock, and sundial. They thought that advanced mechanical clockworks were new to China and that these mechanisms were something valuable that Europeans could offer to the Chinese. Although not as prominent as in the Song period, contemporary Chinese texts of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) described a relatively unbroken history of mechanical clocks in China, from the 13th century to the 16th. However, Su Song's clock tower still relied on the use of a waterwheel to power it, and was thus not fully mechanical like late medieval European clocks.

4. Li Kui (-500 - -400)

With an HPI of 53.55, Li Kui is the 4th most famous Chinese Engineer.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Li Kui (Chinese: 李悝; pinyin: Lǐ Kuī; Wade–Giles: Li K'uei, 455–395 BC) was a Chinese hydraulic engineer, philosopher, and politician. He served as government minister and court advisor to Marquis Wen (r. 403–387 BC) in the state of Wei. In 407 BC, he wrote the Book of Law (Fajing, 法经). Said to have been main a been a main influence on Shang Yang, it served the basis for the codified laws of the Qin and Han dynasties. His political agendas, as well as the Book of Law, had a deep influence on later thinkers such as Han Feizi and Shang Yang, who would later develop the philosophy of Legalism based on Li Kui's reforms.

5. Da-Wen Sun (1960 - )

With an HPI of 46.12, Da-Wen Sun is the 5th most famous Chinese Engineer.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Sun Dawen (simplified Chinese: 孙大文; traditional Chinese: 孫大文; pinyin: Sūn Dàwén; Jyutping: Syun1 Daai6 Man6; ), known as Da-Wen Sun, is a Chinese-born professor who studies food engineering at University College Dublin. Professor Sun is an Academician of six academies including Royal Irish Academy, Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe), Polish Academy of Sciences, International Academy of Food Science and Technology, International Academy of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and International Academy of Refrigeration. He is also President of International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR).