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"Ancient Floating Death Stars:" Chinese Super-Ships from 289 A.D.

This 600-feet-square warship was like a floating castle

By Rain Noe - October 11, 2017

in Object Culture

File this under Why the heck have I never heard of this before?

The History Channel used to have a documentary series called "Ancient Discoveries," and in this episode they focus on some crazy Chinese naval technologies from centuries and even millennia ago.

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I know that you readers are at work and can't watch the entire 45-minute show, but I've isolated this short clip that I'm hoping you can sneak a glance at. It's about how way back in 289 A.D., the Chinese built this massive 600-foot by 600-foot-square warship, a veritable floating fortress, and sent it down a river to conquer a neighboring country:

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I highly recommend you at least bookmark the video and maybe check it out when you get home. The documentarians get experts to recreate a lot of neat experiments demonstrating old-school Chinese naval technology, some of which is quite unbelievable. As one example, they recreate a design for an underwater mine described in an old Chinese text. The freaking thing is made from gunpowder, an incense stick, animal intestines to keep the fuse dry underwater, and rocks to sink the explosive charge beneath the surface of the water. Just mind-boggling stuff.

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Jason Pokines

7 years ago

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You know your audience well. On that note, please don't stop using YouTube clips; it's very easy for me to check the "add to 'watch later'" button to do just that.

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Mike Nelson Pedde

7 years ago

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Certainly not as old as the above, but in the 15th century the Chinese
Emperor had a large fleet of ships built and sent them west. The basis
of the expeditions was that they would stop in different countries along
the way, bring greetings and gifts from the emperor and, er,
'encourage' the leaders of each country to pay homage and provide
tributes to the emperor... 'cause if you don't, well, there are quite a
number of powerful warships and a few thousand soldiers parked on your
doorstep.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_treasure_ship

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Jeramie B

7 years ago

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That's.... insane... Wow!

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