We may earn a commission from links on this page. While the seemingly stable pre-Sept. 11 status quo had postmodern academics pondering the "death of history," a number of popular authors sought to re ...

A WRITER in the North China Herald of Shanghai devotes a learned article to detailing and discussing the facts regarding the claim of the Chinese to have invented the mariner's compass. They did not ...

Earliest records show a spoon shaped compass made of lodestone or magnetite ore, referred to as a "South-pointer" dating back to sometime during the Han Dynasty (2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE).

NOVA: What influence did these printing innovations have on Chinese history? Yates: Well, that's a question that brings us into the political realm. One of the major social changes that took place in ...

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online ...