![]() ![]() The similarity of the Roman abacus to the Chinese one suggests that one could have inspired the other, as there is some evidence of a trade relationship between the Roman Empire and China. For example, in the famous long scroll Along the River During Qingming Festival painted by Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145) during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), a 15 column Suanpan is clearly seen lying beside an account book and doctor's prescriptions on the counter of an apothecary.Īlthough the long history of Suanpan is confirmed by the world, people are still wondering about its origin. There are countless evidences showing Suanpan’s long history. ![]() Traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), Suanpan is regarded as the fifth great invention in Chinese history. The Chinese abacus was officially listed as an intangible cultural heritage at the 8th Annual UNESCO World Heritage Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan. The beads are moved up and down during calculation. There are five beads on the bottom deck, known as earth. The upper deck, which is known as heaven, has two beads on each rod. Suanpan has two decks and more than seven rods. Even today, those well-versed with the Chinese abacus can easily calculate at the speed of the modern calculator.The Chinese abacus, called Suanpan in Chinese, is an ancient calculating method with a history of over 2,500 years. The abacus system in ancient China was an extremely advanced form of calculation. The original position of the suanpan was when all the beads are away from the beam. The extreme right vertical rod signified the ones place subsequently followed by tens, hundreds and thousand places while moving from right to left. When the beads were moved towards the beam, it meant counting them in and moving them away meant not counting their value. The basic calculation involved moving the beads up and down the rods towards and away from the horizontal beam. The suanpan was efficient for all simple and advanced calculations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square root and cube root. The bottom beads were mainly used for counting decimal and hexadecimal numbers. The beads were usually designed in the shape of a rhombus. There were more than seven rods in the tray and each rod consisted of two beads in the heaven part and five beads in the earth section. The tray was divided into two main sections by a horizontal beam with the top section referred as the heaven while the bottom part is referred as the earth. The basic structure of the ancient Chinese abacus comprised of a tray, which has a height of about 20cms and varying widths. Basic Structure of ancient Chinese abacus Ancient Chinese abacus structure It was during the Ming dynasty that the Chinese abacus spread beyond the Chinese territory and reached Japan. This scroll was painted during the Song dynasty that ruled China from 960-1297 AD. The greatest proof of the use of abacus in ancient China can be derived in the long scroll Along the River During the Qingming Festival painted by Zhang Zeduan, where the suanpan is painted with an account book. Many of the ancient and powerful dynasties in China used the abacus. The abacus in ancient China was also known as the suanpan, its literal meaning being the counting tray. ![]()
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