Transportation in Ancient China

Ships• The Chinese built ships so they could

get from one part of the coast to another.

• They began building ships in primeval times.

• The ships that the ancient Chinese had evolved into the ships that Christopher Columbus would use one day.

• About 4,000 to 10,000 years ago, during the Neolithic Age, the Chinese began to make canoes and rafts and travel out to sea.

• Research proved that the ancient Baiyue people invented the first water-bound vehicle.

This is a picture of a vessel that the ancient Baiyue

people would have built.

Transportation for Average Citizens

• The average citizen just walked from place to place, or rode a horse.

• Some people had a chariot or a wagon pulled by oxen, but most people could not afford these things.

• We have seen these wagons in movies about the cowboys and the Wild West.

Military Transportation• Unlike present day military

transportation, the people of the ancient Chinese military didn’t have many ways to get around.

• The only means of transportation that they had were chariots, horses, and their feet.

Picture of a Chinese battle horse.

Present Day Ships

• Today, ships run on motors, not sails.

• Instead of using wind to power our ships we use diesel fuel.

• Our vessels are much larger than the standard ancient Chinese boat.

Transportation for the Average Citizen of Today

• In the present day, in the United States, we do not use chariots or horses, we use trains, airplanes, cars, bikes, and our feet.

Current Military Transportation

• In modern times our military has many ways to get around.

• We have tanks, airplanes, ships, submarines, and our feet.

Sources

• http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01780/transportation/tools-shipbuilding.htm

• http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/transportation/

• http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/615850

• http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01780/transportation/images/ship-3.jpg

• http://ashweb5.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/assets/images/Exhibitions/Chinese_Horse.jpg