TechnologyEast Asia
The Song dynasty
Paper money, the compass, and ironworks Europe matched only by 1700
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Historians have long asked why the Song did not have an industrial revolution, when nearly every precondition was in place. One answer is that China worked too well: abundant labour made labour-saving machines less profitable than in high-wage England. The painting *Along the River During Qingming* shows a city street so alive and detailed it could be a photograph.
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Song China had the world's first paper money, printing with movable type, the compass at sea, and cities of over a million. Their iron output was not matched in Europe until the industrial revolution.
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