* Shen Kuo, polymath Chinese scientist of Song Dynasty China

* The Chinese polymath statesman and scientist Su Song has the successful pilot model for his astronomical clock tower constructed in Kaifeng, China.

* Shen Kuo, renowned polymath scientist of the Song Dynasty in China ( d. 1095 )

* Johann Schreck-German Jesuit, Missionary to China and polymath

This map of the Indian Ocean and the China Sea was engraved in 1728 by the Kingdom of Hungary | Hungarian-born Ottoman Empire | Ottoman polymath and publisher Ibrahim Muteferrika ; it is one of a series that illustrated Katip Çelebi ’ s Cihannuma ( Universal Geography ), the first printed book of maps and drawings to appear in the Muslim World.

There were many great encyclopedists throughout Chinese history, including the scientist and statesman Shen Kuo ( 1031 – 1095 ) with his Dream Pool Essays of 1088, the statesman, inventor, and agronomist Wang Zhen ( active 1290 – 1333 ) with his Nong Shu of 1313, and the written Tiangong Kaiwu of Song Yingxing ( 1587 – 1666 ), the latter of whom was termed the " Diderot of China " by British historian Joseph Needham.

In China, Shen Tao ( ca.

In the East, one of the earliest recorded pharmacopoeias was written by Shen Nung, Emperor of China ( c. 3000 BC ).

* 1088 – As written by Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays, the earlier 10th century invention of the pound lock in China allows large ships to travel along canals without laborious hauling, thus allowing smooth travel of government ships holding cargo of up to 700 tan ( 49½ tons ) and large privately owned-ships holding cargo of up to 1600 tan ( 113 tons ).

* 1088 – The Dream Pool Essays is completed by Shen Kuo of Song China.

* Shen Kuo receives a post in the capital of China.

Shen Kuo's Dream Pool Essays argued against traditional Chinese beliefs in anatomy ( such as his argument for two throat valves instead of three ); this perhaps spurred the interest in the performance of post-mortem autopsies in China during the 12th century.

In ancient China there was Sunshu Ao ( 6th century BC ), Ximen Bao ( 5th century BC ), Du Shi ( circa 31 AD ), Zhang Heng ( 78-139 AD ), and Ma Jun ( 200-265 AD ), while medieval China had Su Song ( 1020-1101 AD ) and Shen Kuo ( 1031 – 1095 ).

* Zhou Shen Jing Wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.

* Zhou Shen Jing Wang, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China

According to Needham, the earliest development of the armillary sphere in China goes back to the astronomers Shi Shen and Gan De in the 4th century BCE, as they were equipped with a primitive single-ring armillary instrument.

In his book Cultural Flow Between China and the Outside World, Shen Fuwei notes that maritime Chinese merchants in the 9th century were landing regularly at Sufala in East Africa to cut out Arab middle-men traders.

** Pair skating champions: Shen Xue & Zhao Hongbo, China

Outside China, these seem to be the earliest records ( the Chinese encyclopaedist Shen Kuo gave the first clear account of suspended magnetic compasses a hundred years earlier in 1088 AD with his book Mengxibitan, or Dream Pool Essays ).

** Pair skating champions: Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, China

After being created Earl Macartney in the Irish peerage ( 1792 ), he was appointed the first envoy of Britain to China ( his visit followed more than a hundred years after the first visit to England by a Chinese man, Michael Shen Fu-Tsung in 1685 ).

* Shen County ( 莘县 ), in Shandong, China

For example Bei Sha Shen ( Radix Glehniae ) is grown and harvested in northern China, whereas Nan Sha Shen ( Radix Adenophorae ) originated in southern China.

* June 12-In China, Li Kuo succeeds as Emperor Dezong of Tang.

According to Kaiser Kuo, the internet in China is largely used for entertainment purposes foremost, being referred as the " entertainment superhighway ", but also serves as the first public forum for Chinese citizens to freely exchange their ideals.

Shen Kuo received his initial childhood education from his mother, which was a common practice in China during this period.

Shen Kuo took notice of the various towns and rural features of China as his family traveled, while he became interested during his youth in the diverse topography of the land.

In the realms of botany, zoology, and mineralogy, Shen Kuo documented and systematically described hundreds of different plants, agricultural crops, rare vegetation, animals, and minerals found in China.

The writing of Shen Kuo is the only source for the date when the drydock was first used in China.

Shen Kuo likened this to the " stone crabs " found in China.

Shen Kuo noted that bamboos do not grow in Yanzhou, located in northern China, and he was puzzled during which previous dynasty the bamboos could have grown.

Early speculation and hypothesis pertaining to what is now known as meteorology had a long tradition in China before Shen Kuo.

In 1914 Kuo returned to China where he transformed the Nanjing Higher Normal School ( Nanjing Gaodeng Shifan Xuexiao 南京高等師範學校 ) into the first modern Chinese University, National Southeastern University ( Guoli Dongnan Daxue 國立東南大學 ), which was later renamed National Central University ( Guoli Zhongyang Daxue 國立中央大學 ) in 1928 and Nanjing University ( Nanjing Daxue 南京大學 ) in 1949, and his ideas exerted a broad influence in Chinese educational circles.

In June 2011, the 100th anniversary of Kuo's graduation from the College of Wooster, and ninety years after Kuo was appointed as President of National Southeastern University, a conference examining Kuo's contribution to higher education in China was held in Nanjing at Southeastern University, the modern institution of higher learning that Kuo had helped found.

It was also at Wooster that Kuo changed his plan to study law and focused instead on issues of educational reform, which became the basis for his career once he returned to China.

Kuo felt that China could learn much from the study of Western accomplishments in science, just as the West could learn much from China about the philosophy of life, and he was a strong supporter of the expansion of Chinese studies at American colleges and universities.

Printing in China was further advanced by the 11th century, as it was written by the Song Dynasty scientist and statesman Shen Kuo ( 1031 – 1095 ) that the common artisan Bi Sheng ( 990-1051 ) invented ceramic movable type printing.

Under Parthian and Sassanian Iranian empires, scholars concentrated on exchanging knowledge and inventions by the countries around them – India, China, and the Roman Empire, when it is thought to be expanded over the other countries.

* 1927 – April 12 Incident: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Communist Party of China members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.

* 2003 – The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.

* 2008 – Competition in the 2008 Summer Olympics in China proceeded with the women's association football tournament.

* 1922 – A typhoon hits Shantou, Republic of China killing more than 50, 000 people.

* 607 – Ono no Imoko is dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China ( Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607 ).

* 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War erupts between Japan and China over Korea.

* 1927 – The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Communist Party of China.

* 1966 – Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

* 1994 – China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.

* 1967 – Vietnam War: China agrees to give North Vietnam an undisclosed amount of aid in the form of a grant.

* 2008 – The 2008 Summer Olympics officially opened with the opening ceremony at National Stadium, Beijing, China.

* 2010 – 2010 China floods: A mudslide in Zhugqu County, Gansu, China, kills more than 1, 400 people.

* 1900 – The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing, China, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China.

* 1871 – Guangxu Emperor of China ( d. 1908 )

* 1378 – Hongxi Emperor of China ( d. 1425 )

* 1978 – The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China is signed.

* 2005 – The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.

* 1933 – The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9, 000 people.

* 1945 – Ten days after World War II ends with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Communist Party of China kill Baptist missionary John Birch, regarded by some of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War.

* 1998 – China Anne McClain, American actress and singer ( McClain Sisters )

* 1972 – The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.