Ancient China attached great importance to the observation of rainfall. Records on tortoise shells and bones have shown that the ancient people distinguished among "heavy rain," "sharp rain," "drizzle," and so on, and paid attention to the direction from which the rain would come from.

Due to the direct impact that the time, distribution, and amount of the rainfall would have on agricultural production, the ancient Chinese governments paid particular attention to the reported rainfall.

During the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC), a rainfall report system was established. According to the system, timely rainfalls or rainfalls useful for the growing of crops should be reported to the court, as well as droughts and rainstorms, and so on.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), the local counties were also required to submit reports on rainfall during the whole growth period of the crops.

The dynasties after the Eastern Dynasty all showed concern for the rainfall. During the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), Qiu Jiushao, a mathematician, gave four rainfall-related arithmetic problems, which were meant to solve the problem of how to calculate the amount of rainfall or snowfall that were contained in a container. This also showed a lack of standard instruments for rainfall surveying at that time.

It was not until the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties that the rainfall-surveying instrument was invented. Once a bronze rainfall-surveying instrument, with a gauge attached, was unearthed in Korea, with such characters as "May of Qian Long (An Emperor of the Qing Dynasty) Geng Ren (the title of the year 1770)" inscribed at the base of the instrument.

Beginning in the latter half of the 14th century, the Ming Court asked the counties and prefectures all over the country to report the rainfalls, and the system continued during the Qing Dynasty. Today, a great many memorials on rainfalls still remain in the Imperial Palace in Beijing.

Author: Jessie