Nov 13, 2022
Here's the story that Chinese elementary school children are taught. It may well be true.
More than two millennia ago, a young man and his sister decided to go a scenic spot called the West Lake for a picnic. But then it began to rain heavily. The pair, along with other sightseers, hurried to find shelter at nearby pavilions.
From there, they found out that they could look out at the beautiful scenery, but were sad that they could not go for a walk. “I wish I had a movable pavilion,” the young woman said.
A moveable pavilion? The young man’s eyes widened. Of course! The young man was Lu Ban, a famous carpenter and inventor who lived in the era known as the Spring and Autumn Period in China, which ran from 770 BC to 476 BC.
He went on to invent the world’s first umbrella, or so the story goes. From then on, he could take his sister out in any weather, including on rainy days - and the invention he produced has changed the lives of people in every country on earth.
That’s the story Chinese children read in elementary school textbooks. But is it true?
The question doesn’t have a definitive answer. Parasol-like devices consisting of material raised on a stick to provide shelter for important people have been found in many societies. This includes an example from Egypt in 2450 BC and one from Nineveh in 2310 BC. But these items seemed to have been used to protect high ranking people against the sun - not ordinary people against the rain.
From China, about two and half millennia ago, we start to find evidence of portable devices used to provide shelter against the rain. So it may well be that Lu Ban or someone like him really did make the first umbrella.
Today's Magazine