Jan 3, 2026 06:32 PM
https://interestingengineering.com/innov...uter-china
INTRO: The world’s earliest computer was not built in the 19th century by Charles Babbage but over two millennia ago during the Western Han dynasty, according to the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST). The device called ti hua ji is a figured loom for weaving silk in set patterns, and was only discovered by chance a little over a decade ago.
By definition, a computer is any device that can receive instructions, execute a program, and provide results. This could be for complex mathematical calculations or for automatically carrying out certain tasks.
While the definition of a program is presumed to be ‘software’ these days, it can also be in the form of pattern cards - something early coders also turned to in the early days of the modern computer.
As China’s largest official scientific body, CAST’s claim to the world’s earliest computer is a big deal. It comes at a time when the Asian nation is competing for the top spot in a range of technological developments, from telecommunications to artificial intelligence, supercomputing to aerospace.
What is ti hua ji? Ti hua ji is a sophisticated machine to weave silk into fixed patterns. Built in 150 BC, the machine long preceded the looms of the West and helped artisans create different patterns through mechanisation over two millennia ago.
Fabrics are woven using longitudinal and latitudinal threads called warp and weft, respectively. To make a pattern, weavers have to lift warp threads at specific positions to allow the shuttle to pass through with colourful weft threads.
This increases the work the weaver needs to do, but China’s rise as the world’s silk production center was likely due to the mechanization offered by the machine. The machine used 10,470 longitudinal warp threads and could be controlled by 86 programmable patches. Once programmed, the machine could operate up to 100 devices simultaneously with perfect precision.
It can be compared to a modern-day binary computer, since it uses physical pattern cards to encode the patterns that had to be created. In these cards, a raised warp thread could be a representation of binary 1, and a lowered thread could be that of 0... (MORE - details)
INTRO: The world’s earliest computer was not built in the 19th century by Charles Babbage but over two millennia ago during the Western Han dynasty, according to the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST). The device called ti hua ji is a figured loom for weaving silk in set patterns, and was only discovered by chance a little over a decade ago.
By definition, a computer is any device that can receive instructions, execute a program, and provide results. This could be for complex mathematical calculations or for automatically carrying out certain tasks.
While the definition of a program is presumed to be ‘software’ these days, it can also be in the form of pattern cards - something early coders also turned to in the early days of the modern computer.
As China’s largest official scientific body, CAST’s claim to the world’s earliest computer is a big deal. It comes at a time when the Asian nation is competing for the top spot in a range of technological developments, from telecommunications to artificial intelligence, supercomputing to aerospace.
What is ti hua ji? Ti hua ji is a sophisticated machine to weave silk into fixed patterns. Built in 150 BC, the machine long preceded the looms of the West and helped artisans create different patterns through mechanisation over two millennia ago.
Fabrics are woven using longitudinal and latitudinal threads called warp and weft, respectively. To make a pattern, weavers have to lift warp threads at specific positions to allow the shuttle to pass through with colourful weft threads.
This increases the work the weaver needs to do, but China’s rise as the world’s silk production center was likely due to the mechanization offered by the machine. The machine used 10,470 longitudinal warp threads and could be controlled by 86 programmable patches. Once programmed, the machine could operate up to 100 devices simultaneously with perfect precision.
It can be compared to a modern-day binary computer, since it uses physical pattern cards to encode the patterns that had to be created. In these cards, a raised warp thread could be a representation of binary 1, and a lowered thread could be that of 0... (MORE - details)