A Discussion on the Application of the Principle of Leverage in Ancient China—Taking Balancing Effect of the Jade Pendant in the Collection of Hubei Provincial Museum as an Example

From the textual point of view, the Chinese characters "Huang" (璜) and "Heng"(珩), which represent jade ornaments, are closely related to the Chinese character "Heng"(衡), which represents balance, reflecting the ancients' pursuit of the effect of wearing jade ornaments. In order to further study the balancing effect of the jade ornaments, this study uses cardboard to conduct experimental simulations, replicates the jade ornaments, and analyzes the hanging effects of 35 jade ornaments from the Warring States Period in the Hubei Provincial Museum collection. It is found that a considerable number of samples can be hung horizontally, which not only indicates that the jade ornament was designed with the punching position in mind, but also reflects the superiority of the ancient scientific and technological level of the Chinese nation, especially the practical application of the principle of leverage. At the same time, this study simulates the ancient method of finding the horizontal hanging punching points of the jade ornaments. As a kind of physical evidence, jade ornaments clearly reflect that before the principle of leverage was proposed by the western countries, the ancient Chinese people had long understood and skilfully applied the principle of leverage.