The earliest form of compass was invented in Qin dynasty era. The compass was composed of iron oxide, which alligns itself along norht and south axis. (Proper name is Lodestone).
The earliest working model is from the Han dynasty(206BC-220AD) which works just aswell as modern compass. The compass was composed of a spoon shaped lodestone on top of bronze plate; The handle of “lodestone spoon” would rotate to point south. The compass had eight main directions of N, NE, E, ES, S, SW, W, NW along with 24 finer readings.
Aside from the mechanical function of the compass, chinese ancestors also included symbolic meanings within the compass: The circular center represensts the hierarchy(heaven) and the square plate represented the earth. Also the spoon shaped lodestone represents the Great bear. The most outter edge of the compass had 28 different lunar mansions.
Although the compass nowadays is used for navigation, they mostly used it for ceremonial usage. It was later when Zheng first used this compass to navigate his voyage between 1405-1433.
-hjy
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