A selection of mechanical inventions by the autumn intake of new disciples, with commentary from their mentors…
A selection of mechanical inventions by the autumn intake of new disciples, with commentary from their mentors.
I. Mechanism: The Self-Illuminating Lamp
Highlights: No flame required. Simply expose it to the light of another lantern, and it will glow on its own. Light one, light all!
Mentor: "And if there is no light source nearby?"
Disciple: "It absolutely, positively will not light up."
II. Mechanism: The Eighteen-in-One Jianghu Treasure
Highlights: Eighteen weapons concealed within a single case. Press the release, and a weapon emerges at random, catching the enemy completely off guard!
Mentor: "What exactly do you mean by 'at random'?"
Disciple: "To strike without warning. To appear where the enemy least expects. The mechanism calculates all things; Heaven decides the rest."
Mentor: "Speak plainly."
Disciple: "The enemy doesn't know which weapon comes out. Neither do I."
III. Mechanism: The Sweeping Chicken Contraption
Highlights: A fusion of living creature and mechanism. A small broom-wielding puppet is attached to the back of a free-range chicken. As the chicken roams the yard, it sweeps the ground behind it. Two tasks accomplished at once!
Mentor: "How do you direct the chicken's path?"
Disciple: "Scatter grain."
Mentor: "Then how do you sweep up the grain?"
Disciple: "Already accounted for. The chicken pecks up every last kernel. Nothing left to sweep."
...And so the showcase continued, invention after invention, each more unexpected than the last. One cannot help but marvel at the ingenuity, and occasionally the audacity, on display.