China's "South-Pointing Ladle"

The first-century CE Chinese text *Lunheng* mentions a “south-pointing ladle,” traditionally interpreted as a magnetic device made of lodestone and often reconstructed as a spoon turning on a bronze plate. No archaeological example is known, however, and modern historians debate both the reading of the passage and whether it describes a magnetic compass at all. The ladle is therefore best treated as a disputed early idea, not a proven navigational instrument. Clearer written evidence for magnetic needles in China appears later, during the Song period.