#66 Breaking Up is easy to do for Peace but...

An ancient Chinese toy illustrates why peace should be cherished by all.

"𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘭. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘶 𝘉𝘢𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘬, 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 2,500 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰.

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥. 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦.

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘭’𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘢. 𝘛𝘰 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩."

- Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, on his choice of gift to fellow UN Security Council members as Nov 2023 marked China's presidency at this Lu Ban Lock 鲁班锁, also known as Kong Ming Lock 孔明锁 , is a traditional Chinese folk educational toy which is thought to be invented by Zhuge Kongming (commonly known as Zhuge Liang, the elite strategist during the Three Kingdoms era) with Chinese carpenter Lu Ban's techniques.

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Luban Lock 鲁班锁, also known as Kongming Lock 孔明锁 , is a traditional Chinese folk educational toy which was thought to be invented by Zhuge Kongming (commonly known as Zhuge Liang, the elite strategist during the Three Kingdom era) with Chinese carpenter Lu Ban's techniques.

The concave and convex parts inside the three-dimensional interpolation toy mesh perfectly. Lu Ban locks come in different shapes and sizes, with different internal structures. But they are usually easy to take apart and difficult to reassemble. Why so?

Let us take a look at the simple six-component Lu Ban Lock (see above). Immediately you notice that the easiest path is to assemble the bare component without cuttings with other components. But which is the next component to be selected is critical as there is only one unique solution for it. In fact, if you look at the possible attempts, there exists the total of 5 factorial (5!) i.e. 120 tries given a selected component! Hence it is not easy to assemble it given the many attempts one might need.

Lu Ban lock also gives one a glimpse into the workings of Mortise and Tenon joint structure (榫卯结构) which is a a combination of bumps and joints used on two wood members that help to make a strong joint to develop a robust architecture in ancient China.

Another feature of ancient Chinese architecture is the Dougong structure (斗拱结构), a system of brackets inserted between the roof a column and a crossbeam that could even survive an earthquake measuring Richter scale of 10.1 as shown in the below video. This video is from a documentary by UK television channel "Channel 4" which depicts how Forbidden City style of architecture i.e. Dougong structure holds up to a simulated earthquake!

Thus one could see why Zhang selected Lu Ban Lock as a gift as war destroys peace easily but it is difficult for peace to be rebuilt again as the war scars are permanently there.

Below are some models of Lu Ban Locks which are a good mental exercise tool and they also help to develop patience for the puzzle solver.