The Small Spinning Wheel

Small Spinning Wheel (Xiao Fangche) While the "Great Wheel" described previously was a multi-spindle industrial machine, the Xiao Fangche is the classic individual spinning wheel used for daily textile production in Chinese households.

This page is dominated by a technical woodcut illustration:

[Illustration Overview: A seated operator works at a traditional spinning wheel. The figure is shown manually guiding several strands of fiber into a large vertical wheel mechanism. The device is mounted on a sturdy wooden base, designed for efficiency and ease of use by a single person.]

This illustration serves as a primary historical record of Ming Dynasty textile technology. It is a signature plate from the Tiangong Kaiwu (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature), documenting the transition from raw fiber to thread.

The character for "Small" (Xiao) indicates its use in the home.
The characters for "Spinning Wheel" (Fangche) literally mean "spinning machine."