Dream Pool Essays
In East Asia these locations were known in China, where the earliest known drilled oil wells date to 347 CE or earlier. The ancient records of China and Japan are said to contain many allusions to the use of natural gas for lighting and heating. Petroleum was known as "burning water" in Japan in the 7th century. In his book "Dream Pool Essays" written in 1088, the polymathic scientist and statesman Shen Kuo of the Song Dynasty coined the word 石油 ("Shíyóu", literally "rock oil") for petroleum, which remains the term used in contemporary Chinese.