2. I have read somewhere (possibly in Needham's Science and Civilisation in China) that when the Europeans tried to introduce their superior mills in China they failed. The Chinese kept to their traditional models with horizontal shafts and they could not accept the European vertical shaft.

I think the reason was the Chinese system of correspondendes. Everyone could see how the stars in the sky are revolving as if in a mill with a horizontal shaft - mills in general had to be constructed like that, to do otherwise would be an offense to Mother Nature:

This picture from Lockyer's The Dawn of Astronomy has the horizon horizontally and the equator in the sky vertically. The Sun will during his cycle of the year move in a path between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn, slow at first and then increasing his speed when coming close to the equator (equinox), then to decelerate and reach a standstill at next solstice.

The path of Sun is a sine curve. It begins from a standstill at a solstice and goes 'downhill' to another standstill. Then it comes alive and moves back and up again as if in a mirror, to return to the top of the hill when the year is ending. It is the same type of movement as in a frictionless swing:

The 'hill' corresponds to the beginning of the year and also to its end. To this region the flames of a fire will go and birds can fly there. The fiery Sun is like a bird.

For people living on the other side of the equator, those who are upside down compared to us, also Sun behaves 'upside down' - rising when it is autumn and descending in spring. But down in the south there are no mountains, only endless water. Therefore, when Sun is rising in autumn it is only an illusion, a mirror image of his descending path north of the equator. And when Sun in spring is descending it is also an illusion - Sun cannot go down into the water, he would die for sure.

At the other end, the other solstice, at the bottom, water will collect. This is the region to which gravitation will pull all that is dead:

... The hero then hid in a meat sack, jumped on the Trickster and killed him. The corpse was cut up and the pieces scattered. However, the Trickster came back to life. He went away and stopped to rest by a lake, and meditated on death: should death be final or not? On seeing that a stick, then a buffalo turd, and lastly a piece of pith remained afloat after he had thrown them into the lake, he opted for resurrection. However, when a pebble sank, he reversed his decision. It was better that people should die, he concluded, otherwise the earth would quickly become overpopulated. Since that time, people only live for a certain period and die for ever ...