Ancient Chinese contributions to science and philosophy

Chinese Inventions

The ancient Chinese were an innovative people who were able to independently develop the ideas for many of the things we take for granted today. Even though these ideas originated in the East they have proven valuable throughout the world, disseminated by such explorers as Marco Polo and others who realized the importance of the things they had seen. Francis Bacon viewed many of these Chinese inventions as crucial to the development and transformation of European society during the 16th and 17th centuries (Selin, 1997, p.261). These inventions changed the world as we know it and not always for the better. However, the myriad inventions continue to influence the way that people all over the world live their lives every day.

Overview of Chinese Inventions

The ancient Chinese have been credited with inventions ranging from the mundane to supreme technological innovations in many different fields. For example, in the field of agriculture, the Chinese are credited with inventing the system of row cultivation. Instead of scattering seeds randomly on the ground as the Europeans did, the Chinese carefully planted individual seeds in a row. To achieve this, they used a seed drill, which was developed to plant the seeds directly into the ground. The Chinese were also the first to make silk from the cocoon of the silkworm moth and they eventually exported westward, leading to the creation of the "Silk Road," a passage for trade with the west (Krebs & Krebs, 2003, p.100).

They were also very interested in developing apparatuses for potential flight and gave us many of the early templates for eventual air travel. Their earliest flight-related invention was the kite, which was designed about 2000 years ago by a carpenter using bamboo pieces. Though initially used by the military to deliver gunpowder bombs to their enemies, the kite eventually became the entertainment vehicle it is today (Deng, 2011, p.122). They have also been credited with inventing the first hot air balloon and a toy helicopter rotor (Ong, 2011, p.170).

In the field of science and technology, they have been credited with creating the abacus, a tool for mathematical computation, a star atlas, acupuncture, and anesthetic and the decimal and binary systems. They also contributed advances in the field of iron, steel, and copper smelting. While all of these inventions were important in their own way, there were four particular Chinese innovations that had a lasting impact on the entire world.

Four Major Inventions

The four most important inventions the Chinese gave the world were the compass, gunpowder, paper, and printing. Paper was first invented by the Chinese during the second century B.C.E. Or perhaps even farther back in history. It was initially used for clothes, blankets, wrapping material, and tissues and toilet paper, rather than as a tool for writing and recording information (Krebs & Krebs, 2003, p.100). Like so many other Chinese inventions, paper spread westward along the Silk Road many centuries after its initial invention and became a major commodity, eventually surpassing wood and silk as the materials onto which characters were inscribed.

The invention of paper led directly to the development of various methods of printing and the Chinese were the first to devise several methods of printing. As early as the 5th century C.E. they used wooden seals pressed onto paper to imprint seals that were similar to today's rubber stamps (Krebs & Krebs, 2003, p.101). In the 2nd century C.E. developed wooden or metal block rubbings to reproduce calligraphy. They would place the paper over a carved surface of wood or metal and rub the paper with a mixture of wax and carbon black or blot with ink to raise the image on the carved surface onto the paper surface (Krebs & Krebs, 2003, p.101). To facilitate the dissemination of important messages created via paper and printing processes, the Chinese created an efficient postal service that operated until 1402 C.E. (Krebs & Krebs, 2003, p.102).

The principals that allowed the compass to be invented were first discovered in the 4th century B.C.E. Loadstone, a naturally occurring metal ore, was found to spin in water and always point south. The early Chinese used this knowledge to align buildings and furniture according to the principles of feng shui. Finally in 83 C.E. The first compass was made of loadstone floated in a bowl of water. Around 600 C.E. It was discovered that iron brushed against loadstone worked just as well for navigational purposes and the iron lasted much longer than the fragile loadstone. Eventually the water was replaced with oil and the entire device was enclosed to keep everything together (Haven, 2006, p.16). This invention revolutionized the way people travelled throughout the world, allowing them to always know which direction they were headed and ushering in the age of exploration and discovery.

Alchemists working in China searching for the elixir of life seem to have accidentally stumbled upon the discovery of gunpowder, the first recipe for which appears in a military manual printed in 1044 C.E. The military would hurl the gunpowder from catapults or pack it in bamboo tubes which would then be used as flamethrowers. By the 13th century C.E. both rockets and guns were being used by the Chinese (Gunergun, 2011, p.19). Once again traders form the west carried this invention back with them along the Silk Road and the invention became a part of the rest of the world for better or worse.

Taken together these four inventions radically altered the world in which we live. Paper and printing enabled the dissemination of ideas and information like never before in our history. Compasses allowed us to finally truly explore the world around us and, as a result, made the world a much smaller place. Gunpowder forever changed the face of warfare, allowing people to inflict damage upon people they couldn't even see at times. It also enabled people to defend themselves and their land even when they were outnumbered.