List of Chinese inventions

[Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA]

List of Chinese inventions



A bronze Chinese crossbow trigger mechanism with a butt plate (the wooden components have since eroded and disappeared), inlaid with silver, from either the late Warring States period (403–256 BC) or the early Han Dynasty (202 BC – AD 220)
China has been the source of many innovations, scientific discoveries and inventions.[1] This includes the Four Great Inventions: papermaking, the compass, gunpowder, and printing (both woodblock and movable type). The list below contains these and other inventions in China attested by archaeology or history.

The historical region now known as China experienced a history involving mechanics, hydraulics and mathematics applied to horology, metallurgy, astronomy, agriculture, engineering, music theory, craftsmanship, naval architecture and warfare. By the Warring States period (403–221 BC), inhabitants of the Warring States had advanced metallurgic technology, including the blast furnace and cupola furnace, while the finery forge and puddling process were known by the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220). A sophisticated economic system in imperial China gave birth to inventions such as paper money during the Song Dynasty (960–1279). The invention of gunpowder during the mid 9th century led to an array of inventions such as the fire lance, land mine, naval mine, hand cannon, exploding cannonballs, multistage rocket and rocket bombs with aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads. With the navigational aid of the 11th century compass and ability to steer at high sea with the 1st century sternpost rudder, premodern Chinese sailors sailed as far as East Africa.[2][3][4] In water-powered clockworks, the premodern Chinese had used the escapement mechanism since the 8th century and the endless power-transmitting chain drive in the 11th century. They also made large mechanical puppet theaters driven by waterwheels and carriage wheels and wine-serving automatons driven by paddle wheel boats.

The contemporaneous Peiligang and Pengtoushan cultures represent the oldest Neolithic cultures of China and were formed around 7000 BC.[5] Some of the first inventions of Neolithic China include semilunar and rectangular stone knives, stone hoes and spades, the cultivation of millet, rice, and the soybean, the refinement of sericulture, the building of rammed earth structures with lime-plastered house floors, the creation of pottery with cord-mat-basket designs, the creation of pottery tripods and pottery steamers and the development of ceremonial vessels and scapulimancy for purposes of divination.[6][7] The British sinologist Francesca Bray argues that the domestication of the ox and buffalo during the Longshan culture (c. 3000–c. 2000 BC) period, the absence of Longshan-era irrigation or high-yield crops, full evidence of Longshan cultivation of dry-land cereal crops which gave high yields "only when the soil was carefully cultivated," suggest that the plough was known at least by the Longshan culture period and explains the high agricultural production yields which allowed the rise of Chinese civilization during the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600–c. 1050 BC).[8]With later inventions such as the multiple-tube seed drill and heavy moldboard iron plough, China's agricultural output could sustain a much larger population.

For the purposes of this list, inventions are regarded as technological firsts developed in China, and as such does not include foreign technologies which the Chinese acquired through contact, such as the windmill from the Middle East or the telescope from early modern Europe. It also does not include technologies developed elsewhere and later invented separately by the Chinese, such as the odometer and chain pump. Scientific, mathematical or natural discoveries, changes in minor concepts of design or style and artistic innovations do not appear on the list.
The following is a list of the Four Great Inventions—as designated by Joseph Needham (1900–1995), a British scientist, author and sinologist known for his research on the history of Chinese science and technology.[9]


Fragments of hemp wrapping paper dated to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (141–87 BC)

The Diamond Sutra, the oldest printed book, published in AD 868 during the Tang Dynasty (618–907)
PaperEdit
This sub-section is about paper making; for the writing material first used in ancient Egypt, see papyrus.
Although it is recorded that the Han Dynasty (202 BC – AD 220) court eunuch Cai Lun (50 AD – AD 121) invented the pulp papermaking process and established the use of new materials used in making paper, ancient padding and wrapping paper artifacts dating to the 2nd century BC have been found in China, the oldest example of pulp papermaking being a map from Fangmatan, Tianshui;[10] by the 3rd century, paper as a writing medium was in widespread use, replacing traditional but more expensive writing mediums such as strips of bamboo rolled into threaded scrolls, strips of silk, wet clay tablets hardened later in a furnace, and wooden tablets.[11][12][13][14][15] The earliest known piece of paper with writing on it was discovered in the ruins of a Chinese watchtower at Tsakhortei, Alxa League, where Han Dynasty troops had deserted their position in AD 110 following a Xiongnu attack.[16] In the paper making process established by Cai in 105, a boiled mixture of mulberry tree bark, hemp, old linens and fish nets created a pulp that was pounded into paste and stirred with water; a wooden frame sieve with a mat of sewn reeds was then dunked into the mixture, which was then shaken and then dried into sheets of paper that were bleached under the exposure of sunlight; K.S. Tom says this process was gradually improved through leaching, polishing and glazing to produce a smooth, strong paper. Paper is used a lot.[13][14]

PrintingEdit
For the separate invention of movable type printing in medieval Europe, see printing press and Johannes Gutenberg.
Woodblock printing: The earliest specimen of woodblock printing is a single-sheet dharani sutra in Sanskrit that was printed on hemp paper between 650 and 670 AD; it was unearthed in 1974 from a Tang tomb near Xi'an.[17] A Korean miniature dharani Buddhist sutra discovered in 1966, bearing extinct Chinese writing characters used only during the reign of China's only self-ruling empress, Wu Zetian (r.690–705), is dated no earlier than 704 and preserved in a Silla Korean temple stupa built in 751.[18] The first printed periodical, the Kaiyuan Za Bao was made available in AD 713. However, the earliest known book printed at regular size is the Diamond Sutra made during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), a 5.18 m (17 ft) long scroll which bears the date 868 AD.[19]Joseph Needham and Tsien Tsuen-hsuin write that the cutting and printing techniques used for the delicate calligraphy of the Diamond Sutra book are much more advanced and refined than the miniature dharani sutra printed earlier.[19]


An illustration published in Wang Zhen's (fl. 1290–1333) book of AD 1313 showing movable type characters arranged by rhyme scheme in round table compartments
Movable type: The polymath scientist and official Shen Kuo (1031–1095) of the Song Dynasty (960–1279) was the first to describe the process of movable type printing in his Dream Pool Essays of 1088. He attributed the innovation of reusable fired clay characters to a little-known artisan named Bi Sheng (990–1051).[20][21][22][23] Bi had experimented with wooden type characters, but their use was not perfected until 1297 to 1298 with the model of the official Wang Zhen (fl. 1290–1333) of the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), who also arranged written characters by rhyme scheme on the surface of round table compartments.[21][24] It was not until 1490 with the printed works of Hua Sui (1439–1513) of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) that the Chinese perfected metal movable type characters, namely bronze.[25][26] The Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) scholar Xu Zhiding of Tai'an, Shandong developed vitreous enamel movable type printing in 1718.[27]

GunpowderEdit

Earliest known written formula for gunpowder, from the Wujing Zongyao of 1044 AD.
Evidence of gunpowder's first use in China comes from the Tang dynasty (618–907).[28] The earliest known recorded recipes for gunpowder were written by Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du and Yang Weide in the Wujing Zongyao, a military manuscript compiled in 1044 during the Song Dynasty (960–1279). Its gunpowder formulas describe the use of incendiary bombs launched from catapults, thrown down from defensive walls, or lowered down the wall by use of iron chains operated by a swape lever.[29][30][31]Bombs launched from trebuchet catapults mounted on forecastles of naval ships ensured the victory of Song over Jin forces at the Battle of Caishi in 1161, while the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) used gunpowder bombs during their failed invasion of Japan in 1274 and 1281.[30] During the 13th and 14th centuries, gunpowder formulas became more potent (with nitrate levels of up to 91%) and gunpowder weaponry more advanced and deadly, as evidenced in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) military manuscript Huolongjing compiled by Jiao Yu (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and Liu Bowen (1311–1375). It was completed in 1412, a long while after Liu's death, with a preface added by the Jiao in its Nanyang publication.[32]

CompassEdit

A model in Kaifeng of a Chinese ladle-and-bowl type compass used for geomancy in the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD); the historical authenticity of the model has been questioned by Li Shu-hua (1954).[33]
Although an ancient hematite artifact from the Olmec era in Mexico dating to roughly 1000 BC indicates the possible use of the lodestone compass long before it was described in China, the Olmecs did not have iron which the Chinese would discover could be magnetised by contact with lodestone.[34]Descriptions of lodestone attracting iron were made in the Guanzi, Master Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals and Huainanzi.[35][36][37] The Chinese by the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) began using north-south oriented lodestone ladle-and-bowl shaped compasses for divination and geomancy and not yet for navigation.[38][39][40] The Lunheng, written by Han dynasty writer, scientist, and philosopher Wang Chong (27 – c. 100 AD) stated in chapter 52: "This instrument resembles a spoon and when it is placed on a plate on the ground, the handle points to the south".[41][42] There are, however, another two references under chapter 47 of the same text to the attractive power of a magnet according to Needham (1986),[43] but Li Shu-hua (1954) considers it to be lodestone, and states that there is no explicit mention of a magnet in Lunheng.[33] The Chinese polymath Shen Kuo (1031–1095) of the Song Dynasty (960–1279) was the first to accurately describe both magnetic declination (in discerning true north) and the magnetic needle compass in his Dream Pool Essays of 1088, while the Song dynasty writer Zhu Yu (fl. 12th century) was the first to mention use of the compass specifically for navigation at sea in his book published in 1119.[22][39][44][45][46][47][48] Even before this, however, the Wujing Zongyao military manuscript compiled by 1044 described a thermoremanence compass of heated iron or steel shaped as a fish and placed in a bowl of water which produced a weak magnetic force via remanence and induction; the Wujing Zongyao recorded that it was used as a pathfinder along with the mechanical south-pointing chariot.[49][50]

 

[Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA]

Inventions which originated in what is now China during the Neolithic age and prehistoric Bronze Age are listed in alphabetical order below.


Chinese alcoholic rice wine containers.

• Alcoholic beverage and the process of fermentation: The earliest archaeological evidence of fermentation and the consumption of alcoholic beverages was discovered in neolithic China dating from 7000–6600 BC. Examination and analysis of ancient pottery jars from the neolithic village of Jiahu in Henan province in northern China revealed fermented residue left behind by the alcoholic beverages they once contained. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, chemical analysis of the residue revealed that the fermented drink was made from fruit, rice and honey.[51][52] Elsewhere in the world, fermented beverages have been found dating from 6000 BC in Georgia,[53] 3150 BC in ancient Egypt,[54] 3000 BC in Babylon,[55] 2000 BC in pre-Hispanic Mexico,[55] and 1500 BC in Sudan.[56]
• Alligator drum: Alligator drums were type of drums once used in Neolithic China, made from clay and alligator hides. They have been found over a broad area at the Neolithic sites from modern Shandong in the east to Qinghai in the west, dating to a period of 5500–2350 BC. In literary records, drums manifested shamanistic characteristics and were often used in ritual ceremonies.[57] Drums covered with alligator skin for ceremonial use are mentioned in the Shijing.[58][59]

A bronze ritual bell, Zhou Dynasty, 10th to 9th century BC

• Bell: Clapper-bells made of pottery have been found in several archaeological sites.[60] The earliest metal bells, with one found in the Taosi site, and four in the Erlitou site, dated to about 2000 BC, may have been derived from the earlier pottery prototype.[61] Early bells not only have an important role in generating metal sound, but arguably played a prominent cultural role. With the emergence of other kinds of bells during the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1050 BC), they were relegated to subservient functions; at Shang and Zhou sites, they are also found as part of the horse-and-chariot gear and as collar-bells of dogs.[62]

Bamboo slips of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD).

• Bambooworking: The use of bamboo in Neolithic China is well established as the Chinese were among the first civilizations to employ the use of bamboo.[63][64] The cultivation and application of bamboo has played a important in the development of Chinese civilization from prehistoric times to the present.[65][66][67] From prehistoric times to the present, bamboo has been used extensively in one form or another as the use of bamboo affected the everyday life of Chinese civilization. Chinese poets extolled this plant and Chinese painters cherished the plant's beauty and grace through paintings across various Chinese dynasties.[68] Archaeological ruins signifying the Chinese use of bamboo for vessels and containers, woven baskets to mats dating back to the Neolithic era were unearthed from Qianshanyang, Zhejiang.[69] Around 6000 BC, bamboo motifs were used to decorate the neolithic pottery of the Yangshao culture and bamboo baskets dating back to 2000 BC have been discovered in addition to bamboo slips that were used as a writing surface dating from the Warring States period (475 - 221 BC).[70] Bamboo during prehistoric China was used for a variety of purposes such as rafts, fans, cutting knives, arrowheads, chisels, needles, saw blades, cooking utensils, loomweights and writing tools.[71][72][73]
• Coffin, wooden: The earliest evidence of wooden coffin remains, dated at 5000 BC, was found in the Tomb 4 at Beishouling, Shaanxi. Clear evidence of a wooden coffin in the form of a rectangular shape was found in Tomb 152 in an early Banpo site. The Banpo coffin belongs to a four-year-old girl, measuring 1.4 m (4.5 ft) by 0.55 m (1.8 ft) and 3–9 cm thick. As many as 10 wooden coffins have been found from the Dawenkou culture (4100–2600 BC) site at Chengzi, Shandong.[74][75] The thickness of the coffin, as determined by the number of timber frames in its composition, also emphasized the level of nobility, as mentioned in the Classic of Rites,[76] Xunzi[77] and Zhuangzi.[78]Examples of this have been found in several Neolithic sites; the double coffin, the earliest of which was found in the Liangzhu culture (3400–2250 BC) site at Puanqiao, Zhejiang, consists of an outer and an inner coffin, while the triple coffin, with its earliest finds from the Longshan culture (3000–2000 BC) sites at Xizhufeng and Yinjiacheng in Shandong, consists of two outer and one inner coffins.[79]

A large water vessel of the late Yangshao culture, 4th millennium BC.

• Cookware and pottery vessel: The earliest pottery, used as vessels, was discovered in 2012, found in Xianrendong Cave located in the Jiangxi province of China.[80] The pottery dates to 20,000 to 19,000 BP.[81][82] The vessels may have been used as cookware, manufactured by hunter-gatherers.[82]The Israeli archaeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef reported that "When you look at the pots, you can see that they were in a fire."[83]

A bronze dagger-axe from the State of Han, Warring States period (403–221 BC); this type of weapon has existed in China since the Neolithic period

• Dagger-axe: The dagger-axe or ge was developed from agricultural stone implement during the Neolithic, dagger-axe made of stone are found in the Longshan culture (3000–2000 BC) site at Miaodian, Henan. It also appeared as ceremonial and symbolic jade weapon at around the same time, two being dated from about 2500 BC, are found at the Lingjiatan site in Anhui.[84] The first bronze ge appeared at the early Bronze Age Erlitou site,[84] where two were being found among the over 200 bronze artifacts (as of 2002) at the site,[85] three jade ge were also discovered from the same site.[86] Total of 72 bronze ge in Tomb 1004 at Houjiazhuang, Anyang,[87] 39 jade ge in tomb of Fu Hao and over 50 jade ge at Jinsha site were found alone.[84] It was the basic weapon of Shang (c. 1600 – 1050 BC) and Zhou (c.1050–256 BC) infantry, although it was sometimes used by the "striker" of charioteer crews. It consisted of a long wooden shaft with a bronze knife blade attached at a right angle to the end. The weapon could be swung down or inward in order to hook or slash, respectively, at an enemy.[88] By the early Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), military use of the bronze ge had become limited (mostly ceremonial); they were slowly phased out during the Han Dynasty by iron spears and iron ji halberds.[89]

A Chinese ceramic model of a water well with a water pulley system, excavated from a tomb of the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD) period

• Deepwater drilling: Some of the earliest evidence of water wells are located in China. The Chinese discovered and made extensive use of deep drilled groundwater for drinking. The Chinese text The Book of Changes, originally a divination text of the Western Zhou dynasty (1046 -771 BC), contains an entry describing how the ancient Chinese maintained their wells and protected their sources of water.[90] Archaeological evidence and old Chinese documents reveal that the prehistoric and ancient Chinese had the aptitude and skills for digging deep water wells for drinking water as as early as 6000 to 7000 years ago. A well excavated at the Hemedu excavation site was believed to have been built during the Neolithic era.[91] The well was cased by four rows of logs with a square frame attached to them at the top of the well. 60 additional tile wells southwest of Beijing are also believed to have been built around 600 BC for drinking and irrigation.[92][93]
• Gnomon: A painted stick discovered from a prehistoric dating from 2300 BCE excavated at the astronomical site of Taosi is the oldest gnomon known in China.[94] The gnomon was widely used in ancient China from the second century BC onward in order determine the changes in seasons, orientation, and geographical latitude. The ancient Chinese used shadow measurements for creating calendars that are mentioned in several ancient texts. According to the collection of Zhou Chinese poetic anthologies Classic of Poetry, one of the distant ancestors of King Wen of the Zhou dynasty used to measure gnomon shadow lengths to determine the orientation around the 14th-century BC.[95][96]

A Jade dragon dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC – 9 AD).

• Jadeworking: Chinese jade has played a role in China's science and technological history.[97]During Neolithic times, the key known sources of nephrite jade in China for utilitarian and ceremonial jade items were the now depleted deposits in the Ningshao area in the Yangtze River Delta (Liangzhu culture 3400–2250 BC) and in an area of the Liaoning province and Inner Mongolia (Hongshan culture 4700–2200 BC).[98] Dushan Jade was being mined as early as 6000 BC and the jade stone is the primary hardstone of Chinese sculpture. Jade was prized for its hardness, durability, musical qualities, and beauty.[99] In particular, its subtle, translucent colors and protective qualities[99]caused it to become associated with Chinese conceptions of the soul and immortality.[100] The most prominent early use was the crafting of the Six Ritual Jades found since the 3rd-millennium bc Liangzhu culture.[101]
• Lacquer: Lacquer was used in China since the Neolithic period and came from a substance extracted from the lac tree found in China.[102] A red wooden bowl, which is believed to be the earliest known lacquer container,[103] was unearthed at a Hemudu (c. 5000 BC – c. 4500 BC) site.[104] The British sinologist and historian Michael Loewe says coffins at many early Bronze Age sites seem to have been lacquered, and articles of lacquered wood may also have been common, but the earliest well-preserved examples of lacquer come from Eastern Zhou Dynasty (771 – 256 BC) sites.[105] However, Wang Zhongshu disagrees, stating that the oldest well-preserved lacquerware items come from a Xiajiadian (c.2000 – c.1600 BC) site in Liaoning excavated in 1977, the items being red lacquered vessels in the shape of Shang Dynasty bronze gu vessels.[104]Wang states that many lacquerware items from the Shang Dynasty (c.1600 – c.1050 BC), such as fragments of boxes and basins, were found, and had black designs such as the Chinese dragon and taotie over a red background.[104] Queen Fu Hao (died c. 1200 BC) was buried in a lacquered wooden coffin.[106] There were three imperial workshops during the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) established solely for the purpose of crafting lacquerwares; fortunately for the historian, Han lacquerware items were inscribed with the location of the workshop where they were produced and the date they were made, such as a lacquerware beaker found in the Han colony in northwestern Korea with the inscription stating it was made in a workshop near Chengdu, Sichuan and dated precisely to 55 AD.[107] Many countries have long traditions of lacquer work, going back several thousand years in the cases of East Asian countries such as Japan as well as traditions of lacquer work in Southeast Asia and the Americas are also ancient and originated independently. Nonetheless, China created its own distinctive Chinese form of decorated lacquerware called Diāoqī (Chinese: 漆雕) or carved lacquer.[108][109]
  
  Lamian noodles, similar to the 4,000-year-old noodles made from millet found at Lajia
• Millet cultivation: The discovery in northern China of domesticated varieties of broomcorn and foxtail millet from 8500 BC, or earlier, suggests that millet cultivation might have predated that of rice in parts of Asia.[110] Clear evidence of millet began to cultivate by 6500 BC at sites of Cishan, Peiligang and Jiahu.[111] Archaeological remains from Cishan sum up to over 300 storage pits, 80 with millet remains, with a total millet storage capacity estimated for the site of about 100,000 kg of grain.[112] By 4000 BC, most Yangshao areas were using an intensive form of foxtail millet cultivation, complete with storage pits and finely prepared tools for digging and harvesting the crop. The success of the early Chinese millet farmers is still reflected today in the DNA of many modern East Asian populations, such studies have shown that the ancestors of those farmers probably arrived in the area between 30,000 and 20,000 BP, and their bacterial haplotypes are still found in today populations throughout East Asia.[113]
• Noodle: In 2002,[114] an archaeological excavation at the Lajia site of the Qijia culture (2400–1900 BC) revealed 4,000-year-old noodles made of millet (instead of traditional wheat flour) preserved by an upturned earthenware bowl that had created an airtight space between it and the sediment it was found on; the noodles resemble the traditional lamian noodle of China, which is made by "repeatedly pulling and stretching the dough by hand," according to a BBC News report on the find.[115]
• Rowing oar: Rowing oars have been used since the early Neothilic period; a canoe-shaped pottery and six wooden oars dating from the 6000 BC have been discovered in a Hemudu culture site at Yuyao, Zhejiang.[116][117] In 1999, an oar measuring 63.4 cm (2 ft) in length, dating from 4000 BC, has also been unearthed at Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.[118]
• Plastromancy: The earliest use of turtle shells comes from the archaeological site in Jiahu site. The shells, containing small pebbles of various size, colour and quantity, were drilled with small holes, suggesting that each pair of them was tied together originally. Similar finds have also been found in the Dawenkou burial sites of about 4000–3000 BC, as well as in Henan, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Shaanxi.[119] The turtle-shell shakers for the most part are made of the shell of land turtles,[120]identified as Cuora flavomarginata.[121]Archaeologists believe that these shells were used either as rattles in ceremonial dances, shamantic healing tools or ritual paraphernalia for divinational purposes.[122]
• Ploughshare, triangular-shaped: Triangular-shaped stone ploughshares are found at the sites of Majiabang culture dated to 3500 BC around Lake Tai. Ploughshares have also been discovered at the nearby Liangzhu and Maqiao sites roughly dated to the same period. David R. Harris says this indicates that more intensive cultivation in fixed, probably bunded, fields had developed by this time. According to Mu Yongkang and Song Zhaolin's classification and methods of use, the triangular plough assumed many kinds and were the departure from the Hemudu and Luojiajiao spade, with the Songze small plough in mid-process. The post-Liangzhu ploughs used draft animals.[123][124]
• Pottery steamer: Archaeological excavations show that using steam to cook began with the pottery cooking vessels known as yan steamers; a yan composed of two vessel, a zeng with perforated floor surmounted on a pot or caldron with a tripod base and a top cover. The earliest yan steamer dating from about 5000 BC was unearthed in the Banpo site.[125] In the lower Yangzi River, zeng pots first appeared in the Hemudu culture (5000–4500 BC) and Liangzhu culture (3200–2000 BC) and used to steam rice; there are also yan steamers unearthed in several Liangzhu sites, including 3 found at the Chuodun and Luodun sites in southern Jiangsu.[126] In the Longshan culture (3000–2000 BC) site at Tianwang in western Shandong, 3 large yan steamers were discovered.[127]
• Pottery urn: The first evidence of pottery urn dating from about 7000 BC comes from the early Jiahu site, where a total of 32 burial urns are found,[128]another early finds are in Laoguantai, Shaanxi.[79]There are about 700 burial urns unearthed over the Yangshao (5000–3000 BC) areas and consisting more than 50 varieties of form and shape. The burial urns were used mainly for children, but also sporadically for adults, as shown in the finds at Yichuan, Lushan and Zhengzhou in Henan.[74] A secondary burials containing bones from child or adult are found in the urns in Hongshanmiao, Henan.[129] Small hole was drilled in most of the child and adult burial urns, and is believed to enable the spirit to access.[130] It is recorded in the Classic of Rites that the earthenware coffins were used in the time of legendary period,[131] the tradition of burying in pottery urns lasted until the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD) when it gradually disappeared.[79]

A basin cover for a "coffin urn" from the Neolithic Yangshao culture (c. 5000 – c. 3000 BC), used for the burial of a child, from Shaanxi

• Quern stones: Quern stones were used in China at least 10,000 years ago to grind wheat into flour. The production of flour by rubbing wheat by hand took several hours.[132] Due to their form, dimensions, and the nature of the treatment of the surfaces, they reproduce precisely the most ancient implements used for grinding cereal grain into flour. Saddle querns were known in China during the Neolithic Age but rotary stone mills did not appear until the Warring States Period.[133] A prehistoric quern dating back to 23,000 BCE was found at the Longwangchan archaeological site, in Hukou, Shaanxi in 2007. The site is located in the heartland of the northern Chinese loess plateau near the Yellow River.[134]
• Rammed earth: The archaeological evidence of the use of rammed earth has been discovered in Neolithic archaeological sites of the Yangshao and Longshan cultures along the Chinese Yellow River, dating back to 5000 BC. By 2000 BC, rammed-earth architectural techniques were commonly used for walls and foundations in China.[135]

Rice terrace farming in Longji, Guangxi, China

• Rice cultivation: In 2002, a Chinese and Japanese group reported the discovery in eastern China of fossilised phytoliths of domesticated rice apparently dating back to 11,900 BC or earlier. However, phytolith data are controversial in some quarters due to potential contamination problems.[136] It is likely that demonstrated rice was cultivated in the middle Yangtze Valley by 7000 BC, as shown in finds from the Pengtoushan culture at Bashidang, Changde, Hunan. By 5000 BC, rice had been domesticated at Hemudu culture near the Yangtze Delta and was being cooked in pots.[137] Although millet remained the main crop in northern China throughout history, several sporadic attempts were made by the state to introduce rice around the Bohai Gulf as early as the 1st century.[138]
• Row cropping: The Chinese began planting crops in rows in the 6th century BC, a technique that allows crops to grow at a faster rate and with greater strength while allowing for more efficient farming.[139] While in other parts of the world, farmers would scatter seeds onto the fields randomly, the Chinese would plant individual seeds in rows to reduce seed loss. It would take another 2200 years for Europe to adopt these practices in the 18th century sparking the modern European agricultural revolution in Great Britain.[140][141] In the ancient Chinese chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals compiled in 241 BC, crops were grown in rows so they would mature more rapidly as they would not interfere with each others growth.[142][143]
• Sericulture: Sericulture is the production of silk from silkworms. The oldest silk found in China comes from the Chinese Neolithic period and is dated to about 3630 BC, found in Henan province.[144] Silk items excavated from the Liangzhu culture site at Qianshanyang, Wuxing District, Zhejiang date to roughly 2570 BC, and include silk threads, a braided silk belt and a piece of woven silk.[144] A bronze fragment found at the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1050 BC) site at Anyang (or Yinxu) contains the first known written reference to silk.[145]
• Soybean cultivation: The cultivation of soybeans began in the eastern half of northern China by 2000 BC, but is almost certainly much older.[146] Liu et al. (1997) stated that soybean originated in China and was domesticated about 3500 BC.[147] By the 5th century, soybeans were being cultivated in much of eastern Asia, but the crop did not move beyond this region until well into the 20th century.[148] Written records of the cultivation and use of the soybean in China date back at least as far as the Western Zhou Dynasty.[149]
• Treetrunk coffin: The treetrunk coffin, single trunk coffin or boat coffin was one of the common burials found mainly in the southern China. One of the few earliest boat coffins are found among the 92 burial tombs in the Songze culture (4000–3000 BC) site at Jiaxing, Zhejiang, similar finds can also be found in the middle phase of Dawenkou culture (4100–2600 BC) sites.[79]
• Wet field cultivation and paddy field: Wet field cultivation, or the paddy field, was developed in China. The earliest paddy field dates to 6280 BP, based on carbon dating of the grains of rice and soil organic matter found at the Chaodun site in Kushan County.[150] Paddy fields have also been excavated by archaeologists at Caoxieshan, a site of the Neolithic Majiabang culture.[151]

 

[Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA]

• Shang and later[edit]
  Inventions which made their first appearance in China after the Neolithic age, specifically during and after the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600–1050 BC), are listed in alphabetical order below.
  
  A[edit]
  
  Bronze mirror of the Sui Dynasty(581–618) showing the twelve divisions of the Chinese zodiac, the latter of which goes back to the Warring States period (403–221 BC) in China
  • Acupuncture: Acupuncture, the traditional Chinese medicinal practice of inserting needles into specific points of the body for therapeutic purposes and relieving pain, was first mentioned in the Huangdi Neijing compiled from the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC (Warring States period to Han Dynasty).[152] The oldest known acupuncture sticks made of gold, found in the tomb of Liu Sheng (d. 113 BC), date to the Western Han (203 BC – 9 AD); the oldest known stone-carved depiction of acupuncture was made during the Eastern Han (25–220 AD); the oldest known bronze statue of an acupuncture mannequindates to 1027 during the Song Dynasty (960–1279).[153]
  • Animal zodiac: The earliest and most complete version of the animal zodiac mentions twelve animals which differ slightly from the modern version (for instance, the Dragon is absent, represented by a worm).[154] Each animal matches theEarthly Branches and were written on bamboo slips from Shuihudi, dated to the late 4th century BC,[155] as well as from Fangmatan, dating to the late 3rd century BC.[155] Before these archaeological finds, the Lunheng written by Wang Chong(27 – c. 100 AD) during the 1st century provided the earliest transmitted example of a complete duodenary animal cycle.[156]
  • Armillary sphere, hydraulic-powered: Hipparchus (c. 190 – c. 120 BC)[157] credited the Ancient Greek mathematician, geographer, astronomer, and poet Eratosthenes (276–194 BC) as the first to invent the armillary sphere representing thecelestial sphere. However, the Chinese astronomer Geng Shouchang of the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) invented it separately in China in 52 BC, while the Han dynasty polymath Zhang Heng (78–139 AD) was the first to apply motive power to the rotating armillary sphere by a set of complex gears rotated by awaterwheel which in turn was powered by the constant pressure head of an inflow clepsydra clock, the latter of which he improved with an extra compensating tank between the reservoir and the inflow vessel.[158][159][160][161][162]
  • Artillery: Early Chinese artillery had vase-like shapes. This includes the "long range awe inspiring" cannon dated from 1350 and found in the 14th century Ming Dynasty treatise Huolongjing.[163] With the development of better metallurgy techniques, later cannons abandoned the vase shape of early Chinese artillery. This change can be seen in the bronze "thousand ball thunder cannon," an early example of field artillery.[164]
  B[edit]
  
  A sample of the Shanghai Museum bamboo slips (c. 300 BC), recording part of a commentary on the Classic of Poetry
  
  Huizi currency, issued in 1160
  
  An illustration of furnace bellows operated by waterwheels, from the Nong Shu, by Chinese mechanical engineer and inventorWang Zhen, 1313 AD, during theYuan Dynasty.
  
  The Spinning Wheel, by Northern Song (960–1127) artist Wang Juzheng. The Chinese invented thebelt drive by the 1st century BC for silk quilling devices.[165]
  
  A print illustration from an encyclopedia depicting men employing the fining process to make wrought iron and working a blast furnace by smelting iron ore to produce pig iron.
  • Baguenaudier: Chinese rings or baguenaudier is a disentanglement puzzle featuring a loop which must be disentangled from a sequence of rings on interlinked pillars. Though its origins are obscure, The puzzle is thought to have been invented originally in China. The American ethnographer Stewart Culin related a tradition attributing the puzzle's invention to the 2nd/3rd century Chinese general Zhuge Liang.[166][167]
  • Bamboo and wooden slips: Bamboo and wooden slips (Chinese: 简牍; pinyin: jiǎndú) were the main medium for documents in China before the widespread introduction of paper by the 2nd century AD. (Silk was occasionally used, but was prohibitively expensive.) The long, narrow strips of wood or bamboo typically carry a single column of brush-written text each, with space for several tens of visually complex ancient Chinese characters. For longer texts, many slips may be bound together in sequence with thread. Each strip of wood or bamboo is said to be as long as a chopstick and as wide as two. The earliest surviving examples of wood or bamboo slips date from the 5th century BC during the Warring States period. However, references in earlier texts surviving on other media make it clear that some precursor of these Warring States period bamboo slips was in use as early as the late Shang period (from about 1250 BC). Bamboo or wooden strips were the standard writing material during the Han dynasty and excavated examples have been found in abundance.[168] Bamboo tablets were used to write on before paper was invented by Cai Lun during the Han dynasty. Slats of bamboo stalks were sewn together used to make a kind of folding book.[169] Subsequently, the invention of paper during the Han dynasty began to displace bamboo and wooden strips from mainstream uses, and by the 4th century AD bamboo had been largely abandoned as a medium for writing in China.
  • Banknote: Paper currency was first developed in China. Its roots were in merchant receipts of deposit during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), as merchants and wholesalers desired to avoid the heavy bulk of copper coinage in large commercial transactions.[170][171][172] During the Song Dynasty (960–1279), the central government adopted this system for theirmonopolized salt industry, but a gradual reduction in copper production—due to closed mines and an enormous outflow of Song-minted copper currency into the Japanese, Southeast Asian, Western Xia and Liao Dynasty economies—encouraged the Song government in the early 12th century to issue government-printed paper currency alongside copper to ease the demand on their state mints and debase the value of copper.[173] In the early 11th century, the Song Dynasty government authorised sixteen private banks to issue notes of exchange in Sichuan, but in 1023 the government commandeered this enterprise and set up an agency to supervise the manufacture of banknotes there. The earliest paper currency was limited to certain regions and could not be used outside specified bounds, but once paper was securely backed by gold and silver stores, the Song Dynasty government initiated a nationwide paper currency, between 1265 and 1274.[172] The concurrent Jin Dynasty (1115–1234) also printed paper banknotes by at least 1214.[174]
  • Baoding balls: Baoding balls are Chinese metal balls small enough to hold in one hand. Intended to improve finger dexterity, relax the hand, or aid in the recovery of muscle strength and motor skills after surgery, Baoding balls work similarly to Western stress balls. The first Baoding balls were likely created in Hebei, China, during the Ming Dynasty. Formerly, they were often called "iron balls" as they were originally made of iron. Meditation balls continue to be produced there.[175]
  • Bellows, hydraulic-powered: Although it is unknown if metallurgic bellows (i.e. air-blowing device) in the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) were of the leather bag type or the wooden fan type found in the later Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368), the Eastern Han politician Du Shi (d. 38 AD) applied the use of rotating waterwheels to power the bellows of his blast furnace smelting iron, a method which continued in use in China thereafter, as evidenced by subsequent records; it is a significant invention in that iron production yields were increased and it employed all the necessary components for converting rotary motion into reciprocating motion.[162][176][177][178][179]
  • Belt drive: The mechanical belt drive, using a pulley machine, was first mentioned in the text the Dictionary of Local Expressions by the Han Dynasty philosopher, poet, and politician Yang Xiong (53–18 BC) in 15 BC, used for a quillingmachine that wound silk fibers on to bobbins for weavers' shuttles.[165] The belt drive is an essential component to the invention of the spinning wheel.[180][181] The belt drive was not only used in textile technologies, it was also applied to hydraulic powered bellows dated from the 1st century AD.[180]
  • Belt hook: The belt hook was a fastener used in China. Belt hooks date to the 7th century BC in China,[182] and were made with bronze, iron, gold, and jade.[182] Texts claim that the belt hook arrived in China from Central Asia during theWarring States period, but archaeological evidence of belt hooks in China predate the Warring States Period.[183]
  • Bintie: Bintie (simplified Chinese: 镔铁; traditional Chinese: 鑌鐵) was a type of refined iron, which was known for its hardness. It was often used in the making of Chinese weapons. The metal alloy was an important article of income in medieval Yuan China as technological advances from the preceding Song dynasty improved Yuan smelting technology. Bintie was referred as "fine steel", due to its high carbon content.[184][185]
  • Biological pest control: The first report of the use of an insect species to control an insect pest comes from "Nan Fang Cao Mu Zhuang" (南方草木狀 Plants of the Southern Regions) (ca. 304 AD), attributed to Western Jin dynasty botanistJi Han (嵇含, 263–307), in which it is mentioned that "Jiaozhi people sell ants and their nests attached to twigs looking like thin cotton envelopes, the reddish-yellow ant being larger than normal. Without such ants, southern citrus fruits will be severely insect-damaged".[186] The ants used are known as huang gan (huang = yellow, gan = citrus) ants (Oecophylla smaragdina). The practice was later reported by Ling Biao Lu Yi (late Tang Dynasty or Early Five Dynasties), in Ji Le Pian by Zhuang Jisu (Southern Song Dynasty), in the Book of Tree Planting by Yu Zhen Mu (Ming Dynasty), in the book Guangdong Xing Yu (17th century), Lingnan by Wu Zhen Fang (Qing Dynasty), in Nanyue Miscellanies by Li Diao Yuan, and others.[186]
  • Blast furnace: Although cast iron tools and weapons have been found in China dating to the 5th century BC, the earliest discovered Chinese blast furnaces, which produced pig iron that could be remelted and refined as cast iron in the cupola furnace, date to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, while the vast majority of early blast furnace sites discovered date to the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) period immediately following 117 BC with the establishment of state monopolies over the salt and iron industries during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141 – 87 BC); most ironwork sites discovered dating before 117 BC acted merely as foundries which made castings for iron that had been smelted in blast furnaces elsewhere in remote areas far from population centres.[187][188]
  • Bombard weaponry: The oldest representation of a bombard can be found in the Chinese town of Ta-tsu. In 1985, the Canadian historian Robin Yates visited the Buddhist cave temples when he saw a sculpture on the wall depicting a demon holding a hand-held bombard. The muzzle seems to have a blast and flames coming from it which some believe is proof of some type of super gun. Yates examined the cave and believed the drawings dated back to the late 12th century.[189]
  • Bomb, cast iron: The first accounts of bombs made of cast iron shells packed with explosive gunpowder—as opposed to earlier types of casings—were written in the 13th century in China.[190] The term was coined for this bomb (i.e. "thunder-crash bomb") during a Jin Dynasty (1115–1234) naval battle of 1231 against the Mongols.[191] The History of Jin(compiled by 1345) states that in 1232, as the Mongol general Subutai (1176–1248) descended on the Jin stronghold ofKaifeng, the defenders had a "thunder-crash bomb" which "consisted of gunpowder put into an iron container ... then when the fuse was lit (and the projectile shot off) there was a great explosion the noise whereof was like thunder, audible for more than a hundred li, and the vegetation was scorched and blasted by the heat over an area of more than half a mou. When hit, even iron armour was quite pierced through."[191] The Song Dynasty (960–1279) official Li Zengbo wrote in 1257 that arsenals should have several hundred thousand iron bomb shells available and that when he was in Jingzhou, about one to two thousand were produced each month for dispatch of ten to twenty thousand at a time to Xiangyang and Yingzhou.[192]The significance of this, as British sinologist, scientist, and historian Joseph Needham states, is that a "high-nitrategunpowder mixture had been reached at last, since nothing less would have burst the iron casing."[193]
  • Borehole drilling: By at least the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), the Chinese used deep borehole drilling for mining and other projects; The British sinologist and historian Michael Loewe states that borehole sites could reach as deep as 600 m (2000 ft).[194] K.S. Tom describes the drilling process: "The Chinese method of deep drilling was accomplished by a team of men jumping on and off a beam to impact the drilling bit while the boring tool was rotated by buffalo and oxen."[195] This was the same method used for extracting petroleum in California during the 1860s (i.e. "Kicking Her Down").[195] A Western Han Dynasty bronze foundry discovered in Xinglong, Hebei had nearby mining shafts which reached depths of 100 m (328 ft) with spacious mining areas; the shafts and rooms were complete with a timber frame, ladders and iron tools.[196][197]
  • Brine mining: Around 500 BCE, the ancient Chinese dug hundreds of brine wells, some of which were over 100 meters (330 feet) in depth. Bamboo towers were erected, similar in style to modern-day oil derricks.[198] Bamboo was used for ropes, casing, and derricks since it was salt resistant.[199] Iron wedges were hung from a bamboo cable attached to a lever on a platform constructed atop the tower. The derricks required two to three men jumping on and off the lever that moved the iron wedge pounded into the ground to dig a hole deep enough into the ground to hit the brine.[200][201]
  • Bristle toothbrush: According to a Library of Congress website, the Chinese have used the bristle toothbrush since 1498, during the reign of the Hongzhi Emperor (r. 1487–1505) of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644); it also adds that the toothbrush was not mass-produced until 1780, when they were sold by a William Addis of Clerkenwell, London, England.[202] In accordance with the Library of Congress website, scholar John Bowman also writes that the bristle toothbrush using pig bristles was invented in China during the 1490s.[26] While Bonnie L. Kendall agrees with this, she noted that a predecessor existed in ancient Egypt in the form of a twig that was frayed at the end.[203]
  
  Chinese river ships from Along the River During Qingming Festival, byZhang Zeduan (1085–1145), Song Dynasty
  • Bulkhead partition: The 5th century book Garden of Strange Things by Liu Jingshu mentioned that a ship could allow water to enter the bottom without sinking, while the Song Dynasty author Zhu Yu (fl. 12th century) wrote in his book of 1119 that the hullsof Chinese ships had a bulkhead build; these pieces of literary evidence for bulkhead partitions are confirmed by archaeological evidence of a 24 m (78 ft) long Song Dynasty ship dredged from the waters off the southern coast of China in 1973, the hull of the ship divided into twelve walled compartmental sections built watertight, dated to about 1277.[204][205] Western writers from Marco Polo (1254–1324), to Niccolò Da Conti (1395–1469), to Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) commented on bulkhead partitions, which they viewed as an original aspect of Chinese shipbuilding, as Western shipbuilding did not incorporate this hull arrangement until the early 19th century.[206][207]
  C[edit]
  
  A hand cannon figure from theDazu Rock Carvings. The figure carres a hand cannon with its flames and ball issuing forth.
  
  Cast-iron artifact dated from 5th century BC found in Jiangsu, China
  
  Wooden and plastic chopsticks
  
  The Xuande Emperor (r. 1425–1435) playing chuiwan with hiseunuchs
  
  A hand-held, trigger-operatedcrossbow from the 2nd century BC, Han Dynasty[208]
  
  A 15th-century Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) woodblock print of the Water Margin novel showing a game of cuju football being played
  
  An earthenware model of a stove furnace from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD); the Chinese have been using the cupola furnacesince antiquity.
  • Candle clock: Candle clocks have been used in China since at least the 6th century AD. The earliest reference of a candle clock is in a poem by You Jiangu around 520 AD.[209]
  • Cannon: The earliest known depiction of a cannon is a sculpture from the Dazu Rock Carvings in Sichuan dated to 1128,[210] however the earliest archaeological samples and textual accounts do not appear until the 13th century. The primary extant specimens of cannon from the 13th century are the Wuwei Bronze Cannon dated to 1227, the Heilongjiang hand cannon dated to 1288, and the Xanadu Gun dated to 1298. However, only the Xanadu gun contains an inscription bearing a date of production, so it is considered the earliest confirmed extant cannon. The Xanadu Gun is 34.7 cm in length and weighs 6.2 kg. The other cannon are dated using contextual evidence.[211]
  • Cast iron: Confirmed by archaeological evidence, cast iron, made from melting pig iron, was developed in China by the early 5th century BC during the Zhou Dynasty (1122–256 BC), the oldest specimens found in a tomb of Luhe County inJiangsu province; despite this, most of the early blast furnaces and cupola furnaces discovered in China date after the state iron monopoly under Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC) was established in 117 BC, during the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD); Donald Wagner states that a possible reason why no ancient Chinese bloomery process has been discovered thus far is because the iron monopoly, which lasted until the 1st century AD when it was abolished for private entrepreneurship and local administrative use, wiped out any need for continuing the less-efficient bloomery process that continued in use in other parts of the world.[187][212][213][214][215] Wagner states that most iron tools in ancient China were made of cast iron in consideration of the low economic burden of producing cast iron, whereas most iron military weapons were made of more costly wrought iron and steel, signifying that "high performance was essential" and preferred for the latter.[216]
  • Celadon: Named after a pale-tinted spring green colour, Chinese archaeologist Wang Zhongshu (1982) asserts that shards having this type of ceramic glaze have been recovered from Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD) tomb excavations in Zhejiang; he also asserts that this type of ceramic became well known during the Three Kingdoms (220–265).[217] Richard Dewar (2002) disagrees with Wang's classification, stating that true celadon—which requires a minimum 1260 °C (2300 °F) furnace temperature, a preferred range of 1285° to 1305 °C (2345° to 2381 °F), and reduced firing—was not created until the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127).[218] The unique grey or green celadon glaze is a result of iron oxide's transformation from ferric to ferrous iron (Fe2O3 → FeO) during the firing process.[218] Longquan celadon wares, which Nigel Wood (1999) writes were first made during the Northern Song, had bluish, blue-green, and olive green glazes and high silica and alkali contents which resembled later porcelainwares made at Jingdezhen and Dehua rather than stonewares.[219]
  • Chain drive, endless power-transmitting: The Greek Philon of Byzantium (3rd or 2nd century BC)[220] described achain drive and windlass used in the operation of a polybolos (a repeating ballista),[221][222] "but the chain drive did not continuously transmit power from shaft to shaft and hence they were not in the direct line of ancestry of the chain-drive proper".[223] A continuously driven chain drive first appeared in 11th century China. Perhaps inspired by chain pumps which had been known in China since at least the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) when they were mentioned by the Chinese philosopher Wang Chong (27 – c. 100 AD),[224] the endless power-transmitting chain drive was first used in the gearing of the clock tower built at Kaifeng in 1090 by the Song Chinese politician, mathematician and astronomer Su Song(1020–1101).[225][226][227]
  • Chain stitch: The earliest archaeological evidence of chain stitch embroidery dates from 1100 BC in China. Excavated from royal tombs, the embroidery was made using threads of silk.[228] Chain stitch embroidery has also been found dating to the Warring States period. Chain stitch designs spread to Iran through the Silk Road.[229]
  • Chopsticks: The Han dynasty historian and writer Sima Qian (145–86 BC) wrote in the Records of the Grand Historian thatKing Zhou of Shang was the first to make chopsticks out of ivory in the 11th century BC; the most ancient archaeological find of a pair of chopsticks, made of bronze, comes from Shang Tomb 1005 at Houjiazhuang, Anyang, dated roughly 1200 BC. By 600 BC, the use of chopsticks had spread to Yunnan (Dapona in Dali),[230][231] and Töv Province by the 1st century.[232]The earliest known textual reference to the use of chopsticks comes from the Han Feizi, a philosophical text written by writer and philosopher Han Fei (c. 280–233 BC) in the 3rd century BC.[233]
  • Chromium, use of: The use of chromium was invented in China no later than 210 BC when the Terracotta Army was interred at a site not far from modern Xi'an; modern archaeologists discovered that bronze-tipped crossbow bolts at the site showed no sign of corrosion after more than 2,000 years, because they had been coated in chromium. Chromium was not used anywhere else until the experiments of French pharmacist and chemist Louis Nicolas Vauquelin (1763–1829) in the late 1790s.[234]
  • Chuiwan: Chuiwan, a game similar to the Scottish-derived sport of golf, was first mentioned in China by Wei Tai (fl. 1050–1100) in his Dongxuan Records (東軒錄);[235] it was popular amongst men and women in the Song Dynasty (960–1279) and Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368), while it was popular among urban men in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) in much the same way that tennis was for urban Europeans during the Renaissance (according to Andrew Leibs).[236] In 1282, Ning Zhi published the Book of Chuiwan, which described the rules, equipment, and playing field of chuiwan, as well as included commentary of those who mastered its tactics.[236] The game was played on flat and sloping grassland terrain and—much like the teeof modern golf—had a "base" area where the first of three strokes were played.[237]
  • Churn drill: Churn drills date back to as early as Qin Dynasty China, 221 BC,[238] capable of reaching a depth of 1500 m.[239] Churn drills in ancient China were built of wood and labour-intensive, but were able to go through solid rock.[240]The churn drill appears in Europe during the 12th century.[239] A churn drill using steam power, based on "the ancient Chinese method of lifting and dropping a rod tipped with a bit," was first built in 1835 by Isaac Singer in the United States.[241]
  • Civil service examinations: In the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), the xiaolian system of recruiting government officials through formal recommendations was the chief method of filling bureaucratic posts, although there was anImperial Academy to train potential candidates for office and some offices required its candidates to pass formal written tests before appointment.[242][243][244][245] However, it was not until the Sui Dynasty (581–618) that civil serviceexaminations became open to all adult males not belonging to the merchant class (although having wealth or noble status were not requirements) and were used as a universal prerequisite for appointments to office, at least in theory.[246][247]The civil service system was implemented on a much larger scale during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), when an elite core of dynastic-founding and professional families lost their majority in government to a broad strata of lesser gentry families from throughout the country.[248][249]
  • Co-fusion steel process: Although British scientist and historian Joseph Needham speculates that it could have existed beforehand, the first clear written evidence of the fusion of wrought iron and cast iron to make steel comes from the 6th century AD in regards to the Daoist swordsmith Qiwu Huaiwen, who was put in charge of the arsenal of Northern Wei generalGao Huan from 543 to 550 AD.[250] The Tang Dynasty (618–907) Newly Reorganized Pharmacopoeia of 659 also described this process of mixing and heating wrought iron and cast iron together, stating that the steel product was used to makesickles and Chinese sabers. In regards to the latter text, Su Song (1020–1101) made a similar description and noted the steel's use for making swords.
  • Coke as fuel: By the 11th century, during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), the demands for charcoal used in the blast andcupola furnaces of the iron industry led to large amounts of deforestation of prime timberland; to avoid excessive deforestation, the Song Chinese began using coke made from bituminous coal as fuel for their metallurgic furnaces instead of charcoal derived from wood.[251][252][253]
  • Color printing: By at least the Yuan Dynasty, China had invented color printing for paper. British art historianMichael Sullivan writes that "the earliest color printing known in China, and indeed in the whole world, is a two-color frontispiece to a Buddhist sutra scroll, dated 1346".[254]
  • Contour canal: After numerous conquests and consolidation of his empire, China's first emperor Qin Shi Huang (r. 221–210 BC) commissioned the engineer Shi Lu to build a new waterway canal which would pass through a mountain range and connect the Xiang and Lijiang rivers.[48] The result of this project was the Lingqu Canal, complete with thirty-six lock gates, and since it closely follows a contour line (i.e. following the contours of the natural saddle in the hills), it is the oldest known contour canal in the world.[48]
  • Counting rods: Counting rods were used by ancient Chinese for more than two thousand years. In 1954, forty-odd counting rods of the Warring States periodwere found in Zuǒjiāgōngshān (左家公山) Chu Grave No.15 in Changsha, Hunan.[255][256] In 1973, archeologists unearthed a number of wood scripts from a Han dynasty tomb in Hubei. On one of the wooden scripts was written: “当利二月定算”. This is one of the earliest examples of using counting rod numerals in writing. In 1976, a bundle of Western Han counting rods made of bones was unearthed from Qianyang County in Shaanxi.[257] The use of counting rods must predate it; Laozi (6th or 5th century BCE) said "a good calculator doesn't use counting rods".[258] The Book of Han recorded: "they calculate with bamboo, diameter one fen, length six cun, arranged into a hexagonal bundle of two hundred seventy one pieces". At first calculating rods were round in cross section, but by the time of the Sui dynasty triangular rods were used to represent positive numbers and rectangular rods were used for negative numbers.
  • Crossbow and repeating crossbow: According to British art historian Matthew Landruss and Gerald Hurley, Chinese crossbows may have been invented as far back as 2000 BC,[259][260] while Anne McCants speculates that they existed around 1200 BC.[261] In China bronze crossbow bolts dating as early as the mid 5th century BC were found at a State of Chu burial site in Yutaishan, Hubei.[262] The earliest handheld crossbow stocks with bronze trigger, dating from the 6th century BC, comes from Tomb 3 and 12 found at Qufu, Shandong, capital of the State of Lu.[208][263] Other early finds of crossbows were discovered in Tomb 138 at Saobatang, Hunan dated to the mid 4th century BC.[264][265] Repeating crossbows, first mentioned in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, were discovered in 1986 in Tomb 47 at Qinjiazui, Hubei dated to around the 4th century BC.[266] The earliest textual evidence of the handheld crossbow used in battle dates to the 4th century BC.[267] Handheld crossbows with complex bronze trigger mechanisms have also been found with the Terracotta Army in the tomb of Qin Shihuang(r. 221–210 BC) that are similar to specimens from the subsequent Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), while crossbowmen described in the Han Dynasty learned drill formations, some were even mounted as cavalry units, and Han dynasty writers attributed the success of numerous battles against the Xiongnu to massed crossbow fire.[268][269] In comparison, the ancient Greeks also had a crossbow known as the gastraphetes ("belly-bow", so named because the shooter had to draw the bow by pressing his stomach against the concave rear) also invented in the 5th century BC;[270] other versions were the more portable Cheirobalista (hand balista), arcubalista and manubalista, this last Roman version was almost all metal composed (the spring mechanism and the skeins).[271][272] There was also the katapeltikon (399 BC), a siege weapon using similar mechanisms.[273][274] Unlike the Chinese crossbow, the heavy weight and bulk of these weapons necessitated a prop to keep them standing.[275]
  • Cuju (football): The game of football known as cuju was first mentioned in China by two historical texts; the Zhan Guo Ce (compiled from the 3rd to 1st centuries BC) and the Records of the Grand Historian (published in 91 BC) by Sima Qian (145–86 BC).[276] Both texts recorded that during the Warring States period (403–221 BC) the people of Linzi city, capital of the State of Qi, enjoyed playing cuju along with partaking in many other pastimes such ascockfighting.[276] Besides being a recreational sport, playing cuju was also considered a military training exercise and means for soldiers to keep fit.[276]
  • Cupola furnace: American anthropologist Vincent C. Pigott of the University of Pennsylvania states that the cupola furnace existed in China at least by theWarring States period (403–221 BC),[277] while Donald B. Wagner writes that some iron ore melted in the blast furnace may have been cast directly into molds, but most, if not all, iron smelted in the blast furnace during the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) was remelted in a cupola furnace; it was designed so that acold blast injected at the bottom traveled through tuyere pipes across the top where the charge (i.e. of charcoal and scrap or pig iron) was dumped, the air becoming a hot blast before reaching the bottom of the furnace where the iron was melted and then drained into appropriate molds for casting.[278]

 

[Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA]

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  D[edit]
  
  Two Sui dynasty zhibeidao with ring-shaped pommels.
  
  Ceramic models of watchtowers from the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) showing use of dougongbrackets
  
  A giant drawloom for figureweaving, from the Chinese Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia published by Ming dynasty encyclopedist and scientist Song Yingxing in 1637
  
  Excavated floor of a dragon kiln, 40 metres long, of theSouthern Song official kiln at Jiaotanxia in Hangzhou
  • Dao: Daos are single-edged Chinese swords, primarily used for slashing and chopping. The most common form is also known as the Chinese sabre, although those with wider blades are sometimes referred to as Chinesebroadswords. In China, the dao is considered one of the four traditional weapons, along with the gun (stick or staff), qiang (spear), and the jian (sword). The earliest dao date from the Shang Dynasty in China'sBronze Age, and are known as zhibeidao (直背刀) – straight backed knives. As the name implies, these were straight-bladed or slightly curved weapons with a single edge. Originally bronze, these weapons were made of iron or steel by the time of the late Warring States period as metallurgical knowledge became sufficiently advanced to control the carbon content. Originally less common as a military weapon than thejian – the straight, double-edged blade of China – the dao became popular with cavalry during the Han dynasty due to its sturdiness, superiority as a chopping weapon, and relative ease of use – it was generally said that it takes a week to attain competence with a dao/saber, a month to attain competence with a qiang/spear, and a year to attain competence with a jian/straight sword. Soon after dao began to be issued to infantry, beginning the replacement of the jian as a standard-issue weapon.[279][280] Late Han dynasty dao had round grips and ring-shaped pommels, and ranged between 85 and 114 centimeters in length. These weapons were used alongside rectangular shields.[281]
  • Dental amalgam: Dental amalgam were used in the first part of the Tang Dynasty in China (618-907 A.D.), and in Germany by Dr. Strockerus in about 1528.[282] Evidence of a dental amalgam first appears in the Tang Dynasty medical text Hsin Hsiu Pen Tsao written by Su Kung in 659, manufactured from tin and silver.[283] Historical records hint that the use of amalgams may date even earlier in the Tang Dynasty.[283] It was during the Ming Dynasty that the composition of an early dental amalgam was first published, and a text written by Liu Wen Taiin 1505 states that it consists of "100 shares of mercury, 45 shares of silver and 900 shares of tin."[283]
  • Diabolo: Chinese archaeologists theorize that Chinese Diabolos (or Chinese yo-yo) originated from Chinese spinning top. In Hemudu Excavation, wooden tops were excavated. In order to extend the spinning time of the tops, whip were used to spin the top. This released a sound and gradually evolved into the term "Kongzhu" (Chinese: 空竹; pinyin: Kōng zhú; literally: "Air Bamboo" ). It was speculated that the Chinese poet Cao Zhi in the Three Kingdoms period had composed the poem "Rhapsody of Diabolos 《空竹赋》", making it the first record of Diabolo in Chinese history. The authenticity of the poem "Rhapsody of Diabolos 《空竹赋》" however required further research and evidence of proof. By the medieval Tang dynasty, Chinese Diabolo became widespread as a form of toy. The Taiwanese scholar Wu Shengda 吳盛達 however argued that records of Chinese Diabolo only appeared during late Ming dynasty Wanli period, with its details well recorded in the book Dijing Jingwulue, referring to Diabolos as "Kong Zhong" (simplified Chinese: 空钟; traditional Chinese: 空鐘;pinyin: Kōng zhong; literally: "Air Bell" ). Diabolos evolved from the Chinese yo-yo, which was originally standardized in the 12th century.[284][285] The first mention of a diabolo in the Western World was made by a missionary, Father Amiot, in Beijing in 1792 during Lord Macartney's ambassadorship, after which examples were brought to Europe,[286] as was thesheng (eventually adapted to the harmonica and accordion).[287][288]
  • Dominoes: The Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) writer Xie Zhaozhe (1567–1624) initiated the legend that dominoes were first presented to the imperial court in 1112.[289] However, the oldest confirmed written mention of dominoes in China comes from the Former Events in Wulin (i.e. the capital Hangzhou) written by the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) author Zhou Mi (1232–1298), who listed "pupai" (gambling plaques or dominoes) as well as dice as items sold by peddlers during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Song (r. 1162–1189).[289] Andrew Lo asserts that Zhou Mi meant dominoes when referring topupai, since the Ming author Lu Rong (1436–1494) explicitly defined pupai as dominoes (in regards to a story of a suitor who won a maiden's hand by drawing out four winning pupai from a set).[289] The earliest known manual written about dominoes is the Manual of the Xuanhe Period (1119–1125) written by Qu You (1347–1433).[289] In the Encyclopedia of a Myriad of Treasures, Zhang Pu (1602–1641) described the game of laying out dominoes as pupai, although the character forpu had changed (yet retained the same pronunciation).[289] Traditional Chinese domino games include Tien Gow, Pai Gow, Che Deng, and others. The thirty-two-piece Chinese domino set (made to represent each possible face of two thrown dice and thus have no blank faces) differs from the twenty-eight-piece domino set found in the Western World during the mid 18th century (in France and Italy).[290] Dominoes first appeared in Italy during the 18th century, and although it is unknown how Chinese dominoes developed into the modern game, it is speculated that Italian missionaries in China may have brought and introduced the game to Europe.[291]
  • Dougong: A dougong is a building bracket which is unique to Chinese architecture. Since at least the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050–771 BC), they were placed between the top of a column and a crossbeam to support the concave roofs of beam-in-tier buildings which were archetypal of Chinese architecture.[292]Each dougong is formed by double bow-shaped arms (拱, gong) supported by a wooden block (斗, dou) on each side.[292] Dougong were also used for decorative and ceremonial rather than entirely pragmatic purposes of support, such as on solid brick pagodas like the Iron Pagoda built in 1049. The Yingzao Fashi building manual published in 1103 by the Song Dynasty (960–1279) official Li Jie featured illustrations and descriptions of dougong.[293]
  • Dragon boats: The use of dragon boats for racing and dragons are believed by modern scholars, sinologists, and anthropologists to have originated in southern central China more than 2500 years ago, in Dongting Lake and along the banks of the Chang Jiang (now called the Yangtze) during the same era when the Olympic games of ancient Greece were being established at Olympia).[294]
  • Dragon kiln: Dragon kilns were traditional Chinese kilns used for Chinese ceramics. According to recent excavations in Shangyu District in the northeast ofZhejiang province and elsewhere, the origins of the dragon kiln may go back as far as the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 to 1046 BCE), and is linked to the introduction of stoneware, fired at 1200 °C or more. These kilns were much smaller than later examples, at some 5–12 metres long, and also sloped far less.[295] The type had certainly developed by the Warring States period,[296] and by the Eastern Wu kingdom (220–280 CE), there were over 60 kilns at Shangyu. Thereafter it remained the main design used in southern China until the Ming dynasty. The pottery areas of south China are mostly hilly, whereas those on the plains of north China typically lack suitable slopes; here the mantou kiln type predominated.[297] The Nanfeng Kiln in Guangdong province is several centuries old and still functioning. It was a producer of Shiwan ware as well as architectural ceramics, and today also functions as a tourist attraction.[298]
  • Drawloom: The earliest confirmed drawloom fabrics come from the State of Chu and date c. 400 BC.[299] Most scholars attribute the invention of the drawloom to the ancient Chinese, although some speculate an independent invention from ancient Syria since drawloom fabrics found in Dura-Europas are thought to date before 256 AD.[299][300] Dieter Kuhn states that an analysis of texts and textiles from the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) proves that the figured fabrics of that era were also crafted with the use of a drawloom.[301] The drawloom was certainly known in Persia by the 6th century AD.[299] Eric Broudy asserts there is virtually no evidence of its use in Europe until the 17th century, while the button drawloom was allegedly invented by Jean le Calabrais in the 15th century.[302] Mary Carolyn Beaudry disagrees, stating that it was used in the medieval Italian silk industry.[301]
  • Dry docks: The use of dry docks in China goes at least as far back the 10th century A.D.[303] In his book Dream Pool Essays, the Song dynasty polymath Shen Kuo wrote of dry docks for repairing ships.[304]
  E[edit]
  • Ephedrine: Ephedrine, known as ma huang in traditional Chinese medicine, originally as an extract of the herb Ephedra sinica, has been documented in China since the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) as an antiasthmatic and stimulant.[305] The industrial manufacture of ephedrine in China began in the 1920s, when the American pharmaceutical company Merck began marketing and selling the drug as ephetonin. Ephedrine exports between China and the West grew from 4 tonnes to 216 tonnes between 1926 and 1928.[306]
  • Escapement, hydraulic-powered (use in clockworks): Although the escapement mechanism was first invented by the Greek Philon of Byzantium for a mechanical washstand,[307] an escapement mechanism for clockworks was first developed by the Buddhist monk, court astronomer, mathematician and engineer Yi Xing (683–727) of the Tang Dynasty (618–907) for his water-powered celestial globe in the tradition of the Han dynasty polymath and inventor Zhang Heng(78–139), and could be found in later Chinese clockworks such as the clock towers developed by the military engineer Zhang Sixun (fl. late 10th century) and polymath inventor Su Song (1020–1101).[171][227][308][309][310][311] Yi Xing's escapement allowed for a bell to be rung automatically every hour, and a drum beaten automatically every quarter-hour, essentially a striking clock.[312] Unlike the modern escapement which employs a suspended oscillating pendulumresting and releasing its hooks on a small rotating gear wheel, the early Chinese escapement employed the use of gravity and hydraulics.[313] In Su Song's clock tower, scoop containers fixed to the spokes of a vertical waterwheel (which acted like a gear wheel) would be filled one by one with siphoned water from a clepsydra tank.[314] When the weight of the water in the scoop filled to an excess, it overcame a counterweight that in turn tripped a lever allowing the scoop to rotate on a pivot and drain its water.[314] However, as the scoop fell, it tripped a coupling tongue that temporarily pulled down on a long vertical chain, the latter yanking down on a balancing lever which would pull upward on a small chain connected to a locking arm, the latter lifting momentarily to release the top arrested spoke before coming back down to repeat the entire process over again.[314] It should be pointed out that the Chinese intermittently working liquid-driven escapement had "only the name in common" with the true mechanical escapement of medieval European mechanical clocks of the 14th century onwards, which worked instead with weights, producing continuous but discrete beats and that derived from the Greek and Roman verge mechanism (alarum) device of earlier mechanisms.[315][316]
  • Exploding cannonballs: The Huolongjing military manual compiled by the Ming dynasty military official Jiao Yu (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and the Ming dynasty military strategist and philosopher Liu Bowen (1311–1375) in the mid 14th century described the earliest known exploding cannonballs, which were made of cast iron with a hollow core packed with gunpowder. Jiao and Liu wrote that when fired, they could set enemy camps ablaze. The earliest evidence for exploding cannonballs in Europe date to the 16th century.[317][318] The Huolongjing also specified the use of poison and blinding gunpowder filled into exploding shells; the effects of this chemical warfare was described as such: "Enemy soldiers will get their faces and eyes burnt, and the smoke will attack their noses, mouths, and eyes."[319]
  • Explosives: At its root, the history of chemical explosives lies in the history of gunpowder.[320][321] During the Tang Dynasty in the 9th century, Taoist Chinese alchemists were eagerly trying to find the elixir of immortality.[322] In the process, they stumbled upon the explosive invention of gunpowder made from coal, saltpeter, and sulfur in 1044. Gunpowder was the first form of chemical explosives and by 1161, the Chinese were using explosives for the first time in warfare.[323][324][325] The Chinese would incorporate explosives fired from bamboo or bronze tubes known as bamboo fire crackers. The Chinese also used inserted rats from inside the bamboo fire crackers to fire toward the enemy, creating great psychological ramifications - scaring enemy soldiers away and causing cavalry units to go wild.[326]
  F[edit]
  
  An illustration of a bronze "thousand ball thunder cannon" from the 14th-century Ming Dynasty book Huolongjing. The cannon is an early example of medieval mobile battlefield artillery.[164]
  
  The field mill in the Chinese book Yuanxi Qiqi Tushuk Luzui(Collected Diagrams and Explanations of the Wonderful Machines of the Far West), by German Jesuit Johann Schreck and Wang Zheng, 1627
  
  The 'divine fire arrow screen' from the Huolongjing. A stationary arrow launcher that carries one hundred fire arrows. It is activated by a trap-like mechanism, possibly of wheellock design.
  
  Two different types of fire lances. The fire lance was an anti-personnel gunpowder weapon with a relatively short range. Considered by many to be the first proto-gun.
  
  Local man setting off fireworksduring Chinese New Year in Shanghai
  
  "Angler on a Wintry Lake", painted in 1195 by Song dynasty painter Ma Yuan, featuring the oldest known depiction of afishing reel
  
  Chinese flamethrower from theWujing Zongyao manuscript of 1044, Song Dynasty
  
  Sheng player Guo Yi beside the River Thames, London, England
  
  An illustration of a fragmentation bomb from the 14th century Ming Dynasty textHuolongjing. The black dots represent iron pellets.
  
  Tiger tally of Western Hanperiod
  • Fermented bean curd: According to the 1596 Compendium of Materia Medica written by the Chinese polymath Li Shizhen during the Ming dynasty, the creation of soybean curd is attributed to the Han Dynasty Prince Liu An (179 – 122 BC), king of Huainan. Manufacturing of the bean curd began during the Han Dynasty in China after it was created.[327]
  • Field artillery: The medieval Ming dynasty Chinese invented mobile battlefield artillery during the early part of the fourteenth century at the time when gunpowder and the primordial cannon were first being adopted in Europe.[328] One of the earliest documented uses of field artillery is found in the 14th-century Ming Dynasty treatise Huolongjing.[164] The text describes a Chinese cannon called a "thousand ball thunder cannon", manufactured of bronze and fastened with wheels.[164] The book also describes another mobile form of artillery called a "barbarian attacking cannon" consisting of a cannon attached to a two-wheel carriage.[329]
  • Field mill: In the Yezhongji ('Record of Affairs at the Capital Ye of the Later Zhao Dynasty') written by Lu Hui (fl. 350 AD), various mechanical devices are described which were invented by two Later Zhao (319–351) engineers known as Xie Fei, a Palace Officer, and Wei Mengbian, the Director of the Imperial Workshops.[330] One of these is the field mill, which was essentially a cart with millstones placed onto the frame; these were mechanically rotated by the movement of the cart's terrain wheels in order to grind wheat and other cereal crops.[331] A similar vehicle these two invented was the "pounding cart", which had wooden statues mounted on the top which were actually mechanical figures who operated real tilt hammers in order to hull rice; again, the device only functioned when the cart was moved forward and the wheels turned.[331] The field mill lost its use in China sometime after the Later Zhao, but it was invented separately in Europe in 1580 by the Italian military engineer Pompeo Targone.[332] It was featured in a treatise by the Italian engineer and writer Vittorio Zonca in 1607, and then in a Chinese book of 1627 (concerning Western technology) that was compiled and translated by the German Jesuit polymath Johann Schreck(1576–1630) and the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) Chinese author Wang Zheng (王徵 1571–1644), although by then it was considered by the Chinese to be an original Western contraption.[333]
  • Finery forge: In addition to accidental lumps of low-carbon wrought iron produced by excessive injected air in Chinesecupola furnaces, the ancient Chinese also created wrought iron by using the finery forge at least by the 2nd century BC, the earliest specimens of cast and pig iron fined into wrought iron and steel found at the early Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) site at Tieshengguo.[334] Pigott speculates that the finery forge existed in the previous Warring States period(403–221 BC), due to the fact that there are wrought iron items from China dating to that period and there is no documented evidence of the bloomery ever being used in China.[335] The fining process involved liquifying cast iron in a fining hearth and removing carbon from the molten cast iron through oxidation.[334] Wagner writes that in addition to the Han Dynasty hearths believed to be fining hearths, there is also pictoral evidence of the fining hearth from a Shandongtomb mural dated 1st to 2nd century AD, as well as a hint of written evidence in the 4th century AD Daoist text Taiping Jing.[336]
  • Fire arrow: One of the earliest weaponized forms of gunpowder was the fire arrow which received its name from the translated Chinese term huǒjiàn (火箭), which literally means fire arrow. In China a 'fire arrow' referred to a gunpowder projectile consisting of a bag of incendiary gunpowder attached to the shaft of an arrow from the 9th century onward. Later on solid fuel rockets utilizing gunpowder were used to provide arrows with propulsive force and the term fire arrowbecame synonymous with rockets in the Chinese language. In other languages such as Sanskrit 'fire arrow' (agni astra) underwent a different semantic shift and became synonymous with 'cannon.'[337] Fire arrows are the predecessors of fire lances, the first firearm.[338]
  • Firecracker: The predecessor of the firecracker was a type of heated bamboo, used as early as 200 BC, that exploded when heated continuously. The Chinese name for firecrackers, baozhu, literally means "exploding bamboo."[339] After the invention of gunpowder, gunpowder firecrackers had a shape that resembled bamboo and produced a similar sound, so the name "exploding bamboo" was retained.[340] In traditional Chinese culture, firecrackers were used to scare off evil spirits.[340]
  • Fire lance: The fire lance was a proto-gun developed in the 10th century with a tube of first bamboo and later on metal that shot a weak gunpowder blast of flame and shrapnel; its earliest representation comes from a painting found atDunhuang.[341][342][343] The earliest confirmed employment of the fire lance in warfare was by Song dynasty forces against the Jin in 1132 during the siege of De'an (modern Anlu, Hubei Province),[344][345][346] where they were used to great effect against wooden siege towers called "sky bridges": "As the sky bridges became stuck fast, more than ten feet from the walls and unable to get any closer, [the defenders] were ready. From below and above the defensive structures they emerged and attacked with fire lances, striking lances, and hooked sickles, each in turn. The people [i.e., the porters] at the base of the sky bridges were repulsed. Pulling their bamboo ropes, they [the porters] ended up drawing the sky bridge back in an anxious and urgent rush, going about fifty paces before stopping."[347] The surviving porters then tried once again to wheel the sky bridges into place but Song soldiers emerged from the walls in force and made a direct attack on the sky bridge soldiers while defenders on the walls threw bricks and shot arrows in conjunction with trebuchets hurling bombs and rocks. The sky bridges were also set fire to with incendiary bundles of grass and firewood. Li Heng, the Jin commander, decided to lift the siege and Jin forces were driven back with severe casualties.[347]
  • Fireworks: Fireworks first appeared in China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), in the early age of gunpowder. The common people in the Song era could purchase simple fireworks from market vendors; these were made of sticks of bamboopacked with gunpowder,[348] although grander displays were known to be held.[349] Rocket propulsion was soon applied to warfare, and by the time of the mid 14th century there were many types of rocket launchers available.[350]
  • Fishing reel: In literary records, the earliest evidence of the fishing reel comes from a 4th-century AD[351][352] work entitled Lives of Famous Immortals.[353] The earliest known depiction of a fishing reel comes from a Southern Song (1127–1279) painting done in 1195 by Song dynasty painter Ma Yuan (c. 1160–1225) called "Angler on a Wintry Lake," showing a man sitting on a small sampan boat while casting out his fishing line.[354] Another fishing reel was featured in a painting by the Yuan dynasty painter Wu Zhen (1280–1354).[354] The book Tianzhu lingqian (Holy Lections from Indian Sources), printed between 1208 and 1224, features two different woodblock print illustrations of fishing reels being used.[354] An Armenian parchment Gospel of the 13th century shows a reel (though not as clearly depicted as the Chinese ones).[354] The Sancai Tuhui, a Chinese encyclopedia published in 1609, features the next known picture of a fishing reel and vividly shows the windlass pulley of the device.[354] These five pictures mentioned are the only ones which feature fishing reels before the year 1651 (when the first English illustration was made); after that year they became commonly depicted in world art.[354]
  • Flamethrower, double piston and gunpowder-activated: Although the single piston flamethrower was first developed in the Byzantine Empire during the 7th century,[355] the 10th-century Chinese flamethrower, or Pen Huo Qi, boasted a continuous stream of flame by employing double piston syringes (which had been known since the Han Dynasty) spoutingGreek fire which had been imported from China's maritime trade contacts in the Middle East. It was first used in battle 932 during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960), and the earliest illustration is found in the early Song Dynasty military manuscript Wujing Zongyao of 1044, which also described the device in full.[356][357] Unlike the Greek model which employed a furnace, the Pen Huo Qi was ignited by an incendiary gunpowder fuse.[356]
  • Flare: The earliest recorded use of gunpowder for signalling purposes was the 'signal bomb' used by the Song Dynasty Chinese as the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty besieged Yangzhou in 1276.[358] These soft-shelled bombs, timed to explode in mid-air, were used to send messages to a detachment of troops far in the distance. Another mention of the signal bomb appears in a text dating from 1293 requesting their collection from those still stored in Zhejiang.[358] A signal gun appears in Korea by 1600. The Wu I Thu Phu Thung Chih or Illustrated Military Encyclopedia written in 1791 depicts a signal gun in an illustration.[359]
  • Folding screen: The folding screen is a type of furniture consisting of several frames or panels. Screens date back to China during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty period (771–256 BC).[360][361] These were initially one-panel screens in contrast to folding screens.[362] Folding screens were invented during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220).[363] Depictions of those folding screens have been found in Han Dynasty era tombs, such as one in Zhucheng, Shandong Province.[360] During the Tang Dynasty, folding screens were considered ideal ornaments for many painters to display their paintings and calligraphyon.[361][362] Many artists painted on paper or silk and applied it onto the folding screen.[361] The landscape paintings on folding screens reached its height during the Song Dynasty (960–1279).[360]
  • Forensic entomology: The Song Dynasty (960–1279) forensic science book Collected Cases of Injustice Rectifiedpublished by the Song Dynasty court judge, physician, medical scientist and writer Song Ci in 1247 contains the oldest known case of forensic entomology.[364] In a murder case of 1235, a villager was stabbed to death and authorities determined that his wounds were inflicted by a sickle; this was a tool used for cutting rice at harvest time, a fact which led them to suspect a fellow peasant worker was involved.[364] The local magistrate had the villagers assemble in the town square where they would temporarily relinquish their sickles.[364] Within minutes, a mass of blow flies gathered around one sickle and none other, attracted to the scent of traces of blood unseen by the naked eye.[364] It became apparent to all that the owner of that sickle was the culprit, the latter pleading for mercy as he was detained by authorities.[364]
  • Fragmentation bomb: The use of fragmentation in bombs dates to the 14th century, and first appears in the Ming Dynasty text Huolongjing. The fragmentation bombs were filled with iron pellets and pieces of broken porcelain. A heated mixture of salammoniac, tung oil, chin chih, scallion juice, and yin hsiu is poured into the bomb, coating the pellets. Once the bomb explodes, the resulting shrapnel is capable of piercing the skin and blinding enemy soldiers.[365]
  • Free reed aerophone: The musical pipe organ employing metal piston bellows had a long history in the Western world, dating back to the Hellenistic period. However, the Western pipe organ did not make use of the reed, which the ancient Chinese mouth organ employed. The latter instrument, called a sheng and made traditionally of bamboo pipes, was first mentioned in the Shi Jing of the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050–256 BC). The Chinese sheng is considered the ancestor of theharmonica, harmonium, concertina, accordion, and all other reed organ instruments. A free reed organ was invented in theArab world in the 13th century, while the German organ builder Heinrich Traxdorf (fl. 15th century) of Nuremberg built one around 1460 AD. It is thought that the classical Chinese sheng travelled west through Russia during the 19th century, as it was described then in Saint Petersburg.[366]
  • Fu: Fu were Chinese tally sticks made of bamboo, wood, metal (gold, silver, bronze) or jade and used as a proof of authorization.[367] Most commonly, fu were made of wood or bamboo in sizes of wooden slips or bamboo chopsticks.[367]Although fu have been made in various shapes (such as tiger, dragon, turtle, snake, fish or human), most of them come in the shape of a tiger.[367] Classical description of tallies is found in the Zhou li, which refers to the tallies of jade and horn, and mentions the shapes of tiger, human, dragon, seal, and banner.[368]
  • Fuses: Documented evidence suggests that the earliest fuses were first used by the Chinese between the 10th and 12th centuries. After the Chinese had invented gunpowder, they began adapting its explosive properties for use in military technology. By 1044 they were using gunpowder in simple grenades, bombs, and flamethrowers, all of which required a fuse to be lit before being thrown at the enemy.[369]
  G[edit]
  
  The go board game
  
  Rock carving of a bodhisattvaplaying a guqin, Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534 AD)
  • Gas cylinder: The world's first natural gas cylinders were invented in China during the Tang dynasty where the Chinese drilled deep boreholes to retrieve natural gas and used bamboo tubes to collect and transport it.[370][371][372]
  • Gas lighting: The ancient Chinese during the Spring and Autumn period made the first practical use of natural gas for lighting purposes around 500 B.C. where they used bamboo pipelines to transport and carry both brine and natural gas for many miles.[373][374][375][376][377]
  • Gimbal: The gimbal is known as the 'Cardan' suspension after Italian polymath Gerolamo Cardano (1501–1576), yet it was known long before him.[378] The British scientist, sinologist, and historian Joseph Needham writes that the earliest confirmed use of gimbals in Europe is the 9th century recipe book Little Key of Painting and Belgian chemist and historian of science Mappae clavicula, which mentioned a vase surrounded by rings which allowed it to be undisturbed when in a rolling motion.[379] Needham and BGeorge Sarton both write that an Arabic translation—dated to roughly the era ofAl-Ma'mun (r. 813–833)—of an ancient Greek work now lost (i.e. Pneumatica) by 3rd-century BC Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium (c. 280 – c. 220 BC) contains a description of gimbals used to support an inkpot that could wet a pen on any of its sides, yet Needham suspects Arabic interpolation and doubts total authenticity, while Sarton asserts that for the most part the Arabic translation is faithful to Philo's lost original, hence Philo should be credited with the invention of the gimbal.[380][381] Around 180 AD, the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) inventor and mechanical engineer Ding Huan (丁緩) — who also created a rotary fan and zoetrope lamp—invented a 'Perfume Burner for use among Cushions', or 'Bedclothes Censer'.[382] This incense burner had a series of metal rings which could be moved in any direction while the burner in the middle remained constantly level.[382] This is the first clear reference in China of the gimbal, although there is a hint in the writing of Sima Xiangru (179–117 BC) that this device existed in the 2nd century BC (i.e., 'the metal rings burning perfume').[383] The gimbal incense burner is mentioned in subsequent dynasties, while silverwork specimens of gimbal incense burners from the Tang Dynasty (618–907) still exist.[384] In the Liang Dynasty (502–557) there is mention of gimbals used in hinges for doors and windows, while an unnamed artisan presented a warming stove to Empress Wu Zetian (r. 690–705) in 692 which employed gimbals to keep it constantly balanced.[385]
  • Go (board game) (圍棋 pinyin: wéiqí in Chinese): Although ancient Chinese legend (perhaps contrived during the Han Dynasty) has it that the mythological ruler Yao came down to earth from the Heavens around 2200 BC carrying with him a goboard and stone player's pieces, it is known from existing literature that the go board game existed since at least the 10th century BC during the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050–256 BC) and was even mentioned in writing by ancient Chinese philosophers Confucius (551–479 BC) and Mencius (371–289 BC), although the latter two had a slightly negative opinion of it.[386][387]
  • Goldfish domestication: In ancient China, various species of carp (collectively known as Asian carps) weredomesticated and have been reared as food fish for thousands of years. Some of these normally gray or silver species have a tendency to produce red, orange or yellow color mutations; this was first recorded in the Jin Dynasty (265–420).[388]During the Tang Dynasty (618–907), it was popular to raise carp in ornamental ponds and watergardens. A natural genetic mutation produced gold (actually yellowish orange) rather than silver coloration. People began to breed the gold variety instead of the silver variety, keeping them in ponds or other bodies of water.[389][390] Goldfish were introduced into Europe during the 17th century, and into North America in the 19th century.[391][392]
  • Guqin (古琴 pinyin: gǔqín in Chinese): The guqin is one of the oldest stringed zither instruments from China and has existed since at least the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1050 BC), as a Shang oracle bone contains the oldest known inscription of the Chinese character for qin (琴).[393] The oldest example of a guqin comes from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (433 BC); Bo Lawergren argues they may have developed from Middle Eastern harps like konghou, which was also found in Qiemo, Xinjiang dating to 400–200 BC.[394] It was said to be popular in the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050 – 256 BC), while the oldest known written tablature for the guqin dates to the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD).[393] The guqin became a musical instrument highly associated with China's gentry class when it was exalted as one of the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar as well as one of the gentry's "nine guests" described by Shen Kuo (1031–1095);[395] it was even featured in painted artwork, such as in a 12th-century piece by Emperor Huizong himself.

H[edit]

A bronze hand cannon from the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), one of the oldest in the world; the oldest specimen dates to about 1288, when the first textual reference to the hand cannon appears in Chinese literature.

A Sui Dynasty (581–618 AD) plough figurine pulled by a bull

• Hand cannon: The bronze Yuan Dynasty gun from Heilongjiang which dates to about 1288 is a little over 0.3 m (1 ft) in length and weighs 3.6 kg (8 lbs). It has a small touch hole for ignition and an even bore except for the bulbous enlargement around the explosion chamber. It was excavated with a bronze pan, mirror and vase.[396]
• Hand fan: The oldest existing Chinese fans are a pair of woven bamboo side-mounted fans from the 2nd century BCE.[397]The Chinese character for "fan" (扇) is etymologically derived from a picture of feathers under a roof. The Chinese fixed fan, pien-mien, means 'to agitate the air'. A particular status and gender would be associated with a specific type of fan. During the Song Dynasty, famous artists were often commissioned to paint fans. The Chinese dancing fan was developed in the 7th century. The Chinese form of the hand fan was a row of feathers mounted in the end of a handle. In the later centuries, Chinese poems and four-word idioms were used to decorate the fans by using Chinese calligraphy pens. In ancient China, fans came in various shapes and forms (such as in a leaf, oval or a half-moon shape), and were made in different materials such as silk, bamboo, feathers, etc.[398]
• Hand grenade, explosive: Before explosive grenades, incendiary grenades were used by the Eastern Roman Empire, incorporating Greek fire.[399] Early prototypes to the modern explosive grenade, according to British scientist and sinologist Joseph Needham, appear in the military book, Wujing Zongyao ("Compilation of Military Classics"), by 1044. During the Song Dynasty, weapons known as Zhen Tian Lei were created when Chinese soldiers packed gunpowder into ceramic or metal containers and thrown at the enemy. Further descriptions and illustrations of early Chinese hand grenades are provided in the Huolongjing.[400]
• Hand gun: An early known depiction of a hand gun is a sculpture from a cave in Sichuan, dating to 1128, that portrays a figure carrying a vase-shaped bombard, firing flames and a cannonball.[401] However, the oldest existent archaeological discovery of a metal barrel handgun is the Heilongjiang hand cannon from the Chinese Heilongjiang excavation, dated to 1288.[402] Handheld firearms first appeared in China where gunpowder was first developed. They were hand cannons (although they were not necessarily fired from the hand, but rather at the end of a handle). By the 14th century, they existed in Europe as well. The first handheld firearms that might better be called "pistols" were made as early as the 15th century, but their creator is unknown.[403]
• Handscroll: The handscroll originated from ancient Chinese text documents.[404] From the Spring and Autumn period (770-481 BCE) through the Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE), bamboo or wooden slips were bound and used to write texts on.[404]During the Eastern Han period (25-220), the use of paper and silk as handscrolls became more common.[404] The handscroll was the one of the main formats for texts up until the Tang dynasty (618-907).[404] Since the Three Kingdoms (220–280), the handscroll became a standard form for mounting artwork.[404] New styles were developed over time.[404]
• Hanging scroll: Hanging scrolls originated in their earliest form from literature and other texts written on bamboo strips and silk banners in ancient China.[405][406][407] The earliest hanging scrolls are related to and developed from silk banners in early Chinese history.[405][406][408] These banners were long and hung vertically on walls.[405] Such silk banners and hanging scroll paintings were found at Mawangdui dating back to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE).[406][408]By the time of the Tang Dynasty (618–907), the aesthetic and structural objectives for hanging scrolls were summarized, which are still followed to this day.[363] During the early Song Dynasty (960–1279), the scrolls became well suited to the art styles of the artists,[407][406] consequently hanging scrolls were made in many different sizes and proportions.[405]
• Harrow: The invention of the harrow was first written in the Chinese agricultural text Qimin Yaoshu written by theNorthern Wei Dynasty official Jia Sixie. The harrow was used as a farm implement for breaking up soil chunks as well as eradicating weeds, suppressing pests, and diseases.[409]
• Heavy moldboard iron plow: Although use of the simple wooden ard in China must have preceded it, the earliest discovered Chinese iron plows date to roughly 500 BC, during the Zhou Dynasty (1122–256 BC) and were flat, V-shaped, and mounted on wooden poles and handles.[410][411] By the 3rd century BC, improved iron casting techniques led to the development of the heavy moldboard plow, seen in Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) artwork such as tomb carved bricks.[410] The moldboard allowed the Chinese to turn farm soil without clogging the plowshare with dirt, which was flung off the wheelbarrow via slanted wings on both sides.[412] While the frame of excavated plowshares dating to the Warring States period (403–221 BC) were made mostly of perishable wood except for the iron blade, the frame of excavated plowshares dating to the Han Dynasty were made entirely of solid iron with the moldboard attached to the top to turn the soil.[413]
• Helicopter rotor and bamboo-copter: The use of a helicopter rotor for vertical flight has existed since 400 BC in the form of the bamboo-copter, an ancient Chinese toy.[414] The bamboo-copter is spun by rolling a stick attached to a rotor. The spinning creates lift, and the toy flies when released.[414]The Jin dynasty philosopher and politician Ge Hong's book the Baopuzi (Master Who Embraces Simplicity), written around 317, describes the apocryphal use of a possible rotor in aircraft: "Some have made flying cars (feiche) with wood from the inner part of the jujube tree, using ox-leather (straps) fastened to returning blades so as to set the machine in motion." British scientist and sinologist Joseph Needham concludes that this is a description of a helicopter top, because "'returning (or revolving) blades' can hardly mean anything else, especially in close association with a belt or strap."[415] The Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci designed a machine known as an "aerial screw" with a rotor based on a water screw. The Russian polymath Mikhail Lomonosovdeveloped a rotor based on the Chinese toy. The French naturalist Christian de Launoy constructed his rotor out of turkey feathers.[414] The English aerospace engineer and inventor Sir George Cayley, inspired by the Chinese top in his childhood, created multiple vertical flight machines with rotors made of tin sheets.[414] French engineer and inventor Alphonse Pénaud would later develop coaxial rotor model helicopter toys in 1870, powered by rubber bands. One of these toys, given as a gift by their father, would inspire the American inventors the Wright brothers to pursue the dream of modern flight.[416]
• Hell money: Hell money is a form of joss paper printed to resemble fake legal tender bank notes. The notes are not an official form of recognized currencyor legal tender since their sole intended purpose is to be offered as burnt offerings to the deceased as a superstitious solution to resolve their ancestors financial problems. This custom has been practiced by the modern Chinese and across East Asia since the late 19th century.[417][418]
• Hill censer: The hill censer, a vessel used for burning incense, dates to the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). The censers are shaped like mountains and were used for religious rituals. The shape of the hill censer acts as a visual aid for envisioning the sacred mountains that were said to have been inhabited by Taoist immortals.[419] Hill censers were originally designed for Taoist rituals, but were later used by Chinese Buddhists.[420] Hill censers often include carvings of wilds animals and birds. Some censers depict waves at the foundation of the vessel, said to be the waves of the East China Sea.[421] A hole at the top of the censer releases the smoke of the incense.[421]
• Horse collar: A significant improvement of the ancient breast harness was the horse collar. The horse collar was depicted in a Northern Wei (386–534) mural at Dunhuang, China, dated 477–499; the latter artwork does not feature the essential collar cushion behind the cross bar, though, while a later Tang Dynasty (618–907) mural of about 851 accurately displays the cushioned collar behind the cross bar.[422][423] An earlier painting of the Sui Dynasty (581–618) accurately depicted the horse collar as it is seen today, yet the illustration shows its use on a camel instead of a horse.[424]
• Horse harness, ("trace" or "breast"): Throughout the ancient world, the 'throat-and-girth' harness was used for harnessing horses that pulled carts; this greatly limited a horse's ability to exert itself as it was constantly choked at the neck.[425] A painting on a lacquerware box from the State of Chu, dated to the 4th century BC, shows the first known use of a yoke placed across a horses's chest, with traces connecting to the chariot shaft.[426] The hard yoke across the horse's chest was gradually replaced by a breast strap, which was often depicted in carved reliefs and stamped bricks of tombs from the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD).[427] Eventually, the horse collar was invented in China, at least by the 5th century.[422][428]
• Hot pot: The Chinese hot pot has a history of more than 1,000 years.[429] Hot pot originated during the Chinese Jin Dynasty where the main ingredient was meat, usually beef, mutton or horse. It then spread to Southern China during the Song Dynasty and was further established during the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty.[429]
• Hygrometer: Prototype hygrometers were devised and developed in the hills during the Western Han dynasty in Ancient China to elucidate mechanisms of long-range meteorological fluctuations.[430] The Chinese used a bar of charcoal and a lump of earth: its dry weight was taken and then compared with its damp weight after being exposed in the air. The differences in weight was used to tally the humidity level. Other techniques were applied using mass to measure humidity such as when the air was dry, the bar of charcoal would be light while the air was humid, the bar of charcoal would be heavy. By hanging a lump of earth and a bar of charcoal on the two ends of a staff separately and adding a fixated lifting string on the middle point to make the staff horizontal in dry air, an ancient hygrometer was made.[431][432]

I[edit]

A replica of an ancient Chinese stick incense clock

A Song painting by Ma Lin, dated 1246, using India ink on silk

• Incense: According to David Michael Stoddart, "the earliest recorded use of incense comes from the Chinese who burned various herbs and plant products."[433] Sandalwood, casia, styrax, and cinnamon were used by the Chinese.[433]
• Incense clocks: Incense clocks were Chinese timekeeping devices that appeared during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and spread to neighboring East Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. In addition to water, mechanical, and candle clocks, incense clocks were used in Asia, and were fashioned in several different forms.[434] Incense clocks were first used in China around the 6th century spread to Japan as one survives in the Shōsōin.[435] Although popularly associated with China the incense clock is believed by some to have originated in India, at least in its fundamental form, if not function.[436][437]
• India ink: Although named after carbonaceous pigment materials originating from India, Indian ink first appeared in China; some scholars say it was made as far back as the 3rd millennium BC, while others state it was perhaps not invented until the Wei Dynasty (220–265 AD).[438][439][440][441]
• Inkstone: The inkstone is a stone mortar used in Chinese calligraphy for grinding and mixing ink. Other than stone, inkstones are also manufactured from clay, bronze, iron, and porcelain. The device evolved from a rubbing tool used for rubbing dyes dating around 6000 to 7000 years ago.[442] The earliest excavated inkstone is dated from the 3rd century BC, and was discovered in a tomb located in modern Yunmeng, Hubei. Usage of the inkstone was popularized during the Han Dynasty.[443]
• Inoculation, treatment of smallpox: The British scientist, sinologist, and historian Joseph Needham states that a case of inoculation for smallpox may have existed in the late 10th century during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), yet they rely on a book Zhongdou xinfa (種痘心法) written in 1808 by Zhu Yiliang for this evidence.[444] Wan Quan (1499–1582) wrote the first clear reference to smallpox inoculation in his Douzhen xinfa (痘疹心法) of 1549.[445] The process of inoculation was also vividly described by Yu Chang in his Yuyi cao (寓意草), or Notes on My Judgment published in 1643, and Zhang Yan in his Zhongdou xinshu (種痘新書), or New book on smallpox inoculation in 1741. As written by Yu Tianchi in his Shadou jijie (痧痘集解) of 1727, which was based on Wang Zhangren's Douzhen jinjing lu (痘疹金鏡錄) of 1579, the technique of inoculation to avoid smallpox was not widespread in China until the reign of the Longqing Emperor (r. 1567 – 1572) during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).[445]
• Irrigation systems: In the modern Sichuan region belonging to the State of Qin of ancient China, the Dujiangyan Irrigation System devised by the Qin Chinese hydrologist and irrigation engineer Li Bing was built in 256 BCE to irrigate a vast area of farmland that today still supplies water.[446] By the 2nd century AD, during the Han Dynasty, the Chinese also used chain pumps that lifted water from a lower elevation to higher one.[447] These were powered by manual foot pedal, hydraulic waterwheels, or rotating mechanical wheels pulled by oxen.[448] The water was used for public works of providing water for urban residential quarters and palace gardens, but mostly for irrigation of farmland canals and channels in the fields.[449]

J[edit]

 

[Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA]

J[edit]

• Jacob's staff: The Song Dynasty (960–1279) scholar and politician Shen Kuo (1031–1095), an antiquarian who pursued studies of archaeological finds, unearthed an ancient crossbow-like mechanism from a garden in Jiangsu which had on its stock a graduated sighting scale in minute measurements.[450] He wrote that while viewing the whole of a mountain, the distance on the instrument was long, but while viewing a small part of the mountainside the distance was short due to the device's cross piece that had to be pushed further away from the observer's eye, with the graduation starting on the further end.[450] He wrote that if one placed an arrow on the device and looked past its end, the degree of the mountain could be measured and thus its height could be calculated.[450] Shen wrote that this was similar to mathematicians who used right-angled triangles to measure height.[450] British scientist, sinologist, and historian Joseph Needham writes that what Shen had discovered was Jacob's staff, asurveying tool which was not known in Europe until the medieval French Jewish mathematician Levi ben Gerson (1288–1344) described it in 1321.[451]

A jade burial suit from the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), at theMuseum of Chinese History, Beijing

Two-masted Chinese junk from theTiangong Kaiwu published by Song Yingxing, 1637

• Jade burial suit: Burial suits made of jade existed in China during the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). Confirming ancient records about Han royalty and nobility buried in jade burial suits, archaeologists discovered in June 1968 the tombs and jade burial suits of Prince Liu Sheng (d. 113 BC) and his wife Dou Wan in Hebei province.[452] Liu's suit, in twelve flexible sections, comprised 2,690 square pieces of green jade with holes punctured in the four corners of each piece so that they could be sewn together with gold thread.[453] The total weight of the gold thread used in his suit was 1,110 g (39 oz).[454] Princess Dou Wan's suit had 2,156 pieces of jade stitched together with 703 g (24.7 oz) of gold thread.[454] Although jade burial outer wears and head masks appear in tombs of the early Han Dynasty, burial suits did not appear until the reign of Emperor Wen of Han (r. 180–157 BC), with the earliest being found in the Shizishan site. A total of 22 Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD) and 27 Eastern Han (25–220 AD) complete and partial jade burial suits were uncovered between 1954 and 1996. They are found mainly in Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Henan, as well as at Yangjiawan,Dongyuan, Guangzhou, Mawangdui, Mianyang and Shizhaishan. The jade burial suit gradually disappeared when it was forbidden in 222 by Emperor Wen of Wei.[455]
• Junk (ship): The Chinese junk, derived from the Portuguese term junco (which in turn was adapted from the Javanese djongmeaning "ship"),[456] was a ship design unique to China, although many other ship types in China (such as the towered lou chuan) preceded it.[457][458] Its origins could be seen in the latter half of the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), when ship designs began to have square-ended bows and sterns with flat bottom hulls.[459] Unlike the earliest shipbuilding traditions of the Western world and South Asia, the junk had a (flat or slightly rounded) carvel-shaped hull which lacked a keel and sternpost (necessitating block and tackle or socket-and-jaw attachment of the Chinese rudder).[460] Since there is no keel in the design, solid transverse bulkheads take the place of structural ribs.[461] There are many theories about the evolution of the junk. One suggests that it developed from the double canoe, another claims that the bamboo raft used by Taiwanese aboriginals was the source of the junk.[462] Records by Western travelers in China during the Song Dynasty mention that junks could support 130 sailors. The size of junks grew during the Ming Dynasty. By the 14th century, junks could carry 2,000 tons. Archaeological evidence of the large size of the junk has been proven by a sunken junk discovered in 1973 near the coast of Southeastern China.[463]

K[edit]

• Kang bed-stove: Kang bed stoves were traditional long (2 metres or more) heated bed floors for general living, working, entertaining and sleeping used in northern part of China, where there is cold climate in winter. It is made of bricks or other forms of fired clay and more recently of concrete in some locations.The kang is said to be derived from the concept of a heated bed floor called a huoqiang found in China in the Neolithic period, according to analysis of archeological excavations of building remains in Banpo Xi'an. However, archeological sites in Shenyang, Liaoning, show humans using the heated bed floor as early as 7,200 years ago.[464][465] Literary evidence from the Shui Jing Zhu also gives evidence of heated floors by the Northern Wei Dynasty, though it was not explicitly named a dikang:[466]
• Keel: The adjustable centerboard keel traces its roots to the medieval Chinese Song dynasty. Many Song Chinese junk ships had a ballasted and bilge keel that consisted of wooden beams bound together with iron hoops. Maritime technology and the technological know-how allowed Song dynasty ships to be used in naval warfare between the Southern Song Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, and the Mongols.[467][468][469]
• Kite: As written in the Mozi, the Zhou Dynasty philosopher, carpenter, and structural engineer Lu Ban (fl. 5th century BC) from the State of Lu created a wooden bird that remained flying in the air for three days, essentially a kite; there is written evidence that kites were used as rescue signals when the city of Nanjing was besieged by Hou Jing (died 552) during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang (r. 502–549), while similar accounts of kites used for military signalling are found in the Tang (618–907) and Jin (1115–1234) dynasties; kite flying as a pastime can be seen in painted murals of Dunhuang dating to theNorthern Wei (386–534) period, while descriptions of flying kites as a pastime have been found in Song (960–1279) and Ming (1368–1644) texts.[470][471]

L[edit]


L[edit]

Lamian being stretched in a Lanzhou-style restaurant inDongchong, Guangdong

The 'self-tripped trespass land mine', from the Huolongjing, 14th century

A pair of Eastern Han Dynasty(25–220 AD) tomb statuettes playing the game liubo

The Chinese game of majiang (麻將), commonly referred to asmahjong in English, has been played since at least the 19th century and has its roots in earlier Chinese card games

Example of a Chinese printed map in a gazetteer, showing Fengshan County of Taiwan Prefecture, published in 1696; the first known printed map from China comes from a Song Dynasty (960–1279) encyclopedia of the 12th century

Wooden statues of tomb guardians from the Tang Dynasty (618–907); mechanical-driven wooden statues served as cup-bearers, wine-pourers, and others in this age

A cross section of a Chinese hall, from the Yingzao Fashiarchitectural treatise published by Li Jie in 1103, during the Song Dynasty (960–1279); this book explicitly laid out an eight-graded modular system of architecture for timber halls and pavilions of different sizes

A multistage rocket from the 14th-century military manuscriptHuolongjing, Ming Dynasty

An illustration of a handheld portable multiple rocket launcheras depicted in the 11th century book Wujing Zongyao of the Song Dynasty. The launcher is constructed using basketry.

A 'fire dragon rising out of the water' (huo long chu shui) multistage rocket from theHuolongjing, it may be regarded as an ancestor to the modern exocet.

A naval mine from theHuolongjing, mid-14th century

A page from The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, commented on by Liu Hui in 263

Chinese playing card dated c. 1400 AD, Ming Dynasty

Sorry bros......Too much to paste ....wikipedia is free to check if anyone interested in...

 

[TruthSeeker]

What are the most important inventions of the 20th and 21st centuries that were made by China-based inventors?

 

[war&peace]

What are the most important inventions of the 20th and 21st centuries that were made by China-based inventors?

Most of the 21st century inventions are based on Chinese and Medieval Islamic inventions and discoveries. I know that may hurt some egos of arrogant racists but the truth is truth.

 

[Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA]

What are the most important inventions of the 20th and 21st centuries that were made by China-based inventors?

20th century was the shy period for china invention,chinese people were strugling in wars and chaos from 1840 to 1976,opinium war,2rd opinium.war,uk and france occupation beijing war,tai ping tian guo rebellion war,anti russian invasion war in xinjiang,1st sino-jap war, eight countries occupation beijing war, republic of.china rebellons war,jap invaion in shandomg during WWI,KMT north advancing war,1st civilbwar of republic of china,jap occupation of machuria,comprehnesive sino_jap war, korea war.......chaos great leap of 1959,1961 big chaos,chaos cultrual revolution of 1966 to 1976.....

but still.some chinese scientists made extraoridnary explorations under such difficult conditions......

China's Tu Youyou wins Nobel Prize in Medicine

A screen shows the 2015 Nobel laureates for Physiology or Medicine including China's Tu Youyou, Japan's Satoshi Omura and Irish-born William Campbell (R to L) at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2015. [Xinhua]
Eighty-five-year-old Chinese pharmacologist Tu Youyou became China's first medicine Nobel laureate when it was announced she was one of three scientists awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in developing effective drugs against parasitic diseases.

William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura were recognized for their novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites.

While Tu was honored for developing Artemisinin, a drug therapy for malaria that has saved millions of lives across the globe, especially in the developing world, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute disclosed on its website on Monday.

Tu, a Chinese trained pharmacologist and a researcher at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing, would like to go to Oslo, Norway in December to receive her award in person, according to Cao Hongxin, the science and technology department head of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and former director of the academy.

"She sounded calm and said she has received lots of congratulatory calls," Cao told China Daily on Monday after he telephoned Tu to congratulate her.

"It's an overdue honor for Tu and the world's recognition of TCM," he said.

Tu was honored for her work in isolating the active ingredient from the plant Artemisia apiacea Hance that protects against the malaria parasite and developing an extraction method for its therapeutic use.

"It was inspired by the ancient TCM classic Manual of Clinical Practice and Emergency Remedies by TCM master Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 317- 340)," Cao said.

The book says coldly squeezed southernwood juice could treat malaria.

Her great findings spearheaded the exploration for the modernization of TCM as well, he added.

In 1969, Tu started to chair a government project aimed at eradicating malaria.

"The task I took on was to conduct research for a new drug from traditional Chinese herbal medicine to treat malaria. Back then, we needed a totally new structured antimalarial to deal with resistance to the existing drugs. So with that background, I accepted the task assigned by the government," Tu said in an earlier report by China Radio International.

Tu and her colleagues experimented with 380 extracts in 2,000 candidate recipes before they finally succeeded in obtaining the pure substance qinghaosu, later known as artemisinin, which became the standard regimen for malaria in the World Health Organization's catalog of essential medicines.

"Your discovery of artemisinin not only explored a new research direction for the treatment of malaria - which has significant scientific meaning - it also directly benefited tens of thousands of people. Your winning the Nobel Prize is the pride of the whole Chinese science community, which will inspire more Chinese scientists," said Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a congratulatory letter sent to Tu on Monday night.

In 2011, Tu was awarded the Lasker Debakey Clinical Medical Research Award, commonly referred to as "America's Nobel Prize".

Known as a herald of the Nobel, many expected Tu to win the Noble that year.

"The prize finally came," Cao said, "more than 40 years after her findings. But back then, China was not as open as it is today and she had no opportunities to publish her findings in international science journals."

"Tu's breakthrough in winning the Nobel Prize in a natural science is the pride of the whole nation and the whole Chinese scientific community," said Zhou Dejin, spokesman of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China's national research body that comprises of more than one hundred research institutes, universities and research branches.

"The achievement of discovering artemisinin was made in 1970s, but it only received International recognition in later years, which suggests that we might have more achievements that have reached the Nobel Prize level that have not been recognized," Zhou said.

One example he gave was the synthesis of crystalline bovine insulin, which was developed by Chinese scientists in the 1960s.

New discoveries such as neutrino oscillation and nano energy are all believed to be promising contenders.

"The modern sciences originated in the Western countries, but Chinese scientists have been exploring with great efforts since we opened our door to the outside world in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Although some of our achievements have not been recognized by the Nobel Assembly, we do not feel that we are really that far behind," Zhou said.

"Now we have Tu winning the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, we should be more confident that Chinese scientists will make more high-level breakthroughs in the future," he said.

 

[war&peace]

Which of the 20th and 21st century interventions could have been made without the Chinese invention called "paper"... regardless of ebooks and computers every scientist alive today reads paper based books and it seems that nothing is going to change this even in the near future. The science today stands on the cumulative work of all the mankind and the prominent civilisations and cultures but our western friends want us to believe the science today is only their property and nobody else contributed to it.

 

[Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA]

basically one war after another one chaos after another from 1840 to 1976 like Iraq, Afghanistan,Lybia and Syria of today,you can not ask Syrians to invent stuffs when they are in such sad conditionsthat is why sovereignityis so important!

sanctions on.china
China (by EU and US), arms embargo, enacted in response to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.[32]

• European Union arms embargo on the People's Republic of China.

 

[war&peace]

basically one war after another one chaos after another from 1840 to 1976 like Iraq, Afghanistan,Lybia and Syria of today,you can not ask Syrians to invent stuffs when they are in such sad conditionsthat is why sovereignityis so important!

sanctions on.china
China (by EU and US), arms embargo, enacted in response to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.[32]

• European Union arms embargo on the People's Republic of China.

Don't worry mate China is rising and next century belongs to Asia and that's making them paranoid. Their civilisation of degraded debauchery is under threat. Enough of the chaos they have caused now it is the time to put to an end.

 

[Cybernetics]

I find the drilling, distribution, utilization of natural gas in ancient China to be fascinating.

"The First Oil Wells. The Chinese have used oil and gas for many centuries. There is no record of when Chinese began using natural gas, but clearly in Szechuan the local people were drilling down hundreds of feet into the earth to get natural gas and brine before the start of the Han Dynasty, before 400 B.C. The Chinese used bamboo pipelines to carry natural gas and mix it with air to yield a usable source of fuel for fires. The initial discovery of natural gas may have come as a serendipitous byproduct of the search for brine and salt, and the natural gas fires were certainly used on brine taken from wells to evaporate the water and recover salt. Natural gas wells were called fire wells (火井).

By the first century B.C., the technology of well-drilling had advanced, and Chinese engineers were able to dig down over 800 feet, and commonly did so as part of a brine industry in Szechuan.

In ancient times, when people found oil underground or seeping up to the surface, they called it Ruoshui (弱水) or Shiqi (石漆) or Shi-ji-shui (石脂水) or Shi-nau-yo (石腦油). During the Song dynasty a scientist named Shen Kua reviewed the various terms used to describe petroleum and gave it the name Shi-yo (stone oil, 石油). In 1090 Shen Kua wrote a book called Dream Pool Essays in which he predicted that fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas would become widely used for energy. Early Chinese uses for oil included weaponry, medicine, lubricants, ink, and lighting. Shen Kua was farsighted in his predictions about the worldwide use of oil.

Edwin Drake is often mentioned for digging a modern oil well in Pennsylvania in 1859, starting a boom in the modern petrochemical and mining industries, but people had been drilling oil wells in China for over two thousand years before him."
http://www.historylines.net/history/chinese/oil_well.html

Churn Drill

Churn drills were invented as early as 221 BC in Qin Dynasty China, capable of reaching a depth of 1500 m. Churn drills in ancient China were built of wood and labor-intensive, but were able to go through solid rock. The churn drill was transmitted to Europe during the 12th century. A churn drill using steam power, based on "the ancient Chinese method of lifting and dropping a rod tipped with a bit," was first built in 1835 by Isaac Singer in the United States, according to The History of Grinding. In America, they were common in the Tri-State areas during the lead and zinc mining in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churn_drill

At regular intervals in the drilling, the crushed rock and mud at the bottom of the hole needed to be removed. The drill stem would be pulled from the hole using a large wheel, somewhat similar in appearance to that on a modern flexible cable down hole tool truck. A length of hollow bamboo with a leather foot valve would then be lowered to the bottom of the hole. When the tube was lifted, the weight of the mud inside would keep the valve closed, and the contents could be brought to the surface. Drilling would then recommence.

Figure 5. A series of diagrams showing the steps taken to repair a well bore cave in. The first four steps establish the top and bottom depths of the caved in zone; in the fifth step straw is inserted ~ 1m below the zone, where it expands as it soaks up water and plugs the hole; in step six a material is tamped down above the straw to plug the hole more securely; in step seven repair cement (tong oil + lime) is forced into the cave in zone; finally in step 8 a guided bit drills down through the centre of the repaired zone to reopen the well bore.

The drilling method on its own is impressive, especially when considering that the rest of the world had nothing comparable in the earlier centuries. But even more impressive are all the techniques the Sichuan drillers developed to overcome common drilling problems – cave ins, lost tools, deviated wells, and so on (figures 5 & 6). A huge variety of tools and techniques evolved to handle well repair issues (figure 7). Many different drill bits were also developed, with different sizes, shapes and compositions, to deal with the different rock types encountered, and the many different drilling requirements. For example, opening the hole at the wellhead required a large heavy bit (3m long, 150-250 Kg) called the “Fish Tail” (figure 8); the “Silver Ingot” drilled the well bore rapidly, but roughly; the “Horseshoe” bit drilled slowly, but achieved round, smooth, high quality well bores. Hollow logs were used in the near surface as casing.

Figure 8. Diagram showing the "Fish Tail" drill bit, a long and very heavy bit used to create the initial large diameter hole at the wellhead.
A major breakthrough was achieved around 1050 AD, allowing deeper wells, when solid bamboo pipe was replaced by thin, light, flexible bamboo “cable” (figure 9). This dramatically lowered the weight that needed to be lifted from the surface, a weight that increased with the depth being drilled. By the 1700s Sichuan wells were typically in the range of 300 – 400m deep, and in 1835 the Shenghai Well was the first well in the world to exceed 1,000 metres of depth. In comparison, the deepest wells in the U.S. at that time were about 500m deep. The Sichuan salt producing industry was centred around Zigong, and early photographs show hundreds of producing derricks (“heaven carts”; figure 10), salt stove operations, and the Fuxi River jammed with salt trading boats (figure 11). Brine and natural gas were transported through 100s of kilometres of bamboo pipeline (figure 12).


Figure 12. Gravity driven bamboo pipelines. Note water-lifting system on right.
https://csegrecorder.com/articles/view/ancient-chinese-drilling

Gas Lighting
Early lighting fuels consisted of olive oil, beeswax, fish oil, whale oil, sesame oil, nut oil, and similar substances. These were the most commonly used fuels until the late 18th century. Chinese records dating back 1,700 years note the use of natural gas in the home for light and heat via bamboo pipes to the dwellings. The ancient Chinese of the Spring and Autumn period made the first practical use of natural gas for lighting purposes around 500 B.C. where they used bamboo pipelines to transport and carry both brine and natural gas for many miles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_lighting