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CHINA’S FOUR GREAT INVENTIONS


Four great inventions: the compass, gunpowder, paper and movable – type printing, were ancient China’s outstanding scientific and technological contributions to world civilization.

The Compass

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The world’s first compass was made in China during the Warring States Period (475 – 221 BC) by balancing a piece of lodestone carved in the shape a ladle on a smooth, flat plate and letting it spin. When it stopped, the handle was pointed to the south. After the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1127) the Chinese people connected compass with a square plate engraved with directional points, thus creating the basis for the compasses for today. China’s compass was introduced to Europe at the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century. Based on China’s compass, the Europeans made a more advanced model. After the appearance of the compass, it was used in geological prospecting, navigation, military affairs, production and daily life, and greatly promoted the development of the world’s navigational undertakings.








Gunpowder

[Rozmiar: 14373 bajtów] The Chinese people invented gunpowder in the 7th century. As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties (c. 16th century to 771 BC), Chinese discovered, through their experiments in metallurgy that charcoal burned easily. They also discovered during alchemical experiments looking for the key to immortality that sulphur and nitre have explosive properties. Afterward they found that if they mixed up the charcoal, sulphur and nitre and then lit them, they could cause strong explosions. Then, people started mixing up these materials in certain proportions. They researched and finally mastered the method of controlling the explosion; thus was gunpowder perhaps the most influential discovery of the millennium. After the invention of gunpowder, human beings suddenly had an unprecedentedly great force. At the end of Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the Song Dynasty (10th century), gunpowder began to be used in weapons. From 1225 to 1248, gunpowder and firearms were introduced to Arab countries from India, and then taken to European countries from Arab regions.[Rozmiar: 9292 bajtów]

















Paper

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> Cai Lun, who lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25 – 220), produced high quality paper using tree bark remnants of hemp, linen rags and other materials. He based his work on experiences of his predecessors, who during the Western Han Dynasty were producing paper with silk floss and plant fibre. Cai, in addition to improving on this old method, could also mass – produce his paper. The invention of Cai Lun’s papermaking technique marked the ripening of China’s papermaking technique, and meanwhile enabled the people to leave behind them the days of writing on bamboo slips and cotton cloth.

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Printing

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The invention of China’s printing technique went through two stages, blockprinting and movable – type printing. Before this the development of China’s papermaking industry and seal carving skills had prepared conditions for the invention of the movable – type printing. Block printing invented in the middle of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 – 907) had serious shortcoming. Each page of a book required the carving of a plate, and for a book of any length this took several years. If another book was to be printed, another whole set – up and procedure would have to begin. The problems involved in time, skilled engravers and material can be imagined. In the Northern Song Dynasty (960 – 1127), Bi Sheng invented the movable – type printing. He made clay types, one for each character, and then fired them for hardness. For typesetting, a square sheet of iron was prepared with a layer of resin, wax and paper ashes mixed and spread on it. The mixture was circumscribed with an iron frame. A plate was complete when the frame was full. This was heated over a fire until the mixture melted. The types were pressed down to the height of frame with a wooden board and the plate was ready for printing, these types could be used again and again. In this way it not only saved time and money, but also increased the speed of publishing. Bi Sheng’s invention brought a qualitative leap to the printing technique. Movable – type printing was introduced to Korea and Japan in the 8th century, and then to Arabia and Europe in the 12th century.

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