Assignment 2: Ancient Chinese Contributions
By
HUM 111
Professor Michael Briere
May 15, 2012

Inventions, Innovations, and other Contributions
From Ancient China Although Chinese culture is replete with lists of significant works or achievements such as: compass, papermaking, iron technology (cast iron), silk, first water powered blast furnace, gunpowder, medicine, paper money and certificates of deposit, printing, helicopter rotor and propeller, etc.
Among, undoubtedly, many inventions, four stand out above others that I believe and nominate for are: (1) Iron technology (cast iron), (2) papermaking/currency, (3) guns and gunpowder, (4) medicine, all of which are still utilized by modern humanity. The first nominate greatest Chinese invention is the development of iron and steel. The development of iron and steel led to other advance. In the 5th century BC during the Zho Dynasty (1122-256BC), the Chinese had developed the blast furnace to obtain cast iron from iron ore. The Chinese had access to large amount of clay; clay was the most important ingredient in making blast furnace. The Chinese also figured out that by adding a substance the called “black earth” they could lower the melting point of iron; today iron and steel are used in many things from cars to buildings.
The second nominate and the most important Chinese contributions to the modern world are papermaking. The earliest known piece of paper with writing on it was discovered near the 2nd century B.C, some say about 150 B.C. Although it is recorded that the Han Dynasty (202 BC –AD 220) court eunuch Cai Lun (b.c. 50-AD 121) invented the pulp papermaking process and established the use of new raw materials used in making paper, ancient padding and wrapping paper artifacts dating to the 2nd century BC have been found in China. In the papermaking process established by Cai Lun in the 105, a boiled mixture of mulberry tree bark, hemp, old linens, and fish nests 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, stronger paper”.
Pager money invented at the end of the eight or beginning of the ninth century AD by the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) that followed was the first government to issue the paper currency. It original name was “flying money” because it was so light and could blow out of one’s hand. Paper caused significant cultural changes worldwide, allowing cheaper exchange of information in the form of letters, newspapers and books for the first time. In 1844, two (2) inventors had invented the machine and process for pulping wood for the use in paper making.
Third, gunpowder was invented by Chinese alchemist seeking an elixir of immortality. They began to recognize the characteristics of saltpeter and sulfur, two ingredients essentials for gunpowder. Between 300-650 AD, several recipes were written about inflammable mixtures. Some historians date the invention of gunpowder at 850 AD when a Taoist book warned of three specific elixir formulas as too dangerous to experiment. Around 1040 Ad Tseng Kung- Liang published a true gunpowder formula for the first time in history. Explosive gunpowder was definitely used in the beginning of the thirteen century and this powder was not explosive but rather burned with a sudden combustion and was used in flame-throwers. Gun powder wasn’t designed first for war uses, but as elixir for immortality. Unfortunately for the Chinese, the only thing that gun powder did was explode. The invention of this made wars less gruesome and painful. Instead of dying slowly by a fatal sword wound, a shot takes toll immediately. The invention of gunpowder had very far reaching ramification. Throughout history, it is clear that countries that had weapons and used gunpowder were able to dominate during war times. Just having weapons that were used gun powder was enough of a threat to scared off potential enemies.
The fourth nominate Chinese invention are medicine. Chinese medicine has also contributed greatly to the world. Acupuncture and massage treatments from Chinese medicine are becoming more and more recognized by the world. Chinese medicine is representative of the scientific thinking system of China. According to Chinese medicine, the human body is a unification of the harmony of the two poles of yin and yang. Health means the balance and harmony of yin and yang. It also discovered the dialectical connections between yin, yang, and the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), and the theory of what each produces and how it is overcome by the others. Different parts of the human body are also connected with the skin, hair and organs. So, the way of treating diseases in Chinese medicine is not treating the head when the head hurts, or the feet when the feet ache. Instead, in order to get a comprehensive idea it uses four methods of diagnosis: "observation of the patient's complexion, expression, movements, tongue, etc.; auscultation and olfaction; interrogation; and pulse-feeling and palpation". This way of dialectical treatment and full-body adjustment illustrates the principle of harmony between man and nature in Chinese culture. One invention from ancient Chinese that I believe we can’t live without is toilet paper. As noted above, paper was an early invention of China. One of the first recorded of using hygienic paper was during the Sui Dynasty in 589. In 851 and Arab traveler reported that the Chinese used paper in place of water to cleanse themselves. In colonial time in America (late 1700’s) it was still common to use corn-cobs or leaves. Today with the new technology, we have so many kinds of toilet papers such as ultra strong, ultra soft, double and even triple sheets, etc. I can’t imagine going back time and use corn-cobs or leaves because it will not clean at all and definitely hurts for sure. Nevertheless, we can go green on a lot of thing, except this “toilet paper”. The four inventions were regarded as the most important Chinese achievements in science and technology, simply because they had a prominent position in the exchanges between the East and the West and acted as a powerful dynamic in the development of capitalism in Europe. As a matter of fact, ancient Chinese scored much more than four major inventions: in farming, machinery, astronomy, compass, mathematics, silks, wine making, etc. The numerous inventions and discoveries greatly advanced China’s productive forces and social life. Many are at least as important as the four inventions, and some are even greater than the four.

References and website
Four great inventions of Ancient China-http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/focus/inventions
Great Chinese Inventions – http://www.minesota-china.com/ducation/emscitech/invention
List of Chinese inventions from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Humanities: Culture, Continuity and Change-Volume 1-2011 Custom Edition, Chapter 7
Toilet paper -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_paper