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( List of Chinese inventions)
China has been the source of some of the world's most significant inventions, including the Four Great Inventions of ancient China paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing (both woodblock and movable type). The list below contains these and other inventions which first appeared in China. It does not include foreign-born technologies which the Chinese cultural realm acquired through contact, such as the windmill from the Islamic Middle East or the telescope from Early modern Europe. It also does not include technologies which were originally invented elsewhere but were later invented separately by the Chinese in their own right, such as the chain pump and odometer. Since there is no evidence that the Chinese were the first to invent writing or the calendar, Chinese inventions such as Chinese writing and the Chinese calendar do not need to be mentioned or described. The same may be applied to articles like Chinese opera, Chinese mathematics, and Chinese architecture. This is also not a list of Chinese discoveries of natural phenomena which can be found in the human body, other organisms, the environment of the world, and immediate solar system. The Chinese invented original technologies involving mechanics, hydraulics, and mathematics applied to horology, metallurgy, astronomy, agriculture, engineering, music theory, craftsmanship, nautics, and warfare. By the Warring States Period (403–221 BC), the Chinese 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 – 220 AD). The rise of a sophisticated economic system in China gave birth to inventions such as the use of paper money during the Song Dynasty (960–1279). The invention of gunpowder by at least the 10th century led to an array of unique 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 and Egypt.[1][2][3] In regards to 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 created 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 sometime around 7000 BC.[4] Some of the first inventions of Neolithic, pre-historic 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 the potter's wheel, 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.[5][6] 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 plow 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).[7] With later inventions such as the multiple-tube seed drill and heavy moldboard iron plow, China's agricultural output could sustain a much larger population. The following is a list of the Four Great Inventions of ancient China—as designated by the late Joseph Needham (1900–1995)—in the chronological order that they were established in China.
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List of Chinese inventions Subcategories
List of Chinese inventions Articles
The Raw Diet Lifestyle - For You and Your Pets by Michael Schmidt
It is no secret the Raw food diet lifestyle is nothing new. It is a lifestyle that has been around for years for both humans and our pets. The earth started with Raw food diets...we need to reform our diets to pure nutrition to feed the body. It i...
List of Good Anti Wrinkle Creams by Gargi Nath
What are wrinkles and what are your choices for good anti wrinkle creams? Wrinkles may be a sign of aging. But not all people develop such at the same point of their lives. Some people start to show the unwanted lines while they are still yo...
Holistic Health - Combinations of Antioxidants and Vitamins by Francis Adam
Various berries, including strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, are packed with major antioxidants, carotenoids, and vitamin C. These antioxidants are believed to counteract the formation of many chemical processes that contribute to the forma...
Pre Natal Yoga - The Importance of Listening to Your Body by Jill Borash
As with many things during pregnancy, listening to your body and what it is telling you when you are doing yoga is important. Pre natal yoga can be a great way to stay healthy and flexible while you are pregnant but you need to make sure that ...
The Challenge of Finding 100% Pure Skincare by Jami Goode
Today we have many choices of natural body care products including those that claim to provide 100% pure skincare. When it comes to buying products to take care of your body, it makes sense to take a holistic skincare approach. So now the problem is...
Hypnosis And Medications To Treat Phobias by Joan Shine
While hypnosis was once considered a "new-age" treatment, today, it is gaining in popularity to help overcome many things such as smoking, weight gain, and stress. In mild cases, where a person recognizes the triggers but would like help controlling ...
Holistic Health Author and Beauty Expert, Believes Blemish Free Skin Available For Everyone! by Chris Gibson
These are exciting times for all of us concerned with healthy living, the beauty of our skin, and looking our absolute best! While at first that may seem a bit of a lopsided view, when all we hear about is how unhealthy our living environments have b...
List of Carbohydrate Foods to Lose the Love Handles by Leong Tony
The list of carbohydrate foods will prove that all carbohydrates are not created equal. The selected list of 10 complex carbohydrates used in dieting can provide your body with energy, optimum nutrition, proper organ function and a healthy, attractiv...
Committed To Losing Weight by Kenneth G. Dockins
If you were committed to losing weight, here is what you would have to do: 1. Establish very tiny, uniquely small, and easily reachable fitness goals that you can actually check off each day and benefit from almost immediately. 2. Red...
Is Depression a Disease of the Body or Mind? by DavidB Smith
Clinical depression is a serious, often fatal illness that is so common that it's hard to see. Researchers estimate that more or less 20 percent of the population meets the criteria for some form of depression at any given time. And that doesn't mean...
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