The advancements of ancient China have had one of the largest impacts on the world. One of these advancements still used constantly throughout the world today is gunpowder. In ancient China, an alchemist was a man whom spent his life trying to discover the secret of immortality through experimentations involving the elements (Echoes from the Past 355). It was during one of such experiments that Sun Si Miao, a renowned alchemist, stumbled upon gunpowder (Echoes from the Past 356). The newly discovered gunpowder was first applied to scaring off wild animals (Echoes from the Past 356).
Ancient Civilizations and Their Inventions Ancient cultures have shaped who we are today. A lot of the inventions they created thousands of years ago we still use today in our everyday lives. By being aware of the lives and the creations of our ancestors, we can better understand our place in the world. What we would do without these inventions is unimaginable. Three of the major ancient civilizations that created important inventions are the Sumerians, the Chinese, and the Egyptians.
Chinese Inventions Introduction  Ancient Chinese were great inventors  Invented wheelbarrow, seismoscope, paper, printing, umbrellas, kites, fishing reels, mechanical clocks, waterwheels, gunpowder & fireworks  Also found a way to better irrigate their crops  Made the great “Four Great Inventions,” the compass, gunpowder, papermaking & printing The Inventions Compass  Chinese discovered that a lodestone (magnetic stone) is attracted to iron  Used that theory to make the first compass  Made it in many different forms  Imprecise  One of the forms was if you attach a lodestone to a wooden stone and float it in the water, the fish points south  Invented in China around AD1-100  At first used as a planning aid to ensure new houses faced in correct direction  The correct direction was one in harmony with nature  Later used to plot courses on long sea voyages Wheelbarrow  First used to carry loads for farming  Did not look like modern day one, but it made moving loads easier  Invented in AD100  Then, they invented a model with large center wheel  Could bear great weights  Became a form of transport  Pushed by muscle power  The model for transport was called a lu che barrow  For rich families Seismometer  A device for recording earthquakes & tremors  China is a land full of earthquakes & a scientist named Zhang Heng invented the seismometer  It was a pot with artificial dragon’s attached to it  On the bottom were frogs with mouths wide open  When there was earthquakes, balls from the dragon’s mouth fell into the frog’s mouth  The balls fell from the dragons facing the direction of where the
was the first to have left behind written records and solid archaeological evidence of its existence. Through the Shang’s written records Keightley asserts that for the first time, one can describe in confidence the Chinese civilization. Aspects such as their political system, art forms, DIs (high Gods), religious practices, Ancestors, Tablet & Temples, rituals of their society, diet & agriculture and even warfare could now be learned through written records known as oracle-bone inscriptions and Bronze inscriptions. The oracle-bone inscriptions as described by Keightley were made on the back of a turtle shell or cattle scapula. The process first started by applying intense heat to hollows bored into the shell or scapula.
The main portion of the wall as we know it was started by the Ming emperors starting in the 14th century CE. Using bricks and stone, the new wall was stronger than prior structures that were made of wood and packed dirt. (Rosenberg) Although numerous other civilizations had built walled cities, barriers and other fortifications, The Great Wall is easily the most recognizable and impressive example of a fortification. The massive structure snakes across the Chinese landscape, passing through nine cities and provinces. The construction of The Great Wall was one of the crowning achievements of the ancient Chinese.
Fireworks provide the public with spectacular and mesmerizing explosions that leave the audience in awe, but how do they work? The art of fireworks first originated in ancient China, where the very first firework or firecracker were bamboo shoots filled with gun powder. They were exploded at the start of a new year to scare away evil spirits. Today, modern fireworks are still used in celebrations to mark special occasions. However, throughout the years the mechanics of how fireworks are made slightly became more advanced.
Ancient Chinese have come up with a lot of inventions and contributions over time that we still use today’s society. Many of these inventions and contributions have deemed to be very useful and have made a difference in a way we make, run and use things today. Some of the inventions and contributions that they came up with is row planting, which was invented around the 6th century. Row planting allowed crops to grow faster and stronger. It also facilitates more efficient planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting.
INTRODUCTION 1 As the world's oldest continuos civilisation, the Chinese can be justly proud of their achievements. Early creation of a written language, development of elaborate techniques of silk - weaving, wet rice cultivation, invention of the compass and gun powder are but a few of the more outstanding of these accomplishments. For some 3000 years, China has been one of the main centres of the world. Rivalled for sheer power and sophisticated living only by the Roman imperial colossus, China's civilisation exerted political and cultural influence throughout one of the few heavily populated regions of the world at the beginning of the Christian era.. In subsequent centuries new empires rose and fell in many parts of the globe, while the nature of civilisation underwent successive changes.
Confucianism is an influential philosophical and teaching system that originated in China. The influence of Confucianism, however, goes beyond China and reaches the border of many East Asian countries, namely Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Among all the characteristics of Confucianism, the fact that its influence can cast a shadow upon different countries and that we can still see the features of Confucianism in modern-day society, 2400 years after the death of Confucius, are the most impressive. This paper aims to elaborate more deeply about the regional impact of Confucianism as well as how it still plays a big role in modern Chinese society. Japan adopted Confucianism in the 6th century (Ping & Lili, 2010), and it has developed in Japan since then.
Ancient Chinese Seismometer A seismometer -- an earthquake detector, also called a seismograph -- was invented in 132 A.D., by Chang Heng, a brilliant mathematician and scientist in the Han Dynasty of China. The ancient Chinese believed seismic events, with their death and destruction, were important signs from heaven. So it was important to the Chinese leaders to be alerted to earthquakes occurring anywhere in the kingdom. A correct call about an earthquake occurring won a person immortal fame, as in Chang Heng’s case. A wrong call about an earthquake resulted in disgrace and punishment.