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China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
has been the source of many innovations, scientific discoveries and
invention An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...
s. This includes the '' Four Great Inventions'':
papermaking Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is Pulp and paper industry, made using industrial machinery, while handmade pape ...
, the
compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...
,
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
, and early printing (both woodblock and
movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable Sort (typesetting), components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric charac ...
). The list below contains these and other inventions in ancient and modern China attested by archaeological or historical evidence, including prehistoric inventions of Neolithic and early Bronze Age China. The historical region now known as China experienced a
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
involving
mechanics Mechanics () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...
,
hydraulics Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...
and
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
applied to
horology Chronometry or horology () is the science studying the measurement of time and timekeeping. Chronometry enables the establishment of standard measurements of time, which have applications in a broad range of social and scientific areas. ''Hor ...
,
metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...
,
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
,
agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
,
engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
,
music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...
, craftsmanship,
naval architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and op ...
and
warfare War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of State (polity), states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or betwe ...
. Use of the
plow A plough or (Differences between American and British spellings, US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs ...
during the
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
period Longshan culture (c. 3000–c. 2000 BC) allowed for high agricultural production yields and rise of Chinese civilization during the
Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...
(c. 1600–c. 1050 BC). Later inventions such as the multiple-tube seed drill and the heavy moldboard iron plow enabled China to sustain a much larger population through improvements in agricultural output. By the
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
(403–221 BC), inhabitants of China had advanced metallurgic technology, including the
blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...
and cupola furnace, and the
finery forge A finery forge is a forge used to produce wrought iron from pig iron by decarburization in a process called "fining" which involved liquifying cast iron in a fining hearth and decarburization, removing carbon from the molten cast iron through Redo ...
and puddling process were known by the
Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
(202 BC–AD 220). A sophisticated economic system in imperial China gave birth to inventions such as
paper money Paper money, often referred to as a note or a bill (North American English), is a type of negotiable promissory note that is payable to the bearer on demand, making it a form of currency. The main types of paper money are government notes, which ...
during the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
(960–1279). The invention of gunpowder in the mid 9th century during the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
led to an array of inventions such as the
fire lance The fire lance () was a gunpowder weapon used by lighting it on fire, and is the ancestor of modern firearms. It first appeared in 10th–12th century China and was used to great effect during the Jin-Song Wars. It began as a small pyrotechnic de ...
,
land mine A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...
,
naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...
,
hand cannon The hand cannon ( or ), also known as the gonne or handgonne, is the first true firearm and the successor of the fire lance. It is the oldest type of small arms, as well as the most mechanically simple form of metal barrel firearms. Unlike match ...
, exploding
cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...
s,
multistage rocket A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...
and rocket bombs with aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads. Differential gears were utilized in the
south-pointing chariot The south-pointing chariot (or carriage) was an ancient Chinese two-wheeled vehicle that carried a movable pointer to indicate the south, no matter how the chariot turned. Usually, the pointer took the form of a doll or figure with an outstretch ...
for terrestrial navigation by the 3rd century during the
Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...
. With the navigational aid of the 11th century compass and ability to steer at sea with the 1st century sternpost
rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...
, premodern Chinese sailors sailed as far as
East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...
. In water-powered clockworks, the premodern Chinese had used the
escapement An escapement is a mechanical linkage in mechanical watches and clocks that gives impulses to the timekeeping element and periodically releases the gear train to move forward, advancing the clock's hands. The impulse action transfers energy to t ...
mechanism since the 8th century and the endless power-transmitting
chain drive Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles. It is also used in a wide variety of machines besides vehicles. ...
in the 11th century. They also made large mechanical puppet theaters driven by waterwheels and carriage wheels and wine-serving
automaton An automaton (; : automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions. Some automata, such as bellstrikers i ...
s driven by paddle wheel boats. 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 A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...
from the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
or the
telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...
from
early modern Europe Early modern Europe, also referred to as the post-medieval period, is the period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the mid 15th century to the late 18th century. Histori ...
. It also does not include technologies developed elsewhere and later invented separately by the Chinese, such as the
odometer An odometer or odograph is an instrument used for measuring the distance traveled by a vehicle, such as a bicycle or car. The device may be electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two (electromechanical). The noun derives from ancient Gr ...
,
water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous b ...
, and chain pump. Scientific, mathematical or natural discoveries made by the Chinese, changes in minor concepts of design or style and artistic innovations do not appear on the list.


Four Great Inventions

The following is a list of the ''Four Great Inventions''—as designated by
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
(1900–1995), a British scientist, author and
sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...
known for his research on the history of Chinese science and technology.


Paper

:''This sub-section is about paper making; for the writing material first used in
ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
, see
papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...
.''
Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...
: Although it is recorded that the Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220) court eunuch
Cai Lun Cai Lun ( zh, s=蔡伦; courtesy name: Jingzhong ( zh, labels=no, t=敬仲, s=敬仲); – 121 CE), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Ts'ai Lun, was a Eunuchs in China, Chinese eunuch court official of the Eastern Han dynasty. H ...
(50 AD – AD 121) invented the pulp
papermaking Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is Pulp and paper industry, made using industrial machinery, while handmade pape ...
process and established the use of new materials used in making
paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...
, ancient padding and wrapping paper artifacts dating from the 2nd century BC have been found in China, the oldest example of pulp papermaking being a map from
Fangmatan Fangmatan () is an archeological site located near Tianshui in China's Gansu province. The site was located within the Qin state, and includes several burials dating from the Warring States period through to the early Western Han. Tomb 1 The ...
, Tianshui; 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 Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
rolled into threaded scrolls, strips of
silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...
, wet
clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian language, Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay t ...
s hardened later in a furnace, and wooden tablets.Bowman (2000), 594.Tom (1989), 99.Day & McNeil (1996), 122. 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, after a
Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...
attack. In the paper making process established by Cai in 105, a boiled mixture of
mulberry tree ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinate ...
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.


Printing

Woodblock printing Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of textile printing, printing on textiles and later on paper. Each page ...
: The earliest specimen of woodblock printing is a single-sheet '' dharani'' sutra in
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
that was printed on hemp paper between 650 and 670 AD; it was unearthed in 1974 from a Tang tomb near
Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...
. A Korean miniature ''dharani'' Buddhist
sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...
discovered in 1966, bearing extinct Chinese writing characters used only during the reign of China's only self-ruling empress,
Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was List of rulers of China#Tang dynasty, Empress of China from 660 to 705, ruling first through others and later in her own right. She ruled as queen consort , empress consort th ...
(r. 690–705), is dated no earlier than 704 and preserved in a Silla Korean temple
stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...
built-in 751. 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 The ''Diamond Sutra'' (Sanskrit: ) is a Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Buddhist sutra from the genre of ('perfection of wisdom') sutras. Translated into a variety of languages over a broad geographic range, the ''Diamond Sūtra'' is one of th ...
'', made during the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
(618–907), a long scroll, which bears the date AD 868.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 1, 151. 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.
Movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable Sort (typesetting), components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric charac ...
: The polymath scientist and official
Shen Kuo Shen Kuo (; 1031–1095) or Shen Gua, courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and Art name#China, pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁),Yao (2003), 544. was a Chinese polymath, scientist, and statesman of the Song dynasty (960� ...
(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).Gernet (1996), 335.Bowman (2000), 599.Day & McNeil (1996), 70. 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 The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
(1271–1368), who also arranged written characters by rhyme scheme on the surface of round table compartments. It was not until 1490 with the printed works of Hua Sui (1439–1513) of the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
(1368–1644) that the Chinese perfected metal movable type characters, namely
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
. The
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
(1644–1912) scholar Xu Zhiding of Tai'an,
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
developed
vitreous enamel Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by melting, fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitrification, vitreous coating. The wo ...
movable type printing in 1718.


Gunpowder

Gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
: Evidence of
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
's first use in China comes from the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
(618–907). The earliest known recorded recipes for gunpowder were written by Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du and Yang Weide in the ''
Wujing Zongyao The ''Wujing Zongyao'' (), sometimes rendered in English as the ''Complete Essentials for the Military Classics'', is a Chinese military compendium written from around 1040 to 1044. The book was compiled during the Northern Song dynasty by Ze ...
'', a military manuscript compiled in 1044 during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Its gunpowder formulas describe the use of incendiary bombs launched from
catapult A catapult is a ballistics, ballistic device used to launch a projectile at a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden rel ...
s, thrown down from defensive walls, or lowered down the wall by use of iron chains operated by a swape lever.Gernet (1996), 311. Bombs launched from trebuchet catapults mounted on
forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck (ship), deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is t ...
s of naval ships ensured the victory of Song over Jin forces at the Battle of Caishi in 1161, and the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) used gunpowder bombs during their failed invasion of Japan in 1274 and 1281. During the 13th and 14th centuries, gunpowder formulas became more potent (with
nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...
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.


Compass

Compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...
: Although an ancient
hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...
artifact from the
Olmec The Olmecs () or Olmec were an early known major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing in the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco from roughly 1200 to 400 Before the Common Era, BCE during Mesoamerica's Mesoamerican chronolog ...
era in
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
dating from about 1000 BC indicates the possible use of the
lodestone Lodestones are naturally magnetization, magnetized pieces of the mineral magnetite. They are naturally occurring magnets, which can attract iron. The property of magnetism was first discovered in Ancient history, antiquity through lodeston ...
compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...
long before it was described in China, the Olmecs did not have
iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
, which the Chinese found could be magnetised by contact with lodestone. Descriptions of lodestone attracting iron were made in the ''Guanzi'', '' Master Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals'' and ''
Huainanzi The ''Huainanzi'' is an ancient Chinese text made up of essays from scholarly debates held at the court of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, before 139 BCE. Compiled as a handbook for an enlightened sovereign and his court, the work attempts to defi ...
''. The Chinese by the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) began using north–south oriented lodestone ladle-and-bowl shaped
compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...
es for
divination Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...
and
geomancy Geomancy, a compound of Greek roots denoting "earth divination", was originally used to mean methods of divination that interpret geographic features, markings on the ground, or the patterns formed by soil, rock (geology), rocks, or sand. Its d ...
and not yet for
navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...
.Gernet (1962), 77. 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". There are, however, two other references under chapter 47 of the same text to the attractive power of a magnet according to Needham (1986), but Li Shu-hua (1954) considers it to be lodestone, and states that there is no explicit mention of a magnet in ''Lunheng''. The Chinese polymath
Shen Kuo Shen Kuo (; 1031–1095) or Shen Gua, courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and Art name#China, pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁),Yao (2003), 544. was a Chinese polymath, scientist, and statesman of the Song dynasty (960� ...
(1031–1095) of the Song dynasty (960–1279) was the first to accurately describe both
magnetic declination Magnetic declination (also called magnetic variation) is the angle between magnetic north and true north at a particular location on the Earth's surface. The angle can change over time due to polar wandering. Magnetic north is the direction th ...
(in discerning
true north True north is the direction along Earth's surface towards the place where the imaginary rotational axis of the Earth intersects the surface of the Earth on its Northern Hemisphere, northern half, the True North Pole. True south is the direction ...
) and the magnetic needle compass in his '' Dream Pool Essays'' of 1088, and 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.Day & McNeil (1996), 636. Even before this, however, the ''
Wujing Zongyao The ''Wujing Zongyao'' (), sometimes rendered in English as the ''Complete Essentials for the Military Classics'', is a Chinese military compendium written from around 1040 to 1044. The book was compiled during the Northern Song dynasty by Ze ...
'' military manuscript compiled by 1044 described a thermoremanence compass of heated iron or
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
shaped as a fish and placed in a bowl of water which produced a weak magnetic force via
remanence Remanence or remanent magnetization or residual magnetism is the magnetization left behind in a ferromagnetic material (such as iron) after an external magnetic field is removed. Colloquially, when a magnet is "magnetized", it has remanence. The ...
and induction; the ''Wujing Zongyao'' recorded that it was used as a pathfinder along with the mechanical
south-pointing chariot The south-pointing chariot (or carriage) was an ancient Chinese two-wheeled vehicle that carried a movable pointer to indicate the south, no matter how the chariot turned. Usually, the pointer took the form of a doll or figure with an outstretch ...
.


Prehistoric China


Ancient and Imperial China

Inventions which made their first appearance in late Bronze Age China after the
Neolithic era The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
, specifically during and after the
Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...
(''c''. 1600–1050 BC), and which predate the era of modern China that began with the fall of the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
(1644–1912), are listed below in alphabetical order.


A

*
Acupuncture Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientif ...
: 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 ''
Huangdi Neijing ' (), literally the ''Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor'' or ''Esoteric Scripture of the Yellow Emperor'', is an ancient Chinese medical text or group of texts that has been treated as a fundamental doctrinal source for Chinese medicine for mo ...
'' compiled from the 3rd to 2nd centuries B.C. (
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
to Han dynasty).Omura (2003), 15. The oldest known acupuncture sticks made of
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
, found in the tomb of Liu Sheng (d. 113 BC), date from the Western Han (203 BC – AD 9); the oldest known stone-carved depiction of acupuncture was made during the Eastern Han (AD 25–220). * Armillary sphere, hydraulic-powered: Poet
Eratosthenes Eratosthenes of Cyrene (; ;  – ) was an Ancient Greek polymath: a Greek mathematics, mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theory, music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the chief librarian at the Library of A ...
(276–194 BC) is credited as the first to invent the armillary sphere representing the
celestial sphere In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an abstract sphere that has an arbitrarily large radius and is concentric to Earth. All objects in the sky can be conceived as being projected upon the inner surface of the celestial sphere, ...
. The Chinese astronomer Geng Shouchang of the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) invented it separately in China in 52 BC, and the Han dynasty polymath
Zhang Heng Zhang Heng (; AD 78–139), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Han dynasty#Eastern Han (25–220 AD), Eastern Han dynasty. Educated in the capital citi ...
(78–139 AD) was the first to apply motive power using a set of complex gears rotated by a waterwheel which was powered by the constant
pressure head In fluid mechanics, pressure head is the height of a liquid column that corresponds to a particular pressure exerted by the liquid column on the base of its container. It may also be called static pressure head or simply static head (but not ''sta ...
of an inflow clepsydra clock, the latter of which he improved with an extra compensating tank between the reservoir and the inflow vessel.Crespigny (2007), 1050.Bowman (2000), 595.


B

*
Banknote A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...
: Paper currency was first developed in China. Its roots were in merchant
receipt A receipt (also known as a packing list, packing slip, packaging slip, (delivery) docket, shipping list, delivery list, bill of the parcel, Manifest (transportation), manifest, or customer receipt) is a document acknowledging that something h ...
s of deposit during the Tang dynasty (618–907), as merchants and
wholesaler Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...
s desired to avoid the heavy bulk of copper coinage in large commercial transactions.Bowman (2000), 105.Gernet (1962), 80. During the Song dynasty (960–1279), the central government adopted this system for their monopolized salt industry, but a gradual reduction in copper production—due to the closing of mines and an enormous outflow of Song-minted copper currency into the Japanese,
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
n,
Western Xia The Western Xia or the Xi Xia ( zh, c=, w=Hsi1 Hsia4, p=Xī Xià), officially the Great Xia ( zh, c=大夏, w=Ta4 Hsia4, p=Dà Xià, labels=no), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts ...
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. In the early 11th century, the Song dynasty government authorised sixteen private
bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...
s to issue notes of exchange in
Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
, 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. The concurrent Jin dynasty (1115–1234) also printed paper banknotes by at least 1214. * 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 dynasty mechanical engineer and politician
Du Shi Du Shi (, d. 38'' Book of Later Han'', vol. 31Crespigny, 183.) was a Chinese hydrologist, inventor, mechanical engineer, metallurgist, and politician of the Eastern Han dynasty. Du Shi is credited with being the first to apply hydraulic power ...
(d. 38 AD) applied the use of rotating waterwheels to power the bellows of his
blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...
smelting
iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
, 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 Reciprocating motion, also called reciprocation, is a repetitive up-and-down or back-and-forth linear motion. It is found in a wide range of mechanisms, including reciprocating engines and pumps. The two opposite motions that comprise a single ...
. * Belt drive: The mechanical belt drive, using a
pulley Sheave without a rope A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft enabling a taut cable or belt passing over the wheel to move and change direction, or transfer power between itself and a shaft. A pulley may have a groove or grooves between flan ...
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 quilling machine that wound silk fibers on to bobbins for weavers' shuttles. The belt drive is an essential component to the invention of the spinning wheel.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 108.Needham (1988), Volume 5, Part 9, 160–163. The belt drive was not only used in textile technologies, it was also applied to hydraulic powered bellows dating from the 1st century AD. * Belt hook: The belt hook was a fastener used in China. Belt hooks date from the 7th century BC in China, and were made with bronze, iron, gold, and jade. Texts claim that the belt hook arrived in China from Central Asia during the
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
, but archaeological evidence of belt hooks in China predate the Warring States period. * 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 botanist ''Ji Han'' (嵇含, 263–307), in which it is mentioned that "''
Jiaozhi Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or , was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Commandery (; , ch� ...
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''". The ants used are known as ''huang gan'' (''huang'' = yellow, ''gan'' = citrus) ants (''
Oecophylla smaragdina ''Oecophylla smaragdina'' (common names include Asian weaver ant, weaver ant, green ant, green tree ant, and orange gaster) is a species of tree, arboreal ant found in tropical Asia and Australia. These ants form colonies with multiple nests in ...
''). The practice was later reported by Ling Biao Lu Yi (late
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
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 The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
), in the book ''Guangdong Xing Yu'' (17th century), ''Lingnan'' by Wu Zhen Fang (Qing dynasty), in ''Nanyue Miscellanies'' by Li Diao Yuan, and others. *
Blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...
: Although
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...
tools and weapons have been found in China dating from the 5th century BC, the earliest discovered Chinese blast furnaces, which produced
pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...
that could be remelted and refined as cast iron in the cupola furnace, date from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, and the vast majority of early blast-furnace sites discovered date from the Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220), immediately following 117 BC with the establishment of state monopolies over the salt and iron industries during the reign of
Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), born Liu Che and courtesy name Tong, was the seventh Emperor of China, emperor of the Han dynasty from 141 to 87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years – a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi ...
(r. 141 – 87 BC); most ironwork sites discovered dating from before 117 BC acted merely as foundries to make castings for iron that had been smelted in blast furnaces elsewhere, in remote areas, far from population centres. *
Bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...
: 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. 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 Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...
.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 171. The '' History of Jin'' (compiled by 1345) states that in 1232, as the Mongol general
Subutai Subutai (c. 1175–1248) was a Mongol general and the primary military strategist of Genghis Khan and Ögedei Khan. He ultimately directed more than 20 campaigns, during which he conquered more territory than any other commander in history a ...
(1176–1248) descended on the Jin stronghold of
Kaifeng Kaifeng ( zh, s=开封, p=Kāifēng) is a prefecture-level city in east-Zhongyuan, central Henan province, China. It is one of the Historical capitals of China, Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and ...
, 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." The Song dynasty (960–1279) official Li Zengbo wrote in 1257 that
arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
s should have several hundred thousand iron bomb shells available and that when he was in Jingzhou, about 1,000–2,000 were produced each month for dispatch of ten to twenty thousand at a time to
Xiangyang Xiangyang is the second-largest prefecture-level city by population in northwestern Hubei province, China. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River (Hanshui), Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city n ...
and Yingzhou. The significance of this, as British sinologist, scientist, and historian
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
states, is that a "high-
nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...
gunpowder mixture had been reached at last, since nothing less would have burst the iron casing."Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 170. * 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 .Loewe (1968), 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."Tom (1989), 103. This was the same method used for extracting
petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...
in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
during the 1860s (i.e. "Kicking Her Down"). A Western Han dynasty bronze foundry discovered in Xinglong,
Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
had nearby mining shafts which reached depths of with spacious mining areas; the shafts and rooms were complete with a timber frame, ladders and iron tools.Loewe (1968), 191.Wang (1982), 105. By the first century BC, Chinese craftsmen cast iron drill bits and drillers were able to drill boreholes up to deep. By the eleventh century AD, the Chinese were able to drill boreholes up to 3000 feet in depth. Drilling for boreholes was time-consuming and long. As the depth of the holes varied, the drilling of a single well could take up to nearly one full decade. It wasn't up until the 19th century that Europe and the West would catch up and rival ancient Chinese borehole drilling technology. * Breeching strap: The breeching strap traces its roots back to the Chinese invented breast-strap or "breastcollar" harness developed during the
Warring States The Warring States period in Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and struggles for gre ...
(481–221 BC) era.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 28. The Chinese breast harness became known throughout
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
by the 7th century,Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 311–315. introduced to Europe by the 8th century. The breeching strap would allow the horse to hold or brake the load as horse harnesses were previously attached to vehicles by straps around their necks as previously designed harnesses would constrict the horses neck preventing the horse from pulling heavier loads. The breeching strap acted as a brake when a cart tries to run forward when moving downwards on a slope and also make it possible to maneuver the cart in the reverse direction. * Brine mining: About 500 BC, the ancient Chinese dug hundreds of brine wells, some of which were over in depth. Large brine deposits under the earth's surface were drilled by drilling boreholes. Bamboo towers were erected, similar in style to modern-day oil derricks. Bamboo was used for ropes, casing, and derricks since it was salt resistant. Iron wedges were hung from a bamboo cable tool 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. * Bristle toothbrush: According to the United States 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 Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...
, London, England. 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.Bowman (2000), 601. Bonnie L. Kendall agrees with this, and adds that a precursor existed in
Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
, in the form of a twig frayed at the end. * 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, and the Song dynasty author Zhu Yu (fl. 12th century) wrote in his book of 1119 that the hulls of Chinese ships had a bulkhead build; these pieces of literary evidence for bulkhead partitions are confirmed by archaeological evidence of a 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. Western writers from
Marco Polo Marco Polo (; ; ; 8 January 1324) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known a ...
(1254–1324), to Niccolò Da Conti (1395–1469), to
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
(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.


C

* 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, from about AD 520. *
Cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...
: The earliest known depiction of a cannon is a sculpture from the
Dazu Rock Carvings The Dazu Rock Carvings () are a series of Chinese religious sculptures and carvings and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Dazu District, Chongqing, China. The carvings date back as far as the 7th century AD, depicting and influenced by Buddhi ...
in
Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
dated to 1128; but the earliest archaeological samples and textual accounts do not appear until the 13th century. The primary extant specimens of cannons from the 13th century are the
Wuwei Bronze Cannon The Wuwei Bronze Cannon (武威銅火炮 — Wǔwēi tóng huǒpào) or Xi Xia Bronze cannon (西夏铜火炮 — Xīxià tóng huǒpào)Kelly DeVries, John France, Clifford J. Rogers (October 2015). Journal of Medieval Military History'. 13: 2 ...
, dated to 1227; the Heilongjiang hand cannon, dated to 1288; and the Xanadu Gun, dated to 1298. 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 long and weighs 6.2 kg. The other cannons are dated using contextual evidence. The oldest representation of a bombard can be found in the Chinese town of Ta-tsu. In 1985, a Canadian historian, Robin Yates, saw a sculpture on the wall of a Buddhist cave temple, 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 a super gun. Yates examined the cave and believed the drawings dated from the late 12th century. *
Cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...
: Confirmed by archaeological evidence, cast iron, made from melting
pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...
, 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 in
Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
province; despite this, most of the early
blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...
s and cupola furnaces discovered in China date from after the establishment, in 117 BC, of the state iron monopoly under Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC), during the Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220); Donald Wagner states that a possible reason why no ancient Chinese
bloomery A bloomery is a type of metallurgical furnace once used widely for smelting iron from its iron oxides, oxides. The bloomery was the earliest form of smelter capable of smelting iron. Bloomeries produce a porous mass of iron and slag called ...
process has been discovered is that 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, which continued in use in other parts of the world.Wagner (2001), 7, 36–37, 64–68.Pigott (1999), 177. Cast iron is comparatively brittle and is not suitable for purposes where a sharp edge or flexibility is required. An important Chinese innovation was the development of malleable iron in the 4th century BC, which enhanced the mechanical properties of cast iron through an annealing process. Furthermore, 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 Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...
and
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
, signifying that "high performance was essential" and preferred for the latter. *
Celadon Celadon () is a term for pottery denoting both wares ceramic glaze, glazed in the jade green Shades of green#Celadon, celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, ...
: 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 The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
(25–220 AD) tomb excavations in
Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...
; he also asserts that this type of ceramic became well known during the
Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...
(220–265). Richard Dewar (2002) disagrees with Wang's classification, stating that true celadon—which requires a minimum furnace temperature, a preferred range of , and reduced firing—was not created until the beginning of the
Northern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...
(960–1127).Dewar (2002), 42. The unique grey or green celadon glaze is a result of
iron oxide An iron oxide is a chemical compound composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Ferric oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of which is rust. Iron ...
's transformation from
ferric In chemistry, iron(III) or ''ferric'' refers to the chemical element, element iron in its +3 oxidation number, oxidation state. ''Ferric chloride'' is an alternative name for iron(III) chloride (). The adjective ''ferrous'' is used instead for i ...
to
ferrous In chemistry, iron(II) refers to the chemical element, element iron in its +2 oxidation number, oxidation state. The adjective ''ferrous'' or the prefix ''ferro-'' is often used to specify such compounds, as in ''ferrous chloride'' for iron(II ...
iron (Fe2O3 → FeO) during the firing process. Longquan celadon wares, which the archeologist Nigel Wood at the University of Oxford writes were first made during the Northern Song, had bluish, blue-green, and olive green glazes and high
silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , commonly found in nature as quartz. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundant f ...
and
alkali In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The a ...
contents which resembled later
porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
wares made at Jingdezhen and Dehua rather than
stoneware Stoneware is a broad class of pottery fired at a relatively high temperature, to be impervious to water. A modern definition is a Vitrification#Ceramics, vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire ...
s.Wood (1999), 75–76. * Censer: The earliest known censers can be traced back to the
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
in the mid-fifth to late fourth centuries BCE. In modern Chinese, the term for "censer" is ''xianglu'' (香爐, "incense burner"), a compound of ''xiang'' ("incense, aromatics") and ''lu'' (爐, "brazier; stove; furnace"). Another frequently used term is ''xunlu'' (熏爐, "a brazier for fumigating and perfuming"). Initial designs of Chinese censers, typically crafted as a round, single-footed stemmed basin, are thought to have evolved from ritual bronzes, such as the ''dou'' 豆 sacrificial chalice. * Chain drive, endless power-transmitting: The Greek Philon of Byzantium (3rd or 2nd century BC) described a
chain drive Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles. It is also used in a wide variety of machines besides vehicles. ...
and
windlass The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder (barrel), which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt. A winch is affixed to one or both ends, and a cable or rope is wound arou ...
used in the operation of a polybolos (a repeating
ballista The ballista (Latin, from Ancient Greek, Greek βαλλίστρα ''ballistra'' and that from βάλλω ''ballō'', "throw"), plural ballistae or ballistas, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an Classical antiquity, ancient missile weapon tha ...
), "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". 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 Han dynasty philosopher Wang Chong (27 – c. 100 AD), the endless power-transmitting chain drive was first used in the gearing of the
clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...
built at
Kaifeng Kaifeng ( zh, s=开封, p=Kāifēng) is a prefecture-level city in east-Zhongyuan, central Henan province, China. It is one of the Historical capitals of China, Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and ...
in 1090 by the Song Chinese politician, mathematician and astronomer Su Song (1020–1101).Gernet (1996), 341. * Chopsticks: The Han dynasty historian and writer
Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...
(145–86 BC) wrote in the ''
Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...
'' that King Zhou of Shang was the first to make chopsticks out of
ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...
, in the 11th century BC; the oldest archaeological find of a pair of chopsticks, made of bronze, comes from Shang Tomb 1005 at Houjiazhuang,
Anyang Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ...
, dated to about 1200 BC. By 600 BC, the use of chopsticks had spread to
Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
(Dapona in Dali), and
Töv Province Töv Province (from Mongolian ''төв'' 'centre') is one of the 21 provinces of Mongolia. The national capital Ulaanbaatar is located roughly at its center, but the city itself is administered as an independent municipality. Geography The pr ...
by the 1st century. The earliest known textual reference to the use of chopsticks comes from the ''
Han Feizi The ''Han Feizi'' () is an ancient Chinese text attributed to the Chinese Legalism, Legalist political philosopher Han Fei. It comprises a selection of essays in the Legalist tradition, elucidating theories of state power, and synthesizing the m ...
'', a philosophical text written by writer and philosopher
Han Fei Han Fei (233 BC), also known as Han Feizi, was a Chinese Legalist philosopher and statesman during the Warring States period. He was a prince of the state of Han. Han Fei is often considered the greatest representative of Legalism for th ...
(c. 280–233 BC) in the 3rd century BC.Needham (1986), Volume 6, Part 5, 104, footnote 161. * Chuiwan: ''Chuiwan'', a game similar to the Scottish-derived sport of
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
, was first mentioned in China by Song dynasty writer Wei Tai (fl. 1050–1100) in his ''Dongxuan Records'' (東軒錄); it was popular amongst men and women in the Song dynasty (960–1279) and Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), and it was popular among urban men in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) in much the same way that
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
was for early urban Europeans during the Renaissance (according to Andrew Leibs).Leibs (2004), 30. In 1282, the writer 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. The game was played on flat and sloping grassland terrain and—much like the tee of modern golf—had a "base" area where the first of three strokes were played. * Imperial examination, Civil service: During 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 an Taixue, Imperial Academy to train potential candidates for office and some offices required its candidates to pass formal written tests before appointment. However, it was not until the Sui dynasty (581–618) that civil service examinations became open to all adult males not belonging to the Four occupations, merchant class (although civil service examinations was a path to social advancement in Imperial Chinese society to candidates regardless of wealth, social status, or family background) and were used as a universal prerequisite for appointments to office, at least in theory.Ebrey (2006), 97. 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 (China), gentry families from throughout the country. The civil examination system was later adopted by China's other East Asian neighbors Japan and Korea. The imperial examination system attracted much attention and greatly inspired political theorists in the Western World, and as a Chinese institution was one of the earliest to receive such foreign attention. The Chinese examination system was introduced to the Western world in reports by Europeans in Medieval China, European missionaries and diplomats, and encouraged the British East India Company to use a similar method to select prospective employees. After the initial success in that company, the British government adopted a similar testing system for screening civil servants in 1855. Other European nations, such as France and Germany, followed suit. Modeled after these previous adaptations, the United States established its own testing program for certain government jobs after 1883. * Steelmaking, Co-fusion steel process: Although British scientist, sinologist, and historian
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
speculates that it could have existed beforehand, the first clear written evidence of the fusion of
wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...
and
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...
to make
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
comes from the 6th century AD in regards to the Taoism, Daoist swordsmith Qiwu Huaiwen, who was put in charge of the arsenal of Northern Wei general Gao Huan from 543 to 550 AD.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 34. 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 make sickles and Dao (Chinese sword), Chinese sabers. In regards to the latter text, Su Song (1020–1101) made a similar description and noted the steel's use for Chinese swords, making swords. * Coke (fuel), Coke, fuel: By the 11th century, during the Song dynasty (960–1279), the demands for charcoal used in the blast furnace, blast and cupola furnaces of the iron industry led to large amounts of deforestation of prime timberland; to avoid excessive deforestation, the Song dynasty Chinese began using coke made from bituminous coal as fuel for their metallurgic furnaces instead of charcoal derived from wood.Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 158.Ebrey (1999), 144.Hobson (2004), 53. * Color printing: By at least the Yuan dynasty, China had invented color printing for paper. British art historian Michael Sullivan (art historian), Michael 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". * Counting rods: Counting rods are instruments used for performing calculations, which uses a grid of cells to represent a decimal Positional notation, position system. Each digit (0–9) appears as a tally of rods with red rods designated as positive numbers and black rods designated as negative numbers. Archaeological evidence of counting rods dates from the 2nd century BC. The earliest pictorial depiction of counting rods appears on
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
ceramics excavated in Dengfeng in Henan. The oldest surviving counting rods are bamboo rods discovered in a Han dynasty tomb at Fenghuangshan (Hubei), Fenghuangshan in Hubei, which dates from the reign Emperor Wen of Han. The first explicit textual description of counting rods is recorded in the Book of Han, compiled by Ban Gu from about AD 60; but there has been speculation about textual references as early as the 3rd century BC. For example, one passage in the ''Tao Te Ching'' mentions that "a person good at ''shu'' [calculations] does not use bamboo tallies and bamboo slips." * 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; Anne McCants, an American historian at the Massachusetts institute of Technology, speculates that they existed about 1200 BC. In China bronze History of crossbows, crossbow bolts dating from as early as the mid 5th century BC were found at a Chu (state), State of Chu burial site in Yutaishan, Hubei. The earliest handheld crossbow stocks with bronze trigger, dating from the 6th century BC, comes from Tomb 3 and 12 found at Qufu,
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
, capital of the Lu (state), State of Lu.You (1994), 80. Other early finds of crossbows were discovered in Tomb 138 at Saobatang, Hunan, dated to the mid 4th century BC. Repeating crossbows, first mentioned in the ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', were discovered in 1986 in Tomb 47 at Qinjiazui, Hubei, dated to about the 4th century BC. The earliest textual evidence of the handheld crossbow Battle of Maling, used in battle dates from the 4th century BC.Wright (2001), 42. 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); crossbowmen described in the Han dynasty learned drill formations, some were mounted as Cavalry#East Asia, cavalry units, and Han dynasty writers attributed the success of numerous Sino-Xiongnu War, battles against the Xiongnu to massed crossbow fire. * Cuju, 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 The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...
'' (published in 91 BC) by
Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...
(145–86 BC).Speak (1999), 32. Both texts recorded that during the
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
(403–221 BC) the people of Ancient Linzi, Linzi city, capital of the Qi (state), State of Qi, enjoyed playing ''cuju'' along with partaking in many other pastimes such as cockfighting. Besides being a recreational sport, playing ''cuju'' was also considered a military training exercise and means for soldiers to keep fit. * Cupola furnace: An American anthropologist, Vincent C. Pigott, of the University of Pennsylvania, states that the cupola furnace existed in China at least by the
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
(403–221 BC);Pigott (1999), 191. Donald B. Wagner writes that some iron ore melted in the
blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...
may have been cast iron, 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 a cold blast injected at the bottom traveled through tuyere pipes across the top where the charge (i.e. of charcoal and scrap or
pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...
) 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.


D

* Amalgam (dentistry), Dental amalgam: Dental amalgam were used in the first part of the Tang dynasty (618–907 A.D.). Evidence of a dental amalgam first appears in the medical text ''Hsin Hsiu Pen Tsao'' written by Su Kung in 659, manufactured from tin and silver. Historical records indicate the use of dental amalgam earlier. The composition of an early dental amalgam was published in the Ming dynasty, 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." * Diabolo: Archaeologists theorize that Diabolos (or Chinese yo-yo) originated from Chinese spinning top. In Hemudu culture, Hemudu Excavation, wooden tops were excavated. To extend the spinning time of the tops, whips were used to spin them. It was believed that poet Cao Zhi in the
Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...
period had composed the poem "Rhapsody of Diabolos 《空竹赋》", making it the first record of Diabolo in history. However, the authenticity of the poem requires further research and proof. By the medieval Tang dynasty, Chinese Diabolo became widespread as a toy. A Taiwanese scholar Wu Shengda 吳盛達 argues that records of Diabolo only appeared during late
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
Wanli Emperor, Wanli period, with its details well recorded in the book ''Dijing Jingwulue'', referring to Diabolos as "Kong Zhong" ( ). The first mention of a diabolo in the Western World was made by a missionary, Father Amiot, in Beijing in 1792 during George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, Lord Macartney's ambassadorship, after which examples were brought to Europe, as was the sheng (instrument), sheng (eventually adapted to the harmonica and accordion). * Chinese dominoes, 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.Lo (2000), 401. 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). Andrew Lo asserts that Zhou Mi meant dominoes when referring to ''pupai'', 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). The earliest known manual written about dominoes is the ''Manual of the Xuanhe Period'' (1119–1125) written by Qu You (1347–1433). In the ''Encyclopedia of a Myriad of Treasures'', Zhang Pu (1602–1641) described the game of laying out dominoes as ''pupai'', although the character for ''pu'' had changed (yet retained the same pronunciation). 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). 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. * Dougong: A ''dougong'' is a Bracket (architecture), 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.Fletcher (1996), 693. Each dougong is formed by double bow-shaped arms (拱, ''gong'') supported by a wooden block (斗, ''dou'') on each side. ''Dougong'' were also used for decorative and ceremonial rather than entirely pragmatic purposes of support, such as on solid brick Chinese pagoda, 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 :Image:Yingzao Fashi 3 desmear.JPG, featured illustrations and descriptions of ''dougong''. * Loom#Figure harness and the drawloom, Drawloom: The earliest confirmed drawloom fabrics come from the Chu (state), State of Chu and date from about 400 BC.Broudy (1979), 124. 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 from before AD 256. 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.Beaudry (2006), 146. The drawloom was certainly known in Persia by the 6th century AD. Eric Broudy asserts there is virtually no evidence of its use in Europe until the 17th century, and the button drawloom was allegedly invented by Jean le Calabrais in the 15th century. Mary Carolyn Beaudry disagrees, stating that it was used in the medieval Italian silk industry. * Drilling rig: The technique of percussion drilling for oil and gas originated during the ancient Chinese Han dynasty, when percussion drilling ("churn drilling") was used to extract natural gas in Sichuan province. Iron bits were fastened to long bamboo poles, which were centered within a bamboo derrick. The poles were repeatedly hoisted, using cables woven from bamboo fiber. With the assistance of levers, very heavy bits could be raised, of sufficient weight to percussively bore through rock when repeatedly dropped. Han dynasty oil wells were about 10 meters deep; by the 10th century, depths of 100 meters could be achieved. By the 16th century, Chinese oil prospectors were using percussion drilling to create wells over 2000 feet deep. A modernized variant of the technique was used by American businessman Edwin Drake to drill Pennsylvania's first oil well in 1859, using small steam engines to power the drilling process.


E

* Escapement, hydraulic-powered (use in clock tower): The escapement mechanism was first described for a mechanical washstand by the Greek Philon of Byzantium who also indicated that it was already used for clocks. An escapement mechanism for clockworks was later 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 Zhang Heng (; AD 78–139), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Han dynasty#Eastern Han (25–220 AD), Eastern Han dynasty. Educated in the capital citi ...
(78–139), and could be found in later Chinese clockworks such as the
clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...
s developed by the military engineer Zhang Sixun (fl. late 10th century) and polymath inventor Su Song (1020–1101). 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. Unlike the modern escapement which employs a suspended oscillating pendulum resting and releasing its hooks on a small rotating gear wheel, the early Chinese escapement employed the use of gravity and
hydraulics Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...
.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 460–462. 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 Water clock, clepsydra tank.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 460. 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. 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. 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.David Landes: "Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World", rev. and enlarged edition, Harvard University Press, Cambridge 2000, , p.18f. * Shell (projectile), 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 from the 16th century. The ''Huolongjing'' also specified the use of poison and blinding gunpowder filled into exploding shells; the effects of this chemical warfare were described thus: "Enemy soldiers will get their faces and eyes burnt, and the smoke will attack their noses, mouths, and eyes."


F

* Field mill (carriage), 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. 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.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 256. 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 Trip hammer, tilt hammers in order to Husk, hull rice; again, the device only functioned when the cart was moved forward and the wheels turned. 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.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 255. It was featured in a treatise by the Italian engineer and writer Vittorio Zonca in 1607, and then in a Diagrams and explanations of the wonderful machines of the Far West, Chinese book of 1627 (concerning European technology) that was compiled and translated by the German Society of Jesus, 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.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 255–256. * Finery forge: In addition to accidental lumps of low-carbon
wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...
produced by excessive injected air in Chinese cupola 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 iron, cast and
pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...
fined into wrought iron and
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
found at the early Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) site at Tieshengguo.Pigott (1999), 186. Pigott speculates that the finery forge existed in the previous
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
(403–221 BC), because there are wrought iron items from China dating from that period and there is no documented evidence that the
bloomery A bloomery is a type of metallurgical furnace once used widely for smelting iron from its iron oxides, oxides. The bloomery was the earliest form of smelter capable of smelting iron. Bloomeries produce a porous mass of iron and slag called ...
was ever used in China.Pigott (1999), 186–187. The fining process involved liquifying cast iron in a fining hearth and decarburization, removing carbon from the molten cast iron through Redox, oxidation. Wagner writes that, in addition to the Han dynasty hearths, believed to be fining hearths, there is also pictorial evidence of the fining hearth from a
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
tomb mural dated to the 1st or 2nd century AD, along with a hint of written evidence in a Daoist text from the 4th century AD, ''Taiping Jing''.Wagner (2001), 80–83. * 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 Rocket (weapon), rockets utilizing gunpowder were used to provide arrows with propulsive force and the term ''fire arrow'' became synonymous with rockets in the Chinese language. In other languages such as
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
'fire arrow' (''agni astra'') underwent a different semantic shift and became synonymous with 'cannon.' Fire arrows are the predecessors of
fire lance The fire lance () was a gunpowder weapon used by lighting it on fire, and is the ancestor of modern firearms. It first appeared in 10th–12th century China and was used to great effect during the Jin-Song Wars. It began as a small pyrotechnic de ...
s, the first firearm. * 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". 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. In traditional Chinese culture, firecrackers were used to scare off evil spirits. * 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 Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
blast of flame and shrapnel; its earliest representation comes from :image:FireLanceAndGrenade10thCenturyDunhuang.jpg, a painting found at Dunhuang. 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), 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." 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. * Fireworks: Fireworks first appeared in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279), in the early age of
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
. The common people in the Song era could purchase simple fireworks from market vendors; these were made of sticks of
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
packed with gunpowder, although grander displays were known to be held. Rocket propulsion was soon applied to warfare, and by the time of the mid 14th century there were many types of rocket launchers available. * Fishing reel: In literary records, the earliest evidence of the fishing reel comes from a 4th-century AD work entitled ''Lives of Famous Immortals''. 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 (painter), Ma Yuan (c. 1160–1225) called "Angler on a Wintry Lake", showing a man sitting on a small sampan boat and casting out his fishing line.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 100 & PLATE CXLVII. Another fishing reel was featured in a painting by the Yuan dynasty painter Wu Zhen (painter), Wu Zhen (1280–1354). The book ''Tianzhu lingqian'' (Holy Lections from Indian Sources), printed between 1208 and 1224, features two different Woodcut, woodblock print illustrations of fishing reels being used. An Armenian parchment Gospel of the 13th century shows a reel (though not as clearly depicted as the Chinese ones). The ''Sancai Tuhui'', a Chinese encyclopedias, Chinese encyclopedia published in 1609, features the next known picture of a fishing reel and vividly shows the
windlass The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder (barrel), which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt. A winch is affixed to one or both ends, and a cable or rope is wound arou ...
pulley of the device. 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. * Flamethrower, Flamethrower, double piston and gunpowder-activated: Although the single piston flamethrower was first developed in the Byzantine Empire during the 7th century, 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) spouting Greek 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 The ''Wujing Zongyao'' (), sometimes rendered in English as the ''Complete Essentials for the Military Classics'', is a Chinese military compendium written from around 1040 to 1044. The book was compiled during the Northern Song dynasty by Ze ...
'' of 1044, which also described the device in full.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 81–84. Unlike the Greek model which employed a furnace, the ''Pen Huo Qi'' was ignited by an incendiary
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
fuse. * 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.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 169. 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 ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...
. 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.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 331. *Folding screen: The folding screen is a type of furniture consisting of several frames or panels. Screens date from China during the Eastern Zhou dynasty period (771–256 BC). These were initially one-panel screens in contrast to folding screens. Folding screens were invented during the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). Depictions of those folding screens have been found in Han dynasty era tombs, such as one in Zhucheng, Shandong Province. During the Tang dynasty, folding screens were considered ideal ornaments for many painters to display their Chinese painting, paintings and Chinese calligraphy, calligraphy on. Many artists painted on paper or silk and applied it onto the folding screen. The landscape paintings on folding screens reached its height during the Song dynasty (960–1279). * Forensic entomology: The Song dynasty (960–1279) forensic science book ''Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified'' published by the Song dynasty court judge, physician, medical scientist and writer Song Ci in 1247 contains the oldest known case of forensic entomology.Haskell (2006), 432. 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. The local magistrate had the villagers assemble in the town square where they would temporarily relinquish their sickles. Within minutes, a mass of Blow-fly, blow flies gathered around one sickle and none other, attracted to the scent of traces of blood unseen by the naked eye. 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. * Fragmentation (weaponry), Fragmentation bomb: The use of fragmentation in bombs dates from 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. * Free reed aerophone: The musical pipe organ employing metal piston bellows had a long history in the Western world, dating from the Hellenistic period. However, the Western pipe organ did not make use of reed (instrument), the reed, which the ancient Chinese mouth organ employed. The latter instrument, called a Sheng (instrument), sheng and made traditionally of
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
pipes, was first mentioned in the ''Shi Jing'' of the Zhou dynasty (c. 1050–256 BC). The Chinese sheng is considered the ancestor of the harmonica, Pump organ, harmonium, concertina, accordion, and :Free reed aerophones, all other reed organ instruments. A free reed organ was invented in the Muslim world, Arab world in the 13th century, and the German organ builder Heinrich Traxdorf (fl. 15th century) of Nuremberg built one about 1460. It is thought that the classical Chinese sheng travelled west through Russia during the 19th century, as it was described then in Saint Petersburg. * fuse (explosive), Fuse: 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.


G

* Gas cylinder: The world's first natural gas cylinders were invented in China during the medieval Tang dynasty where the Chinese drilled deep boreholes to retrieve natural gas and used airtight jointed bamboo pipes to collect and transport it for many miles to towns and villages. *Gas lighting: The ancient Chinese during the Spring and Autumn period made the first practical use of natural gas for lighting purposes about 500 B.C. where they used bamboo pipelines to transport and carry both brine and natural gas for many miles to towns and villages. * Gaussian elimination: The Chinese solved a system of linear equations. The rectangle of coefficients was reduced to triangular and then diagonal form, in a process identical to what Europeans would later call Gaussian Elimination. * Go (game), Go (board game) (圍棋 in Chinese): Although ancient Chinese legend (perhaps contrived during the Han dynasty) has it that the Yao (ruler), mythological ruler Yao came down to earth Tian, from the Heavens about 2200 BC carrying with him a ''go'' board 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. * Goldfish, Goldfish domestication: In ancient China, various species of carp (collectively known as Asian carps) were domestication, domesticated and have been reared as aquaculture, 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 (266–420), Jin dynasty (266–420). During the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
(618–907), it was popular to raise carp in ornamental ponds and Water garden, 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. Goldfish were introduced into Europe during the 17th century, and into North America in the 19th century.


H

* Hand cannon: The bronze Yuan dynasty gun from Heilongjiang hand cannon, Heilongjiang, which dates from about 1288, is a little over long and weighs . 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.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 293. * Hand grenade, explosive: Before explosive grenades, incendiary device, incendiary grenades were used by the Eastern Roman Empire, incorporating Greek fire.Robert James Forbes: "Studies in Ancient Technology," Leiden 1993, , p.107 Early prototypes to the modern explosive grenade, according to British scientist and sinologist Joseph Needham, appear in the military book, ''
Wujing Zongyao The ''Wujing Zongyao'' (), sometimes rendered in English as the ''Complete Essentials for the Military Classics'', is a Chinese military compendium written from around 1040 to 1044. The book was compiled during the Northern Song dynasty by Ze ...
'' ("Compilation of Military Classics"), by 1044. During the Song dynasty, weapons known as Zhen Tian Lei were created when Chinese soldiers packed
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
into ceramic or metal containers and thrown at the enemy. Further descriptions and illustrations of early Chinese hand grenades are provided in the ''Huolongjing''.Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 179–180. * Handgun, Hand gun: An early depiction of a hand gun is a sculpture from a cave in
Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
, dating from 1128, that portrays a figure carrying a vase-shaped bombard (weapon), bombard, firing flames and a cannonball. However, the oldest existent archaeological discovery of a metal barrel handgun is the Heilongjiang hand cannon from the Chinese Heilongjiang excavation, dated to 1288. Handheld firearms first appeared in China where History of gunpowder, 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. * Handscroll: The handscroll originated from ancient Chinese text documents."Famous Handscroll Paintings and Calligraphic Works"
o

. Taipei: National Palace Museum. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
From the Spring and Autumn period (770–481 BC) through the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), Bamboo and wooden slips, bamboo or wooden slips were bound and used to write texts on. During the Eastern Han period (25–220), the use of
paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...
and
silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...
as handscrolls became more common. The handscroll was one of the main formats for texts up until the Tang dynasty (618–907). Since the
Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...
(220–280), the handscroll became a standard form for mounting artwork. New styles were developed over time. * Hanging scroll: Hanging scrolls originated in their earliest form from literature and other texts written on Bamboo and wooden slips, bamboo strips and
silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...
banners in ancient China. The earliest hanging scrolls are related to and developed from silk banners in early Chinese history. These banners were long and hung vertically on walls. Such silk banners and hanging scroll paintings were found at Mawangdui, dating from the Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220). By the time of the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
(618–907), the aesthetic and structural objectives for hanging scrolls were summarized, which are still followed to this day. During the early Song dynasty (960–1279), the scrolls became well suited to the art styles of the artists, consequently hanging scrolls were made in many different sizes and proportions. *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 currency or legal tender since their sole intended purpose is to be offered as burnt offerings to the ancestor veneration, 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. *Hill censer: The hill censer, a vessel used for burning incense, dates from the Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220). 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 Taoism, Taoist immortals. Hill censers were originally designed for Taoist rituals, but were later used by Chinese Buddhists. 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. A hole at the top of the censer releases the smoke of the incense. * Horse collar: A significant improvement of the Horse harness, 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, and a later Tang dynasty (618–907) mural, from about 851, accurately shows the cushioned collar behind the cross bar.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 319–323. 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.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 326 & Plate CCXXI. * Horse harness: 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.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 305. A painting on a lacquerware box from the Chu (state), State of Chu, dated to the 4th century BC, shows the first known use of a yoke placed across a horse's chest, with traces connecting to the chariot shaft.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 310. 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).Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 308–312. Eventually, the horse collar was invented in China, at least by the 5th century. * 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. 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.


I

*Incense clock, Incense Clock: Incense clocks originated in China during the 6th century and later made their way to Japan, with one example preserved in the Shōsōin. The earliest incense clocks, dating from the 6th to the 8th centuries CE, feature Devanagari, Devanāgarī carvings instead of Chinese seal characters. Historian Silvio Bedini asserts that these carvings were based on seals referenced in Tantric Buddhism, Tantric Buddhist scriptures, which were translated from Indian scriptures into Chinese language, Chinese. However, the time-telling associated with these seals was designed and incorporated by the Chinese.Bedini (1994), pages 69-80 * 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, and others state it was perhaps not invented until the Cao Wei, Wei dynasty (AD 220–265). * Inkstone: The inkstone is a stone Mortar and pestle, 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, from 6000–7000 years ago. The earliest excavated inkstone is dated to the 3rd century BC, and was discovered in a tomb in modern Yunmeng, Hubei. Use of the inkstone was popularized during the Han dynasty. * Inoculation: As Europeans would not begin to Edward Jenner, develop vaccinations for Smallpox vaccine, smallpox until 1796, historical Chinese records show that Chinese physicians have been inoculating against the same disease hundreds of years earlier. The British scientist, sinologist, and historian
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
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. Wan Quan (1499–1582) wrote the first clear reference to smallpox inoculation in his ''Douzhen xinfa'' (痘疹心法) of 1549. 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).Needham (1986), Volume 6, Part 6, 134. * Jade burial suit: Burial suits Chinese jade, 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.Tom (1989), 112. 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.Tom (1989), 112–113. The total weight of the gold thread used in his suit was .Tom (1989), 113. Princess Dou Wan's suit had 2,156 pieces of jade stitched together with of gold thread. 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 Xuzhou, 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 Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
,
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
,
Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
and Henan, as well as at Xianyang, Yangjiawan, Bozhou, Dongyuan, Guangzhou, Mawangdui, Mianyang and Qujing, Shizhaishan. The jade burial suit gradually disappeared when it was forbidden in 222 by Emperor Wen of Wei.


L

* Land mine: Textual evidence suggests that the first use of a land mine in history was by a Song dynasty brigadier general known as Lou Qianxia, who used an 'enormous bomb' (''huo pao'') to kill History of the Song Dynasty#Mongol invasion and end of the Song Dynasty, Mongol soldiers invading Guangxi in 1277. However, the first detailed description of the land mine was given in the '' Huolongjing'' text written by Ming dynasty writer, military strategist and philosopher Jiao Yu (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and Liu Bowen (1311–1375) during the late Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and early Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Jiao and Liu wrote that land mines were spherical, made of
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...
, and their fuses ignited by a mechanism tripped by enemy movement; although Jiao and Liu did not describe this trip mechanism in full detail, a later text of 1606 revealed that enemy movement released a pin that allowed hidden underground weights to fall and spin a chord around an axle that rotated a spinning wheel acting as a flint to spark a train of fuses. * Land sailing: The use of the land sail in China dates from at least as early as the Northern and Southern dynasties period.Temple, 195. The earliest text describing the Chinese use of mounting Mast (sailing), masts and sails on large vehicles is the ''Book of the Golden Hall Master'' written by the Daoist scholar and crown prince Xiao Yi, who later became Emperor Yuan of Liang (r. 552–554 AD). * Leeboard: To avoid leeward drift caused by the force of wind in sailing, the leeboard was invented; it was a board lowered onto the side of the ship opposite to the direction of the wind, helping the ship to stay upright and afloat even if the hull was breached. British writers Paul Johnstone and Sean McGrail state that an odd-looking second paddle on Dong Son drum, a bronze drum of the Dong Son culture (centered in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam) may depict a leeboard in use as early as 300 BC.Johnstone & McGrail (2001), 218. Leeboards may have been invented in China as early as the 8th century during the Tang dynasty and are featured shortly after in 9th century engraved artwork found at the Borobudur monument built during the Sailendra dynasty of Central Java (Indonesia). Leeboards were first used Western world, in the West by the Dutch (ethnic group), Dutch, during the 15th to 16th centuries (possibly used on early Dutch Cog (ship), cogs, or perhaps influenced by a Chinese origin).Block (2003), 119–120.McGrail (2004), 237. * Louche: The louche (耬車) was a mobile animal-drawn agricultural seed drill invented by the Chinese agronomist Zhao Guo, a Han official in charge of agricultural production during the reign of Han Wudi in the Han dynasty. According to the records of ''Political Commentator'' by the Eastern Han dynasty writer Cui Shi, the Louche consisted of three feet and thus was called three-legged Lou. The three legs had three ditch diggers under it used for sowing. The Louche was animal powered and was pulled by an ox and the leg of the Louche directly dug a ditch in the flattened soil, sowed the seeds, covered the seeds, and pressed the land flat at the same time. The machine was known for its utility and efficiency for serving several agricultural uses at the same time, and saving time and effort.


M

* Chinese magic mirror, Magic mirrors: In about 800 AD, during the Tang dynasty (618–907), a book entitled ''Record of Ancient Mirrors'' described the method of crafting solid bronze mirrors with decorations, written characters, or patterns on the reverse side that could cast these in a reflection on a nearby surface as light struck the front, polished side of the mirror; because of this seemingly Transparency (optics), transparent effect, they were called 'light-penetration mirrors' by the Chinese. Unfortunately, this Tang era book was lost over the centuries, but magic mirrors were described in the '' Dream Pool Essays'' by the Song dynasty polymath
Shen Kuo Shen Kuo (; 1031–1095) or Shen Gua, courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and Art name#China, pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁),Yao (2003), 544. was a Chinese polymath, scientist, and statesman of the Song dynasty (960� ...
(1031–1095), who owned three of them as a family heirloom. Perplexed as to how solid metal could be transparent, Shen guessed that some sort of quenching technique was used to produce tiny wrinkles on the face of the mirror too small to be observed by the eye. Although his explanation of different cooling rates was incorrect, he was right to suggest the surface contained minute variations which the naked eye could not detect; these mirrors also had no transparent quality at all, as discovered by British scientist and mathematician William Henry Bragg, William Bragg in 1932. * Mahjong: The Dutch journalist and writer Jelte Rep writes that the gambling game of mahjong (Traditional Chinese: 麻將; Pinyin: májiàng), which employs Mahjong tiles, a set of over a hundred tiles, was first invented in 1846 by Zhen Yumen, a
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
(1644–1912) diplomatic official from Ningbo.Rep (2007), 52. However, Rep traces the origins of the game to a card game of the Tang dynasty (618–907) which used thirty-two wood or ivory pieces in the shape of cards.Rep (2007), 51. This evolved into the forty-card game of ''madiao'' (馬吊) during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), which had four Suit (cards), suits of cards instead of the three found in modern mahjong. * Match: The earliest type of match for lighting fire was made in China by 577 AD, invented by Northern Qi (550–577) court ladies as they desperately looked for materials to light fires for cooking and heating as enemy troops of Northern Zhou (557–581) and the Chen dynasty (557–589) besieged their city from outside. Early matches in China were designed to be lit by an existing flame and carried to light another fire. They were pinewood sticks impregnated with sulfur and needed only a slight touch from a flame to light. This was written in the ''Records of the Unworldly and Strange'' by Tao Gu in 950 (Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period). * Field mill (carriage), Mechanical theater (driven by carriage wheels): The inventors of the Field mill (carriage), field mill mentioned above, Xie Fei and Wei Mengbian of the Later Zhao (319–351 AD), also invented an intricate mechanical theater mounted on a carriage, its figures operated by motive power (i.e. simply advancing the carriage forward).Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 159. From 335 to 345 AD, they worked at the court of the ethnic-Jie (ethnic group), Jie emperor Shi Hu (334–349). The vehicle they crafted was a four-wheeled and long carriage that was about wide. On it rested a large Chinese Buddhism, golden Buddha statue with a Daoism, Daoist statue continually rubbing his front with his mechanical hand. The Buddha was also surrounded by ten wooden Daoists who rotated around him in a circuit, periodically bowing to him, saluting him, and throwing incense into a censer. Above the Buddha were nine dragon-headed faucets which spouted water. Like the field mill and the pounding cart of these two inventors, when the carriage halted, so did all of its moving components of mechanical statues and spouting faucets.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 160. * Automaton, Mechanical cup-bearers and wine-pourers on automatic-traveling boats: The mechanical engineer Huang Gun served the court of Emperor Yang of Sui, Emperor Yang Di (r. 604–617) and wrote the book ''Shuishi Tujing'' on his inventions, which his colleague Du Bao enlarged and commented on. He constructed seven small boats, called 'wine boats', that were as large as long and wide which supported a number of mechanical figures of wooden statues called 'hydraulic elegances', each about tall, some of them animals but most in human form consisting of singing girls, musicians playing actual instruments, dancers and tumblers, oarsmen busy rowing, cup-bearers, and wine-pourers all moving simultaneously as if alive. These boats were set to travel at timed intervals along circuits made of winding stone channels and canals in palace courtyards and gardens (designed by Tang Haogui), where guests would gather for special occasions. The cup-bearer stood at the bow of each ship and beside him the wine-pourer; when the ship made automatically timed periodic stops where guests were seated, the cup-bearer automatically stretched out his arm with a full cup of wine. When the guest was done emptying his cup, he placed the cup back into the figure's hands; the latter then waited as the wine-pourer filled a second cup to be emptied. When this guest had been served, the wine boat automatically moved onwards to the next stop. The British sinologist, scientist, and historian
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
speculates that the "wine boats" may have been Paddle steamer, driven by paddle-wheels. Another paddle-wheel ship was commanded by Wang Zhen'e and was described in his biographies, dated from the Liu Song dynasty (420–479). side from the partial remains of the ''Shuishi Tujing'', an account of these 'wine boats' was also preserved by Huang Gun's contemporary Yan Shigu (581–645). * Chinese architecture, Modular system of architecture, eight standard grades: Although other texts preceded it, such as the 'National Building Law' of the Tang dynasty (618–907) which was partially preserved in other texts, the ''Yingzao Fashi'' published in 1103 by the Song dynasty (960–1279) scholar-official Architecture of the Song Dynasty#Literature, Li Jie (1065–1110) is the oldest known Chinese architectural treatise that has survived fully intact.Guo (1998), 1–3. It contains descriptions and illustrations detailing the ''cai fen'' system (材份制) of eight standard dimensions for Modular design, module components of timber architecture and structural carpentry.Guo (1998), 6–7. The eight standard grades of module timber components in the ''Yingzao Fashi'', with grade I being the largest and grade VIII the smallest, were used to determine the ultimate proportions and scale of a building as a whole, as all timber hall types—Chinese Palaces, palaces, mansions, House, ordinary houses, and Chinese pavilion, pavilions—were hierarchically categorized along the lines of which ''cai fen'' grade was employed.Guo (1998), 7–8. For example, palace-type buildings used only grades I through V, and mansion-type buildings never used components larger than grade III and no less than grade VI.Guo (1998), 7. In this system of structural carpentry, the smallest grade of VIII is represented by one ''cai''; one ''cai'' is equal to the modern equivalent of , and one ''cai'' is also divided into fifteen ''fen'' (hence the title of this modular system).Guo (1999), 97. * Heavy plough, Moldboard plow: Although use of the simple Ard (plough), wooden ard in China must have preceded it, the earliest discovered Chinese iron plows date from about 500 BC, during the Zhou dynasty (1122–256 BC) and were flat, V-shaped, and mounted on wooden poles and handles.Greenberger (2006), 11. 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. 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. The frame of excavated plowshares from the Warring States period (403–221 BC) were made mostly of perishable wood, the frame of excavated plowshares from the Han dynasty were made entirely of solid iron, with the moldboard attached to the top to turn the soil. * Multistage rocket: Although there is still some ambiguity as to whether the earliest rockets of the 13th century were first developed in Europe (i.e. 'ignis volantis in aere' in the work of Marcus Graecus about 1232, although Needham and Davis assert it was most likely a
fire lance The fire lance () was a gunpowder weapon used by lighting it on fire, and is the ancestor of modern firearms. It first appeared in 10th–12th century China and was used to great effect during the Jin-Song Wars. It began as a small pyrotechnic de ...
), the Middle East (i.e. 'sahm al-Khitāi' or 'arrows of China' as referred to by Hasan al-Rhammāh in 1280) or China (i.e. 'di lao shu' or 'ground rat' mentioned in 1264 or the 'chong' Mortar (weapon), mortar used by the armies of the Song dynasty and invading
Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...
during the 1270s), during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) the term 'fire arrow' once implied to mean incendiary arrows during the Tang dynasty was then used to describe the true rocket, producing a headache, as Needham says, for historians; the '' Huolongjing'' written by military officer Jiao Yu (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and the Song dynasty Chinese philosopher and politician Liu Bowen (1311–1375) during the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644) described several types of rockets, one of them being a multistage rocket known as the 'huo long chu shui' or 'fire dragon issuing from the water' which, despite its name, was not launched from beneath the water from a primitive submarine but rather at near water-level maintaining a flat trajectory; defined as a two-stage rocket, it employed booster rockets that, when about to burn out of use, ignited a swarm of smaller rocket arrows fired from the front end of the missile shaped as a dragon's mouth. * Seed drill, Multiple-tube seed drill: The wooden seed drill existed in China by the 3rd century BC, and the multiple-tube iron seed drill was first invented in China by the 2nd century BC, during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD).Greenberger (2006), 12. The seed drill allowed for greater speed and regulation of Crop rotation, distributing seeds in lined rows of crops instead of casting them out onto the farm field.


N

* Natural gas, Natural Gas for Fuel: On tomb brick reliefs of
Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
province, dating from the Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220), scenes of borehole drilling for mining projects are shown. They show towering derricks lifting liquid brine through Pipeline transport, bamboo pipes to the surface so that the brine could be Distillation, distilled in evaporation pans over the heat of furnaces and produce salt.Loewe (1968), 191–194. The furnaces were potentially heated by natural gas brought by airtight jointed bamboo pipes for miles to towns and villages, yet gas brought up from perhaps below the surface could cause an explosion if it was not properly mixed with oxygen first, so the Han dynasty Chinese possibly built underground carburetor chambers and siphoned some of the gas off with Exhaust system, exhaust pipes. * Nail polish, Nail Polish: Originated in 3000 BCE. In 600 BCE, the royal house in the Zhou dynasty preferred the colors gold and silver. However, red and black eventually replaced these metallic colors as royal favorites. During the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
, nail polish was often made from a mixture that included beeswax, Egg white, egg whites, gelatin, vegetable dyes, and gum arabic. * Naval mine, Naval Mine: The '' Huolongjing'' military manuscript written by Ming dynasty military writer, strategist, and philosopher Jiao Yu (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and Chinese military strategist, philosopher, statesman and poet Liu Bowen (1311–1375) also describes naval mines used at sea or on rivers and lakes; made of
wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...
and enclosed in an ox bladder, it was a timed device in that a burning joss sticks floating above the mine determined when the fuse was to be ignited; the text explicitly mentions that without air and doused in water the fuse would not burn, so the fuse was protected by a long waterproof tube made out of goat's intestine; a later model shown in Ming Chinese scientist and encyclopedist Song Yingxing's (1587–1666) encyclopedia of 1637 shows the ox bladder replaced with a Lacquerware, lacquered leather bag while the mine is ignited by a rip cord pulled from the shore to rotate a flint-and-steel firing mechanism. * Negative number, Negative Number: Negative number appear for the first time in history in the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art but may well contain much older material. The mathematician Liu Hui (c. 3rd century) established rules for the addition and subtraction of negative numbers. * Nickel silver: Nickel silver was first known and used in China during the modern Manchu-led
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
. During the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
, it was "smuggled into various parts of the East Indies", despite a government ban on the export of nickel silver.


O

* Zhaozhou Bridge, Open-spandrel segmental arch bridge: The earliest known fully stone open-spandrel segmental arch bridge is the Zhaozhou Bridge in southern
Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
province, China, completed in 605 by the Sui dynasty (581–618) engineer Li Chun. The bridge span is ; the structure weighs relatively little, because of the four semi-circular arch spandrels, which allow flood waters to pass through. Other Chinese bridges would be influenced by this design, such as the open-spandrel Yongtong Bridge of Zhao County, Hebei built in 1130, and the simple segmental arch Lugou Bridge built in 1698 (originally in 1189). The latter, just west of Beijing, has eleven segmental arches. * Oil refinery#History, Oil refining: The Chinese were among the first civilizations to refine oil. During 512 A.D. and 518 A.D., in the late Northern Wei dynasty, the Chinese geographer, politician, and writer Li Daoyuan introduced the process of refining oil intro various lubricants in his famous work ''Commentary on the Water Classic''. During the first century AD, the Chinese were among the first peoples to refine oil for use as an energy source. During the
Northern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...
, a workshop called the "Fierce Oil Workshop", was established in the city of Kaifeng to produce refined oil for the Song military as a weapon. The troops would then fill the iron cans with refined oil and threw them toward the enemy troops, causing a fire – effectively the world's first "Incendiary device, fire bomb" The workshop was one of the world's earliest oil refining factories where thousands of people worked to produce Chinese oil powered weaponry. * Oil well: The earliest record of an oil well dates from AD 347, in China. Petroleum was used in ancient China for "lighting, as a lubricant for cart axles and the bearings of water-powered drop hammers, as a source of carbon for inksticks, and as a medical remedy for sores on humans and mange in animals." The earliest depiction of an oil well dates from AD 1762.


P

* Paper cup: Paper cups have been documented in Ancient China, imperial China, alongside paper napkins. Paper cups were known as ''chih pei'' and were used for the serving of tea. They were constructed in different sizes and colors, and were adorned with decorative designs. * Paper lantern: The paper lantern is a lighting device made of paper. Early lanterns in China were constructed with
silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...
, paper, or animal skin with frames made of bamboo or wood. One of the earliest descriptions of paper lanterns is found in records from Khotan, which describe a "mounting lantern" made of white paper. * Napkin, Paper Napkin: Paper napkins, or ''chih pha'', accompanied tea cups and were folded into squares. Textual evidence of paper napkins appears in a description of the possessions of the Yu family, from the city of Hangzhou. * Packaging and labeling, Paper packaging: The first use of paper used in packaging was for treated mulberry barks in the early first of second century BC. * Pendulum:
Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
scientist
Zhang Heng Zhang Heng (; AD 78–139), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Han dynasty#Eastern Han (25–220 AD), Eastern Han dynasty. Educated in the capital citi ...
created a pendulum in the 1st-century for a seismometer. Its function was to sway and activate one of a series of levers after being disturbed by the tremor of an earthquake. * Hammer drill#Percussion, Percussion drilling: Ancient China's principal drilling technique, percussive drilling, was invented during the Han dynasty. The process involved two to six men jumping on a level at rhythmic intervals to raise a heavy iron bit attached to long bamboo cables from a bamboo derrick. Utilizing cast iron bits and tools constructed of bamboo, the early Chinese were able to use percussion drilling to drill holes to a depth of 3,000 ft. The construction of percussion drilling machines took more than two to three generations of workers. The cable tool drilling machines developed by the early Chinese involved raising and dropping a heavy string of drilling tools to crush through rocks into diminutive fragments. In addition, the Chinese also used a cutting head secured to bamboo rods to drill to depths of 915 m. The raising and dropping of the bamboo drill strings allowed the drilling machine to penetrate less dense and unconsolidated rock formations. * Petroleum, Petroleum as fuel: The use of petroleum dates from ancient China more than 2,000 years ago. In ''I Ching'', one of the earliest Chinese writings cites the use of oil in its raw state without refining was first discovered, extracted, and used in China in the first century BC. In addition, the Chinese were the first to use petroleum as fuel as the early as the fourth century BC. * Pig iron: The earliest pig iron dates from the Zhou dynasty. By the 5th century, archaeological evidence indicates that pig iron was melted to produce cast iron. In Europe, the process was not invented until the late medieval ages. * Pinhole camera: The ancient Chinese philosophy, Chinese philosopher Mozi (c. 470 BC – c. 391 BC)—founder of Mohism during the establishment of the Hundred Schools of Thought—is the claimed author of the ''Mojing'' (perhaps compiled by his disciples) which described the pinhole camera.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 1, 82. The ''Mojing'' stated that the "collecting place" (pinhole) was an empty hole "like the sun and moon depicted on the imperial flags," where an image could be inverted at an intersecting point which "affects the size of the image." The ''Mojing'' seems to be in line with the Epicureanism, Epicurean theory of light traveling into the eye (and not vice versa like in Pythagoreanism),Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 1, 85. since the ''Mojing'' states that the reflected light shining forth from an "illuminated person" becomes inverted when passing through the pinhole, i.e. "The bottom part of the man becomes the top part (of the image) and the top part of the man becomes the bottom part (of the image)." In his ''Book of Optics'' (1021), Ibn al-Haytham (965–1039) wrote of his experimentation with camera obscura, which was followed by Song dynasty polymath
Shen Kuo Shen Kuo (; 1031–1095) or Shen Gua, courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and Art name#China, pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁),Yao (2003), 544. was a Chinese polymath, scientist, and statesman of the Song dynasty (960� ...
(1031–1095), the latter who alluded that the Tang dynasty (618–907) writer Duan Chengshi (died 863)—in his ''Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang''—described inverted images of Chinese pagodas. * Playing cards: The first reference to the card game in world history dates from no later than the 9th century, when the ''Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang'', written by Su E (fl. 880), described the Wei clan (family of Princess Tongchang's husband) of the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) enjoying the "leaf game" in 868.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 1, 131–132.Zhou (1997), 34. The ''Yezi Gexi'' was a book on the card came which was allegedly written by a Tang woman and commented on by Chinese scholars in subsequent dynasties.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 1, 132. In his ''Notes After Retirement'', the Song dynasty (960–1279) scholar Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) asserted that playing card games existed since the mid Tang dynasty and associated this invention with the simultaneous evolution of the common Chinese writing medium from paper rolls to sheets of paper that could be printed. During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), characters from popular novels such as the ''Water Margin'' were widely featured on the faces of playing cards. By the 11th century playing cards could be found throughout the Asian continent.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 1, 309. Playing cards were some of the first printed materials in Europe, appearing by the 14th century (i.e. in Spain and Germany in 1377, in Italy and Belgium in 1379, and in France in 1381) and produced by European woodblock printing before the innovation of the early modern printing press by German inventor, printer, publisher and blacksmith Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400–1468). * Pontoon bridge: The Zhou dynasty Chinese text of the ''Shi Jing'' (''Book of Odes'') records that King Wen of Zhou was the first to create a pontoon bridge in the 11th century BC. However, the British scientist, sinologist and historian
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
has pointed out that in all likely scenarios, the temporary pontoon bridge was invented during the 9th or 8th century BC in China, as this part was perhaps a later addition to the book (considering how the book had been edited up until the
Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
, 202 BC–220 AD). Although earlier temporary pontoon bridges had been made in China, the first secure and permanent ones (and linked with iron chains) in China came first during the Qin dynasty (221 BC–207 BC). The later
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
(960–1279 AD) Chinese statesman Cao Cheng once wrote a description of the early pontoon bridges in China. During the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD), the Chinese created a very large pontoon bridge that spanned across the width of the Yellow River. There was also the Naval history of China#Early literature, rebellion of Gongsun Shu in 33 AD, where a large pontoon bridge with fortified posts was constructed across the Yangtze River, eventually broken through with ramming ships by official Han troops under Commander Cen Peng. During the late Eastern Han into the
Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...
period, during the Battle of Chibi in 208 AD, the Prime Minister Cao Cao once linked the majority of his fleet together with iron chains, which proved to be a fatal mistake once he was thwarted with a fire attack by Sun Quan's fleet. The armies of Emperor Taizu of Song had a large pontoon bridge built across the Yangtze River in 974 in order to secure supply lines during the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
's conquest of the Southern Tang. * Porcelain: Chinese ceramics, Although glazed ceramics existed beforehand, the author and historian Samuel Adrian M Adshead writes that the earliest type of vitrified, translucent ceramics that could be classified as true porcelain was not made until the Tang dynasty (618–907). The archaeologist Nigel Wood of the University of Oxford states that true porcelain was manufactured in northern China from roughly the beginning of the Tang dynasty in the 7th century, and true porcelain was not manufactured in southern China until about 300 years later, during the early 10th century [this sentence contradicts itself]. * Pound lock: Indirect evidence suggests that pound locks may have been used in antiquity by the Ptolemaic Egypt, Ptolemaic Greeks and the Roman Empire, Romans. In China, although the one gate canal flash lock existed beforehand, the two-gate pound lock was invented in 984 by an official of Huainan and engineer named Qiao Weiyo, during the early Song dynasty (960–1279), so that ships could safely travel along canal waterways having gated and segmented chambers where water levels could be regulated.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 350–352. The economic and transport benefits of this innovation were described by the polymath official and inventor
Shen Kuo Shen Kuo (; 1031–1095) or Shen Gua, courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and Art name#China, pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁),Yao (2003), 544. was a Chinese polymath, scientist, and statesman of the Song dynasty (960� ...
(1031–1095) in his '' Dream Pool Essays''. * Ma Jun (mechanical engineer), Puppet theater, waterwheel-powered: The mechanical toys of Roman Egypt, especially the weight-driven puppet theater of Heron of Alexandria (c. 10–70 AD), are well known and discussed by historians such as Beck, Prou, and de Rochas d'Aiglun.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 156. In China,
Zhang Heng Zhang Heng (; AD 78–139), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Han dynasty#Eastern Han (25–220 AD), Eastern Han dynasty. Educated in the capital citi ...
(78–139) wrote of plays with artificial fish and dragons, and a 6th-century text ''Xijing Zaji'' states that when Liu Bang (reigned as Emperor Gaozu of Han from 202 to 195 BC) came upon the treasury of the deceased Qin Shihuang (r. 221–210) in 206 BC, he found an entire mechanical orchestra of tall puppets dressed in
silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...
and playing Free reed aerophone, mouth organs, all powered by pulling ropes and blowing into tubes.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 158. As written in the ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', the engineer Ma Jun (mechanical engineer), Ma Jun (fl. 220–265)—already associated with the Differential (mechanical device), differential gear system of the
south-pointing chariot The south-pointing chariot (or carriage) was an ancient Chinese two-wheeled vehicle that carried a movable pointer to indicate the south, no matter how the chariot turned. Usually, the pointer took the form of a doll or figure with an outstretch ...
—invented a mechanical theater powered by a rotating wooden waterwheel for the entertainment of Cao Rui, Emperor Ming's (r. 226–239 AD) court. With the waterwheel in motion, a number of mechanical puppets performed tricks, such as singing girls who played music and danced, other puppets who would beat drums and sound flutes when one puppet entered the scene, puppets dancing on balls, throwing swords, hanging upside down on rope ladders, etc. Other mechanical puppets dressed as government officials did tasks in their offices, puppets dressed as laborers did jobs of pounding and grinding (trip hammer and millstone), while others watched cockfighting, all moving simultaneously. Water-powered puppet theaters in the tradition of Ma Jun were created in later dynasties as well.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 164.


R

* Raised-relief map, Raised-relief map (Terrain Model): The raised-relief map may have existed in China since the 3rd century BC, if the accounts in the ''
Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...
'' (by
Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...
, 91 BC) about Qin Shi Huang's (r. 221–210 BC) tomb prove correct (if it is excavated). It is known that Ma Yuan (Han Dynasty), Ma Yuan (14 BC – 49 AD) created a raised-relief map in 32 AD made out of rice, a type of map described in detail during the Tang dynasty (618–907) by Jiang Fang in his ''Essay on the Art of Constructing Mountains with Rice'' (c. 845). Xie Zhuang (421–466) of the Liu Song dynasty (420–479) created a wooden raised-relief map of the empire (showing mountains and rivers) which could be taken apart and pieced together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The Song dynasty polymath
Shen Kuo Shen Kuo (; 1031–1095) or Shen Gua, courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and Art name#China, pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁),Yao (2003), 544. was a Chinese polymath, scientist, and statesman of the Song dynasty (960� ...
also created his own raised-relief map using sawdust, wood, beeswax, and wheat paste. * Menu, Restaurant menu: During the early Song dynasty (960–1279), expanding trade and commerce brought money and people to the Song Chinese capital. The first restaurants sprang up and food like dumplings and noodles became available to the masses for a small price. Urban shopkeepers of the Four occupations, merchant middle class often had little time to eat at home, so they ventured out to eat at a variety of establishments such as temples, taverns, tea houses, food stalls, and restaurants which provided business for nearby brothels, singing-girl houses, and Culture of the Song Dynasty#Performing arts, drama theaters; this along with Society of the Song Dynasty#Ethnic, foreign and religious minorities, traveling foreigners and Chinese who migrated to urban centers from regions with different cooking styles encouraged a demand for a variety of flavors served at urban restaurants, giving rise to the menu. * Bookcase, Revolving bookcase: Revolving bookcases, known as ''zhuanluntang'', have been documented in ancient China, and its invention is credited to Fu Xi in 544. Descriptions of revolving bookcases have been found in 8th- and 9th-century Chinese texts. Revolving bookcases were popularized in Buddhist monasteries during the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
under the reign of Emperor Taizu of Song, Emperor Taizu, who ordered the mass printing of the Buddhist Tripiṭaka scriptures. An illustration of a revolving bookcase is depicted in Li Jie's architectural treatise the ''Yingzao Fashi''. * Rockets: The first gunpowder-powered rockets were developed during the Song dynasty and by the 13th century. The Chinese rocket technology was adopted by the Mongols and the invention was spread via the Mongol invasions to the Middle East and Europe in the mid-13th century. Rockets were used by the Song navy in a military exercise in 1245. Combustion rocket propulsion is mentioned in a reference to 1264, recording that the "ground-rat", a type of firework, had frightened the Empress-Mother Gongsheng at a feast held in her honor by her son the Emperor Lizong. Subsequently, rockets are included in the military treatise '' Huolongjing'', also known as the Fire Drake Manual, written by the Chinese artillery officer Jiao Yu in the mid-14th century. This text mentions the first known
multistage rocket A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...
, the 'fire-dragon issuing from the water' (huo long chu shui), thought to have been used by the Chinese navy.Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 510. * Huolongjing#Fire arrows and rockets, Rocket bombs, aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads: The first known rockets fitted with aerodynamic wings are described as the 'flying crows with magic fire' in the oldest strata of the '' Huolongjing'' (early-to-mid 14th century), compiled by Jiao Yu and Liu Bowen during the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644).Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 498–501. The body of the rocket was shaped like a bird (specifically a crow), packed with
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
, and made of
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
laths forming a long basketwork frame that was reinforced with glued paper.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 500. A decorative head and tail were attached to the front and back ends, and the wings were nailed to the sides. Under each wing were two slanting rockets to propel the weapon; a main fuse was lit that ignited a fourfold fuse connected to each rocket and running through a drilled hole in the back of the bird. The book then claims that the rocket, after being launched high into the air and aimed at encampments or enemy boats, automatically produced an explosion upon impact that could be seen from considerably long distances.Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 2, 502. * Booster (rocketry), Rocket boosters: An illustration and description in the 14th century Chinese military treatise '' Huolongjing'' by the Ming dynasty military writer and philosopher Jiao Yu shows the oldest known multistage rocket with rocket boosters. The ''Huolongjing'' describes and illustrates the oldest known
multistage rocket A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...
. It was a two-stage rocket that had carrier or booster rockets that would automatically ignite a number of smaller rocket arrows that were shot out of the front end of the missile, which was shaped like a dragon's head with an open mouth, before eventually burning out. This multi-stage rocket may be considered the ancestor to the modern C-602, YingJi-62 Anti-ship missile, ASCM. The British scientist, sinologist, and historian
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
points out that the written material and depicted illustration of this rocket come from the oldest stratum of the ''Huolongjing'', which can be dated roughly to AD 1300–1350. Solid rocket boosters finds its roots in the Chinese invented fire arrows invented during the medieval Song dynasty more than 1000 years ago, using gunpowder as solid rocket propellants. Gunpowder was packed into a bamboo case cylinder and an opening was created on the cylinders other end. As the gunpowder was ignited, it began to burn rapidly and created large amounts of gas that would rush out to create thrust. * Rocket launcher: The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China launched fire arrows with launchers constructed of wood, basketry, and bamboo tubes.Needham (1974), Volume 5, Part 7, 488. The rocket launchers divided the fire arrows with frames meant to keep the arrows separated, and were capable of firing multiple arrow rockets at once. Textual evidence and illustrations of various early rocket launchers are found in the 11th-century
Northern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...
text ''
Wujing Zongyao The ''Wujing Zongyao'' (), sometimes rendered in English as the ''Complete Essentials for the Military Classics'', is a Chinese military compendium written from around 1040 to 1044. The book was compiled during the Northern Song dynasty by Ze ...
''. The ''Wujing Zongyao'' describes the "long serpent" rocket launcher, a rocket launcher constructed of wood and carried with a wheelbarrow, and the "hundred tiger" rocket launcher, a rocket launcher made of wood and capable of firing 320 rocket arrows.Needham (1974), Volume 5, Part 7, 493. The text also describes a portable rocket arrow carrier consisting of a sling and a bamboo tube.Needham (1974), Volume 5, Part 7, 495. * Fan (mechanical), Rotary fan, manual and water-powered: For purposes of air conditioning, the Han dynasty craftsman and mechanical engineer Ding Huan (fl. 180 AD) invented a manually operated rotary fan with seven wheels that measured in diameter; in the 8th century, during the Tang dynasty (618–907), the Chinese applied Hydraulics, hydraulic power to rotate the fan wheels for air conditioning; the rotary fan became even more common during the Song dynasty (960–1279). The first rotary fan used in Europe was for mine ventilation during the 16th century, as illustrated by German mineralogist and metallurgist Georg Agricola (1494–1555).Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 154. * Rudder, Rudder, stern-mounted and vertical axial: Lawrence V. Mott, who defines a steering oar as a rudder, states the
ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
ian use of stern-mounted rudders can be traced back to the Sixth dynasty of Egypt, 6th dynasty (2350–2200 BC).Mott (1991), 2–3, 92, 84, 95f. Mott states that the method of attachment for rudders in the Arab, Chinese, and European worlds differed from each other, leading him to doubt the spread of the Chinese system of attachment by socket-and-jaws or block and tackle (versus European pintle-and-gudgeon invented by c. 1180 AD). In regard to Mott's definition of a steering oar as a rudder,
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
, Richard Lefebvre des Noëttes, K. S. Tom, Chung Chee Kit, S. A. M. Adshead, Paul Johnstone, and Sean McGrail state that a steering oar is not a rudder; the steering oar can interfere with handling of the sails (limiting the potential for long ocean voyages) and it was fit more for small vessels on narrow, rapid-water transport; the rudder did not disturb the handling of the sails, took less of the helmsman's energy to operate, was better fit for larger vessels on ocean travel, and first appeared in China.Adshead (2000), 156. Leo Block writes of the use of the steering oar in the ancient History of the Mediterranean region, Mediterranean world (specifically in regards to the Phoenicians, 1550–300 BC): "A single sail tends to turn a vessel in an upwind or downwind direction, and rudder action is required to steer a straight course. A steering oar was used at this time because the rudder had not yet been invented. With a single sail, a frequent movement of the steering oar was required to steer a straight course; this slowed down the vessel because a steering oar (or rudder) course correction acts like a break." The oldest depicted rudders at the back of a ship, without the use of oars or a steering oar, comes from several ceramic models of Chinese ships made during both the Western and Eastern eras of the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD).Deng (1997), 42. According to the scholars Zhang Zunyan and Vassilios Christides, there is literary evidence to suggest that the axial stern rudder existed in China since the 1st century BC; Gang Deng asserts the first reference was made in the ''
Huainanzi The ''Huainanzi'' is an ancient Chinese text made up of essays from scholarly debates held at the court of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, before 139 BCE. Compiled as a handbook for an enlightened sovereign and his court, the work attempts to defi ...
'' of the 2nd century BC, and K. S. Tom says that the first clear reference is from the 5th century AD. However, K. S. Tom points to the fact that all Chinese pottery models of ships before this Guangzhou tomb model show steering oars instead of a rudder, which he states is strong evidence for the rudder's invention only by the 1st century AD. Jacques Gernet states that, although the Chinese had invented the rudder in the 1st century AD, it was not completely fixed to the sternpost of Chinese ships until the end of the 4th century. The bulkhead ship design of the ''junk (ship), junk'', which appeared roughly the same time as the rudder, provided the essential vertical components for the hinged axial rudder.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 391. Deng points out that an Eastern Han (25–220) model distinctly shows a rudder in its own, separate cabin, suggesting that helmsmanship had already become an established profession. Tom and Deng state that, after the invention of the balanced rudder pivoted on an axis, the Chinese then innovated the fenestrated rudder by the Song dynasty (960–1279), with deliberate puncturing and boring out of holes in shapes such as diamonds, which, according to Tom, made the rudder "easier to steer, reduced turbulence drag, did not affect efficiency and was hydrodynamically sound."Tom (1989), 104.


S

* Salt well: The Chinese have been using brine wells and a form of salt solution mining as part of their civilization for more than 2000 years. The first recorded salt well in China was dug in the Sichuan province about 2,250 years ago. This was the first time that ancient water well technology was applied successfully for the exploitation of salt, and marked the beginning of Sichuan's salt drilling industry. Shaft wells were sunk as early as 220 BC in the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. By 1035 AD, Chinese in the Sichuan area were using percussion drilling to recover deep brines, a technique that would not be introduced to Europe and the Western World for another 600 to 800 years. Medieval and modern European travelers to China between 1400 and 1700 AD reported salt and natural gas production from dense networks of brine wells. Archaeological evidence of Song dynasty salt drilling tools used are kept and displayed in the Zigong Salt Industry Museum. Many of the wells were sunk deeper than 450 m and at least one well was more than 1000 meters deep. The medieval Venetian traveler to China
Marco Polo Marco Polo (; ; ; 8 January 1324) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known a ...
reported an annual production in a single province of more than 30,000 tonnes of brine during his time there. According to ''Salt: A World History'', a Qing dynasty well, also in Zigong, "continued down to 3,300 feet [1,000 m] making it at the time the deepest drilled well in the world." * Seismometer: The Chinese polymath and inventor
Zhang Heng Zhang Heng (; AD 78–139), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Han dynasty#Eastern Han (25–220 AD), Eastern Han dynasty. Educated in the capital citi ...
(78–139) of the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) invented the first seismometer in 132, a large metal urn-shaped instrument which employed either a suspended pendulum or inverted pendulum acting on inertia (i.e. ground tremors from earthquakes) to dislodge a metal ball by a lever trip device; this ball would fall out of dragon-shaped metal mouth into the corresponding metal toad mouth indicating the exact cardinal direction of where a distant earthquake had occurred in order for the state to send swift aid and relief to the affected regions; several subsequent recreations of his device were employed by Chinese states up until the Tang dynasty (618–907), when use of the device fell into obscurity, a fact noted by the writer Zhou Mi about 1290, during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). * Sky lantern: The Chinese military strategist, politician, writer, and inventor Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms era is credited with its invention, and reportedly used it during military campaigns. According to the British scientist, historian, and sinologist Joseph Needham, sky lanterns have been used in China since the 3rd century BC. In 1783, the French entrepreneurs and inventors Montgolfier brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier took part in the first modern manned hot air balloon flight. * Snow gauge: The first use of snow gauges were precipitation gauges that was widely used in 1247 during the Southern Song dynasty to gather meteorological data. The Song Chinese mathematician and inventor Qin Jiushao records the use of gathering rain and snowfall measurements in the Song mathematical treatise ''Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections''. The book discusses the use of large conical or barrel-shaped snow gauges made from bamboo situated in mountain passes and uplands which are speculated to be first referenced to snow measurement. * Solid-propellant rocket: The medieval Song dynasty Chinese invented the solid-propellant rocket at a time when bows, arrows, and catapult-based projectile launchers were state of the art military technology in medieval Europe. Illustrations and descriptions in the 14th century Chinese military treatise '' Huolongjing'' by the Ming dynasty military writer and philosopher Jiao Yu confirm that the Chinese in 1232 used proto-solid propellant rockets then known as "fire arrows" to drive back the Mongols during the Siege of Kaifeng (1234), Siege of Kaifeng. Each arrow took a primitive form of a simple, solid-propellant rocket tube that was filled gunpowder. One open end allowed the gas to escape and was attached to a long stick that acted as a guidance system for flight direction control. * South-pointing chariot: Although the claim of Cao Wei, Wei dynasty mechanical engineer and statesman Ma Jun (mechanical engineer), Ma Jun (fl. 220–265) that the south-pointing chariot was first invented by the mythological Yellow Emperor are dubious, his south-pointing chariot was successfully designed and tested in 255 AD with many later models recreated in subsequent dynasties; this device was a wheeled vehicle with Differential (mechanical device), differential gears that ensured a mounted wooden figurine would always point in the southern direction no matter how the vehicle turned, in essence a non-magnetic
compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...
. The ''Book of Song'' written in the 6th century states that the device was successfully reinvented by the mathematician and astronomer Zu Chongzhi (429–500) during the Liu Song dynasty (420–479). The Japanese historical text ''Nihon Shoki'', compiled by 720, states that the device was crafted and presented as a gift to Emperor Tenji (661–672) on two different occasions (658 and 666) by the Tang dynasty (618–907) Chinese Buddhism, Chinese Buddhist monks Zhi Yu and Zhi You. The wheeled vehicle device was described in intricate detail in the historical text covering the Song dynasty (960–1279), i.e. the ''Song Shi'' (compiled 1345); for example, it revealed the number of gear teeth on each mechanical gear wheel, the diameter of each gear wheel, and how these gear wheels were properly positioned. * Soybean oil: Chinese records from before 2000 BC mention the use of cultivated soybeans to produce edible soy oil. Ancient Chinese literature reveals that soybeans were extensively cultivated and highly valued as a use for the soybean oil production process before written records were kept. * Soy sauce: Soy sauce in its current form was created about 2,200 years ago during the Han dynasty#Western Han, Western Han dynasty and was soon spread throughout East and Southeast Asia where it is used in cooking and as a condiment. The condiment considered almost as old as ''soy paste'' — a type of fermented paste (Jiang, :zh:酱, 酱) obtained from soybeans — which had appeared during the Han dynasty#Western Han, Western Han dynasty and was listed in the bamboo slips found in the archaeological site Mawangdui.调料文化:酱油的由来
/ref> * Steelmaking, Steel made from cast iron through oxygenation: The earliest known production of steel is a piece of ironware excavated from an archaeological site in Anatolia (Kaman-Kalehoyuk) and is about 4,000 years old. Other ancient steel comes from Eastern Africa, East Africa, dating from 1400 BC. In the 4th century BC steel weapons like the Falcata were produced in the Iberian Peninsula, and Noric steel was used by the Military of ancient Rome, Roman military. The Chinese, who had been producing
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...
from the late Spring and Autumn period (722–481 BC), produced
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
by the 2nd century BC through a process of decarburization, i.e. using bellows to pump large amounts of oxygen on to molten cast iron. This was first described in the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) book ''
Huainanzi The ''Huainanzi'' is an ancient Chinese text made up of essays from scholarly debates held at the court of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, before 139 BCE. Compiled as a handbook for an enlightened sovereign and his court, the work attempts to defi ...
'', compiled by scholars under Prince Liu An (179–122 BC). For steel, they used both quenching (i.e. rapid cooling) and tempering (metallurgy), tempering (i.e. slow cooling) methods of heat treatment. Much later, the American inventor William Kelly (inventor), William Kelly (1811–1888) brought four Chinese metallurgists to Eddyville, Kentucky in 1845, whose expertise in steelmaking influenced his ideas about air injection to reduce carbon content of iron; his invention anticipated the Bessemer process of English inventor Henry Bessemer (1813–1898). * Stinkpot (weapon), Stinkpot: The stinkpot was an earthenware incendiary weapon, part of which was filled with sulphur, gunpowder, nails, and shot, while the other part was filled with noxious materials designed to emanate a highly unpleasant and suffocating smell when ignited.Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology: the gunpowder epic''. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. Pages 189. The weapon was used in the 19th century during the Qing dynasty, where the British Admiral William Kennedy (Royal Navy officer), Sir William Robert Kennedy recorded the use of the stinkpot in 1856 during the Second Opium War in his book ''Hurrah for the Life of a Sailor – Fifty Years in the Royal Navy''. These incendiary weapons were wrapped in calico bags and were then hoisted in a basket to the truck of the mast. When an enemy ship was alongside, one of the crew members would climb up the mast and primed the stinkpots with lighted joss sticks. The stinkpots were then launched onto the enemy deck by cutting the rope by which the basket had been hoisted. The ensuing noise, flying debris, and pungent smell it would create, would cause the enemy crew sufficient confusion and blow them into disarray. * Stir frying: Stir frying is a Chinese cooking technique used for preparing food in a wok. It originates from the Han dynasty, but did not fully develop until the Song dynasty. Although there are no surviving records of Han dynasty stir frying, archaeological evidence of woks and the tendency to slice food thinly indicate that the technique was likely used for cooking. It was not until the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
that stir frying was popularized as primary cooking method of Chinese cuisine. Stir frying was brought to America by early Chinese American, Chinese immigrants, and has been used for non-Asian cuisines. * Suspension bridge, Suspension bridge using iron chains: Although there is evidence that many early cultures had suspension bridges with cabled ropes, the first written evidence of iron-chain suspension bridges comes from a local history and topography of
Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
written in the 15th century, which describes the repair of an iron-chain bridge during the reign of the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424); although Ming dynasty (1368–1644) Chinese claims that iron-chain suspension bridges had existed since the Han dynasty are questionable, their existence in the 15th century is the earliest known anywhere. K. S. Tom mentions this same repaired Ming suspension bridge described by Needham, and adds that recent research has revealed a document that lists the names of those said to have built an iron chain suspension bridge in Yunnan about AD 600.


T

* Tangram: The tangram is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. The game is reputed to have been invented in China during the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
, and was popularized in Europe and United States during the 19th century. The word tangram is likely derived from two words, the Chinese word ''tang'', referring to the medieval Chinese
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
, and the Greek word ''gramma'', a synonym of "graph". * Tea: The tea plant is indigenous to western
Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
; it is thought that by the mid 2nd millennium BC, tea was consumed in Yunnan for medicinal purposes, but the earliest physical evidence (discovered in 2016) comes from the tomb of Emperor Jing of Han, dated to the 2nd century BC. Tea drinking was already an established custom in the daily life in this area as shown by the ''Contract with a Slave'', written by Wang Bao in 59 BC, the first source to mention boiling of tea. This written record also reveals that tea processing, tea was processed and used as a drink instead of a medicinal herb, emerged no later than the 1st century BC. Early Chinese tea culture began from the time of Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) to the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589) when tea was widely used by Chinese gentry, but only took its initial shape during the Tang dynasty (618–907). * Teapot: The teapot was invented during the
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
, tea preparation in previous dynasties did not utilize a teapot. In the Tang dynasty, a cauldron was used to boil ground tea, which was served in bowls. Song dynasty tea was made by pouring water boiled using a kettle into a bowl with finely ground tea leaves. A brush was then used to stir the tea. The innovation of the teapot, a vessel that steeps tea leaves in boiling water, occurs during the late Yuan dynasty. Written evidence of a teapot appears in the Yuan dynasty text, ''Jiyuan Conghua'', which describes a teapot that the author, Cai Shizhan, bought from the scholar Sun Daoming. By the Ming dynasty, teapots were widespread in China. * Thyroid, Thyroid hormones to treat goiters: In 239 BC, '' Master Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals'' stated that where water is too light, people suffer widespread baldness and goiter.Slater, Stefan. "The Discovery of Thyroid Replacement Therapy. Part 1: In the Beginning." ''Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine'' 104.1 (2011): 15–18. PMC. Web. 24 Aug. 2016. It was not until the 1860 that French physician Gaspard Adolphe Chatin (1813–1901) linked goiter with the lack of iodine in soil and water; iodine was discovered in the thyroid gland in 1896 by German chemist Eugen Baumann, and thyroid extract was used to treat patients in 1890. The Tang dynasty (618–907) physician Zhen Quan (d. 643 AD), in his ''Old and New Tried and Tested Prescriptions'', stated that the thyroid glands taken from Gelding, gelded Domestic sheep, rams were used to treat patients with goiter; the thyroid hormones could be swallowed in pill form (the body of the pill made from crushed jujube pulp) or as a solid thyroid gland with the fat taken off. The ''Pharmacopoeia of the Heavenly Husbandman'' asserted that iodine-rich sargassum was used to treat goiter by the 1st century BC (Ge Hong, 284–364, also suggested using a tincture derived from sargassum seaweed in about 340 AD),Medvei (1993), 48. a treatment later recorded in the Western World by Italian practrica Roger II of Sicily, Roger of Palermo in his ''Practica Chirurgiae'' of 1180 AD. * Tofu: Although both popular tradition and Song dynasty philosophers like Zhu Xi (1130–1200 AD) credit the invention of tofu—along with soymilk— to Liu An (179–122 BC), a Kings of the Han dynasty, Han dynasty King of Huainan, no mention of tofu is found in the extant ''
Huainanzi The ''Huainanzi'' is an ancient Chinese text made up of essays from scholarly debates held at the court of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, before 139 BCE. Compiled as a handbook for an enlightened sovereign and his court, the work attempts to defi ...
'' (compiled under Liu An).Shurtleff & Aoyagi (2001), 92.Liu (1999), 166.Yang (2004), 217–218. The earliest known mention of tofu was made in ''Records of the Extraordinary'' (''Qingyi lu'' 清異錄), which reported that tofu was sold at Qingyang County, Qingyang (Anhui). The earliest explanation of how to make tofu is found in the ''Bencao Gangmu'', written by the Ming dynasty polymath Li Shizhen (1518–1593). According to Liu Keshun (1999), Liu An's process for making tofu was essentially the same as today. * Toilet paper: Toilet paper was first mentioned by the Sui Chinese politician and artist Yan Zhitui (531–591) in the year 589 during the Sui dynasty, with full evidence of continual use in subsequent dynasties.Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 123. By the mid 14th century during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), it was written that ten million packages of 1,000 to 10,000 sheets of toilet paper were manufactured annually in
Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...
province alone. * Trebuchet, Traction trebuchet: The earliest type of trebuchet catapult was the traction trebuchet, developed first in China by the 5th or 4th century BC, the beginning of the
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
(403–221 BC); to operate the trebuchet, a team of men pulled on ropes attached to the butt of the shorter segment of a long wooden beam separated by a rotating axle fixed to a base framework, allowing the longer segment of the beam to lunge forward and use its sling to hurl a missile; by the 9th century a hybrid of the traction and Trebuchet#History, counterweight trebuchet, employing manpower and a pivoting weight, was used in the Middle East, Mediterranean Basin, and Northern Europe; by the 12th century, the full-fledged counterweight trebuchet was developed under the Ayyubid dynasty of Islamic Syria and Egypt (described by Mardi bin Ali al-Tarsusi) and used in the Third Crusade; by the 13th century, the counterweight trebuchet found its way into Song dynasty (960–1279) China via the Mongol invasion of China, Mongol invaders under Kublai Khan (r. 1260–1294) who used it in the Battle of Xiangyang, Siege of Xiangyang (1267–1273). * Trip hammer: The ancient Chinese used pestle and mortar to pound and decorticate grain, which was superseded by the treadle-operated tilt hammer (employing a simple lever and wikt:fulcrum, fulcrum) perhaps during the Zhou dynasty (1122–256 BC) but first described in a Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) dictionary of 40 BC and soon after by the Han dynasty philosopher and writer Yang Xiong (53 BC – 18 AD) in his ''Fangyan (book), Fangyan'' dictionary written in 15 BC; the next stage in this evolution of grain-pounding devices was to apply Hydraulics, hydraulic power, which the Han dynasty philosopher and writer Huan Tan (43 BC – 28 AD) mentioned in his ''Xinlun'' of 20 AD, although he also described trip hammers powered by the labor of horses, oxen, donkeys, and mules. After Huan Tan's book was written, numerous references to trip hammers powered by waterwheels were made in subsequent Chinese dynasties and in medieval Europe by the 12th century. However, trip hammers were also attested by both literary (Pliny the Elder, Pliny, ''Natural History (Pliny), Natural History'' 18.97) and archaeological evidence in fairly widespread use in the Roman Empire by the 1st century AD. * Bianzhong, Tuned bells: The earliest complete set of tuned bells, sixteen in all, were found in Tomb 8 of Jin (Chinese state), Marquis Su of Jin at Qucun, southern Shanxi. The tomb has been dated by Accelerator mass spectrometry, AMS radiocarbon techniques to 815–786 BC, during the period of the Zhou dynasty. Of the Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, sixty-four bronze bells found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng interred by 433 BC, forty-seven of them produce two notes with Interval (music), minor third intervals and sixteen produce two notes with Interval (music), major third intervals. * Tung oil: The tung oil tree originates in southern China and was cultivated there for tung oil, but the date of cultivation remains unknown. During the Song dynasty, tung oil was used for waterproofing on ships. Tung oil is etymologically derived from the Chinese ''tongyou''. The earliest references for Chinese use of tung oil is in the writings of Confucius around 500 to 400 BC The Chinese have used tung oil, also known as China wood oil, for at least 2500 years for building waterproof boats and paper parasols, wood finishing, wood waterproofing, caulking, inks and paints.


W

* Well drilling: The earliest record of well-drilling dates from AD 347, in China. Petroleum was used in ancient China for "lighting, as a lubricant for cart axles and the bearings of water-powered drop hammers, as a source of carbon for inksticks, and as a medical remedy for sores on humans and mange in animals." In ancient China, deep well drilling machines were in the forefront of brine well production by the 1st century BC. The ancient Chinese developed advanced sinking wells and were the first civilization to use a well-drilling machine and to use bamboo well casings to keep the holes open. * Well-field system: The well-field system was a Chinese land-distribution method used from the ninth century BC (late Western Zhou dynasty) to about the end of the
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
. Its name comes from Chinese character wikt:井, 井 (''jǐng''), which means 'well' and looks like the number sign, # symbol; this character represents the theoretical appearance of land division: a square area of land was divided into nine identically sized sections; the eight outer sections (私田; ''sītián'') were privately cultivated by serfs and the center section (公田; gōngtián) was communally cultivated on behalf of the landowning aristocrat. * Wheat gluten (food), Wheat gluten: The earliest description of wheat gluten comes from 6th century China. It was widely consumed by the Chinese as a substitute for meat, especially among adherents of Buddhism. The oldest reference to wheat gluten appears in the ''Qimin Yaoshu'', a Chinese agricultural encyclopedia written by Jia Sixie in 535. The encyclopedia mentions noodles prepared from wheat gluten called ''bo duo''. Wheat gluten was known as ''mian jin'' by the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
(960–1279). * Wheelbarrow: The earliest wheelbarrows with archaeological evidence in the form of a one-wheel cart come from 2nd century
Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
Emperor Hui's tomb murals and brick tomb reliefs.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 263–267. The painted tomb mural of a man pushing a wheelbarrow was found in a tomb at Chengdu,
Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
province, dated precisely to AD 118.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 265. The stone carved relief of a man pushing a wheelbarrow was found in the tomb of Shen Fujun in Sichuan province, dated about AD 150.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 264–265. And then there is the story of the pious Dong Yuan pushing his father around in a single-wheel ''lu che'' barrow, depicted in a mural of the Wu Liang tomb-shrine of
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
(dated to AD 147).Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 263. However, there are even earlier accounts than this that date from the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. The 5th century ''Book of Later Han'' stated that the wife of the once poor and youthful Censorate, imperial censor Bao Xuan helped him push a ''lu che'' back to his village during their feeble wedding ceremony, about 30 BC. Later, during the Chimei, Red Eyebrows Rebellion (about AD 20) against Xin dynasty's Wang Mang (45 BC – AD 23), the official Zhao Xi saved his wife from danger by disguising himself and pushing her along in his ''lu che'' barrow, past a group of Outlaw, brigand rebels who questioned him, and allowed him to pass after he convinced them that his wife was terribly ill. The first recorded description of a wheelbarrow appears in Liu Xiang (scholar), Liu Xiang's work ''Biographies of the Immortals, Lives of Famous Immortals''. Liu describes the invention of the wheelbarrow by the legendary Chinese mythological figure Ko Yu, who builds a "Wooden ox". * Winnowing, Winnowing machine, Rotary fan: Contemporary to the rotary air conditioning fan invented by Han dynasty mechanical engineer Ding Huan (fl. 180 AD) is a pottery tomb model of a Crank (mechanism), crank-operated rotary winnowing fan from the Han dynasty, used for separating chaff from grain. The winnowing fan was first described by the Tang dynasty writer and linguist Yan Shigu (581–645), in his commentary on the ''Jijiupian'' dictionary written earlier in 40 BC by Shi Yu; it was also mentioned in a poem by the Song dynasty artist Mei Yaochen in about 1060.Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 153–154. The earliest known drawn illustration of the winnowing fan comes from the ''Book of Agriculture'' published in 1313 by Yuan dynasty inventor and politician Wang Zhen (fl. 1290–1333). * Wrapping paper and paper envelope: The use of wrapping paper is first documented in ancient China, where paper was invented in the 2nd century BC. In the Southern Song dynasty, monetary gifts were wrapped with paper, forming an envelope known as a ''chih pao''. The wrapped gifts were distributed by the Chinese court to government officials. In the Chinese text ''Thien Kung Khai Wu'', Sung Ying-Hsing states that the coarsest wrapping paper is manufactured with rice straws and
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
fiber. Although the Hall brothers Rollie and Joyce Hall, founders of Hallmark Cards, did not invent gift wrapping, their innovations led to the development of modern gift wrapping. They helped to popularize the idea of decorative gift wrapping in the 20th century, and according to Joyce Hall, "the decorative gift-wrapping business was born the day Rollie placed those French envelope linings on top of that showcase."


X

* Xiangqi (See also: List of Chinese inventions#L – Liubo): The exact origins of the Chinese chess board game known as ''xiangqi'' are ambiguous. Historian David H. Li asserts that it was first invented by Han Xin (d. 196 BC), a renowned military general of the early Han dynasty who fell victim to a purge instigated by Empress Lü Zhi (d. 180 BC). Li states that it was revived under a different, camouflaged name of ''xiangxi'' by Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou (r. 561–578), which to this day has made the two terms synonymous and interchangeable for the same game.Li (1998), 215.


Modern (1912–present)

* Artemisinin, Tu Youyou, Project 523, Dihydroartemisinin. Derivative of Qing Hao herb originally identified many years earlier by the ancient Chinese medic - Ge Hong. Tested on Tu Youyou herself during the cultural revolution, shown to be effective against ''P. falciparum'', the cause of malaria. * Electronic cigarette: Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist, is credited with the invention of the modern electronic cigarette. In 2003, he came up with the idea of using a piezoelectric ultrasound-emitting element to vaporise a pressurized jet of liquid containing nicotine diluted in a propylene glycol solution. This design produces a smoke-like vapour that can be inhaled and provides a vehicle for nicotine delivery into the bloodstream via the lungs. He also proposed using propylene glycol to dilute nicotine and placing it in a disposable plastic cartridge which serves as a liquid reservoir and mouthpiece. * Generation IV reactor: China was the first country to operate a demonstration generation-IV nuclear reactor, the HTR-PM in 2021. The reactor subsequently became the first fourth generation reactor to enter commercial service in 2023. * Non-invasive prenatal diagnostic testing for Down Syndrome: Previously, women underwent invasive testing such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS). This new maternal blood test has the potential to reduce the number of women referred for invasive testing for Down syndrome by 98 percent. Developed by Chinese researchers in Hong Kong in 2008, this is hailed as a breakthrough. *Passenger drone: The world's first passenger drone, a drone capable of carrying human cargo, Ehang UAV, Ehang 184 was unveiled at the Computer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 by Chinese entrepreneurs. * Synthetic crystalline bovine insulin, Synthetic bovine insulin: In 1965, Chinese scientists synthesized bovine insulin, with the "same crystalline form and biological activities as natural insulin." The project began in 1958, and is considered one of the "first proteins ever synthesized in vitro". * Stem cell educator therapy: Chinese and US researchers have produced remarkable results for this new treatment of obtaining stem cells from human cord blood to "re-educate" misbehaving immune cells. This result was published in the open-access journal ''BMC Medicine'' in January 2012, and offers hope for Type 1 diabetics and potentially may also be used to treat other auto-immune diseases if the approach lives up to early promise. *Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, Quantum communication satellite: Launched in 2016, QUESS, or "Micius," is the world's first quantum communication satellite. It enables secure communication using quantum key distribution (QKD) and entangled photons, transmitted over 1,200 km, demonstrating the potential for unbreakable encryption.


See also

* Chinese exploration * History of Chinese archaeology * History of science in Classical Antiquity * History of science and technology in China * History of typography in East Asia * List of China-related topics * List of Chinese discoveries * List of Japanese inventions * List of Korean inventions * List of Taiwanese inventions and discoveries * Science and technology of the Han Dynasty * Technology of the Song Dynasty


References


Citations


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