Ancient China Inventions

Right from the very beginning, humans have been striving to enhance the quality of their life. It started with innovations that helped them fetch food and defend themselves. With time, they invented many things such as clothing, weapons like spears, the wheel, fire, pottery, etc. So, human history is dotted with such inventions and discoveries and most of them are still used by mankind or are considered as the forerunners of some of the modern technologies. If we take a look at such inventions, ancient China has a very important role, as there are many inventions made by ancient Chinese people. Scroll down to know more about ancient China inventions.

List of Ancient China Inventions

Even though there are numerous ancient Chinese inventions, the most significant ones are paper making, gunpowder, compass and printing. These inventions led to significant changes in the human history. Let us take a look at the various inventions made by ancient Chinese people.

Paper Making and Printing
Paper is one of the most widely used and indispensable materials. Before the second century BC, people used very expensive writing mediums like strips of bamboo, scrolls and strips of silk, hardened clay tablets, wooden tablets, etc. Modern paper was invented for the first time in ancient China, during the period of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220). It is believed that the court eunuch Cai Lun invented the pulp paper making process during 105 AD. There are also some claims regarding the use of paper during 8 BC. Research suggests that the Chinese people used paper for wrapping and padding, before 2nd century BC, but, paper as a writing medium was discovered during the period of Han Dynasty. The invention of paper lead to subsequent innovations like, paper currency (during the reign of the Song Dynasty), woodblock printing and ceramic movable type printing (around the same period).

Gunpowder and Fireworks
One of the most important ancient China inventions is gunpowder and fireworks. It is believed that gunpowder was discovered by a Chinese cook accidentally. But, it is also contended that it was during the ninth century, that the Chinese alchemists discovered gunpowder. It is said that gunpowder was discovered somewhere between 600 to 900 AD. Fireworks were also invented soon after the discovery of gunpowder. It is claimed that the origin of fireworks is linked to the period of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). The invention of gunpowder and fireworks was followed by a series of related discoveries like fire lance, land mine, naval mine, hand cannon, exploding cannonballs, multistage rocket, and rocket bombs with aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads.

Compass
Even though, the origin of the compass in China can be traced back to the fourth century BC, it was only a crude form of a compass. There were various forms of compasses used in ancient China, but a magnetic device was first invented during the Song Dynasty and this compass was used for navigation at sea. The most common one was a magnetic needle that floats in water. There is also evidence to suggest that a compass with a suspended magnetic needle was also used during this period.

Other Ancient China Inventions

Now, you know more about the most important ancient China inventions. There are many other inventions made by the ancient Chinese people. The following are a few of them. Before the reign of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC), the Chinese had already invented abacus, calendars, cast iron, bells made of pottery and metal, dagger ax made of stone and then metal, kite, fermented beverages (forerunners of wine), fork made of bone, lacquer and lacquer ware, cultivation of millet and then rice, drum covered with alligator skin, noodles, chopsticks, chromium, salt, soybean, silk, coffin, oars, cupola furnace, wheelbarrow, seismoscope (for detecting earthquakes), etc. During the Qin Dynasty the multiplication table, standardized money, standardized language, tea, silk route, ship's rudder, acupuncture, animal zodiac, etc. were invented. The important ancient China technologies that were invented after this period are land mines, bore hole drilling, dominoes, fishing reel, gas cylinder, hot air balloon, porcelain, painting, playing cards, toothbrush, etc.

Now, you have a basic idea about ancient China inventions. The above mentioned discoveries are only a few of them. If you are interested in knowing more, do some research and you will be surprised to find a whole lot of inventions to the credit of ancient Chinese.