Chinese Inventions

Since the dawn of civilization, we humans have been endeavoring to enhance the quality of life and coming with new innovations to survive. If we look back in time, various cultures have given us the opportunity to call ourselves cultured and advanced. As every country has its own set of proud inventions and discoveries, even China has a impressive claim over it. There are various Chinese inventions that have shaped the way we perceive and live in this world. Our article today concentrates on those famous ancient China inventions that are still used by mankind.

Inventions Contributed by China

History is witness to the four world famous inventions of ancient China: paper, printing (woodblock printing), gunpowder, and compass. They are considered as not only of ancient China, but also our civilization's greatest inventions till date. But besides these remarkable inventions, there are many other inventions that the world has witnessed. In the following article, we will go over these inventions one by one.

Pre-Shang Inventions
The following famous inventions were formulated during the Neolithic age and prehistoric Bronze age. Let's go over the table to see which inventions were these.

Pre-Shang Dynasty Inventions
Bell	Coffin (rect. wooden)	Dagger-axe	Drum
Fork	Lacquer	Millet (cultivation)	Noodle
Oar (rowing)	Plastromancy	Plowshare (triangle)	Rice (cultivation)
Salt (use)	Silk	Soybean	Steamer (pottery)
Treetrunk coffin	Urn (pottery)	~	~

Shang and Post Shang Dynasty Inventions
After the Neolithic age, the following ancient inventions were acquainted upon and after the Shang Dynasty, China. This is the period between c. 1600 - 1050 BC. Let's go over the list to see which inventions were these.

A...

• Acupuncture
• Animal zodiac
• Archeology
• Anti-malarial properties of artemisia
• Armillary sphere, hydraulic-powered
• Automatic opening doors
• Automation

B...

• Banknote
• Beer (high-alcohol)
• Bellows, hydraulic-powered
• Belt drive
• Blast furnace
• Bomb, cast iron
• Borehole drilling
• Bristle toothbrush
• Bulkhead partition

C...

• Chinese calendar (365.2425 days)
• Cast iron
• Caledon
• Chain drive
• Chemical warfare
• Chopsticks
• Chromium (use)
• Chuiwan (Chinese golf)
• Civil service exams
• Co-fusion steel process
• Coke (fuel)
• Contour canal
• Crank handle
• Crossbow, handheld
• Cuju (football)
• Cupola furnace

D...

• Deficiency diseases correction
• Diabetes (recognition and treatment)
• Dominoes (Chinese)
• Duogong (building bracket)
• Drawloom (fabric)

E...

• Endocrinology (isolation of sex and pituitary hormones from urine)
• Escapement (used in clockwork)
• Exploding cannonballs

F...

• Field mill (carriage)
• Finery forge
• Fire lance
• Fireworks
• Fishing reel
• Flamethrower
• Flare, military signal
• Forensic entomology
• Free reed aerophone

G...

• Gas cylinder
• Gimbal (Cardan suspension)
• Go (board game)
• Guqin (zither instrument)

H - I...

• Hand cannon
• Horse collar
• Horse harness
• Hybrid rice
• India ink
• Inoculation (smallpox treatment)
• Iron plow

J - L...

• Jacob's staff
• Jade burial suit
• Junk (ship)
• Kite
• Land mine
• Leeboard
• Liubo (board game)

M...

• Marine salvage operations
• Makyoh (magic mirrors)
• Magnetic levitation
• Mahjong (gambling game)
• Man-lifting kite
• Match, non-friction
• Mechanical theater
• Modular system of architecture
• Multiple-tube seed drill
• Multistage rocket

N...

• Natural gas (fuel)
• Naval mine
• Negative and non-negative numbers

P...

• Pinhole camera
• Playing cards
• Porcelain
• Pound lock
• Puppet theater, waterwheel-powdered

R...

• Raised-relief map
• Restaurant menu
• Row planting
• Rocket bombs, aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads
• Rotary fan (manual and water-powered)
• Rudder

S...

• Seismometer
• South pointing chariot
• Steel making (from cast iron)
• Stirrup
• Suspension bridge

T...

• Tea
• Thyroid hormones (goiter treatment)
• Tofu
• Toilet paper
• Toothbrush
• Traction trebuchet catapult
• Trip hammer
• Tuned bells

W - Z...

• Wheelbarrow
• Wine server
• Winnowing fan
• Xiangqi (Chinese chess board game)
• Zeotrope (cinemetograph)
• Zhaozhou bridge

We have another article on ancient Chinese fireworks invention history that you can read in detail. Reading through the article, you must have a basic idea as to which were the Chinese inventions that has shaped our world today.