| The Chinese have contributed innovative ideas that continue to help shape technology worldwide. |

Ancient Chinese Contributions It was 1271 when an Italian merchant, by the name of Marco Polo, visited China during the Song Dynasty. There Marco Polo found a place like none other in Western Europe. China was far more technologically advanced and here were some of the most important and far-reaching contributions of the Chinese. “The Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques”, compiled by Zeng Goliang in 1044, it states that gunpowder was made of a mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur. Since Zeng describes three different gunpowder mixtures, we can assume that gunpowder was created sometime earlier. It is also stated by Zeng that the Chinese used it for signal flares and fireworks before even trying it with military uses in grenades. The compass is another great invention of the Chinese. Originally, these were created to point to true south, not north, because south is considered their cardinal direction. In 400 B.C. the earliest compasses were made out of lodestone. Lodestone is a type of magnetic iron ore, that when struck by lightning, it becomes magnetized.

Very few people have given us as much joy and sorrow as alcohol. You can relate ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, beer, wine, and liquor to the Chinese. By early 300 B.C., the Chinese had figured out how to refine food products like vinegar and soy sauce using fermentation and distillation. Recent archaeological discoveries have pushed the date for Chinese fermentation and the creation of alcohol much further back. 9000 year old pottery shards uncovered in Henan province, have been found to show traces of alcohol. This discovery proves that the Chinese were the first to make alcohol, since the previous title holders, the ancient Arabs, didn't come up with alcoholic drinks until 1,000 years later.

In the Medieval world, there were many inventions, but the one that stands out above all others is the invention of the mechanical clock. A Buddhist Monk, by the name of Yi Xing, made the very first model in the year of 725 AD. “This clock operated by dripping water that powered a wheel which made one full revolution in 24 hours. An iron and bronze system of wheels and gears made the clock turn. This system caused the chiming of a bell on the hour. Su Sung's great 'Cosmic Engine' of 1092 was 35 feet high. At the top was a power driven sphere for observing the positions of the stars. The power for turning it was transmitted from the dripping water by a chain drive. A celestial globe inside the tower turned in synch with the sphere above. It was two more centuries before the first mechanical clock was developed in Europe.” (Sacramento Chinese Culture Foundation)

Astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, physics, meteorology, seismology, technology, and engineering can trace their early origins to China. A number of notable astronomical discoveries were made prior to the application of the telescope. The first recorded observations of comets, solar eclipses, and supernovae were made in China.

By 1080 A.D., Chinese scientists were advancing theories that the Earth’s climate had changed over time, based on their studies of plant fossils. Two decades later, they explained the causes of solar and lunar eclipses.

Ling-lun, a Chinese court musician, is accredited for creating the first reed instrument, the bamboo pipe, sometime between 3000 and 2501 B.C. It was sometime around 2500 B.C. that Chinese music grew more complex, employing a five-note scale.(Sacramento Chinese Culture Foundation) Among all these inventions, there are four I would choose to be most important, the bamboo pipe. So we can express ourselves, our history and our culture through song. The second would be the clock. We need a mechanical means that would have a correct minute around the world, which eventually happened. The third thing would be alcohol for its sterility uses and of course the means to be social with friends and just have a drink. I believe the greatest of all the inventions that have come from Ancient China is the seismograph. The world’s first earthquake detector, a seismograph, was created in early 200 AD by an imperial astronomer by the name of Chang Heng. Heng, not only created a workable earthquake detector, he made it beautifully of heavy bronze with nine dragons facing downward embedded into its outside. The dragons were spaced equally distant from each another on the vessel, and below each dragon was a detached frog looking upward with its mouth open.

A pendulum hung motionless inside the vessel until a tremor moved it. The pendulum's swing would then in turn set the seismograph's internal levers in motion. This would trigger the release of a ball held in the mouth of the dragon facing the direction of the earthquake's epicenter. The ball would then fall into the mouth of the frog directly below it. This first seismograph did seem a bit basic, but Western nations developed their own version in approximately 1,500 years later.

Without this great and wonderful invention, scientist would not be where they are today in the study and research of these mind-blowing nature earth movers and changers. The research is done to help save lives and to save our planet from what humans are doing to it daily.

References:

1. Four Great Inventions of Ancient China. Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of South Africa. Available: http://www.chinese-embassy.org.za/eng/znjl/Culture/t174418.htm

2. Sacramento Chinese Culture Foundation. Ancient Chinese Inventions and Discoveries that Shaped the World. Available: http://www.sccfsac.org/inventions.html

1. The Chinese probably invented alcohol. HighBeam Research. Available:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-126749790.html