Technology change the world In China, we have a saying that “Science and technology is the first productive force”. Technology affects people’s daily life, with the innovation of technology, the world developed rapidly in recent centuries. Image that if our forefathers do not create new technology, how our life will be today; we will not have lots kind of food like today; we will not have vehicles such as car, train, aircraft, and we will not have so many high buildings to live. In this class, we learnt a lot of historical events before 1500 AD. In ancient time, there is no advanced technology in the world; our ancestors can merely use their hands to change the nature. Gradually, they find some regularity in the world, such as round objects can move much easier than other shape; then they use their intelligence create lots of new technologies, and innovate the technologies as needed. In this paper, I will talk about five great inventions which affect the world significantly; they are wheel, water wheel, compass, paper, and plow.
The invention of the wheel is one of the most important inventions in the ancient time. Without the wheel, the world would not develop so fast. According to the existing data, the wheel is invented by the Mesopotamian in about 2500 BC ("The invention of," 2010). The development of wheel has 6 stages, starting from rolling cylinder, moving to two wheels connect with axles by spokes (Bellis, 2012). At the beginning, people realized that round objects are easier to move than other shape; then they find a way of moving heavy objects, which is using cylindroid logs roll under the heavy objects. “Humans used several logs or rollers in a row, dragging the sledge over one roller to the next.” (Bellis, 2012). Then people invent axles to connect wheels, and try to put something on the axles, the first cart is created. After that, people find ways to fix the axles, this makes carts more stable and turn corner better. At this time, the wheel can be considered as a complete invention. (Bellis, 2012)
The wheel makes labor’s work much easier and more efficiency, it promotes the development of the world. Because of the wheel's invention, steam engines, vehicles, and factories were able to be built. ("The invention of," 2010) If the inventor of the wheel were alive today, he or she would receive a Nobel Prize.
The second technology that I want to talk about is the water wheel. In class, Dr. Craun told us the water wheel might be first used by Chinese people. Before the water wheel appears, people have to use buckets or other containers taking water to their land for irrigation, so at that time, farmers’ work is very hard.
The first record of a water wheel is in a poem written in 400BC. “The waterwheel is an ancient device that uses flowing or falling water to create power by means of a set of paddles mounted around a wheel.” (Bellis). The water pushes the paddles to make the water wheel rotate, and by the rotation of the wheel, it can make energy. At ancient time, they were used for irrigation, grinding grains, supply drinking water to villages. The water wheel may be the first machine that can create mechanical without human and animals. (Bellis)
Waterwheel makes a great contribution to the agricultural development in China. It greatly reduces the constraints of the arable terrain, and makes it possible to farm on the hills and mountain slopes. The water wheels used for not only irrigate during dry season, but also drain off water from low-lying area. They can prevent crops from destroying by bad weather, in other words, they make the crops increase production. The magnetic compass is one of the four great inventions of ancient China, probably first made the Qin dynasty. “Chinese fortune tellers used lodestones (a mineral composed of an iron oxide which aligns itself in a north-south direction) to construct their fortune telling boards.” (Bellis). The ability to magnetize iron by placing it near a loadstone was known to ancient civilizations. But, it was the Chinese who applied this principle of magnetism to create the compass. The oldest picture of a magnetic compass, from 200 BC, was using a small spoon as the needle that was thrown down upon a table that was engraved with the compass points. In the Han dynasty, the "south-pointer" was used by travelers in China, with the south-pointer, the travelers will not lose their way (Gans, 2002). Later, the compass becomes a navigational device on ships, it can show the direction to the sailors when they are shipping on the sea. The compass can show directions when people are travel or trade; it reduces the chance of getting lost. The invention of compass improves trade with other countries. Chinese voyager Zheng He is famous for using the compass for navigational aid. Also it made discovery of new places possible and it is reliable in helping ships to stay on course instead of depending on astrological signs like star or the sun, this may reduce a lot of risks when sailors navigate on the sea. Paper is a great invention in ancient time. Before the paper appears, people usually record texts on hard objects, such as oracle bone, stone, bronze and bamboo slip; using these materials to record is not only hard to write, but also difficult to carry and disseminate. In the Qin dynasty, governmental documents usually record in bamboo slips; Qin Shihuang, the emperor of Qin, have to read at least one cart of bamboo slips every day, the bamboo slips weighted hundreds kilograms. ("造纸术,")
Papermaking is a revolution of the writing material, it is easy to carry, and it promotes the culture development all over the world. After the written language occurs, the most important thing is to find a good carrier. The ancient Egyptians used papyrus of the Nile to record history; in ancient Europe, people write on animal skins such as sheep; in China, before the invention of paper, people use bones, bamboo slips and silk to recorded written language. Bones and bamboo slips are relatively bulky; silk is lightweight, but it is very expensive, which cannot be used by normal, so it is not suitable for writing. Till the Han Dynasty, due to the rapid development of economy and culture, the bones and bamboo slips cannot meet the requirement of the development, and then paper is invented. The paper is an important chemical processes, the invention of paper makes great contribution to dissemination and development of human culture, it is a great achievement of Chinese history, and it also impacts the world’s history. ("造纸术,") Plow is a great invention for agricultural innovation. It is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting.("Plough ," )
Plow can help people save farming time, “Using plows, Neolithic people produced a significant amount of surplus food, so that some people in the community could spend their days doing other things, increasing the division of labor.”(Mckat, Hill, Buckler, Ebrey, Beck, Crowston & Wiesner-Hanks, 2011, p.23).
Before the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD), Chinese plows were made almost entirely of wood, except the iron blade of the plowshare. By the Han period, the entire plowshare was made of cast iron; these are the first known iron plows. In class, Dr. Craun told us that iron plow can help farmers get more farmable plant. The iron plow innovation is significant for world history; it increases the output of food production. This means the food production can supply more people and it leads the world’s population growth.
In this paper, I talked about five great inventions which are wheel, water wheel, compass, paper, and plow; they do significant changes to our world. Of course, the ancient people invented lots of new technologies; the five that I listed is only a small part of them. In my country, there is a saying that “One generation plants the trees in whose shade another generation rests.” Our ancestors really did a lot for us, without their intelligence, our world will not be developed as today. So, we should treasure our current life and try to use our intelligence create something to benefit our later generations.

References
Bellis, M. (2012, April 09). The invention of the wheel . Retrieved from http://inventors. about.com/od/wstartinventions/a/wheel.htm
Bellis, M. (n.d.). The compass and other magnetic innovations. Retrieved from http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/Compass.htm
Bellis, M. (n.d.). Waterwheel . Retrieved from http://inventors.about.com/library/ inventors/blwaterwheel.htm
Gans, P. (2002, October 08). Medieval technology pages - compass. Retrieved from http://scholar.chem.nyu.edu/tekpages/compass.html
Mckat, J., Hill, B., Buckler, J., Ebrey, P., Beck, R., Crowston, C., & Wiesner-Hanks, M. (2011). A history of world societies. (9th ed., Vol. A). Boston, NY: Bedford/ ST. Martin's.
Plough . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/ docs/Plough.html
The invention of the wheel. (2010, March 20). Retrieved from http://workingtropes. lmc.gatech.edu/wiki/index.php/The_Invention_of_the_Wheel
造纸术. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://baike.baidu.com/view/1266.htm