Ancient Chinese Contributions - Essay Example

ANCIENT CHINESE CONTRIBUTIONS TO CIVILIZATION (Discoveries, Ideas, Inventions, and Innovations) of (affiliation) Location of University: Professors Name: March 01, 2014 Estimated word count: 1,271 (text only) Introduction The Chinese civilization is today generally considered as the world oldest continuously existing civilization, going back to at least 7,000 years; it had developed to a high degree independently without any external influences as ancient China considered itself as the Middle Kingdom and the center of the known universe. All people who were not of Chinese extraction blood, or descent were all considered as uncouth, illiterate, uncivilized, and therefore outsiders, collectively termed as barbarians. One reason the Great Wall of China was built was supposedly to keep these barbarians from the north out of China by preventing their entry into the territory. China can rightfully lay claim to numerous scientific discoveries and technological inventions which greatly enriched human civilization as these paved the way for global progress. This brief paper is a discussion and exposition of such ancient Chinese contributions to civilization. Discussion Chinese civilization had existed uninterrupted for several millennia and due to this fact, it was able to develop to such an extent that the ancient Chinese acquired or accumulated enough knowledge about the natural world and perceptive enough to make the right connections to make scientific discoveries based on their theories and hypothesis; the other useful connection was to make practical use of these discoveries through technological inventions and applications so as to make life easier for everybody. Theoretical knowledge was applied to everyday use and for this, world civilization has a lot to be thankful for because the discoveries and inventions of the ancient Chinese served as foundation for further scientific and technological progress to take place. Among the more prominent Chinese contributions are the compass, gunpowder, printing, paper, coal mining, pottery and porcelain, use of petroleum, sericulture, star atlas, and meridian. Based on the partial list mentioned above, the four most important contributions are the compass, gunpowder, paper, and printing. These four inventions contributed a lot to the progress and advance of world civilization as the use of these four discoveries spread worldwide. The four inventions can be considered as the most ingenious and innovative considering the great amount of knowledge, insight, and thinking that went into these four inventions and discoveries. Compass - its discovery was crucial to ship navigation and the eventual discovery of vast new lands and territories beyond the great oceans of the world. Although the compass was originally used as a tool for divination, such as making predictions of calamities and disasters, its use graduated eventually to geomancy such as feng shui (literally, the art of wind and water) to include making predictions of the future based on knowledge of astrology or the universe. In the ancient world, the compass provided ship captains the needed certainly of the true north when in unfamiliar high seas, giving them precise location and directions for their intended destinations and enabled ocean-going vessels the ability to sail out and return safely to port (Deng, 2011). Paper was invented through the discovery of the pulp-making process of using mulberry tree bark, as early as 202 B.C.E. (before current era) by the Han Dynasty and by the third century paper was already in widespread use all over China as a way to spread knowledge through hand-written books. Paper made a spread of knowledge faster and wider because paper is lightweight, easier to produce or manufacture, relatively abundant, there is access to the raw materials, and it was also cheaper compared to other writing media such as bamboo strips, metal, baked clay, silk strips, or wooden tablets. Use of paper allowed the ancient Chinese civilization to preserve vast amounts of knowledge for use by future generations, and eventually, with invention of printing, large numbers of books were printed, making the Chinese population largely a literate one. Printing was invented relatively late in the ancient Chinese civilization period, at around 650 A.D. based on recovered historical artifacts of the period. The first technique of printing was based on using wood blocks with the Chinese characters carved unto these wooden blocks, dip in ink, and then pressed on the paper, silk, or whatever material was to be printed upon. The initial printing process enabled the ancient Chinese to print a lot of books, issue imperial edicts, religious texts, and even a periodical (an early version of a newspaper) to spread information and knowledge to the general populace. Movable-type printing came into existence at around 1088 that was invented by the Chinese polymath (a multi-talented genius) named Shen Kuo. Movable-type printing is the use of movable components (hence the term movable) to effectively make or reproduce the elements of any document, thereby allowing for greater flexibility when using the Chinese writing system which involved literally thousands of unique individual characters. The ancient Chinese invented printing ahead of Johannes Gutenberg by four centuries earlier. Gunpowder is the first known chemical explosive made by a combination of charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate; it was invented in ancient China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (618-907) and its earliest known use was found in an old military manuscript. Gunpowder revolutionized the art and science warfare as it enabled attacking armies to destroy a well-built enemy fortress, defend their own positions more effectively, and allowed two armies to engage in combat at a distance from each other. A civilization or society which possessed this technology was able to conquer other nations, enslave their people, and to exploit the natural resources of the conquered territories to enrich the victorious army. Gunpowder technology had allowed ancient China to expand its empire across the vast Eurasia landmass and remain a major regional power for several centuries based on its tributary system of relations (Williams, 1996). Of the many ideas, inventions, and innovations which came out of ancient China, maybe it is the compass which people today in modern times probably could not live or do without. This is because the idea of the invention of the compass has been used in many newer technologies in the information and computer age of today such as in the gyroscopes utilized and installed in the airplanes, helicopters, and even space shuttles going to the outer space. Although the gyroscope is a relatively simple and low-tech kind of device, its idea and usage came from the original idea of the compass in which an instrument is used to give directional orientation based on principles of angular momentum. In other words, the gyroscope could not have been invented without the compass as the foundational idea of using an artificial instrument or device to aid in navigation. The same principle has been used in other ways such as in missile defense technology and in the modern global positioning systems (GSP technology) to give very precise geographic location on Earth which can greatly help in travel, in emergencies, in rescue efforts, and in disasters. Conclusion China contributed a lot to world civilization and human progress through its inventions, ideas, innovations, and scientific discoveries which made life on Earth safer, longer, and happier. China led the world throughout much of human history and was the largest economy in the entire world for most of two thousand years until the middle of the eighteenth century. Its discoveries are too numerous to mention which include such miscellaneous ideas like the abacus, the kite, in archery (invention of the crossbow that allowed an archer to shoot an arrow farther and more accurately), and even in the lowly matchsticks. The ancient Chinese showed the benefits of more logical thinking together with scientific and creative thinking (Kirby & Goodpaster, 2007) to produce many contributions to world civilization even when it developed in relative isolation. References Deng, Y. K. (2011). Ancient Chinese inventions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Kirby, G. R. & Goodpaster, J. R. (2007). Thinking. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Williams, S. (1996). Made in China: Ideas and inventions from ancient China. Berkeley, CA: Pacific View Press. Read More