Ancient Chinese Contributions - Report Example

Ancient Chinese Contributions The present world irrefutably has acquired numerous and essential technological knowhow from the ancient Chinese. China, unlike other global countries, states its stability as a country started almost 10,000 years ago (Anderson, 2008). This has rendered China as having one of the earliest civilizations. China’s innovations enabled them to be the country that they are today and their knowhow has extended to other countries which have benefited them exceedingly. Some of China’s outstanding contributions include papermaking, printing and the invention of the compass along with the development of gun powder where its applications are evident in all the wars that the world has ever had (Anderson, 2008). This invention immensely enhanced warfare and unfortunately yielded to indescribable loss of life in all the wars that have taken place in the past. Papermaking emanated from China’s language featuring close to 80,000 symbols in written form with the goal of passing along the culture and language to numerous future generations (Anderson, 2008). The paper sources included hemp, bamboo, silk rags and wooden strips. The desire to have written language, including paper, spread to other regions after seeing the value, especially in preserving information in the form of scripts (Anderson, 2008). The Chinese invention of paper enabled the world’s other countries to adopt the knowhow so that they too could have paper to record information. Paper was popular due to its convenience and portability, which was a positive solution to the earlier problematic methods that were in use (Deng, 2011). Prior to the invention of paper, people would employ the utilization of tablets or scribbling on walls or other surfaces to record illustrations and written word. While these methods were effective at recording information, they did not allow any mobility, especially if the information concerned far away parties. Presently, throughout the world, the use of paper continues based on the developments that emanated from the earliest innovation of paper in China. The art of recycling is the most recent innovation in terms of paper (Reed, 2007). The emergence of ink and paper yielded to the preservation of information in a written form. This led to block printing which Vietnam, Korea and the Philippines adopted (Anderson, 2008). The process of printing involved initially writing on a paper and then engraving on a wooden block which, in turn, made prints on either book pages or a paper (Deng, 2011). The method was much involved and it took a great length of time for a set of a given printing to be completed. After the printing blocks were used to make the intended prints, they were useless. One could view this as the destruction of resources since in each attempt to make a meaningful print, the writer had to use fresh wood and then discard it after attaining the intended purpose (Reed, 2007). Figure 1: Block Printing. Retrieved from http://www1.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_26509.htm. The Chinese mode of writing, though different from the English, has made some impact to the present day in many countries. This is evident through logograms which characterize Chinese writing where in English this is applicable in bullets and numbering (Anderson, 2008). Chinese writing comprises numerous strokes making squares and symbols which are also evident in English and other languages. For illustration, “2” implies “number two” where in French its meaning is “deux.” The wheelbarrow in China was mainly used to ferry injured soldiers in the battlefield and transport other goods in the residential areas (Anderson, 2008). In order to have high stability to carry multiple people effectively, it prompted the addition of two wheels. Consequently, the current human hand drawn cart was created. Sometimes it requires two people offer the necessary momentum and to steer if the card had many occupants or they were carrying a heavy load. This device is still common in developing countries and those areas of China where vehicles do not have access due to narrow streets. The hand drawn cart is the primary way in which people reach their destinations in these remote locations (Reed, 2007). The Chinese also get the credit for developing the compass. The purpose of the first compass was purely spiritual in nature. Primarily, it was to ensure that any structure under construction faced the appropriate direction (Reed, 2007). This was the north where the majority of Chinese people deemed that if the inhabitants were facing north, they were in harmony with nature. The compass was composed mainly of wood and had numerous marks along it with a spoon magnet that showed the direction. Silk, also known as Chinese silk, originated from China. Chinese silk is comprised of numerous varieties according to their quality of fineness (Anderson, 2008). This fabric spread to other countries where they learned the art of attaining the material from the silk worms and making numerous items from it. They created clothes, mainly of the royal status, kites, fans and paper, besides sometimes utilizing it for aesthetic purposes (Reed, 2007). To date, the knowhow globally has proven advantageous where its application is not only limited to clothing, but also other aspects, especially art and design (Anderson, 2008). Early alchemists were eager to find elixir which after using it would render the user to become immortal (Anderson, 2008). In their quest for this elixir, Chinese scientists developed gun powder. This invention was not intentional but an accident that resulted in serious maiming of its innovator in addition to the facility where the experiment took place burning down to utter destruction. Consequently, the Chinese were prompted to channel their resources to further develop what they witnessed. The result was gun powder that has earned its place in history (Reed, 2007). Research shows that after this breakthrough, the Chinese used gun powder against their enemies, though they claimed it was for other purposes. Gun powder then spread globally where numerous countries did openly use it in wars and expanded its use to make detonation bombs or grenades. Medicine also emanated from China. The word, “medicine” encompassed certain healing herbs that required mixing with warm water prior taking (Deng, 2011) and included ointments though their sources were purely from herbs. Presently, the Chinese innovations regarding medicine have found their applications in numerous foreign lands. This is especially true in the regions where Chinese migrated like America. People wanted to try out these medicines due to their supposed healing power (Anderson, 2008). Currently, Beijing in its attempt to supplement the already available curative medicine, has immensely invested in promoting research regarding Chinese medicine (Deng, 2011). This 15-year plan began March 21st this year and is meant to establish both reliable and effective traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) where its core tasks are to improve the manufacturing processes. This almost guarantees the alterations of some medicine administering techniques that will be more effective than current practices and will be in line with WHO stipulations like shunning body piercing (Anderson, 2008). References Anderson, L. (2008). The FAB 4: Chinese inventions that rocked the world. Appleseeds, 10(5), 24. Deng, J. (2011). The scientific spirit of traditional Chinese medicine. Journal Of Grey System, 23(3), 211-222. Reed, C. A. (2007). Gutenberg and modern Chinese print culture. Book History (Pennsylvania State University Press), 10291-315. Read More