Great inventions of ancient China. Great inventions of the Chinese

Not a single day passes without a huge number of inventions created many thousands of years ago. We are so busy with everyday affairs that in the hustle and bustle we don’t think about the fact that this might not exist. Anyone who has at least once forgotten their phone at home understands how dependent the entire daily life of a modern person is on it. What if it didn't exist at all? What would have happened if other everyday things for us had not been invented? The lion's share of all common household items and gadgets is produced in China. Although today most goods from China are not the country’s own developments, many centuries ago China brought the world a huge number of valuable inventions, amazing and unknown to Western civilization.

1. Silk.
Every woman knows how pleasant this material is. He is the personification of luxury and tenderness to this day. Silk is a material made from silk thread made from the cocoon of the silkworm; the thread has a triangular cross-section, which is why the fabric shimmers beautifully and has an attractive shine for everyone. Among all the types of fabrics invented in modern times, silk remains the king in the textile industry. Its price is still the highest, and not everyone can afford something made from this beautiful material. The reason for the increased cost is the manufacturing technology that is inaccessible to everyone. For thousands of years, the Chinese managed to keep the manufacturing method a secret. So to create silk, an unprecedented number of cocoons is required. Maintaining secrecy ensured producers dominance in the silk market, as everyone knows about the Silk Road, which connected China and Europe. The demand for silk provided China with the establishment of trade relations and unprecedented economic growth.

2. Alcohol.
Scientists date the invention of ethanol and isopropyl alcohol to the ninth millennium. This is evidenced by recent archaeological excavations in Henan province, where traces of alcohol were found on fragments of ceramics. The results obtained finally put an end to the dispute about who invented alcohol, the Chinese or the Arabs. This invention was inspired by the improvement of vinegar and soy sauce using the fermentation and distillation method. Thus, as a result of experiments, alcohol was born.

3. Gunpowder.
This is the most ancient invention of China, according to Legends, it appeared as a result of alchemists’ search for the elixir of immortality. It was created by accident, when creating a mixture that prolongs human life, but contrary to the hopes of Chinese alchemists, it turned out to be a deadly weapon that can kill a person in a matter of seconds.
The first composition of gunpowder included saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur. This became known from the book of Zeng Guoliang, who spoke about weapons and military tactics of that time. According to the book, gunpowder was used as an explosive, as well as for flares and fireworks.

4. Paper.
Lai Cun is the name of the creator, the first prototype of the paper. According to some sources, Lai Tsun lived in 105 BC. and was a eunuch at the court of the Han Dynasty. In those days, writing materials were thin strips of bamboo and silk. The paper appeared as a result of a mixture of wood fibers and water, which were pressed with cloth. Before this, people wrote on stones, papyrus and clay tablets, and even used turtle shells.

5. Typography.
The invention of paper contributed to an increase in the literacy of the population, which gave impetus to the development of education in general. With the rise of literacy, there was a need to transmit longer texts. The ruling strata of the population, to consolidate their decisions and identification, used the seal. Making seals was a special art. Each seal was created unique and had no analogues of its kind. Based on the principle of transferring images onto paper using printing, the Chinese came to printing. In China there was no censorship or control over printed publications, so this industry was quite widespread. The first historical mention of a printed book dates back to the seventh century. During the Sunn Dynasty, printing spread rapidly. It is known that in the eighth century there were more than one hundred family publishing houses in the provinces of Zhejian and Fujian.
The invention of printing was accompanied by the appearance of fonts and binding. “Notes on the Brook of Dreams” is the first work describing the technological process of making type from baked clay and producing sets of fonts and seals. The author of the book, the famous statesman and scientist Shen Ko, writes that this innovation belongs to an unknown master.

6. Pasta.
The oldest bowl of noodles was found in China, its age is more than seven thousand years. It is made from two types of millet grains, the same technology used to make modern Chinese noodles. But until now, various excavations confuse scientists and make them doubt who should take precedence. Italians and Arabs are China's main competitors in this matter.

7. Compass.
Travel and military campaigns, maps and sea voyages, all this would be complicated by determining the course if there were no such thing as a compass. For the fact that we can get from one point to another, we should pay tribute to the inventors of ancient China. The first compass made it possible to determine the southern direction, the most important part of the world, according to the Chinese. The material from which the first compass was made was a magnet.

8. Seismograph.
One of the most important inventions of ancient China was the first seismograph, invented by the imperial astronomer Zhang Heng. The first Seismograph was a vessel with nine dragons depicted on it. Under each dragon there were figures of frogs with open mouths. Inside the vessel hung a pendulum, which in the event of an earthquake would begin to move and inform everyone of trouble. Thanks to a complex mechanism, it could even show the epicenter of an earthquake.

9. Kite.
The laws of aerodynamics that allow airplanes to take off were already known to some extent to the Chinese. In the fourth century BC, two lovers of philosophy, Gongshu Ban and Mo Di, built a snake that looked like a bird. Many thought it was just a toy, but for humanity it was an advance in the field of science. The first airplanes and flying machines owe to the experience that the Chinese gave us by flying a kite into the sky.

10. Hang glider.
This modern device for entertainment was invented in ancient China. By experimenting with the size of a kite, a device was created capable of lifting and holding a person in the sky. The authorship of this device is unknown.

11. Chinese tea.
Every person on this planet has tried tea at least once, and many of us drink it every day. In China, tea has been known since the first millennium. There are references to a healing infusion made from tea tree leaves. The invention of the Chinese is a method of brewing and obtaining a tea drink.

12. Umbrella
The birthplace of the folding umbrella, according to some sources, is also in China. The existence of the umbrella has been known since the 11th century. In China, an umbrella was used to protect high-ranking dignitaries from the sun. So the emperor and his entourage took him on his walks, so the umbrella was a symbol of wealth and luxury.

13. Wheelbarrow.
The Chinese are great builders, and the invention of the wheelbarrow helped them in this. A wheelbarrow is an object that facilitates manual transportation of goods, and also allows a person to lift and carry more weight. It was invented in the second century by a general named Yugo Liang. He came up with a basket on one wheel; later his design was supplemented with handles. Initially, the function of the wheelbarrow was defensive and was used in military operations. For many centuries, the Chinese kept their invention secret.

14. Porcelain.
Porcelain is used in everyday life and is considered the best material for making tableware. Porcelain dishes have a beautiful, glossy surface that perfectly complements the design of any kitchen and transforms any dinner. Porcelain has been known since 620 in China. Europeans experimentally obtained porcelain only in 1702. In Italy, France and England, attempts were made to make porcelain for two centuries.

The inventions of Ancient China also include: horoscope, drum, bell, crossbow, violin, gong, martial art "Wushu", gymnastics "Qigong", fork, steamer, chopsticks, soy cheese "tofu", paper money, varnish, playing cards cards and more.

The inventions of ancient China became the birthplace of the greatest achievements of civilization that we still use today.

Over thousands of years, China has produced a stream of inventions, ranging from chopsticks - traditional cutlery and wheelbarrows - to sophisticated sensors and advanced financial concepts.

But in China there are four famous inventions, traditionally called the Four Inventions of Ancient China.

These are paper, gunpowder, compass and seal.

Paper

The fact that paper was invented in China is known from ancient historical records. It is interesting that the word “paper” in Western European languages is derived from “papyrus” and only in Russian it inherited the eastern pronunciation.

Around 2200 BC, the Egyptians in the lower Nile region discovered that papyrus could be shaped to make it easier to write on. Papyrus for writing was cut into thin strips, which were soaked for a long time in water, and then tapped, clamped into a sheet. But it wasn't really the product we know, it was difficult to write on and it was expensive. The product was an improvement over materials previously used for writing such as bone, wood or stone.

The invention of paper as we know it came from China in the 2nd century BC. In fact, early paper is very similar to modern paper in terms of concept and technology.

The inventor of paper is traditionally considered to be the Han Dynasty Chinese dignitary Chai Lun who was the head of a royal workshop in 2nd century China. He used various materials to make paper.

However, recent archaeological evidence suggests that the prototype of paper was in use in China two hundred years earlier. In any case, China was far ahead of the rest of the world.

How ancient paper was made

Lun tea made a product based on various fibrous materials, including rope, old fishing nets, rags, bamboo fibers, tree bark, and silkworm cocoons. Modern paper is still made from wood pulp. The Chinese used wood ash or lime, keeping it for up to 35 days. Another important ingredient was birch leaves, from which the mucilage was used to strengthen the material and make it even and smooth. The softened fibrous material was processed into a pulp that was more like porridge, and birch leaf extract was added for weight. This "porridge" was then filtered through a sieve, a flat mesh made of fabric trapping the fibers on the screen, the product was then dried. Paper is still made this way, having mechanized the entire process.

The invention of ancient paper by the Chinese dignitary Chai Lun was put into mass production in China. This mass production was ideal for low-cost, relatively light-colored product applications.

This is how paper was invented in the world.

The ancient paper gradually spread from China, reaching Korea in the 3rd century AD. Introduced to Japan in 600 AD, and then moved to Vietnam and India in the early 6th century. It took 1000 years after the invention of paper in China to reach Europe. The manufacturing technology reached Britain around 1490, when the first known paper mill was built in England. The product reached North and South America in the 16th century, when it became a truly global product.

During China's Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties, many types of paper were developed, including paper made from bamboo, hemp, and mulberry. Rice paper is still used in Chinese painting and calligraphy due to its smoothness, durability and whiteness.

The only major difference between computer printer paper and Chinese rice paper is the "filler" to make the paper really smooth.

Seal

The second invention of ancient China, which went closely hand in hand, was the invention of printing. Reproduction technologies were passed down by word of mouth and there were very expensive handwritten manuscripts. Not only was it expensive, but it was slow and there was no guarantee that every copy would be the same. More than 2,000 years ago, a form of printing was developed in the Chinese imperial Western Han dynasty (206 BC-25 AD). It was a stone very similar to brass with relief for the dissemination of Confucian knowledge and Buddhist sutras. Building on this idea, the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD) developed the practice of carving text onto a wooden board, which was then covered with ink and then printed onto a page of paper. This technique became known as block printing and was very similar to the concept of printing. This technology produced the first ever book with a confirmed printing date of 868. It was a Buddhist Sutra. This was the invention of printing almost 600 years before the first printed book in Europe.

During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the technique spread throughout Asia to the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea and Japan. But although this was a great step forward, this block of printing technology had a serious flaw. One mistake can be transformed into the entire product produced because it was unique. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), a man named Bi Sheng invented the idea of carving individual characters onto small, identical square pieces of clay that were hardened by slow baking. Thus, the world's first printing flare was made. Once printing was completed, individual parts were replaced and used in the future. This new technology spread to Korea, Japan and Vietnam, and then later to Europe. The next major invention of printing actually came from Europe when Johannes Gutenberg made individual characters out of metal.

And this was the invention of printing before the advent of the computer age.

Powder

Inventions of ancient China - the discovery of gunpowder. Everything from modern artillery shells owes its origin to this. The invention of gunpowder began with the search for the elixir of eternal life on behalf of the Emperor of China. Alchemists discovered that mixtures of certain fuels and ores could heat up in the right proportions and cause an explosion. The work of alchemists led to the discovery of gunpowder.

In 1044, a Song Dynasty explorer wrote "a collection of the most important discoveries of military technology," and in this text he wrote down three formulas for gunpowder. Each was based on saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur and charcoal. The modern British scientist Joseph Needham identified them as early formulas for what we now know as the invention of gunpowder. The formula for gunpowder reached the Arab world in the 12th century and Europe in the 14th century.

Ancient writings claim that gunpowder was first used for entertainment only with fireworks, but was soon exploited for its military potential. In fact, the earliest known illustrations of a cannon, dating back to around 1127, were found in China, during the change of rulers from the Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty. Towards the end of the Song Dynasty, the Chinese invented multi-stage rockets.

Thus, the invention of gunpowder can be seen as the idea of the rocket, which laid the foundation for human space flight. Scientist Joseph Needham also suggests that the idea of an explosion in a self-contained cylinder inspired the internal combustion engine over time.

The invention of gunpowder allowed the Chinese to gain military victories and drive the Mongols away from their borders for decades. But eventually the Mongols were able to capture gunpowder technology and incorporate gunpowder into their supply. Captured Chinese experts began working in the Mongol army, and the Mongols began to expand their empire.

Compass

The invention of the compass is the fourth of the great inventions of ancient China. Although the Chinese did not master ore mining and copper production, they used the natural mineral. The natural mineral magnetite attracted iron. The arrow with magnetite always pointed north.

Thus, the inventions of ancient China are among the greatest achievements of mankind used in our time.

The four great inventions of ancient China - this is how the famous researcher of Chinese culture Joseph Needham dubbed paper, printing, gunpowder and a compass invented in the Middle Ages in his book of the same name. It was these discoveries that contributed to the fact that many areas of culture and the arts, previously accessible only to the rich, became the property of the general public. The inventions of ancient China made long-distance travel possible, which made it possible to discover new lands. So, let's look at each of them in chronological order.

Ancient Chinese Invention No. 1 - Paper

Paper is considered the first great invention of ancient China. According to Chinese records of the Eastern Han Dynasty, invented paper Han Dynasty court eunuch Cai Long in 105 AD.

In ancient times, in China, before the advent of paper, bamboo strips rolled into scrolls, silk scrolls, wooden and clay tablets, etc. were used for writing notes. The most ancient Chinese texts or “jiaguwen” were discovered on tortoise shells, which date back to the 2nd millennium BC. e. (Shang Dynasty).

In the 3rd century, paper was already widely used for writing instead of more expensive traditional materials. The paper production technology developed by Cai Lun consisted of the following: a boiling mixture of hemp, mulberry bark, old fishing nets and fabrics was turned into pulp, after which it was ground to a homogeneous paste and mixed with water. A sieve in a wooden cane frame was immersed in the mixture, the mixture was scooped out with the sieve, and the liquid was shaken to drain. At the same time, a thin and even layer of fibrous mass was formed in the sieve.

This mass was then tipped onto smooth boards. Boards with castings were placed one on top of the other. They tied the stack together and placed a load on top. Then the sheets, hardened and strengthened under the press, were removed from the boards and dried. A sheet of paper made using this technology was light, smooth, durable, less yellow and more convenient for writing.

Ancient Chinese Invention No. 2 - Printing

The advent of paper, in turn, led to the advent of printing. The oldest known example of woodblock printing is a Sanskrit sutra printed on hemp paper between approximately 650 and 670 CE. However, the first printed book with a standard size is considered to be the Diamond Sutra, made during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It consists of scrolls 5.18 m long. According to scholar of traditional Chinese culture Joseph Needham, the printing methods used in the calligraphy of the Diamond Sutra are far superior in perfection and sophistication to the miniature sutra printed previously.

Set fonts: The Chinese statesman and polymath Shen Kuo (1031-1095) first outlined the method of printing using set font in his work "Notes on the Brook of Dreams" in 1088, attributing this innovation to the unknown master Bi Sheng. Shen Kuo described the technological process for producing baked clay type, the printing process, and the production of typefaces.

Bookbinding Technique: The advent of printing in the ninth century significantly changed the technique of binding. Towards the end of the Tang era, the book evolved from rolled up scrolls of paper into a stack of sheets resembling a modern brochure. Subsequently, during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the sheets began to be folded in the center, making a “butterfly” type binding, which is why the book has already acquired a modern look. The Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) introduced the stiff paper spine, and later during the Ming Dynasty sheets were stitched with thread.

Printing in China has made a great contribution to the preservation of the rich culture that has developed over centuries.

Ancient Chinese Invention No. 3 - Gunpowder

A century later, in 1259, a gun that fired bullets was invented for the first time - a thick bamboo tube into which a charge of gunpowder and a bullet was placed.

Later, at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, metal cannons loaded with stone cannonballs spread in the Celestial Empire.

In addition to military affairs, gunpowder was also actively used in everyday life. Thus, gunpowder was considered a good disinfectant in the treatment of ulcers and wounds, during epidemics, and it was also used to poison harmful insects.

However, perhaps the most “bright” invention that appeared thanks to the creation of gunpowder are fireworks. In the Celestial Empire they had a special meaning. According to ancient beliefs, evil spirits are very afraid of bright light and loud sounds. Therefore, since ancient times, on the Chinese New Year, there was a tradition in the courtyards of burning bonfires made of bamboo, which hissed in the fire and burst with a bang. And the invention of gunpowder charges undoubtedly frightened the “evil spirits” seriously - after all, in terms of the power of sound and light, they were significantly superior to the old method. Later, Chinese craftsmen began to create multi-colored fireworks by adding various substances to gunpowder.

Today, fireworks have become an indispensable attribute of New Year celebrations in almost all countries of the world.

Ancient Chinese Invention No. 4 - Compass

The description of a magnetic compass for determining the cardinal directions was first set out in the Chinese manuscript “Wujing Zongyao” in 1044. The compass worked on the principle of residual magnetization from heated steel or iron blanks, which were cast in the shape of a fish. The latter were placed in a bowl of water, and weak magnetic forces appeared as a result of induction and residual magnetization. The manuscript mentions that this device was used as a heading indicator paired with a mechanical “chariot that points south.”

A more advanced compass design was proposed by the already mentioned Chinese scientist Shen Ko. In his “Notes on the Brook of Dreams” (1088), he described in detail the magnetic declination, that is, the deviation from the direction of true north, and the design of a magnetic compass with a needle. The use of a compass for navigation was first proposed by Zhu Yu in the book “Table Talks in Ningzhou” (1119).

For your information:

In addition to the four great inventions of ancient China, the craftsmen of the Celestial Empire gave our civilization the following useful things: the Chinese horoscope, drum, bell, crossbow, erhu violin, gong, martial arts “wushu”, qigong health gymnastics, fork, noodles, steamer, chopsticks, tea , soy cheese tofu, silk, paper money, nail polish, bristle toothbrush, toilet paper, kite, gas cylinder, Go board game, playing cards, porcelain and much more.

At one time I wrote about. Let's take a look at the same thing in China.

What things that we are familiar with from everyday life did the Chinese give us? The first thing that comes to mind is paper, paper banknotes, toilet paper, wallpaper, magnetic compass, gunpowder and silk.

But in fact, Chinese civilization gave humanity much more. Let's run through the list.

1. The world's largest paper encyclopedia- Yongle Encyclopedia. Today it is surpassed only by Wikipedia. Several thousand scientists from the Hanlin Academy were involved in compiling the encyclopedia. The encyclopedia totaled 22,877 juan (not counting the 60 juan of the table of contents), which was divided into 11,095 volumes. The total volume of the code, according to sinologists, is about 510,000 pages and 300,000,000 hieroglyphs.

2. Metal casting in blast furnaces.

Puddling(converting cast iron into soft low-carbon iron) and men at the blast furnace (right). Illustration from Song Yingxing's encyclopedia "Tian gong kai wu".

3.Toothbrush appeared already in Ancient Egypt, where it looked like a twig with fibers protruding from one end, but it acquired its modern form in China, despite the fact that the variety that appeared in 1498 used pork bristles.

4. In 1086, Su Song invented watch using a ratchet.

Diagram of a tower with an astronomical clock. The 12-meter-high clock showed not only the time, but also the movement of astronomical bodies: the sun, moon and planets. Marco Polo saw it in 1272 and was greatly amazed.

5.First printing press invented by the Chinese blacksmith Bi Sheng in 1043 - 1047. He made a font from baked clay and attached the letters to a movable carriage. Gutenberg still had to wait until 1455.

6. Winnowing machine. Invented in 1313, 400 years before the Rotterham plow. invented in 1730 in England.

A Chinese winnowing machine with a rotating fan, from the Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia published 1637 by Song Yingxing.

7. Suspension bridges. In 25 BC, suspension bridges were invented in China. In the West, similar designs began to be used 1800 years later. Although there is evidence that many early cultures used rope suspension bridges, the first written evidence of a bridge suspended by iron chains is known from a local history and topography of Yunnan province written in the 15th century, which describes the repair of an iron chain bridge during reign of Emperor Zhu Di (reigned 1402-1424). The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) claim that iron chain suspension bridges have existed in China since the Han Dynasty is questionable, but their apparent existence in the 15th century predates their appearance elsewhere. C. S. Thom also mentions the same repair of the suspension bridge described by Needham, but adds that recent research has revealed the existence of a document listing the names of those who allegedly built the iron chain suspension bridge in Yunnan around 600 AD. e.

8. Some legends say that the invention carts(wheelbarrow) belongs to Zhuge Liang (Chinese commander and statesman of the Three Kingdoms era). There were many designs of carts in China: some had wheels in the center, others - in the front. There were also two-wheeled and even three-wheeled wheelbarrows. During the Han Dynasty, a wheelbarrow with a sail was invented. The speed of movement on ice or hard ground was such that it overtook the fastest horses.

9. Wujing Zongyao - a Chinese military treatise created in 1044 during the Northern Song Dynasty, compiled by famous scientists Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du and Yang Weide, the work is the world's first manuscript containing recipes gunpowder, gives a description of various mixtures that include petrochemical products, as well as garlic and honey. The Chinese soon used gunpowder to develop weapons: over the following centuries they produced various types of gunpowder weapons, including flamethrowers, rockets, bombs, primitive grenades and mines, before the invention of firearms that used the energy of gunpowder to actually throw projectiles.

10. Who do you think invented golf? Scots? Nope. And on silk scrolls dating back to the Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), images of women playing suigan were discovered. This game is very similar to modern golf.

11. Zheng He's fleet.

The ships are 5 times larger than Columbus's ships.

12. Locks and the Grand Canal of China.

A shipping canal in China, one of the oldest existing hydraulic structures in the world. It was built over two thousand years - from the 6th century. BC e. until the 13th century n. e. The gateway was first invented in the 10th century. engineer Qiao Weiyu during the construction of the Grand Canal of China.

And now a rhetorical question: how did Western Europe defeat the whole world? Taking into account the fact that the east was superior to Europe of that time both numerically, intellectually, and in urban development? Europe during the Ming Dynasty was dying from the bubonic plague, smallpox and other epidemics. Science was just beginning to emerge in northern Italy. It is not clear where the strength of the West lies. And have we not reached the peak of the development of Western civilization, and will it be replaced again by the civilizations of the East (China, India and Japan)?

Even before our era, Chinese scientists, mechanics and just random lucky people came up with simple but brilliant things. Without these things it is difficult to imagine the life of a modern person.

This paper was made for China in the 2nd century BC.

PAPER

It is difficult to imagine life without school notebooks, documents or a passport. The paper from which all this is made was invented in China at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. According to the Chinese chronicles of the Eastern Han Dynasty, paper was invented by the court eunuch of the Han Dynasty - Cai Long in 105 AD. In ancient times in China, before the advent of paper, bamboo strips rolled into scrolls, silk scrolls, wooden and clay tablets, etc. .d. The most ancient Chinese texts or “jiaguwen” were discovered on tortoise shells, which date back to the 2nd millennium BC. e. (Shang Dynasty).

In the 3rd century, paper was already widely used for writing instead of more expensive traditional materials. The Chinese Cai Lun made it from mulberry bark. It is not surprising that the ancient sheet of paper has survived to this day! It's so durable it's more like a lightweight body armor. The secret of making paper remained a Chinese monopoly for the next 800 years.

An illustration given in the book of the scholar Wang Zhen (1313) shows compositing letters, which are arranged in a special order according to the sectors of the round table

TYPOGRAPHY

The advent of printing in the ninth century significantly changed the technique of weaving. Towards the end of the Tang era, the book evolved from rolled up scrolls of paper into a stack of sheets resembling a modern brochure. Subsequently, during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the sheets began to be folded in the center, making a “butterfly” type binding, which is why the book has already acquired a modern look. The Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) introduced stiff paper spines, and later during the Ming Dynasty sheets were stitched with thread.

Printing in China has made a great contribution to the preservation of the rich culture that has developed over centuries.

The earliest artistic depiction of gunpowder weapons, the era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960 AD).

POWDER

Gunpowder is believed to have been developed in China in the 10th century. It was first used as a filling in incendiary projectiles, and later explosive gunpowder projectiles were invented. Gunpowder barreled weapons, according to Chinese chronicles, were first used in battles in 1132. It was a long bamboo tube into which gunpowder was placed and then set on fire. This “flamethrower” caused severe burns to the enemy. A century later, in 1259, a gun that fired bullets was invented for the first time - a thick bamboo tube that held a charge of gunpowder and a bullet. Later, at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, metal cannons loaded with stone cannonballs spread in the Celestial Empire.

COMPASS

The first prototype of the compass is believed to have appeared during the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD), when the Chinese began using magnetic iron ore oriented north-south. True, it was not used for navigation, but for fortune telling. In the ancient text "Lunheng", written in the 1st century AD, in chapter 52, the ancient compass is described as follows: "This instrument resembles a spoon, and if it is placed on a plate, its handle will point to the south." Description of the magnetic compass for determination The cardinal directions were first set forth in the Chinese manuscript “Wujing Zongyao” in 1044. A more advanced design of the compass was proposed by the Chinese scientist Shen Ko. In his “Notes on the Brook of Dreams” (1088), he described in detail the magnetic declination, that is, the deviation from the direction of true north, and the design of a magnetic compass with a needle. The use of a compass for navigation was first proposed by Zhu Yu in the book “Table Talks in Ningzhou” (1119).

ICE CREAM

Is there anyone these days who doesn’t eat it? Unless due to medical contraindications. Meanwhile, ice cream was also invented in China. At first his recipe was this: milk plus snow. Everything ingenious is simple! And Marco Polo brought the idea of ice cream to Europe along with another miracle

Ancient noodles

NOODLES

Here is the second miracle brought to us by the famous traveler from a mysterious new country in 1292. Italian spaghetti, pasta, noodles in your bowl of chicken soup - all this exists because China once invented a dish that could be stored for a long time: inexpensive and tasty. The oldest surviving noodles are 4,000 years old. It survived to this day by chance, because the clay vessel turned out to be tightly covered with earth. In China itself, noodles are a symbol of longevity and strength, so they are traditionally served at weddings and on New Year's Eve.

Emperor Sui Yan-di

AUTOMATIC DOOR When Emperor Sui Yan-di (VII century) entered one of the five cabinets of his luxurious library (there were fourteen in total), the doors folded back, the curtains covering the doors parted, and the statues of saints in front of the door moved apart. It looked like magic, but there was no trace of mysticism. The emperor used one of the most amazing (given that we are talking about ancient centuries) Chinese inventions - automatic doors.

ZOOTROP

- this primitive predecessor of cinema, which the Chinese called the "magic lantern" - existed among the objects of the treasury of Qin Shi Huang (ruled 221-210 BC) of the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC). The soothsayer Shao Ong, who organized spiritualistic seances for Emperor Wu Ti (reigned 141 - 87 BC), possibly using a zoetrope in his actions in 121 BC. The first reliable evidence of the use of a zoetrope in China dates back to the end of the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD), when around 180 AD e. artisan Ding Huan made a “nine-story incense burner.” These were bird- and animal-like figures that began to move when the lamp was lit. The convection of the rising current of warm air caused the blades at the top of the lamp to rotate, and the painted paper figures attached to the cylinder gave the impression that they were moving. Toys of this type were made in China in later eras.

ZERO

...without which we cannot imagine mathematics, numbers and the decimal number system were also invented by Chinese mathematicians. It is known that the Chinese used the decimal number system 2300 years before it was introduced in Europe. That is, in the 14th century BC.

TOILET PAPER

...an everyday object in our everyday life. But in China, for a long time after its invention, only the imperial family was allowed to use toilet paper. Toilet paper was first mentioned in historical sources in 589. And already in the middle of the 19th century, in one province of Zhenjiang, 10 million packs of toilet paper were produced in a year.

Silkworm cocoons

SILK

... invented by the Chinese. But the beautiful story about how Emperor Huang Di’s wife was drinking tea, and a silkworm cocoon fell into her cup is simply a legend. According to this legend, in the water the cocoon unraveled into thin threads and a smart woman figured out how to use it. But in fact, the cocoon is not so easily divided into silk threads. And silk was invented long before Huang Di reigned. In 3630 B.C. it definitely already existed.

SUNGLASSES

...also invented in China. Only now you will be even more surprised. The ancient Chinese did not use tinted glasses to protect themselves from the sun. They were worn by judges during hearings to make it easier for them to hide their emotions from what they heard.

Apparently, the fork is a primitive Chinese chopstick.))

FORK

Did you think that in China they only eat with chopsticks? But no! Back in the burials of 2400, archaeologists discovered bone forks. So they were invented in China. And they began to use chopsticks there only in the Middle Ages. The Chinese believe that they are much more convenient if you get used to them.

Chinese toothbrush

TOOTHBRUSH

The Egyptians were the first to brush their teeth. But they did this with the help of a twig, having first chewed and tousled it. But the toothbrush in its almost modern form appeared in China. The cleaning surface in it was natural bristles taken from the backbone of a boar, very hard. It was attached to a bamboo handle and brushed teeth without any additional means. This invention was made in 1498 and, as it turned out, was quite dangerous. Archaeologists did not immediately realize that the grooves on the teeth of the Chinese of that time were the result of the use of a toothbrush.

Alcohol

The very first producers of alcohol in Chinese legends are Yui Di and Du Kang from the Xia Dynasty (about 2000 BC - 1600 BC). Research shows that regular beer, with an alcohol content ranging from 4% to 5%, was widely consumed in ancient China and was even mentioned in oracle records as an offering to spirits during sacrifices in the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC - 1046 BC). After some time, the Chinese discovered that adding more boiled grain to the water during fermentation increased the alcohol content of the drink, so b oee strong alcoholic drinks. Around 1000 BC The Chinese created an alcoholic drink that was stronger than 11%. The powerful influence of this alcoholic drink on people was mentioned in poetry throughout the Zhou Dynasty (1050 BC-256 BC). Meanwhile, no beer in the West reached 11% until the 12th century, when the first distilled alcohol was created in Italy.

Scientists date the invention of ethanol and isopropyl alcohol to the ninth millennium. This is evidenced by recent archaeological excavations in Henan province, where traces of alcohol were found on fragments of ceramics. The results obtained finally put an end to the dispute about who invented alcohol, the Chinese or the Arabs. This invention was inspired by the improvement of vinegar and soy sauce using the fermentation and distillation method. Thus, as a result of experiments, alcohol was born.

Iron and steel smelting

Archaeologists were able to prove that iron, made from molten cast iron, was developed in ancient China at the beginning of the 5th century. BC during the reign of the Zhou Dynasty (1050 BC - 256 BC). During the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1046 BC) to the Eastern Zhuo Dynasty (1050 BC-256 BC), China entered a period of prosperity steel smelting. In the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD), private iron production enterprises were abolished and monopolized by the state. The first known metallurgist in ancient China is Qiyi Huiwen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-557 AD), who invented the process of using wrought iron and cast iron for metallurgy. steel production.

SEISMOGRAPH

One of the most important inventions of ancient China was the first seismograph, invented by the imperial astronomer Zhang Heng. The first Seismograph was a vessel with nine dragons depicted on it. Under each dragon there were figures of frogs with open mouths. Inside the vessel hung a pendulum, which in the event of an earthquake would begin to move and inform everyone of trouble. Thanks to a complex mechanism, it could even show the epicenter of an earthquake.

Restaurant menu

In 960-1279. urban shopkeepers of the merchant middle class often did not have time to eat at home. Therefore, they ventured out to eat in various public places such as temples, taverns, tea houses, food stalls and restaurants. These latter built their business on nearby brothels, houses of singing girls and drama theaters. Foreign travelers and Chinese who migrated to the cities from regions with different cooking styles also dined in the restaurants. To meet the demand for a variety of tastes, menus have emerged in city restaurants

Kite
The laws of aerodynamics that allow airplanes to take off were already known to some extent to the Chinese. In the fourth century BC, two lovers of philosophy, Gongshu Ban and Mo Di, built a snake that looked like a bird. Many thought it was just a toy, but for humanity it was an advance in the field of science. The first airplanes and flying machines owe to the experience that the Chinese gave us by flying a kite into the sky.

Locks and the Grand Canal of China

A shipping canal in China, one of the oldest existing hydraulic structures in the world. It was built over two thousand years - from the 6th century. BC e. until the 13th century n. e. The gateway was first invented in the 10th century. engineer Qiao Weiyu during the construction of the Grand Canal of China.

Hang glider
This modern device for entertainment was invented in ancient China. By experimenting with the size of a kite, a device was created capable of lifting and holding a person in the sky.

PORCELAIN
Porcelain is used in everyday life and is considered the best material for making tableware. Porcelain dishes have a beautiful, glossy surface that perfectly complements the design of any kitchen and transforms any dinner. Porcelain has been known since 620 in China.

Europeans experimentally obtained porcelain only in 1702. In Italy, France and England, attempts were made to make porcelain for two centuries.

Mustard weapon

An amazing weapon of Ancient China, the prototype of modern chemical weapons, is lime-mustard smoke. The first mention of this weapon dates back to the 4th century BC. To repel an enemy attack or suppress an uprising, the Chinese mixed burnt mustard with other chemicals, placed the mixture in bellows, and used them to spray it onto the enemy. Often a similar method was used in the case of undermining a besieged fortress: usually the opponents dug tunnels towards the attackers, and they dispersed poisonous gas underground.

WHEELBARROW

The Chinese are great builders, and the invention of the wheelbarrow helped them in this. A wheelbarrow is an object that facilitates manual transportation of goods, and also allows a person to lift and carry more weight. It was invented in the second century by a general named Yugo Liang. He came up with a basket on one wheel; later his design was supplemented with handles. Initially, the function of the wheelbarrow was defensive and was used in military operations. For many centuries, the Chinese kept their invention secret.

Chinese tea
Every person on this planet has tried tea at least once, and many of us drink it every day. In China, tea has been known since the first millennium. There are references to a healing infusion made from tea tree leaves. The invention of the Chinese is a method of brewing and obtaining a tea drink.

UMBRELLA
The birthplace of the folding umbrella, according to some sources, is also in China. The existence of the umbrella has been known since the 11th century. In China, an umbrella was used to protect high-ranking dignitaries from the sun. So the emperor and his entourage took him on his walks, so the umbrella was a symbol of wealth and luxury.

Invention of the mechanical watch

Water clock of Su Song

A mechanical watch is an invention that we still use today. According to research, the first prototype of a mechanical watch was invented by Yi Xing, a Buddhist monk and mathematician of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). At first, the clocks were not entirely mechanical and were essentially water clocks. Water steadily dripped onto the wheel, which made a full revolution every 24 hours. Later the clock was modified by adding a system of bronze and iron hooks, pins, locks and rods. Hundreds of years later, Su Song, an astronomer and mechanic of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), created a more complex clock, making it the ancestor of modern clocks.

Invented in China deep well drilling method. This happened in the first century BC. The invented method made it possible to drill holes in the ground, the depth of which reached one and a half thousand meters. The drilling rigs used today operate on a principle similar to that invented by the ancient Chinese. But in those distant times, the towers for securing tools reached 60 meters in height. Workers laid stones with holes in the middle of the required area to guide the tool. Today, guide tubes are used for this purpose.

The oldest surviving banknote

PAPER MONEY

And also invented in China! You have all heard about the Great Silk Road, along which countless trade caravans traveled. At first, merchants began to issue trade receipts to each other, because in order to conclude wholesale trade transactions they had to carry an unrealistically large amount of copper money with them. And then the state found itself in a difficult situation: a shortage of copper began to be observed, many mines were exhausted and closed. To ease the load on the mint and combat shortages, they turned to the successful experience of merchants. 16 banks were authorized to print paper money. Later, banks were prohibited from doing this and a single state body was created, and money began to be backed by silver and gold at the state level.

Mobile mechanical theater

The inventors of the field mill, Xie Fei and Wei Mengbian of the late Zhao era (319-351 AD), also invented a complex mechanical theater mounted on a cart. His figures were driven by a driving force (that is, they moved when the cart moved forward). From 335 to 345 n. e. these two inventors worked in court under Emperor Shi Hu (334–349), who belonged to the Jie ethnic group. The vehicle they made had four wheels, was 6 meters long and about 3 meters wide. On it stood a large golden statue of Buddha and next to it a Taoist statue that was constantly rubbing its front with a mechanical hand. The Buddha was also surrounded by ten wooden Taoists who revolved around him, periodically bowing to him, saluting him and throwing incense into the censer. Above the Buddha there were nine taps in the form of dragon heads through which water flowed. As in the field mill and the "threshing wagon" of these two inventors, when the carriage stopped, all the moving parts of the mechanical statues and the gushing taps stopped.

Jade Robe

The body has decayed, but the clothes have been preserved. They were made from thousands of pieces of cut and polished jade. Each piece was connected to its neighbors with gold wire. Jade, or jadeite according to the beliefs of the ancient Chinese, had magical properties. The use of objects made from this material as funerary utensils has been known since the Neolithic.

Tray covered in red varnish om and decorated with gold foil with engraving, XII - early XIII century

Wooden mechanical action figures from the tomb of guards from the Tang Dynasty (618–907)

An amazing invention belongs to a mechanic named Huan Gun, who lived in the 7th century. He designed seven boats (possibly equipped with a paddle wheel) that moved along a predetermined route along the stone canals of the imperial garden. The boats stopped near the emperor's guests and served them, pouring wine. The most amazing thing was that mechanical figures of animals and people acted as cupbearers and wine pourers. They moved at the same time: they filled the cup, passed it to the guest and took away the empty one. The boat then sailed towards the other guests.

ARBA, drawn by a buffalo, 581-618 AD.

Window crank handle the Chinese have been using it for at least 2000 years

CHROMIUM— application: Chrome was first learned to be used in China no later than 210 BC. e. This is the date when the Terracotta Army was buried near the modern city of Xi'an. Archaeologists have discovered that the bronze arrowheads from the crossbows in the Terracotta Army showed no signs of corrosion after 2,000 years of storage, for the simple reason that the Chinese coated them with chrome. As is known, chromium was not used anywhere until the experiments of Louis Vauquelin (1763-1829) in 1797-1798.

Earliest proven use salt took place on Lake Yuncheng, in 6000 BC.

The most first matches for making fire appeared in China in 577 AD. e. They were invented by the court ladies of the Northern Qi state.

The craftsmen of the Celestial Empire gave our civilization the following useful things: Chinese horoscope, ink, drum, bell, crossbow, erhu violin, diet, fasting, acupuncture, gong, martial arts "wushu", qigong health gymnastics, steamer, chopsticks, horse harness, soy cheese tofu, fan, varnish, gas cylinder, iron plow, rowing oars, Go board game, playing cards, mahjong, whistle and much more.