Question 1
China is one of the leading nations when it comes to study of nature beginning from the first, before birth of Christ until 15th century. The ten useful inventions made in China include;
- Papermaking, China invented paper in around 105A.C. This invention later spread to parts of Asia and later to Europe before heading to Africa.
- Movable type of printing was invented around 960 and 1279 AD. In those ancient times, movable type piece could be glued and detached from the iron plate when necessary. Characters were then assembled for printing and later distributed after printing.
- Gunpowder was invented in 1000A.D. It being used for firecrackers and later spread to Europe where it was being used for cannons.
- Compass was invented around 1100 A.D. The Chinese invented the magnetic compass and used it to sail.
- Tea production, according to ancient Chinese people tea was first by their Emperor Shen Nong. One inventor from China invented a tea shredder, a device that slices tealeaves into thin strips.
- Silk, it was first invented by China around 2,100 years ago. Silk was so precious to an extent that the West could give gold in exchange for the same weight of silk.
- Iron and smelting, is an invention that was made in 1050 BC. The first known metallurgist being Qiwu Huaiwen.
- Earthquake detector, it was invented by Chang Heng a very intelligent scientist and a Mathematician. His invention was noted as one of the court records in 132 A.D.
- Rocket, the ancient known Chinese rockets were invented in 228 A.D.
- Row crop farming was invented around 6th century BC. The orderly farming technique enabled the farmers near the rivers to irrigate effectively and their farms began yielding more.
Question 2
Generally, China has contributed many inventions gunpowder; paper, silk, and the compass are the most innovative and important.
Question 3
In the context of the china inventions and contributions to the field of art, some of the inventions are found to be the most creative and innovative as well as having more significance in the global economy. The most significant ancient Chinese contributions include compass, papermaking, printing as well the invention of gunpowder (Deng, 2011).
Paper is a significant component of the main ancient inventions since it has played a great role in the day-to-day lives of the people in China. This has greatly helped in keeping records as oppose to the earlier means where the records were made on stones, bones and bamboo slips. Papermaking went through several stages before it was fully developed from pulp. The development of paper was possible by the diversification of raw materials making it very suitable to the society since it served many purposes.
The people of China advanced the immature techniques of papermaking with technology and other creative techniques. The diversification of the papermaking was brought about by the use of Bamboo pulp.In to printing, the invention of the movable printing machine was invented from clay. This thereafter advanced to a model in the printing. This was a creative piece of art, which was beyond imagination since ironstones and clay was used to make the movable printers. The pieces of clay used in printing were recycled for future. This basic idea of the movable printer have greatly helped in the advancement of printers to the modern printers which are serving a vital role in the modern society both in China and all over the globe.
The invention of the gunpowder was an important and creative invention since it has been of great help in the military equipment to make the explosives and tools for defense of the countries. The knowledge of gunpowder spread to the rest of the world where the knowledge was used in the manufacture of explosives and the general military equipment.The invention of the magnetic compass was also one of the main and innovative inventions, which helped in the navigation. The knowledge of compass was transmitted by the Chinese to the Arabs Traders, which greatly helped them sail back to the West in their trade ((Schomp, 2004).
Question 4
Among the numerous Chinese cultural inventions, paper invention is certainly the most important invention of Chinese contemporary culture and society. The great invention enormously contributed to the many developments in the Chinese culture and the global civilization at large. Paper invention in the Chinese society dates back to 105 A.D. the entire events in paper invention was characterized by Cai Lun endless efforts in manufacturing paper with the use of fishnets, mulberry, old rags and hemp wastes. Cai Lun pioneered the entire processes and techniques that led to the eventual manufacturing and large-scale paper production, which additionally ensured production of high quality paper. The underlying principles of paper manufacturing that Cai invented, found great application in the today’s’ global industrial paper manufacturing.
The invention of paper in the Chinese society eases the storage of culturally vital information, sharing of thoughts and educating the masses. This greatly accelerated the endeavors’ the global human civilization and development. The inevitable invention contributes to the preservation of history and exchange of knowledge. Without it would be impossible developing other inventions. Paper is an inevitable component of the daily human activities as it forms the basis for print media, packaging materials and human and environmental hygiene (Schomp, 2004).
References
Deng, Y. (2011). Ancient Chinese inventions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Schomp, V. (2004). The ancient Chinese. New York: Franklin Watts.
