China has a rich history that was characterized by both times of abundance and prosperity and times of war. Ancient China witnessed feudal periods such from 222BC to what scholars refer to as the intermediate period. Despite China having a feudal past, the country is known to be the origin of various innovations including some of ingredients used in gun powder. This paper seeks to identify some of the useful inventions and contribution that were made by the ancient Chinese civilization. The list below shows the key inventions which are attributable to the ancient Chinese empire
- Row Planting - 6th Century BC.
- The compass -4th Century BC.
- The Seed Drill -202 BC -220AD.
- Deep Drilling invented 202BC -220 AD.
- The Horse Harness (202BC – 220AD).
- Porcelain (220 – 581 AD).
- Toilet paper (581-618 AD)
- Movable printer (581 – 618 AD).
Out of the eight innovations that are attributable to the ancient China civilization, the compass, seed drill, toilet paper, and the movable printer are the most ingenious and innovative inventions. It is important to evaluate each of these four inventions in order to understand why these should be considered as being the most important. First of all, it is worthwhile to look at the compass which was invented by the Chinese in about 4BC (Deng, 2011, p. 25). At the time of its invention the lodestone compass was used as a way of telling the direction to various places and landmarks on land. However, this discovery opened up the world for commerce because over time the instrument was used for navigation in the deep seas. In this way the ancient Chinese civilization was able to engage in commerce with far lands and people who lived millions of nautical miles away. The idea of navigation used the compass made it possible for Europe powers to be able to attain overseas colonies because they would be able to track the bearing of different lands when they were at sea. The idea of a compass has also been adopted in modern transport systems such as aero planes. Air travel involves uses bearing in the location of various terrorism. Millions of people today use air travel to move from place to place as a result of the invention of the loadstone compass that was invented by the ancient Chinese empire. It is also important to understand that as a result of globalization the world has over time become more integrated. This means that there is no single territory is able to survive on its own without interaction with another. This means that as a result of the invention of the Compass territories that are far from each other can be able to conduct commerce and exchange goods and services through various tools that use the technology of the loadstone compass that was invented by the ancient Chinese empire (Williams, 1996, p.39).
Focusing on the seed drill, it is important to realize that one of the things that various governments and peoples around the world have sought to create food security in the entire globe. One of the ways that people around the world can fed is through agriculture. Small scale agriculture cannot be used to feed the world because not all areas around the world are viable for the purposes of agriculture. The invention of the seed drill by the ancient Chinese civilization has been a key propeller towards food sufficiency around the world. The technology of the seed-drill has been amplified such that the technology can used in the planting of seeds in the same pattern on extensive lands. In these way large-scale crops can be well maintained and harvested because machinery can easily be used to navigate through large scale farms. One thing that also worth noting is that the seed drill allows the spacing between crops to be manageable such that crops to not compete for light and other vital resources that are important for growth. Therefore, the seed-drill that was invented by the Chinese played a key role in shaping modern agriculture.
The other important innovation that is worth discussing is the toilet paper. The Chinese had invented paper and tissue paper as early as 589 AD (Temple, 1986, p.44). This means that as other civilizations such as the America’s used crude methods of hygiene such as leaves, people in the ancient Chinese civilization had already began to use tissue paper. The use of tissue paper is something that has been able to make the world cleaner and more hygienic. Instead of people cleansing themselves in water sources, people today can be able to use tissue paper. Tissue paper is one of the most fundamental resources that families in the modern world need to have in order to observe hygiene and prevent the outbreak of waterborne diseases such as cholera due to unhygienic lifestyles.
The fourth important invention that was created by the Chinese was the movable printer (Zhu, 2005, p.51). As the world moves towards the use of digital gargets and technology, printing has become important. Instead of having inter-office memos that are written by hand, printers are used to reproduce a typed document on paper. The invention of printers by the ancient Chinese civilization has contributed to various sectors of nations’ economies such as business enterprises that require receipts to monitor their daily sales and accounts. Therefore, through the invention of the movable printer, the Chinese have contributed to modern technology and in the world of commerce.
In conclusion, out of the four inventions and contributions made by the ancient Chinese civilization, one cannot be in a position to live without paper and tissue paper. Tissue paper has become part of modern hygiene such that life would be difficult to live without this hygiene. Through the hygiene that has been created by the use of tissue papers, various waterborne diseases such as cholera have become more manageable.
References
Deng, Y. (2011). Ancient Chinese Inventions. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Temple, R. K. (1986). The genius of China: 3,000 years of science, discovery, and invention. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Zhu, K. (2005). Fantastic inventions and inventors: True Stories from Ancient China. San Francisco: Long River Press.
Williams, S. (1996). Made in China: ideas and inventions from ancient China. Berkeley, California: Pacific View Press.
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