Source :
http://www.asiafines...php/t58751.htmlChinese Inventions and Discoveries Timeline:
Agriculture Row cultivation of crops and intensive hoeing 6thC BC 2,200 years
The iron plow 6thC BC 2,300 years
Efficient horse harness -- trace 4thC BC 500 years
-- collar 3rdC BC 1,000 years
The rotary winnowing fan 2ndC BC 2,000 years
The multi-tube "modern" seed drill 2ndC BC 1,800 years
Astronomy & Cartography Recognition of sunspots as solar phenomenon 4thC BC 2,000 years
Quantitative cartography 2ndC BC 1,300 years
Discovery of the solar wind 6thC BC 1,400 years
The Mercator map projection 10thC AD 600 years
(Mounted) Equatorial astronomical instruments 13thC AD 600 years
Engineering Sprouting bowls and standing waves 5thC BC never
Cast iron 4thC BC 1,700 years
Double-acting piston air bellows 4thC BC 1,900 years
Double-acting piston water bellows 4thC BC 2,100 years
Crank handle 2ndC BC 1,100 years
"Cardan suspension" or Gimbals 2ndC BC 1,100 years
Manufacture of steel from cast iron 2ndC BC 2,000 years
Deep drilling for natural gas 1stC BC 1,900 years
Belt drives 1stC BC 1,800 years
Water power 1stC AD 1,200 years
Chain pump 1stC AD 1,400 years
Suspension bridge 1stC AD 1,200 years
First cybernetic machine 3rdC AD 3,000 years
Essentials of the steam engine 5thC AD 3,200 years
"Magic" mirrors 5thC AD 1,500 years
"Siemens" steel process 5thC AD 1,300 years
Segmental arch bridge AD610 500 years
Chain drive AD976 800 years
Underwater salvage operations 11thC AD 800 years
Domestic & Industrial Technology Lacquer: the first plastic 13thC BC 3,200 years
Strong beer (sake) 11thC BC never
Petroleum and natural gas as fuel 4thC BC 2,300 years
Paper 2ndC BC 1,400 years
Wheelbarow 1stC BC 1,300 years
Sliding calipers 1stC BC 1,500 years
Magic lantern 2ndC BC 1,800 years
Fishing reel 3rdC BC 1,400 years
Stirrup 3rdC AD 300 years
Porcelain 3rdC AD 1,700 years
Biological pest control 3rdC AD 1,700 years
Umbrella 4thC AD 1,200 years
Matches AD577 1,000 years
Chess 6thC AD 500 years
Brandy and Whisky 7thC AD 500 years
Mechanical clock AD725 585 years
Printing -- block printing 8thC AD 700 years
-- movable type AD1045 400 years
playing cards 9thC AD 599 years
Paper money 9thC AD 850 years
"Permanent" lamps 9thC AD never
Spinning wheel 11thC AD 200 years
Medicine & Health Circulation of blood 6thC BC 1,800 years
Circadian rhythms in the human body 2ndC BC 2,150 years
Endocrinlogy (glands, secretion) 2ndC BC 2,100 years
Deficiency diseases 3rdC AD 1,600 years
Diabetes detection by urine analysis 7thC AD 1,000 years
Use of thyroid hormone 7thC AD 1,250 years
Immunology -- innoculation against smallpox 10thC AD 800 years
Mathematics Decimal system 14thC BC 2,300 years
A place for zero 4thC BC 1,400 years
Negative numbers 2ndC BC 1,700 years
Extraction of higher roots & solutions of 1stC BC 600 years
higher equations
Decimal fractions 1stC BC 1,600 years
Using algebra in geometry 3rdC AD 1,000 years
A refined table of pi 3rdC AD 1,200 years
"Pascal's" triangle of coefficients AD1100 427 years
Magnetism First compasses 4thC BC 1,500 years
Dial and pointer devices 3rdC AD 1,200 years
Magnetic declination of Earth's magnetic field 9thC AD 600 years
Magnetic remanence and induction 11thC AD 600 years
The Physical Sciences Geobotanical prospecting 5thC BC 2,100 years
First law of motion 4thC BC 1,300 years
Hexagonal structure of snowflakes 2ndC BC 1,800 years
Seismograph AD130 1,400 years
Spontaneous combustion 2ndC AD 1,500 years
"Modern" geology 2ndC AD 1,500 years
Phosphorescent paint 10thC AD 700 years
Transportation & Exploration Kite 5th/4thC BC 2,000 years
Manned flight with kites 4thC BC 1,650 years
First relief maps 3rdC BC 1,600 years
First contour transport canal 3rdC BC 1,900 years
Parachute 2ndC BC 2,000 years
Miniature hot-air baloons 2ndC BC 1,400 years
Rudder 1stC AD 1,100 years
Masts/sailing: Batten sails -- staggered masts 2ndC AD never
Multiple masts, fore & Aft rigs 2ndC BC 1,200 years
Leeboards 8thC AD 800 years
Watertight compartments in ships 2ndC BC 1,707 years
Helicopter rotor & propeller 4thC AD 1,500 years
Paddle-wheel boat 5thC AD 1,000 years
Land-sailing AD650 1,050 years
Canal pound-lock AD984 400 years
Sound & Music Large tuned bell 6thC BC 2,500 years
Tuned drums 2ndC BC unknown
Hermetically sealed research laboratories 1stC BC 2,000 years
First understanding of musical timbre 3rdC AD 1,600 years
Equal temperament in music AD1584 50 years
Warfare Chemical warfare: poison gas, smoke bombs 4thC AD 2,300 years
& tear gas
Crossbow 4thC BC 200 years
Gunpowder 9thC AD 300 years
Flame-thrower 10thC AD 1,000 years
Flares & fireworks 10thC AD 250 years
Soft bombs & grenades AD1000 400 years
Metal-cased bombs AD1221 246 years
Land mines AD1277 126 years
Sea mines 14thC AD 200 years
Rocket 11thC AD 200 years
Multi-staged rockets 14thC AD 600 years
Guns, cannon & mortars -- firelance AD1120 450 years
-- true gun AD1280 50 years
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AbacusAbacus Invented by the Chinese, the first record of the abacus was from a sketch of one in a book from the Yuan Dynasty (14th Century)
Silk The Chinese knew how to produce silk at least by 1300 B.C., but not until the second century B.C. did it begin to be exported to Europe, and not until about 550 A.D., when monks who had traveled to China brought back silkworm eggs, did the West learn the Chinese secret of silk-making.
The Chinese traded silk with the Roman Empire and then with Byzantium. In return they received such items as wool, glass, and asbestos. Through the silk trade the world's two great empires in the first century A.D. Rome and Han China - were linked, mainly because Roman women wore Chinese silks. The overland trade route between China and the Mediterranean was called the "Silk Road" because China exported so much of this fabric to the West.
WeavingTaking another cue from nature, Chinese scientists recognized the strength of the long fibers found in the silkworm's cocoon. Chinese artisans were the first to use those long continuous filaments to weave textiles such as satin, damask, gauze, and brocade. In the second century AD, the Chinese invented a drawloom. Nearly as high as a two-story building, the drawloom made large-scale production of brocade possible. In China: Ancient Arts and Sciences, crafters will be weaving on a reproduction of that ancient drawloom.
Practical Umbrella: The first practical umbrella, invented in China during the Wei Dynasty (386-532 AD), was designed to protect from both the rain and the sun. Soon thereafter they took on a more symbolic meaning as ceremonial ornaments and momentos of the Emperor's trust.
Segmented arch - China - 610AD, still in use
Playing CardsPlaying cards originated in the Far East in the 10th century. They may have been invented by the Chinese
Mathematical Place for Zero: It is recognized the world-over that the Chinese took the first step in developing the concept of zero, necessary for carrying out even the most simple of mathematical computations. As early as the 4th century BCE, the Chinese started leaving a blank space for the zero symbol, used in conjunction with the traditional Chinese counting board and the smaller abacus; and evidence exists attributing to the Chinese the use of the actual "0" before 686 AD.
Water clockThe first clock that they devised was for astronomical uses. In the first clock ever, there was a puppet that would hold up a plaque that would tell the time. They also invented giant water clocks, which rang every fifteen minutes.
RudderEuropeans adopted the rudder from the Chinese, Western ships had to use steering oars, which made long voyages of discoveries difficult. The oldest European evidence for rudders is found in church carvings around the year 1180 A
Ceramics By the time Europe learned the secret of making porcelain in 1709, Chinese artisans had been producing it for over one thousand years. First, scientists studied and learned the properties of silicate glazes. The potter's wheel was invented to shape the clay. High-temperature kilns were constructed to fuse the glazed clay into porcelain. These three scientific realities were necessary before the fine art of porcelain-making could be practiced. Exquisite Chinese porcelain pieces remain from centuries long ago, as well as from just yesterday
Fans: people in China began making fans about 5,000 years ago. Many Chinese fans are covered with beautiful paintings
Maritime Discoveries: The Chinese maritime forces, therein including the sailors as well as the shipbuilders, had no comparable equals in the ancient world. They were learned, widely traveled and technically advanced. The Cape of Good Hope, Australia, trade with Africa, a possible landing in the Americas—all of these achievements have at one time or another been attributed to these formidable men. In addition, the ancient Chinese maritime forces were responsible for the invention of the rudder and watertight compartments for ship's hulls. Likewise, they are credited with innovating the use of masts and the replacement of the basic square sail with the fore-and-aft rig (allowing the ship to sail into the wind). Without these inventions, and many more maritime-related discoveries, the Western world, always a couple of steps behind, would have found it impossible to travel, conquer and rule; and, again, the course of world history would have been dramatically altered.
Dominoes: invented nearly 1,000 years ago; ancient Chinese used dominoes to predict the future.
Acrobatics:were being performed more than 2,000 years ago in China.
Bell: invented in China more than 3,000 years ago. The very first bells were made of bronze.
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Tea Tea drinking originated in China and spread throughout the world. Whether a country calls the beverage "tea" (or some variant thereof) or "chai," as in Russia, depends on whether it came over the sea route or the land route from China. The sea route originated in Fukien province on China's coast, where the word for the drink in the Fukien dialect is "te." The land route originated to the north, where the term for the drink is "cha," Even today in northern England, people often speak of "having a cup of cha," although the more common term in England is "tea."
Porcelain Porcelain, also called "china," is a type of clay pottery that was invented in China by using clay with special minerals. Chinese porcelain was exported throughout the world, and eventually the secret mineral ingredients were discovered by Europeans in 1709. Europeans began to experiment with porcelain making only after they saw and admired the Chinese porcelains.
Paper Paper was first invented in China about 105 A.C. Its use then spread to Chinese Turkestan in central Asia, the Arab world (c. 751 A.D.), Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Spain (c. 1150 A.D.), southern France, and the rest of Europe.
Printing The Chinese invented both block printing, to reproduce the Confucian classics that had often been carved on stone, and moveable type. It appears that Europe learned about block printing from China and did not invent it separately.
One possible source of the spread of block printing from China is playing cards, which the Chinese also invented and introduced to Europe. Another source is paper money, first printed in China in the tenth century A.D. and later introduced to Europe.
Hot air balloonChinese globe lanterns made of paper, like the one shown here, were used as miniature hot-air balloons in China for centuries. The invention of paper came at about the same time as the first balloons were tested - the second century BC.
Gunpowder Gunpowder was invented in China c. 1000 A.D. and probably spread to Europe during the Mongol expansion of 1200-1300 A.D., but this has not been proven. The use of gunpowder in Europe was first recorded in 1313. Europeans used gunpowder for cannons, while the Chinese used it primarily for firewhite people. Despite such early knowledge of explosives and their use, China did not pursue the development of weaponry as did the West; ironically, it was through the use of cannons and guns that the Europeans were able to dominate China in the mid-to late-1800s.
Compass Historians believe that the Chinese invented the magnetic compass and used it for navigation c. 1100 A.D. Arab traders sailing to China probably learned of the Chinese method of sailing by compass and returned to the West with the invention.
Blast furnace By at least the 4th century the Chinese have developed blast furnaces to obtain cast iron from iron ore. This was 1200 years before the first blast furnace showed up in Europe
Alchemy (Chemistry) The Taoist search for the elixir of life (a life-extending potion) led to much experimentation with changing the state of minerals. The Chinese practice appears to have spread first to the Arab world and then to Europe. Chinese alchemy predates that of the Egyptians in Alexandria and other cities by about two centuries, beginning by 133 B.C.
Civil Service Exams for government service were introduced in both France and England in the 1800s, apparently inspired by the Chinese practice instituted almost two thousand years earlier, in 154 B.C.
Grain Storage Henry A. Wallace, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1933 to 1940, introduced governmental storage of excess grain after reading the dissertation of a Chinese student at Columbia University on Confucian economic policies. Wallace adapted the Confucian notion of government grain purchases to provide for times of scarcity, and he introduced the practice in the U.S. to deal with over-production due to mechanization and the resulting drop in agricultural prices.
The Horse Collar: China. Third Century BC. About the fourth century BC the Chinese devised a harness with a breast strap known as the trace harness, modified approximately one hundred later into the collar harness. Unlike the throat-and-girth harness used in the West, which choked a horse and reduced its efficiency (it took two horses to haul a half a ton), the collar harness allowed a single horse to haul a ton and a half. The trace harness arrived in Europe in the sixth century and made its way across Europe by the eighth century.
The Wheelbarrow: China, First Century BC. Wheelbarrows did not exist in Europe before the eleventh or twelfth century (the earliest known Western depiction is in a window at Chartres Cathedral, dated around 1220 AD). Descriptions of the wheelbarrow in China refer to first century BC, and the oldest surviving picture, a frieze relief from a tomb-shrine in Szechuan province, dates from about 118 AD.
The Moldboard Plow: China, Third Centrury BC. Called kuan, these ploughshares were made of malleable cast iron. They had an advanced design, with a central ridge ending in a sharp point to cut the soil and wings which sloped gently up towards the center to throw the soil off the plow and reduce friction. When brought to Holland in the 17th Century, these plows began the Agricultural Revolution.
Paper Money: China, Ninth Century AD. Its original name was 'flying money' because it was so light it could blow out of one's hand. As 'exchange certificates' used by merchants, paper money was quickly adopted by the government for forwarding tax payments. Real paper money, used as a medium of exchange and backed by deposited cash (a Chinese term for metal coins), apparently came into use in the tenth century. The first Western money was issued in Sweden in 1661. America followed in 1690, France in 1720, England in 1797, and Germany not until 1806.
Cast IronChina, Forth Century BC. By having good refractory clays for the construction of blast furnace walls, and the discovery of how to reduce the temperature at which iron melts by using phosphorus, the Chinese were able cast iron into ornamental and functional shapes. Coal, used as a fuel, was placed around elongated crucibles containing iron ore. This expertise allowed the production of pots and pans with thin walls. With the development of annealing in the third century, ploughshares, longer swords, and even buildings were eventually made of iron. In the West, blast furnaces are known to have existed in Scandinavia by the late eighth century AD, but cast iron was not widely available in Europe before 1380.
The Helicopter Rotor and the Propeller: China, Forth Century AD. By fourth century AD a common toy in China was the helicopter top, called the 'bamboo dragonfly'. The top was an axis with a cord wound round it, and with blades sticking out from the axis and set at an angle. One pulled the cord, and the top went climbing in the air. Sir George Cayley, the father of modern aeronautics, studied the Chinese helicopter top in 1809. The helicopter top in China led to nothing but amusement and pleasure, but fourteen hundred years later it was to be one of the key elements in the birth of modern aeronautics in the West.
Suspension bridgesThe Chinese invented suspension bridges using iron chains 1400 years before the Europeans.
The Decimal System: China, Fourteenth Century BC. An example of how the Chinese used the decimal system may be seen in an inscription from the thirteenth century BC, in which '547 days' is written 'Five hundred plus four decades plus seven of days'. The Chinese wrote with characters instead of an alphabet. When writing with a Western alphabet of more than nine letters, there is a temptation to go on with words like eleven. With Chinese characters, ten is ten-blank and eleven is ten-one (zero was left as a blank space: 405 is 'four blank five'), This was much easier than inventing a new character for each number (imagine having to memorize an enormous number of characters just to read the date!). Having a decimal system from the beginning was a big advantage in making mathematical advances. The first evidence of decimals in Europe is in a Spanish manuscript of 976 AD.
The Seismograph: China, Second Century AD. China has always been plagued with earthquakes and the government wanted to know where the economy would be interrupted. A seismograph was developed by the brilliant scientist, mathematician, and inventor Chang Heng (whose works also show he envisaged the earth as a sphere with nine continents and introduced the crisscrossing grid of latitude and longitude). His invention was noted in court records of the later Han Dynasty in 132 AD (the fascinating description is too long to reproduce here. It can be found on pgs. 162-166 of Temple's book). Modern seismographs only began development in 1848.
Matches: China, Sixth Century AD. The first version of the match was invented in 577 AD by impoverished court ladies during a military siege. Hard pressed for tinder during the siege, they could otherwise not start fires for cooking, heating, etc. The matches consisted of little sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur. There is no evidence of matches in Europe before 1530.
Circulation of the BloodChina, Second Century BC. Most people believe blood circulation was discovered by William Harvey in 1628, but there are other recorded notations dating back to the writings of an Arab of Damascus, al-Nafis (died 1288). However, circulation appears discussed in full and complex form in The Yellow Emperor's Manual of Corporeal Medicine in China by the second century BC.
Paper China, Second Century BC. Papyrus, the inner bark of the papyrus plant, is not true paper. Paper is a sheet of sediment which results from the settling of a layer of disintegrated fibers from a watery solution onto a flat mold. Once the water is drained away, the deposited layer is removed and dried. The oldest surviving piece of paper in the world is made of hemp fibers, discovered in 1957 in a tomb near Xian, China, and dates from between the years 140 and 87 BC. The oldest paper with writing on it, also from China, is dated to 110 AD and contains about two dozen characters. Paper reached India in the seventh century and West Asia in the eighth. The Arabs sold paper to Europeans until manufacture in the West in the twelfth century.
Brandy and WhiskeyChina, Seventh Century AD. The tribal people of Central Asia discovered 'frozen- out wine' in their frigid climate in the third century AD. In wine that had frozen was a remaining liquid (pure alcohol). Freezing became a test for alcohol content. Distilled wine was known in China by the seventh century. The distillation of alcohol in the West was discovered in Italy in the twelfth century.
The Kite:China, Fifth/Fourth Century BC. Two kitemakers, Kungshu P'an who made kites shaped like birds which could fly for up to three days, and Mo Ti (who is said to have spent three years building a special kite) were famous in Chinese traditional stories from as early as the fifth century BC. Kites were used in wartime as early as 1232 when kites with messages were flown over Mongol lines by the Chinese. The strings were cut and the kites landed among the Chinese prisoners, inciting them to revolt and escape. Kites fitted with hooks and bait were used for fishing, and kites were fitted with strings and whistles to make musical sounds while flying. The kite was first mentioned in Europe in a popular book of marvels and tricks in 1589.
The rocket and multistaged rockets: China, Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries AD. Around 1150 it crossed someone's mind to attach a comet-like fireworks to a four foot bamboo stick with an arrowhead and a balancing weight behind the feathers. To make the rockets multi-staged, a secondary set of rockets was attached to the shaft, their fuses lighted as the first rockets burned out. Rockets are first mentioned in the West in connection with a battle in Italy in 1380, arriving in the wake of Marco Polo.
ketchupke tsup = tomato sauce.
Saddle: invented in China nearly 2,000 years ago
Sunglasses: these were invented in China about 500 years ago.
Bronze The Chinese craft of bronze-casting has endured for nearly four thousand years. Scientists studied and learned the properties of the metal ore that they found in nature. Science revealed the idea and process for mining and smelting the metal. The craft of casting the hot liquid metal was born. Elaborate bronze artifacts date back thousands of years.
The Chinese Bronze Age had begun by 1700 B.C. in the kingdom of the Shang dynasty along the banks of the Yellow River in northern China.
SteelThe common belief today is that Henry Bessemer discovered the process of refining iron into steel. The fact is Chinese had developed the process to refine iron into steel in the second century BC The Chinese learned that by injecting oxygen into the blast furnace, they could remove the carbon from the iron. The Chinese called this process the “hundred refinings method” since they repeated the process that many times.
Hacky sack: the game that we call hacky sack was created in China more than 2,000 years ago. The object of the game is to keep a little ball in the air as long as possible by kicking it with one's feet.
The Seed drillThe seed drill is a device that plants the seed into the ground. It replaces the farmer to plant the seeds by hand, thus allowing the farmer to plant more acreage. The first seed drill was introduced to Europe in sixteenth century, 3500 years after the Chinese had invented it.
Row farmingThe greatest area of Chinese invention is in agriculture. The Chinese excelled in farming, not only did they discover the seed drill, they discovered row farming that is still used today.
Ice cream: about 4,000 years ago, the Chinese came up with the idea of ice cream by combining rice, milk, spices, and snow.
ToothbrushThe bristle toothbrush, similar to the type used today, was not invented until 1498 in China. The bristles were actually the stiff, coarse hairs taken from the back of a hog's neck and attached to handles made of bone or bamboo.
Other (plant life; political theory)
Some of the West's most popular fruits - peaches, apricots, and citrus fruits - came from China, as did some of the most common flowers, including chrysanthemums. The West also learned of goldfish and wallpaper from China and may have adopted the Chinese idea of the folding umbrella.
Many Western political and social thinkers admired the Chinese bureaucratic system of government. In particular, the German philosopher and mathematician Leibnitz (1646-1716), the Frenchman Voltaire (1694-177, and the French political economists of the late 1700s, known as the Physiocrats, were inspired by Chinese thought, as was America's Ralph Waldo Emerson
