Land of Inventions and Discoveries
For several thousand years China was in a leading position in science and technology. In the Neolithic period ancient Chinese led the world in embryonic animal husbandry, farming, construction, pottery, weaving, brewing, and medicine. The bronze culture of the Shang and Zhou dynasties opened a new chapter of civilization, paving the way for the development of the economy, culture, and science and technology. The Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods were a golden age of creation, when ancient philosophers competed in exploration of truth. The diplomatic
maneuvering, military contests and arms races between the states resulted in scientific and technological progress. Individualism and emancipation of the mind gave rise to the passion for creation and renovation of skills. There were numerous thinkers, statesmen, strategists, writers, artists, scientists, inventors, and skillful craftsmen, and the greatest among them left their names in the annals. The most important discoveries and inventions in the periods were the making of iron and steel, the basic elements of all inventions and innovations, which led to a qualitative change of the times from bronze culture to iron culture. Rapid development of farming, water conservation and handicrafts helped form the four disciplines of astronomy, medicine, mathematics, and agronomy.
The achievements of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods laid a solid foundation for the development of science and technology in ancient China. From then on the productive forces kept expanding and science and technology kept advancing in China, though sometimes with ups and downs. That was true in the Han and Tang dynasties, which were strong and unified with vast territories; or the periods of the Wei and Jin dynasties, and the Southern and Northern dynasties, when the country was temporarily divided; or the Song and Ming dynasties, which enjoyed relative stability and prosperity; or the Yuan and Qing dynasties, whose rulers came from among ethnic minorities. The Chinese with their diligence and wisdom scored great achievements in natural sciences as well as in art and literature, history, and philosophy. They kept inventing and creating everything that was needed in production and daily life. Apart from carrying on earlier scientific achievements and completing the four major inventions, ancient Chinese made other discoveries and inventions, such as copper and iron, coal and petroleum, porcelain, silk and cotton cloth, wine and liquor, and Chinese medicine.
They also made discoveries in the studies of mathematics, physics, chemistry, the heavenly bodies and the universe. They manufactured wonderful machines and devices, created accurate calendars, built the Great Wall and the Grand Canal, as well as put forward the equal temperament. Mozi (c.468BC- c.376BC), a great philosopher, thinker and scientist of the Warring States Period, was the first to discover the principle of camera obscura - light that passes through a pinhole in a box forms an inverted, backward image of the subject on the back of the box. His discovery was made earlier than that of the Platonic school in Greece. Lu Ban (c.507BC-c.444BC), a celebrated craftsman, established the basic standards for carpenters: Use no nail or glue. According to legend, Lu Ban once made a seemingly rough and shaky chair and dropped it down a city wall, and when the chair touched ground, it became a sturdy, perfect chair. This story shows the advanced level of practical techniques of ancient Chinese.
In his Science and Civilization in China, Joseph Needham listed from A to Z 26 major Chinese inventions and the related time lags between China and the West. The inventions include cast iron, gunpowder, papermaking, compass, movable type printing, porcelain, and waterwheel. Needham noted that China had scored one after another "world's firsts," and that Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was correct in recognizing that the inventions of gunpowder, paper and printing and the magnetic compass transformed the antique and Medieval worlds into a modem age.
American scholar Robert G. Temple stated: The modern world in which we live is a joint creation of China and the West; more than half of the basic inventions and discoveries which led to the creation of this modem world are Chinese, and are not Western at all; even Newton's first law of motion and William Harvey's discovery of blood circulation can be traced to Chinese sources; the Industrial Revolution was made possible in Europe by the preceding European Agricultural Revolution, which was brought about entirely by the importation of Chinese inventions and agricultural techniques and their dissemination. |
