Chinese Inventions

*Introduction:

China has contributed to the world culturally and technologically. The inventions of China span all the way back to the Shang Dynasty. Many of these developments of the Chinese have shaped many of the modern industries and everyday lives of society.

Cast Iron:

*The clays the Chinese had for there blast furnaces were more advanced than any other region on Earth and allowed this early Chinese civilization to make tools, weapons, buildings, objects, etc. centuries before the Europeans could master the art. The date of this Chinese development can be focused on the Forth Century BCE (and maybe earlier). The Europeans developed or copied the technique around the 1380’s.

*To make sure the iron did not become brittle, around the Third Century, the Chinese found out that if the iron were kept at a constant high temperature, the mettle would become a lot stronger.

*As a result of the developments, modern industry uses these techniques for manufacturing and building.

Deep Drilling and Natural Gas:

*The Chinese, in their search for salt in the First Century BCE, were drilling into the ground about 4800 feet. The structures for the drilling were impressive even by today’s standards. Some of the drilling structures were over a hundred feet off the ground. When the drilling went to a certain depth, natural gas was found.

*The Chinese would not really use the natural gas, but the technique for extracting the brine(salt) was copied to extract petroleum.

The Use of Petroleum and Natural Gas as Fuel:

*Before the Han Dynasty, the Chinese were using this resourse as fuel. Europe didn’t use this resource until many centuries after the West and Europe.

*Bamboo was used as a pipeline and extracted in the same way salt was mentioned in the previous entry

*Shallow gas and petroleum found was burned safely, but the strong deep pockets were supposed to have caused many disasters.

*Gas could be burnt by the emissions coming out of the hole or could be siphoned by the bamboo pipes to certain locations for use.

*Petroleum and natural gas burning was used to heat and melt brine.

*Oil Lamps were another development contributed to the discovery of petroleum.

Suspension Bridge:

*For modern engineers, the development of the suspension bridge is given to the Chinese and the Tibetans. During the first century suspension bridge was developed and the strength and distance the bridge cold span was impressive.

*Bamboo cables were the strongest of the time. Hemp rope could stand the stress of about 8,000 pounds while. Bamboo can stand the stress of 26,000 pounds and steel cable is an earlier time could stand the stress of about 56,000 pounds. Modern suspension bridges, like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, can hold 256,000 pounds per square inch. This historic development obviously is still used in the modern era.

Paper:

*Paper comes from the word ‘papyrus,’ which was used by the Egyptians, is totally different from the development of paper by the Chinese in the Second Century BCE. The oldest piece of ancient paper found dates to the year 140 BCE.

*Early paper was not made from wood pulp as it is today.

*Early paper was created from plant fibers. “Paper is the sheet of sediment which results from the settling of a layer of disintegrated fibers from a watery solution on to a flat mold, the water being drained away, and the deposited layer removed and dried.”-Reference to Robert Temple’s The Genius of China.

*The Chinese soon used the fibers from the bark of the paper-mulberry tree. Before this people wrote on the bark of the paper-mulberry tree.

*Early paper was not originally used for writing, but rather for clothing and wrapping.

Other Information:

Robert Temple’s book, The Genius of China, is a good place to find more information on more Chinese discoveries and inventions. People wishing to learn about ancient engineering or mathematics should consult this book. I also would recommend a website I found pertaining to Asian inventions at:

http://www.inventions.org/culture/asian/chinese.html

Blast furnace

Casting a bell

Irrigation by treadle chain pump

Paper making

Stern-post rudder

Soccer