Chinese Inventions Have Been Indispensable to the Western World

The Chinese have long been undermined by the western world as not being well known for their technological accomplishments. However this is completely untrue, and thanks to the efforts of a British philanthropist Joseph Needham the Chinese have been accredited with the discovery of an independent invention of the decimal system, seismological detectors, the blast furnace, gunpowder, paper money, the wheel barrow, paper, printing, the compass, natural gas as a fuel, the rotary fan, the suspension bridge, spaghetti and many more, as well as having made a huge contribution to the fields of medicine, astronomy and logic.

The Chinese inventions which are considered to be the most important, particularly in that they spread to the rest of the world, are gunpowder, paper, printing and the compass. Although they have made some other pretty amazing discoveries also, they are even credited with the invention of whiskey and brandy.

Chinese alchemists played a major role in the development of gunpowder, and this invention has probably had the biggest impact of any other discovery. It formed the basis for all armaments, and waging war. It was accidentally discovered in the Tang Dynasty, while and alchemist was trying to create the elixir of life. However this was only one of many military innovations, there was the grid sight, tear gas, mustard gas, rockets, bombs and even a small version of the cannon.

In 105 AD Cai Lun was responsible for the invention of paper, he was a Chinese Eunuch (please don't make me explain what this means). And this was one of the greatest Chinese inventions. During the Battle of Talas River in 751, some Chinese paper makers were captured by the Arabs and this is how paper making came to be known to the world, by a process of enculturation.

The compass was originally used by the Chinese to ensure that a house faced due North so that it was perfectly in line with nature. This was a religious rite and the first compass consisted of a wooden circle which was marked and balanced a magnetic spoon on the top. Without the compass navigation techniques would have floundered over the centuries.

Anesthetics have been used as far back as the 3rd century, this was a type of wine which had an anesthetic affect. The Chinese are world renowned for their knowledge of herbal medicines and acupuncture and this dates back millennia. 4000 year old skulls have been found in Heilongjiang, Qinghai and Henan provinces which indicate some kind of surgery may have taken place on them, the age of these skulls have been confirmed by Carbon Dating.

We could seriously discuss this subject for a very long time and never get to the end of the inventions the Chinese have been credited with, but I think for now, this will do!

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