Ancient Chinese Contribution

If I won a trip to China, and had to enter a contest to determine the most eight to ten useful
inventions or contributions the first one would be Silk is discovered in China as one of the
best materials for clothing it has a look and feeling of richness that no other materials can
match. Research by William Smith (!"#$ %When silk was first discovered, it was reserved
e&clusively for the use of the ruler. It was permitted only to the emperor, his close relations
and the very highest of his dignitaries. Within the palace, the emperor is believed to have
worn a robe of white silk' outside, he, his principal wife, and the heir to the throne wore
yellow.
(radually the various classes of society began wearing tunics of silk, and silk came into more
general use. )s well as being used for clothing and decoration, silk was *uite *uickly put to
industrial use by the Chinese. +his was something which happened in the West only in
modern times. Silk, indeed, rapidly became one of the principal elements of the Chinese
economy. Silk was used for musical instruments, fishing,lines, bowstrings, bonds of all kinds,
and even rag paper, the world-s first lu&ury paper. .ventually even the common people were
able to wear garments of silk./ (William Smith, !"#$ Second, 0ang (liders first showed up
in early China and were tested on men sentenced to death. )nd in 11 a monk named .ilmer
made a simple copy of the ones the Chinese used, he was mostly successful, he was able to
fly from the tower of 2almsbury )bby and went about 311 meters before he landed and
broke both his legs. 0e added a tail the second time around for better control of aircraft, but
the abbot forbade him from flying in fear he would lose his life. +hird, 4ites in ancient China
the kite was known as 56hiyuan5 (paper glede$. 7riginally regarded as a technology, the kite
also featured prominently in many art collections, and was considered to have uni*ue artistic
value.
)ncient Chinese four most useful contributions or inventions created are gun powder, the
compass, paper making, and printing. +hese four inventions are very uni*ue in their own
way. I will e&plain why these four are the most useful invented by ancient Chinese.
(un power is one of the few destructive inventions of ancient Chinese civili8ation was that of
gunpowder. 9iscovery of gunpowder led to invention of firearms and revolutioni8ed
battlefields in )sian Continent. Chinese alchemists, who were searching for an eli&ir of life,
accidentally discovered the e&plosive property of gunpowder, sometime around :th century
)9. ;y the end of the 1th century )sian powers had introduced grenades, crude bombs and
firearms on battlefields. <se of cannons and bigger fire arms also became prevalent.
Compass was one of the most important technological developments in ancient China, as it
promoted and aided e&ploration that was initiated by Chinese rulers. +he development of
compass made China the first imperial power in the world. Chinese empire indeed was
termed as an imperial power till the end of monarchy in China and the royal place was also
known as Imperial =alace.
+he e&act era or dynasty, during which the Chinese invented technology of paper
manufacturing, is uncertain. ;ut the technology certainly led to many more advancements as
it facilitated scholars, philosophers and writers of Chinese civili8ation. =aper that was
invented in ancient China was not only used as a medium of writing, but creative Chinese
innovators also used it as a raw material for manufacturing bags as well as paper currency.
=aper making can be traced to 0an dynasty, which ruled from 313 ;C to 331 )9, when court
official Cai >un set to the task of making paper.