four great inventions of ancient china
The compass is a kind of pointing instrument made by using the north-south polarity of magnets in the earth's magnetic field, and it has many shapes. As early as the Warring States Period, China ancestors had made SiNa spoon with natural magnets to indicate the direction. During the Wei Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms, Ma Jun used magnets and differential gears to make a mechanical device that can indicate the direction-the south guide car. Shen Kuo, a scientist in the Song Dynasty, recorded the method of making a magnetic needle for pointing in his "Mengxi Bi Tan". Later, it developed into a compass with a magnetic needle and an azimuth disk. At the latest in the late Northern Song Dynasty, the compass has been used for navigation; In the Southern Song Dynasty, dial navigation was used. The invention of the compass has played a great role in the development of maritime traffic and economic and cultural exchanges.
four great inventions of ancient china-Papermaking
Before paper was invented, ancient Egyptians used papyrus, ancient Indians used shellfish leaves, ancient Babylonians used clay bricks, ancient Romans used wax boards, and Europeans used kid skins made by Central Asians as materials to remember. In China, Oracle bones were used in Shang Dynasty, bronzes were used in Western Zhou Dynasty, and bamboo slips, wooden slips and silks were used in Spring and Autumn Period. In addition, silk-drawing and silk-cotton-making scraps have been used for writing. Some of the above materials are bulky, some are expensive, and some have few sources, which cannot meet the needs of social and cultural development. In the first year of Yuan Xing in the Eastern Han Dynasty (15), Cai Lun invented papermaking. He used bark, hemp head, cloth, fishnet and other plant raw materials, and made paper by the processes of beating, pounding, copying and baking, which is called Cai Hou paper and is the origin of modern paper. The invention and application of paper played an important role in the recording and preservation of social history and the exchange and dissemination of cultural ideas.
four great inventions of ancient china-gunpowder
gunpowder, as the first kind of explosives mastered by human beings, originated from alchemy in ancient China. Ancient alchemists made use of the epigraphy drugs, such as nitrate and sulfur, which had been mastered as early as the Han Dynasty. After long-term alchemy practice, they invented gunpowder at the latest before the third year of Yuanhe in Tang Xianzong (AD 88), and used it to make gunpowder weapons for arson at the end of the Five Dynasties and the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty. Through the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, various firearms such as rockets, fireballs (fire axes) and fire axes have reached the level of heating. The invention of gunpowder played an important role in the development of science and technology in the world, and modern black gunpowder was developed from ancient gunpowder in China.
four great inventions of ancient china-Printing
Books printed by block printing appeared in China in the early Tang Dynasty in the 7th century. The Diamond Sutra, which was printed in the ninth year of Tang Xiantong (AD 868), is the earliest printed matter with engraving time in the world. During the Qing Dynasty in Song Renzong, Bi Sheng, a commoner, invented movable type printing on the basis of the popularization of block printing. It is carved with clay, each word is printed, and it is made into a word print after burning. The characters are arranged and embedded on the iron plate, and then they are baked and pressed to make a printing plate, which can be printed. The words on the printing plate can be removed and reused. This movable type printing method has the basic process of modern printing-casting, typesetting and printing, which is better than that of German J? Movable type printing technology made in Gutenberg is 4 years earlier. Following clay movable type, China people have successively invented printing methods such as magnetic movable type, wood movable type, tin movable type and copper movable type. The invention and spread of printing greatly promoted the spread and development of human civilization.
Four great inventions in ancient China: compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing
Paper-making
Before Cai Lun invented "Cai Hou Paper" in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-AD 22), the embryonic form of paper had appeared in China. The paper from the early Western Han Dynasty (26 BC-23 AD) unearthed from the Han Tomb in Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu Province, China, is the earliest paper that has been discovered. In addition, ancient paper of the Western Han Dynasty has been unearthed in Lop Nur, Xinjiang and Baqiao, Xi 'an. But these papers are rough, and the raw materials are hemp or silk wadding.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, in 15 A.D., eunuch Cai Lun summarized and improved the paper-making technology since the Western Han Dynasty, and created a plant fiber paper called "Cai Hou Paper" with bark, rags, hemp heads and fishing nets as raw materials and a set of techniques of retting, ramming and copying. Since then, paper has gradually replaced bamboo tubes and silks and become the main writing material.
papermaking began to spread eastward to Korea and Japan in the early 7th century (late Sui and early Tang Dynasties). In the 8th century, it was introduced to Samarkand, later Arabia, and then to Baghdad. From the 1th century to Damascus and Cairo; Introduced to Morocco in the 11th century; Introduced to India in the 13th century; From the 14th century to Italy, many cities in Italy built paper mills, which became an important base for the spread of papermaking in Europe, and then spread to Germany and Britain. It was introduced to Russia and Holland in the 16th century. It spread to England in the 17th century; It was introduced to Canada in the 19th century. The invention and spread of papermaking greatly reduced the carrier cost of words and realized the popularization of knowledge among civilians, thus greatly promoting the development of science, technology and economy in the world.
The invention of papermaking is not only a great change in book-making materials, but also of epoch-making significance in the history of human civilization.
gunpowder
The invention of gunpowder is closely related to the developed smelting technology in ancient China. In the process of smelting metal, people constantly sum up their experience, gradually get in touch with and become familiar with the properties of many minerals, and accumulate rich chemical knowledge. Since the Warring States Period (43 BC ~ 221 BC), some people have applied metallurgical technology to refining mineral medicine, dreaming of refining immortal medicine, while others want to refine gold and silver from minerals. Although no immortal elixir or gold and silver were produced, alchemists found that saltpeter, sulfur and carbonaceous materials would react violently when heated together. In explosions, people gradually realize that saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal will be made into explosive powder according to a certain proportion.
It is impossible to find out the exact time of the invention of gunpowder, but it can be inferred from the data that the time of the invention of gunpowder should be before the Tang Dynasty (618-97 AD). Because the color of this powder is black, it is called "black powder". At the end of the Tang dynasty, gunpowder began to be used in the military. The earliest gunpowder weapon was the Fei Huo, or rocket. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties (96-1368), gunpowder was widely used in the military, and many gunpowder weapons appeared, mainly including rockets, guns, artillery and so on. In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), there appeared the trigger mine controlled by gear and the timing mine controlled by thread incense.
during the yuan dynasty (1279-1368), gunpowder spread to Europe, which caused a series of important changes in weapons manufacturing and strategy and tactics, and had an important impact on the social and economic fields in Europe.
Compass China As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (722 BC-221 BC), people discovered magnets when looking for iron ore, and they knew their special properties. During the Warring States Period (43 BC ~ 221 BC), people began to use magnets to make a tool to indicate the direction-Sina. SiNa is made into a spoon shape. When it is used, it is placed in the middle of a smooth and horizontal chassis, and its handle is moved by hand to make it rotate. When it stops, the handle points south and the mouth points north.
at the beginning of the northern song dynasty (96-1127), people discovered the artificial magnetization method, and made a magnetic needle by rubbing a steel needle with a natural magnet. This magnetized steel needle is officially called a compass (because the axis of the needle is influenced by the earth's magnetic pole, and the geomagnetic axis has an angle of more than 11 degrees with the earth's rotation axis, the north-south direction indicated by the needle is actually the north-south direction of the earth's magnetic pole). There are various ways to make a compass, some float on the water, some put it on the edge of a bowl, some put it on your nails, and some hang it in the air with a thread. But the more accurate compass is to install the magnetic needle on the compass engraved with the direction, so the compass is also called the compass. Compasses were installed in the Song Dynasty (96-1279 AD) and later on ships. At the end of the 12th century, the compass spread to Europe through Arabs, which provided important conditions for European navigators to open up new air routes later.
printing block printing ── In the Jin Dynasty (265-42 AD) in the 3rd century AD, with the appearance of paper and ink, seals became popular. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the 4th century A.D., rubbings on stone tablets were developed. It combined seals with rubbings, then expanded the seals into a layout, dipped in ink, and spread the paper on the plate for printing in the way of rubbings, which was the embryonic form of block printing. About the early 7th century AD, the world's earliest block printing was born in the Tang Dynasty (618-97 AD). Engraving printing needs to write words on paper according to the required specifications, then stick them on the polished wood board, and then engrave the words in reverse in Yang language according to the words, so that engraving is made. Then, ink is painted on the plate, paper is spread, printed with a brown brush, and then the paper is uncovered, which becomes a printed product. Carving the layout requires a lot of manpower and materials, but once the engraving is completed and printed, it shows the advantages of high efficiency and large printing volume. The earliest block-printed object we can see now is the block-printed Diamond Sutra of the Tang Dynasty, which was found in Dunhuang and printed in 868 AD. The printing process is very exquisite.