Ancient Chinese Inventions

Home Facts About China Ancient Chinese Inventions

Ancient Chinese inventions are numerious, many of which are still popullarly used today.

China has the longest surviving civilization in history which dates back some 7000-8000 years. "Dynasties have risen and fallen; cultural relations with other lands warmed and cooled; and trade has ebbed and flowed, but across the millennia China's history is bounbd together on one unifyinf thread - the brilliance, resourcefullness and indifatigability of the Chinese people" who are very inventive.

The ancient Chinese inventions includes but not limited to the following:

paper
silk
matches
wheelbarrows (first century BC).
gunpowder: Gun powder wasn’t designed first for war uses, but as elixir for immortality. It made wars less gruesome and painful. Instead of dying slowly by a fatal sword wound, a shot takes toll immediately.
the decimal system
the waterwheel
the sundial
astronomy
porcelain china. Invented in the Sui Dynasty or earlier, perfected during the Tang Dynasty (618-906), reached peak in the Sung Dynasty (960-1279), and its monopoly was ended in 1708 when the German Physicist Tschirnhausen invented European porcelain.
lacquer paint
pottery wheel
fireworks
paper money (800 BC)
(Use the Current Currency Exchange Rates calculator to find out how much your money is worth in China or Hong Kong.)
compass: (4th century BC.)
seismograph
tangrams
medicines
dominoes
jump rope
kites
tea ceremony (see Chinese Tea Culture Today: A Glance)
folding umbrella
ink
calligraphy
animal harness,Harness for Horses Age of Division(4th Century BC).
playing cards
printing, movable type, Song Dynasty: 960 – 1279 AD.
abacus
wallpaper
the crossbow
ice cream
Row Crops (in the 6th century BC). This technique allows the crops to grow faster and stronger. It facilitates more efficient planting, watering, weeding and harvesting. This obvious development was not instituted in the western world for another 2200 years.
Deep drilling technique for gas (100BC).
Flame Thrower: (10th century BC), a invention that is very important in building large sturdy structures.
Parachute: First documentation of the parachute was in 90 BC, but it is assumed to be around in second century BC.
Rudder, (202 BC – 220 AD.)
Toilet paper: As noted above, paper was an early invention of China. One of the first recorded accounts of using hygienic paper was during the Sui Dynasty in 589.
Iron Plows (202 BC – 220 AD.)
The Seed Drill (202 BC – 220 AD.) The first known European instance was a patent issued to Camillo Torello in 1566, but was not adopted by Europeans into general use until the mid 1800’s.