Download Culture Video: Four Great Inventions

HSIIA L74 video comprehension review
Culture Video: Four Great Inventions
Ancient China had incredibly advanced science and technology and the Chinese are
credited with hundreds of inventions that are still used today. Just a few of the things
that are claimed to have been invented in China are the bell, the decimal system, the
collapsible umbrella, and even soccer. Four of China's inventions are considered to be
the greatest because of their historical significance: the compass, gunpowder, paper,
and printing. The oldest literary reference to magnetism is found in a 4th century B.C.
Chinese book called Book of the Devil Valley Master. It says that lodestone makes iron
come or it attracts it. Lodestone is a particular type of the mineral magnetite and it is
the only naturally occurring mineral whose magnetism is strong enough to permanently
point towards the North Pole. The Chinese used the lodestone to make the first
compasses sometime in the 11th century A.D. They suspended a ladle or spoon made
of lodestone in water and the spoon would always point north-to-south. These early
compasses were probably used for feng shui, but it did not take long for people to start
using compasses for navigation. The basic components of gunpowder are saltpeter,
sulfur, and charcoal. This explosive combination was first discovered by the Chinese in
the 9th century A.D. The creation of gunpowder was probably an accidental discovery
made by Chinese alchemists who were trying to create an elixir of immortality. The
Chinese alchemists believed that if a person purified their spirit completely, then that
person would live forever; saltpeter and sulfur were used in medicines as a means of
purification, but these medicines kept catching on fire! Weapons using gunpowder were
used in China as early as A.D. 904. The 12th century saw hand grenades and the 13th
saw the first guns. The oldest gun ever discovered was found in Heilongjiang Province
and has been dated to A.D. 1288. The Western world did not see gunpowder at all until
the 13th century, but they quickly started making guns and cannons similar to those
already being used in China. Gunpowder was also used in fireworks, another Chinese
invention. Chinese began using paper as wrapping and padding in the 2nd century B.C.,
but the traditional date for the invention of paper is said to be A.D. 105. Cai Lun, an
official of the Han Dynasty, used mulberry, fishnets, and old rags to make paper. In
Duanhuang in Gansu Province, a scrap of paper with writing on it was discovered that
has been dated to 8 B.C., so paper was used for writing long before Cai Lun. Writing on
paper was widespread by the 3rd century A.D. and by the 6th century, people were
already starting to come up with new uses. First came toilet paper in the 6th century,
then came tea bags, and then paper currency. Paper spread to other Asian countries
through trade, but the Chinese kept the papermaking process a closely guarded secret
and did not begin sharing instruction until the 7th century. In the West, papyrus and
parchment were the primary writing surfaces of Europe and the Middle East through the
Middle Ages. Papermaking arrived in the Middle East around A.D. 751 and in Spain in
1120, via trade with Asia; paper began to replace parchment, but paper was not in
widespread use until the end of the 15th century. Johannes Gutenberg is often said to
have invented the first printing press in 1439, but the Chinese invented printing
centuries before Gutenberg. Woodblock printing is the earliest form of printing known,
found first in China in A.D. 220. Woodblock printing was generally used to print pictures
like flowers onto textiles. The next great advance came in about A.D. 1041 when Bi
Sheng invented the earliest movable type printing press, 400 years before
Gutenberg. Bi Sheng used clay tiles for the characters, but clay tiles were not very
durable and they did not hold the ink very well. Innovation came in 1297 when Wang
Zhen started using ceramic tiles and again in 1490 when Hua Sai began using metal
type print, which was previously invented independently in Korea. There were
thousands of books in China, thanks to the printing press, while books in the West
remained rare because each word had to be transcribed by hand. Bi Sheng's movable
type press made China the first print culture in the world. Print cultures are
characterized by a rise in literacy and more widespread education. The compass,
gunpowder, paper, and printing are called the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China
and they hold an important place in Chinese culture. Government websites prominently
feature the Four Inventions and the inventions have been seen on stamps. They were
even one of the main themes of the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic
Games. Chinese are very proud of their many contributions to the world, and these four
inventions are just a few of them.
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Paper and papyrus is different.