FOUR GREAT INVENTIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA

The 'Four Great Inventions of ancient China' (, meaning "four great inventions") are, according to Chinese tradition and the British scholar and biochemist Joseph Needham:

★ The 'Compass'^[1]

★ 'Gunpowder'

★ 'Papermaking' ^[2]

★ 'Printing'
These inventions are celebrated in Chinese culture for their historical significance^[3] and as signs of ancient China's advanced science and technology.^[3]
These four discoveries had an enormous impact on the development of Chinese civilization and a far-ranging global impact.

Contents

Historical debate

Printing

Printing revolution

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

Historical debate

It should be pointed out that Joseph Needham's attribution of the compass, printing and gunpowder to the Chinese may represent an oversimplification: excluding the case of paper, the technologies which may have left China were of rudimentary character and only elsewhere, particularly Europe, improved to their historical preeminence, like dry, liquid and gyrocompass which replaced the simple Chinese bowl-and-needle device or the constant evolution of gunpowder weapons in Europe which led to the rise of the first gunpowder empires. Also, experts are agreed that the printing revolution started with the invention of mechanical printing by Gutenberg in the 1440s.^{[5] [6]}
However, by the time the Song Dynasty treatise of the ''Wujing Zongyao'' (武经总要) was written by Zeng Gongliang and Yang Weide in 1044 AD, the various Chinese formulas for gunpowder held levels of nitrate in the range of 27% to 50%.^[7] By the end of the 12th century, Chinese formulas of gunpowder had a level of nitrate capable of bursting through cast iron metal containers, in the form of the earliest hollow, gunpowder-filled grenade bombs.^[8] By the time of Jiao Yu and his ''Huo Long Jing'' in the mid 14th century, the explosive potential of gunpowder was perfected, as the level of nitrate in gunpowder formulas had risen to a range of 12% to 91%, with at least 6 different formulas in use that are considered to have maximum explosive potential for gunpowder. By that time, the Chinese had discovered how to create explosive cannonballs by packing their hollow shells with this nitrate-enhanced gunpowder.^[9] Earlier, though, in 1280 AD the bomb store of the large gunpowder arsenal at Weiyang had accidentally caught fire, which produced such a massive explosion that a team of Chinese inspectors at the site a week later deduced that some 100 guards had been killed instantly, with wooden beams and pillars blown sky high and landing at a distance of over 10 li (~2 mi. or ~3.2 km) away from the explosion.^[10]
In addition, although Europeans had introduced to China the concept of the compass with a pivoting needle in a dry box, the Chinese had used dry suspension needle compasses since the 12th century, crafted in the form of a turtle hung from a board, and when rotated, its tail would always point due north.^[11]

Printing

The intricate frontispiece of the Diamond Sutra from Tang Dynasty China, 868 AD (British Museum)

Main articles: History of typography in East Asia

The Chinese invention of Woodblock printing, at some point before the first dated book in 868 (the Diamond Sutra) produced the first print culture in the world: "it was the Chinese who really discovered the means of communication that was to dominate until our age."^[12] It was better suited to Chinese characters than movable type, which the Chinese also invented, but which did not replace woodblock printing. Western printing presses, although introduced in the 16th century, took until the 19th to spread in China which, along with KoreaMelvin McGovern, "Early Western Presses in Korea", ''Korea Journal'', 1967, pp.21-23, was one of the last countries to adopt them.
Woodblock printing for textiles, on the other hand, preceded text printing by centuries in all cultures, and is first found in China at around 220,^[13] then Egypt in the 4th century^[14], and, reached Europe by the 14th century or before, via the Islamic world, and by around 1400 was being used on paper for old master prints and playing cards. "^{[15] [16]} In another analysis Hyatt Mayor states that "a little before 1400 Europeans had enough paper to begin making holy images and playing cards in woodcut. They need not have learned woodcut from the Chinese, because they had been using woodblocks for about 1,000 years to stamp designs on linen."^[17]
Printing in China was further advanced by the 11th century, as it was written by the Song Dynasty scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031-1095) that the common artisan Bi Sheng (990-1051) invented ceramic movable type printing.^[18] Then there were those such as Wang Zhen (fl. 1290-1333) and Hua Sui (1439-1513), the former of whom invented wooden movable type printing in China,^[19] the latter of whom invented metal movable type printing in China.^[20] Movable type printing was a tedious process if one were to assemble thousands of individual characters for the printing of simply one or a few books, but if used for printing thousands of books, the process was efficient and rapid enough to be successful and highly employed. Indeed, there were many cities in China where movable type printing, in wooden and metal form, was adopted by the enterprises of wealthy local families or large invested industries. Even the Qing Dynasty court sponsored enormous printing projects using movable type printing during the 18th century.

Printing revolution

Despite it being claimed by some scholars that printing must have been spread from China to Europe, possibly through the Middle East, there is only peripheral evidence for either position. Johannes Gutenberg's printing press developed from 1440 can be traced back to European sources and techniques, such as agricultural presses from the Roman age, applied to European woodblock printing, which certainly came from the East, whether Egyptian or Asian in origin.
The early years of the introduction of Gutenberg printing saw a spectacular rise of printing activities. According to one estimate, "by 1500, 220 printing presses were in operation throughout Western Europe and had produced 8 million books."^[21] According to another estimate, by 1500 236 towns in Europe had presses, and it is estimated that twenty million books had been printed for a European population of perhaps seventy million.^[22]In Italy alone, 151 locations had seen at one time printing activities by the end of the 16th century.^[23]
Comparing Gutenberg's printing with earlier techniques, the singularity of the Renaissance printing revolution becomes apparent. While Angus Maddison stresses that "the major difference between Europe and China was the competitive character of European publishing and the international trade in books", leading also to less "thought control" of European rulers in comparison to China.^[24], Charles Issawi writes:
:''As for printing, of course thousands of books had been printed in China and Japan in earlier times, but Europe made a huge leap forward: "By about 1500, when twelve countries already knew the secret, forty thousand editions of books had been printed." Or, to give another example, "At least 750,000 copies of his [Erasmus's] books, not including his translation of the New Testament, were sold during his lifetime," that is, 1469-1536."''^[25]
Communication experts are agreed that the invention of movable type by Gutenberg sparked a global media revolution. The Canadian scholar Marshall McLuhan, analysing the effects of various communication media and techniques on European culture and human consciousness, popularised in his book his influential thesis of the ''Gutenberg Galaxy'' and the ''global village''.^[26] The American historian Eisenstein analysed the impact of the printing press as an agent of change on three major movements of early modern times - the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the rise of modern science.^[27]

See also

★ History of science and technology in China

★ List of Chinese inventions

★ List of tributaries of Imperial China

★ Technology of the Song Dynasty

★ Dream Pool Essays

★ Huolongjing

★ Jiao Yu

Notes

1. http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_26519.htm
2. http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_26514.htm
3. http://www.china.org.cn/e-gudai/8.htm
4. http://www.china.org.cn/e-gudai/8.htm
5.
★ Elizabeth Eisenstein, ''The Printing Press as an Agent of Change'', Cambridge University Press, September 1980, Paperback, 832 pages, ISBN 0-521-29955-1
6. Marshall McLuhan, ''The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man'' (1962) Univ. of Toronto Press (1st ed.); reissued by Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0-7100-1818-5
7. Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 345.
8. Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 347.
9. Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 264.
10. Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 209-210.
11. Needham, Volume 4, Part 1, 255.
12. A Hyatt Mayor, Prints and People, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, 1971, nos 1-4. ISBN 0691003262
13. Shelagh Vainker in Anne Farrer (ed), "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas",p112, 1990, British Museum publications, ISBN 0-7141-1447-2
14. http://touregypt.net/featurestories/fabrics.htm
15. A Hyatt Mayor, Prints and People, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, 1971, nos 5-18. ISBN 0691003262
16. ''An Introduction to a History of Woodcut'', Arthur M. Hind, Houghton Mifflin Co. 1935, pp64-127 (in USA), reprinted Dover Publications, 1963 ISBN 0-486-20952-0
17. A. Hyatt Mayor, "A Historical Survey of Printmaking", ''Art Education'', Vol. 17, No. 4. (Apr., 1964), pp. 4-9 (4)
18. Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 201.
19. Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 206.
20. Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 212.
21. E. L. Eisenstein: The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge, 1993 pp.13–17, quoted in: Angus Maddison: Growth and Interaction in the World Economy: The Roots of Modernity, Washington 2005, p.17f.
22. Fernand Braudel, "Civilization & Capitalism, 15-18th Centuries, Vol 1: The Structures of Everyday Life," William Collins & Sons, London 1981
23. Gedeon Borsa, “Druckorte in Italien vor 1601“, ''Gutenberg-Jahrbuch'', Vol. 1976 (1976), pp.311-314 (314)
24. Angus Maddison: Growth and Interaction in the World Economy: The Roots of Modernity, Washington 2005, p.18f.
25. Charles Issawi, “Europe, the Middle East and the Shift in Power: Reflections on a Theme by Marshall Hodgson”, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 22, No. 4. (Oct., 1980), pp. 487-504
26. Marshall McLuhan, ''The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man'' (1962) Univ. of Toronto Press (1st ed.); reissued by Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0-7100-1818-5
27. Elizabeth Eisenstein, ''The Printing Press as an Agent of Change'', Cambridge University Press, September 1980, Paperback, 832 pages, ISBN 0-521-29955-1

References

★ Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 1, Physics''. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.

★ Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic''. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.

★ Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 1, Paper and Printing''. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.

Further reading

'On the effects of Gutenberg's printing'

★ Elizabeth Eisenstein, ''The Printing Press as an Agent of Change'', Cambridge University Press, September 1980, Paperback, 832 pages, ISBN 0-521-29955-1

★ Marshall McLuhan, ''The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man'' (1962) Univ. of Toronto Press (1st ed.); reissued by Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0-7100-1818-5.
'On the military revolution'

★ Geoffrey Parker (1996), ''The Military Revolution, Military innovation and the rise of the West 1500-1800''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, ISBN 0-521-47958-4

★ Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000'' (1987) ISBN 0-394-54674-1