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Ancient China Essay

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One of the most important inventions of all time was the invention of gunpowder. “Imagine their enemy's surprise when the Chinese first demonstrated their newest invention in the eighth century AD. Chinese scientists discovered that an explosive mixture could be produced by combining sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter (potassium nitrate). The military applications were clear. New weapons were rapidly developed, including rockets and others that were launched from a bamboo tube” (Franklin Institute). The Chinese are known for their inventions that still are used in the modern day. Those inventions are paper, gunpowder, books, and much more.
Gunpowder was discovered in the tenth century by Chinese medicine men …show more content…

I believe Paper was the greatest invention of all Chinese inventions, even greater than gunpowder. “Chinese legend tells that the new invention of paper was presented to the Emperor in the year 105 AD by Cai Lun” (Franklin Institute). In 105 AD, Han Emperor Ho-Ti's chief eunuch T'sai Lun tried with a wide variety of materials and worked with the fiber of plants until each filament was completely separate. The individual fibers were mixed with water in a large vat. Next, a screen was submerged in the vat and lifted up through the water, catching the fibers on its surface. When dried, this thin layer of intertwined fiber became what today we call paper. T'sai Lun's thin, yet flexible and strong paper with its fine, smooth surface was known as T'sai Ko-Shi, meaning: "Distinguished T'sai's Paper" and he became revered as the saint of papermaking.
It wasn't until the third century when the secret art of papermaking began to get out of China, first to Vietnam and then Tibet. “Taught by Chinese papermakers, Tibetans began to make their own paper as a replacement for their traditional writing materials” (Georgia Tech). It was introduced in Korea in the forth century and spread to Japan in sixth century. There, during the eighth century, the Empress Shotuka undertook a massive project consisting of printing a million prayers - Dharani - on individual sheets of

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