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Ancient Chinese Contributions

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Ancient Chinese Contributions
Kenneth Smith
Professor Maxine Brown
HUM 111-World Cultures I
November 29, 2012

The Ancient Chinese culture has contributed in many ways to the way of life today as we know it. Upon completion of this paper, I will have identified eight to ten useful inventions or contributions that are used in the world today. Some of these inventions include the compass, gunpowder, row planting, deep drilling, and toilet paper and so on. Within those eight to ten inventions, I will choose four that I believe are the most innovative.
Row Planting (Feudal period – 6th Cent BC)
The Chinese started planting crops in rows sometime in the 6th century BC. This allows the crops to grow stronger and faster. It facilitates …show more content…

It’s assumed the discovery of occurred sometime earlier, since Zeng describes three different gunpowder mixtures and the Chinese used it for signal flares before appropriating it for military use in rudimentary grenades. Over time, we realized that metals added to the mixtures created brilliant colors in gunpowder explosions and modern day fireworks were born! It also makes a handy explosive for projectiles like bullets. (Josh Clark)
Paper
Once language begins to develop, though, humans wrote on anything that would stand still long enough. Clay tablets, bamboo, papyrus and stone were only a few of the early writing surfaces. Things changed once the Chinese, specifically a man named Cai Lun, invented the prototype for modern paper. Before Cai’s breakthrough, the Chinese wrote on thin strips of bamboo and lengths of silk, but in AD 105, he created a mixture of wood fibers and water and pressed it onto a woven cloth. The weave in the cloth allowed the moisture in the pulpy mixture to seep out, resulting in rough paper. (Josh Clark)
Toilet Paper (Sui Dynasty: 581-618 AD) As noted above, paper was an early invention of China. One of the first recorded accounts of using hygienic paper was

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