Chinese Inventions and Their Great Contributions to Human...

Ancient China was home to a number of great inventions. Among them are gunpowder, the compass, paper, ink, tea drinking, the seismograph, kites and chopsticks (About.com, 2012). Perhaps the first four are the most important of these inventions, for the impact that they had on the development of mankind. This paper will outline these inventions and the great role that the contributed to human development. I believe that gunpowder was particularly ingenious, in part because the objective was not to invent gunpowder at all. The invention of gunpowder was an accident, the result of alchemists trying to turn common minerals into gold (Bellis, 2012). Mixing different elements, the explosive gunpowder was devised. The Chinese did not just invent gunpowder, however, but they put it to great use. Gunpowder transformed two major human endeavors food and war. With guns and cannons, armies and navies were better equipped to win their conflicts, and this would eventually play a major impact on the shaping of human history. In particular, gunpowder eventually reached Europe, and gave the Spanish a decided edge when they entered South America and the Europeans an edge in North America. The invention of gunpowder still lingers in the culture and demographics of those two continents today. Of course, the idea of gunpowder has been expanded upon significantly over the years. Guns are common place, but the idea had been expanded to include most forms of modern weapons. In addition,Show MoreRelatedAchinese Contribution1133 Words   |  5 Pagesworld. Perhaps the Chinese has contributed more to the advancement of human kind than any other ancient culture. They have contributed to our world civilization’s achievements in the fields of agriculture, shipping, astronomy, printing, oil, martial arts, ammunition and mathematics. 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