A common stereotype is that the Chinese traditionally lack
scientific and technological ability, although, somehow, they
stumbled upon paper making, printing, gunpowder, and the mariner's
compass. Modern Chinese, themselves, sometimes are surprised to
realize that modern agriculture, shipping, astronomical
observatories, decimal mathematics, paper money, umbrellas,
wheelbarrows, multi-stage rockets, brandy and whiskey, the game of
chess, and much more, all came from China.
The prevailing academic consensus is that gunpowder was
discovered in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists searching for
an elixir of immortality.The discovery of gunpowder was probably
the product of centuries of alchemical experimentation. Saltpetre
was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD, and there is
strong evidence of the use of saltpetre and sulfur in various
largely medicinal combinations. A Chinese alchemical text from 492
noted that saltpeter gave off a purple flame when ignited,
providing for the first time a practical and reliable means of
distinguishing it from other inorganic salts, making it possible to
evaluate and compare purification techniques.
The first reference to gunpowder is probably a passage in the
Zhenyuan miaodao yaolüe (真元妙道要略), a Taoist text tentatively dated
to the mid-800s:
Compass
The earliest form of compass was a naturally magnetic piece
of lodestone used to indicate direction, which preceded the more
advanced idea of using needles. They were used on land only and are
described as south-pointing devices in a text dating from the 4th
cent. BC. Much later, between 850 AD and 1050, the needle
compass came to be used for navigation at sea. At that time the
Chinese established also that the needle always deviates slightly
to the east, and does not point directly at the south, recognizing
the shift of the magnetic field of the earth.
The first mention of the magnetic compass in European
writings occuured in the year 1190, and it was not until the early
fifteenth century that Europeans knew about the magnetic
declination.
Paper
Tsai-lung (c.48-118 AD) was an official attached to the
Imperial court during the eastern Han dynasty. Tsai-lung, who
recognized the inadequacy of the existing writing material (silk,
bamboo), created the first paper in the world by drying pulp from
old rags, bark, mulberry fibers, and hemp.
The art of papermaking traveled slowly; it reached Samarkand
in Central Asia around 750, and fifty years later the first paper
was made in Baghdad during the time of Harun al-Rashid.
It reached Europe in the 14th century, more than thousand
years after its invention in China.
Cast Iron
Blast furnaces existed in Scandinavia in the eighth century
AD, but cast iron was not widely available in Europe until the 14th
century.
The Chinese practiced the technique already in the fourth
century BC. Two factors helped greatly.
First, good clay allowed the Chinese to build walls for blast
furnaces.
Second, the Chinese used 'black earth', which contained iron
phosphate, to reduce the melting temperature of iron from 1130 C to
950 C.
In the third century BC the Chinese were able to hold iron at
a high temperature for a week, which made it almost as good as
steel, good enough to produce iron plowshares and in the year 1105
to build an iron pagoda 78 feet high.
Agreed...I think my blog was rushed because I was @ work and was
taken out of context...as I was just ranting...sorry if anyone was
offeneded
my point was it is almost impossible to for the US and most
European countries to keep their "standard of living" and compete
as a manufacturing base with countries such as China and India
where wages are so low...I got off the point when talking about
"piracy"....
Heck....sometimes I like to throw a little levity to the blog
and my comment on fried rice was not meant to insult anyone
once again...I appolgize as this was not meant to insult anyone
and maybe the blog can go back to discussing the markets
is hard to compete with their level of costs, but they work
hard, which is an asset and they seem to be "driven" as a country
to improve and be productive, all under whats seems to be a more
relaxed form of "communism".
However to compete, the World needs to learn to cut costs
without losing quality to become comptitive with the Chinese.
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Ummm
Posted by ravun on 1st of Jul 2009 at 09:49 pm
A common stereotype is that the Chinese traditionally lack scientific and technological ability, although, somehow, they stumbled upon paper making, printing, gunpowder, and the mariner's compass. Modern Chinese, themselves, sometimes are surprised to realize that modern agriculture, shipping, astronomical observatories, decimal mathematics, paper money, umbrellas, wheelbarrows, multi-stage rockets, brandy and whiskey, the game of chess, and much more, all came from China.
The prevailing academic consensus is that gunpowder was discovered in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality.The discovery of gunpowder was probably the product of centuries of alchemical experimentation. Saltpetre was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD, and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpetre and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations. A Chinese alchemical text from 492 noted that saltpeter gave off a purple flame when ignited, providing for the first time a practical and reliable means of distinguishing it from other inorganic salts, making it possible to evaluate and compare purification techniques.
The first reference to gunpowder is probably a passage in the Zhenyuan miaodao yaolüe (真元妙道要略), a Taoist text tentatively dated to the mid-800s:
Compass
The earliest form of compass was a naturally magnetic piece of lodestone used to indicate direction, which preceded the more advanced idea of using needles. They were used on land only and are described as south-pointing devices in a text dating from the 4th cent. BC. Much later, between 850 AD and 1050, the needle compass came to be used for navigation at sea. At that time the Chinese established also that the needle always deviates slightly to the east, and does not point directly at the south, recognizing the shift of the magnetic field of the earth.
The first mention of the magnetic compass in European writings occuured in the year 1190, and it was not until the early fifteenth century that Europeans knew about the magnetic declination.
Paper
Tsai-lung (c.48-118 AD) was an official attached to the Imperial court during the eastern Han dynasty. Tsai-lung, who recognized the inadequacy of the existing writing material (silk, bamboo), created the first paper in the world by drying pulp from old rags, bark, mulberry fibers, and hemp.
The art of papermaking traveled slowly; it reached Samarkand in Central Asia around 750, and fifty years later the first paper was made in Baghdad during the time of Harun al-Rashid.
It reached Europe in the 14th century, more than thousand years after its invention in China.
Cast Iron
Blast furnaces existed in Scandinavia in the eighth century AD, but cast iron was not widely available in Europe until the 14th century.
The Chinese practiced the technique already in the fourth century BC. Two factors helped greatly.
First, good clay allowed the Chinese to build walls for blast furnaces.
Second, the Chinese used 'black earth', which contained iron phosphate, to reduce the melting temperature of iron from 1130 C to 950 C.
In the third century BC the Chinese were able to hold iron at a high temperature for a week, which made it almost as good as steel, good enough to produce iron plowshares and in the year 1105 to build an iron pagoda 78 feet high.
Chineese
Posted by dylan398 on 1st of Jul 2009 at 10:22 pm
ravun,
Agreed...I think my blog was rushed because I was @ work and was taken out of context...as I was just ranting...sorry if anyone was offeneded
my point was it is almost impossible to for the US and most European countries to keep their "standard of living" and compete as a manufacturing base with countries such as China and India where wages are so low...I got off the point when talking about "piracy"....
Heck....sometimes I like to throw a little levity to the blog and my comment on fried rice was not meant to insult anyone
once again...I appolgize as this was not meant to insult anyone and maybe the blog can go back to discussing the markets
Well yes
Posted by ravun on 1st of Jul 2009 at 10:37 pm
is hard to compete with their level of costs, but they work hard, which is an asset and they seem to be "driven" as a country to improve and be productive, all under whats seems to be a more relaxed form of "communism".
However to compete, the World needs to learn to cut costs without losing quality to become comptitive with the Chinese.