Chinese are traditionally stereotyped for a lack of technological ability however when we speak about Chinese inventions it is actually difficult to know where to begin. For a start there is gunpowder, kite, paper making, printing, the wheelbarrow, ceramics, the dry dock, chopsticks (duh) firecrackers, ceramics, the crossbow, lacquer, iron casting, natural medicine, acupuncture, surgery, the seismograph, the compass, Indian ink, whiskey, brandy, tea drinking and shredding, chess, paper money and spaghetti. And this is only the beginning!
The most important Chinese inventions, the ones that have impacted the rest of the world that is to say, have been gunpowder, just think about war and armaments! Paper, printing (they invented moveable type, not John Gutenberg) and the compass. Although they are also credited with the creation of brandy and whiskey and these are pretty important innovations for some people.
Gunpowder has certainly made one of the biggest impressions on the world, it has been responsible for a hell of a lot more deaths than lives, and is one of the most important warfare discoveries of ancient times. It was invented by and alchemist who was actually trying to invent the elixir of life for a Chinese Emperor in the Tang Dynasty. Elixirs of life have been considered to be vital to the Chinese people for centuries.
The inventor of paper Cai Lun, really did the world a favor, without him we might not have written history. He was a Chinese Eunuch and he made his discovery in 105 AD. Paper making was spread to the rest of the world in 751 AD, over 600 years later, when Arabs captured some Chinese papermakers after the battle of Talas River. To my way of thinking paper was the ultimate Chinese invention.
The compass was originally used by the Chinese to ensure that a house faced due North so that it was perfectly in line with nature. This was a religious rite and the first compass consisted of a wooden circle which was marked and balanced a magnetic spoon on the top. Without the compass navigation techniques would have floundered over the centuries.
Anesthetics have been used as far back as the 3rd century, this was a type of wine which had an anesthetic affect. The Chinese are world renowned for their knowledge of herbal medicines and acupuncture and this dates back millennia. 4000 year old skulls have been found in Heilongjiang, Qinghai and Henan provinces which indicate some kind of surgery may have taken place on them, the age of these skulls have been confirmed by Carbon Dating.
The first clocks were invented by the Chinese; they made toys, houses and many other things from bamboo. The Chinese built the first planetarium, made the first kites and learned how to use them even in battle. They invented and experiment for parity which revolutionized the science of particle physics, we cold go on with this subject ad infinitum, but I think you get the picture now.
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