chinese inventions

[Guest mirela_violeta]

Doesn't it seem to you that most things were invented by the chinese long before Europe became civilised. But the fact is that China was a world of its own, separated from other countries. Anyway the europeans say Gutenberg invented the printing press and I've seen The Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, there is one in Strassburg too. But didn't the chinese invented it first, just like they invented the paper, the gunpowder. Most of the things we say europeans invented were invented by the chinese long before. Don't you think so? What else did they invent? I remember seeing on discovery that they invented some kind of a clock( a huge machienery) to measure the time the emperor spent with each of his wives and concubines....

[wix]

An interesting book on the evolution of modern society is Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. It explains (or hypothesises) the reasons why societies evolved in different ways and at different times. It includes an interesting bit about the reasons why Europe eventually surpassed China in terms of innovation. And also some interesting stuff about the evolution of writing.

Here's an interesting link for some more info about Chinese inventions:

http://inventors.about.com/cs/chineseinventors/

[Guest Anonymous]

The whole Chinese culture is based on peace and harmony, yin and yang, and to achieve ultimate balance. All the wars fought in China were to either unite the nation or to drive out foreign invaders. Not once did China go on a rampage to conquer and colonize foreign nations and territories like the Europeans did.

[PollyWaffle]

Not once did China go on a rampage to conquer and colonize foreign nations and territories like the Europeans did.

yes, china was always a balancing power in asia until the west screwed them (which was also partly due to their weak leadership) in the 19th C... i think they learned the bad habit of imperialism from the west & as such have colonised tibet in this century...

it is funny that though china invented gun powder, it took the west to use it for 'evil' means... unless of course china invented the gun too

[Guest Anonymous]

i think they learned the bad habit of imperialism from the west & as such have colonised tibet in this century...

Tibet has always been part of China since the Yuan, and later Qing Dynasty. Though during the Yuan and Qing dynasties, China was ruled by the Mongolians and then the Manchurians but it was still China since both ethnicities are part of the Chinese ethnic minorities. By saying that the Yuan and Qing dynasties are not true Chinese dynasties because the Han wasn't "in charge" is as rediculous and discrminating as saying when we have an African-American president, the United States won't be a true "American" nation anymore. Besides, whether the Yuan and Qing dynasties are true Chinese dynasties or not isn't up for debate because as of today, they are recognized as "official Chinese dynasties". If that's the case then how can anyone say China "colonized" Tibet when it has been part of China for hundreds of years anyway?

[Guest vinzlim]

tibet is more likely an autonomous region during ching and yuan dynasty. both have great relationship at that time. somehow rite now those relationship are strained and tibet seek to free from china mainly because of it's party back in the 70s. but i think the party is doing great reform and is more humanitarian rite now. that's a good sign. :o

[PollyWaffle]

If that's the case then how can anyone say China "colonized" Tibet when it has been part of China for hundreds of years anyway?

BAH! it was an autonomous region. by your rationale korea, vietnam, and cambodia should be part of china today as china historically reagrded them as suzereign regions. is taiwan part of china? talk to any taiwauese person & they will tell you they are chinese but also point to the fact they have their own passport, economy & government!

[Guest Anonymous]

BAH! it was an autonomous region. by your rationale korea, vietnam, and cambodia should be part of china today as china historically reagrded them as suzereign regions. is taiwan part of china? talk to any taiwauese person & they will tell you they are chinese but also point to the fact they have their own passport, economy & government!

Obviously you don't know your history at all since Cambodia was never part of China. Taiwan, or rather the Republic of China, is a separate political and economical entity, just like the difference between North and South Koreas. I was actually born and raised in Taiwan until I was 10 years old so I am fully aware of the whole situation.

If you believe Tibet should be "returned to the Tibetans" then why not ask the U.S. government to give the whole North American continent back to the Native-Americans that they stole it from? While you're at it, you can also ask the Australian, Canadian, and any nation ever stolen land from another group of people to give back everything they've taken. Heck, if you truly want to compare how the European Imperialists treated the natives of the land they invaded to what the Chinese did to the Tibetans, the Chinese would look like saints.

[Guest vinzlim]

ummm..... :? what's the point of the debate here??

[confucius]

Confucius says: Tibet is a European invention.

[LFCLOUDS]

I think youll find that China invented the west......

[willsi2]

Well when england was under occupation by imperial rome,

farming and agricultural techniques were improved to

cut time spent in growing and harvesting crops...innovation & evolution are both natural progresses that take time, along time...if one country or civilization hadnt have invented it another would have given time, people say england lost a thousand years of technological advances when rome withdrew,

hmmm well if thats the case why is italy not a thousand years in the future.?

[Guest Anonymous]

people say england lost a thousand years of technological advances when rome withdrew' date='

hmmm well if thats the case why is italy not a thousand years in the future.?[/quote']

That's funny. I've also heard many people say that China would be at least 50 years more advanced if the Nationalist stayed in power. How do these people know what kind of advances and technology would've been achieved and invented? Besides, if these advances and technologies were never achieved or invented, then how could anyone have "lost" them?

Things happen for their own reasons.

[Quest]

if there were ifs, then there would not be any more ifs.

[shimingchunjianzhong]

All the wars fought in China were to either unite the nation or to drive out foreign invaders. Not once did China go on a rampage to conquer and colonize foreign nations and territories like the Europeans did.

Very sorry,but the fact is China also began some wars which aimed at conquering neighbour countries.In Tang Dynasty,China fought with Korea and won finally.In Yuan Dynasty,Chinese army passed through the sea to conquer Japan but almost all soldiers were drowned after landing because of hurricans.The same thing happened twice.

[willsi2]

Exactly kulong, who are these people, assumers, evolutionists, innovators, no idea? man haqs come along

way from eating raw meat to

say computers, butb have we really achieved our goal and

what exactly is the ultimateaim of the human race....apart from the obvious marriage house kids ect......think about that question? anyone know?

[willsi2]

forgive the typing im so lousy at it at the mo..

[holyman]

regarding the saying of '4 chinese inventions', its a invention by sir joseph needham. at most we can say the chinese discovred the magnet/lodestone. the compass we seen carried by those 15th cent navigators are much more complicated and so was the printing machine by guthenburg. a chinese scientist named bisheng did invented the printing machine, but it was never really put into popular use, needless to say it never made it to the west. i think the modern chinese printing machines were still adopted from the west.

[roddy]

I used to work with a Chinese guy who could be somewhat critical of China and Chinese culture at times. He'd worked in the US for quite some time and got frustrated with what he saw as inefficency and waste. He once told me that the Chinese had invented paper and gunpowder - 'and what did we do with them? Bureaucracy and firecrackers, that's all.'

Roddy

[Quest]

people always talk about how the west invented this and that, but what is the west. is russia the west? italy? britain? france? germany? spain? poland? the u.s.? how many states and nations are included in the word "west"? and what abotu china? yes, china is only ONE country! even tho its big, but its still under one leadership. with no sigificant inovative or scientifically competitive country around it, to have done what it has done, to me that is really amazing.

information and inovation flew freely in the west, even discoveries made in the middle east, the west had first access to it.

is it really fair to compare the contributions by so many nations and states against one single state? it's like adding up all the gold medals of the "WEST" in the olympics and compare them against the chinese gold medals.