China’s Four Great Inventions
Four Great Inventions---- the compass, gunpowder, paper and movable type printing---were ancient China’s outstanding scientific and technological contributions to world civilization.
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The compass
The world’s first compass was made in China during the Warring States Period(475-221B.C) by balancing a piece of lodestone carved in the shape of al ladle on a smooth ,flat plate and letting it spin. When it stopped, the handle always pointed to the south. After the Northern Song Dynasty (A.D960--1127) the Chine people connected the compass with a square plate engraved with directional points, thus creating the basis for the compass of today. China’s compass was introduced to Europe at the end of 12th century and the beginning of the 13名胜古迹英文th century .Bad on China’s compass, the Europeans made a more advanced model. After appearance of the compass, it was ud in geological prospecting ,navigation, military affairs ,production and daily life ,and greatly promoted the development of the world’s navigational undertakings.
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Gunpowder
小飞侠乐队The Chine people invented gunpowder in the 7th century .As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties (C.D.16th century to 771 B.C),Chine discovered ,through their experiments in metallurgy that charcoal burned easily .They also discovered during alchemical experiments looking for the key to immortality that sulphur and nitre have explosive properties. Afterward they found that if they mixed up the charcoal ,sulphur and nitre and then lit them, they could cau strong explosions. Then ,people started mixing u
p0 the materials in certain proportions. They rearched and finally mastered the method of controlling the explosion, thus was gunpowder, perhaps the most influential discovery of the millennium.
After the invention of gunpowder ,human beings suddenly had an unprecedentedly great force. At the end of the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the Song Dynasty (10th century),gunpowder began to be ud in weapons. From 1225 to 1248 ,gunpowder and firearms were introduced to Arab countries from India, and then taken to European countries from Aral regions.
Paper
norCai Lun, who lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D.25--200),produced high quality paper using tree bark, remnants of hemp, linen rags and other materials. He bad his work on the experiences of his predecessors, who during the Western Han Dynasty were producing paper with silk floss and plant fibre. Cai, in addition to improving on this old method ,could also mass produce his paper .The invention of Cai Lun`s papermaking technique marked the ripening of China’s papermaking technique, and meanwhile enabled the people to leave behind them the days of writing on bamboo slips and cotton cloth.
China’s papermaking technology was introduced to Korea and Japan in the 7中国英语学习网th century ,taken to Arab countries during the 12th决定的英文 to 16th centuries. China’s papermaking technology played a great role in the European Renaissance and other cultural and scientific undertakings of the world.
Printing
The invention of China’s printing technique went through two stages: block printing and movable type printing .Before this the development of China’s papermaking industry and al carving skills had prepared conditions for the invention of the movable type printing. Block printing invented in the middle of the Tang Dynasty (A.D618--907) had rious shortcomings. Each page of a book required the carving of a plate ,and for a book of any length, this took veral years. If another book was to be printed ,another whole tup and procedure would have to begin. The problems involved in time, skilled engravers and material can be imagined. In the Northern Song Dynasty (A.D.960---1127),Bi Sheng invented the movable type printing. He made clay types, one for each character, and then fired them for hardness. For typetting, a square sheet of iron was prepared with a layer of resin ,wax and paper ashes mixed and spread on it. The mixture was circumscribed with an iron fame. A plate was complete when the frame was full. This was heated over a fire until the mixture melted. The types were presd down to the height of frame with a wooden board and the plate was ready for printing. After printing, the types could be us
ed again and again. In this way it not only saved time and money ,but also incread the speed of publishing. Bi Sheng`s invention brought a qualitative leap to the printing technique.
Movable type printing was introduced to Korea an Japan in the 8th century ,and then to Arabia and Europe in the 12th century.
