Four Great Inventions of ancient China
Encyclopedia
The Four Great Inventions are the inventions that are celebrated in Chinese culture for their historical significance and serve as symbols of China
's advanced science
and technology
.
The Four Great Inventions are:
These four discoveries had an enormous impact on the development of Chinese civilization and a far-ranging global impact. However, some modern Chinese scholars have pointed out that other inventions in China were perhaps more sophisticated and had a greater impact on civilization – the Four Great Inventions serve merely to highlight the technological interaction between East and West.
, Four Great Classical Novels
, Four Books and Five Classics
, Five Elders
, Three Hundred Tang Poems
, etc.), the concept of the Four Great Inventions originated with European
scholars, and was only later adopted by the Chinese.
According to history professor Edwin J. Van Kley, European sailors after 1500 frequently suggested to their contemporaries the Asian origins of printing, gunpowder, compass, and paper.
The importance of these inventions was perhaps first discussed by the British philosopher Francis Bacon
(1561–1626), who in 1620 wrote: "Printing, gunpowder and the compass ... whence have followed innumerable changes, in so much that no empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries." Bacon may have been unaware of the Chinese origins of these inventions, however, his writings show the importance of these technologies to the early-modern European world.
Later, Karl Marx
also commented that, "Gunpowder, the compass, and the printing press were the three great inventions which ushered in bourgeois society. Gunpowder blew up the knightly class, the compass discovered the world market and founded the colonies, and the printing press was the instrument of Protestantism and the regeneration of science
in general; the most powerful lever for creating the intellectual prerequisites."
Western books and other published works from the 19th century onwards attributed these inventions to China. Examples include: The Chautauquan by the Chautauqua Institution
, The Journal of International Relations, and Johnson's New universal cyclopædia: a scientific and popular treasury of useful knowledge.
The modern list of the Four Great Inventions originated in the mid-19th century with the writings of missionary and sinologist Joseph Edkins
(1823–1905). Edkins, comparing China with Japan, noted that for all of Japan's virtues, it did not make inventions as significant as paper-making, printing, the compass and gunpowder. In particular, Edkins' notes on these inventions were mentioned in an 1859 review in the journal Athenaeum
, comparing the contemporary science and technology in China and Japan. In the 20th century, this list was popularized and augmented by the noted British biochemist, historian, and sinologist Joseph Needham
, who devoted the later part of his life to studying the science and civilization of ancient China.
The earliest reference to magnetism in Chinese literature
is found in the 4th-century BC Book of the Devil Valley Master (Guiguzi
): "The lodestone makes iron come, or it attracts it."
The earliest reference to a magnetic device used as a "direction finder" is in a Song Dynasty
book dated to AD 1040-44. Here there is a description of an iron "south-pointing fish" floating in a bowl of water, aligning itself to the south. The device is recommended as a means of orientation "in the obscurity of the night." However, the first suspended magnetic needle compass was written of by Shen Kuo
in his book of AD 1088.
For most of Chinese history, the compass that remained in use was in the form of a magnetic needle floating in a bowl of water. According to Needham
, the Chinese in the Song Dynasty and continuing Yuan Dynasty
did make use of a dry compass, although this type never became as widely used in China as the wet compass.
The dry compass used in China was a dry suspension compass, a wooden frame crafted in the shape of a turtle hung upside down by a board, with the lodestone sealed in by wax, and if rotated, the needle at the tail would always point in the northern cardinal direction. Although the 14th-century European compass-card in box frame and dry pivot needle was adopted in China after its use was taken by Japanese
pirates in the 16th century (who had in turn learned of it from Europeans), the Chinese design of the suspended dry compass persisted in use well into the 18th century.
The prevailing academic consensus is that gunpowder was discovered in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists
searching for an elixir of immortality
. By the time the Song Dynasty treatise, Wujing Zongyao
(武经总要), was written by Zeng Gongliang and Yang Weide in AD 1044, the various Chinese formulas for gunpowder held levels of nitrate
in the range of 27% to 50%. By the end of the 12th century, Chinese formulas of gunpowder had a level of nitrate capable of bursting through cast iron
metal containers, in the form of the earliest hollow, gunpowder-filled grenade
bombs.
In AD 1280, the bomb store of the large gunpowder arsenal
at Weiyang
accidentally caught fire, which produced such a massive explosion that a team of Chinese inspectors at the site a week later deduced that some 100 guards had been killed instantly, with wooden beams and pillars blown sky high and landing at a distance of over 10 li
(~2 mi. or ~3.2 km) away from the explosion.
By the time of Jiao Yu
and his Huolongjing
(a book written by Jiao Yu that describes military applications of gunpowder in great detail) in the mid 14th century, the explosive potential of gunpowder was perfected, as the level of nitrate in gunpowder formulas had risen to a range of 12% to 91%, with at least 6 different formulas in use that are considered to have maximum explosive potential for gunpowder. By that time, the Chinese had discovered how to create explosive round shot
by packing their hollow shells with this nitrate-enhanced gunpowder.
Papermaking has traditionally been traced to China about AD 105, when Cai Lun
, an official attached to the Imperial court during the Han Dynasty
(202 BC-AD 220), created a sheet of paper using mulberry
and other bast fibre
s along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp
waste. However a recent archaeological discovery has been reported from Gansu of paper with Chinese characters on it dating to 8 BC.
While paper used for wrapping and padding was used in China since the 2nd century BC, paper used as a writing medium only became widespread by the 3rd century. By the 6th century in China, sheets of paper were beginning to be used for toilet paper
as well. During the Tang Dynasty
(AD 618–907) paper was folded and sewn into square bags
to preserve the flavor of tea. The Song Dynasty
(AD 960–1279) that followed was the first government to issue paper currency
.
, at some point before the first dated book in 868 (the Diamond Sutra
), produced the world's first print culture
. According to A. Hyatt Mayor
, curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
, "it was the Chinese who really discovered the means of communication that was to dominate until our age." Woodblock printing was better suited to Chinese character
s than movable type, which the Chinese also invented, but which did not replace woodblock printing. Western printing press
es, although introduced in the 16th century, were not widely used in China until the 19th century. China, along with Korea, was one of the last countries to adopt them.
Woodblock printing
for textile
s, on the other hand, preceded text printing by centuries in all cultures, and is first found in China at around 220, then Egypt in the 4th century, and reached Europe by the 14th century or before, via the Islamic world, and by around 1400 was being used on paper for old master print
s and playing card
s.
Printing in China was further advanced by the 11th century, as it was written by the Song Dynasty
scientist and statesman Shen Kuo
(1031–1095) that the common artisan Bi Sheng
(990-1051) invented ceramic movable type
printing. Then there were those such as Wang Zhen
(fl.
1290-1333) and Hua Sui
(1439–1513), who invented respectively wooden and metal movable type printing. Movable type printing was a tedious process if one were to assemble thousands of individual characters for the printing of simply one or a few books, but if used for printing thousands of books, the process was efficient and rapid enough to be successful and highly employed. Indeed, there were many cities in China where movable type printing, in wooden and metal form, was adopted by the enterprises of wealthy local families or large private industries. The Qing Dynasty
court sponsored enormous printing projects using woodblock movable type printing during the 18th century. Although superseded by western printing techniques, woodblock movable type printing remains in use in isolated communities in China.
created a special stamp issue that featured the Four Great Inventions. The stamp series was introduced with a first day cover issue at an opening ceremony that officiated by the Hong Kong Postmaster General. The President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology marked the issue of the special stamps by personally stamping a first day cover.
In the chapter "Are the Four Major Inventions the Most Important?" of his book Ancient Chinese Inventions, Chinese historian Deng Yinke writes:
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
's advanced science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
.
The Four Great Inventions are:
- CompassCompassA compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
(指南针) - GunpowderHistory of gunpowderGunpowder was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the invention of nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin, smokeless powder and TNT in the second half of the 19th century...
(火药) - PapermakingPapermakingPapermaking is the process of making paper, a substance which is used universally today for writing and packaging.In papermaking a dilute suspension of fibres in water is drained through a screen, so that a mat of randomly interwoven fibres is laid down. Water is removed from this mat of fibres by...
(造纸术) - PrintingHistory of typography in East AsiaThe history of printing in East Asia refers to the use of woodblock printing and movable type printing by East Asian artisans. The former existed in Tang China as early as the 7th century, and the latter in Song China by the 11th century. Use of woodblock printing quickly spread to other East Asian...
(活字印刷术)
These four discoveries had an enormous impact on the development of Chinese civilization and a far-ranging global impact. However, some modern Chinese scholars have pointed out that other inventions in China were perhaps more sophisticated and had a greater impact on civilization – the Four Great Inventions serve merely to highlight the technological interaction between East and West.
Origins
Although Chinese culture is replete with lists of significant works or achievements (e.g. Four Great Beauties, Four Great Books of SongFour Great Books of Song
The Four Great Books of Song was compiled by Li Fang and others during the Song Dynasty . The term was coined after the last book was finished during the 11th century...
, Four Great Classical Novels
Four Great Classical Novels
The Four Great Classical Novels, or the Four Major Classical Novels of Chinese literature, are the four novels commonly regarded by scholars to be the greatest and most influential of pre-modern Chinese fiction. Dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties, they are well known to most Chinese readers...
, Four Books and Five Classics
Four Books and Five Classics
The Four Books and Five Classics are the authoritative books of Confucianism in China written before 300 BC.-Four Books:The Four Books are Chinese classic texts illustrating the core value and belief systems in Confucianism...
, Five Elders
Five Elders
In Southern Chinese folklore, the Five Elders of Shaolin are survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Monastery by the Qing Dynasty, variously said to have taken place in 1647, in 1674 or in 1732.-The Kung Fu Five Elders:...
, Three Hundred Tang Poems
Three Hundred Tang Poems
The Three Hundred Tang Poems is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang Dynasty first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu , the Qing scholar also known as Hengtang Tuishi . Various later editions also exist...
, etc.), the concept of the Four Great Inventions originated with European
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
scholars, and was only later adopted by the Chinese.
According to history professor Edwin J. Van Kley, European sailors after 1500 frequently suggested to their contemporaries the Asian origins of printing, gunpowder, compass, and paper.
The importance of these inventions was perhaps first discussed by the British philosopher Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
(1561–1626), who in 1620 wrote: "Printing, gunpowder and the compass ... whence have followed innumerable changes, in so much that no empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries." Bacon may have been unaware of the Chinese origins of these inventions, however, his writings show the importance of these technologies to the early-modern European world.
Later, Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
also commented that, "Gunpowder, the compass, and the printing press were the three great inventions which ushered in bourgeois society. Gunpowder blew up the knightly class, the compass discovered the world market and founded the colonies, and the printing press was the instrument of Protestantism and the regeneration of science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
in general; the most powerful lever for creating the intellectual prerequisites."
Western books and other published works from the 19th century onwards attributed these inventions to China. Examples include: The Chautauquan by the Chautauqua Institution
Chautauqua Institution
The Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit adult education center and summer resort located on 750 acres in Chautauqua, New York, 17 miles northwest of Jamestown in the western part of New York State...
, The Journal of International Relations, and Johnson's New universal cyclopædia: a scientific and popular treasury of useful knowledge.
The modern list of the Four Great Inventions originated in the mid-19th century with the writings of missionary and sinologist Joseph Edkins
Joseph Edkins
Joseph Edkins was a British Protestant missionary who spent 57 years in China, 30 of them in Beijing. As a Sinologue, he specialized in Chinese religions. He was also a linguist, a translator, and a philologist. Writing prolifically, he penned many books about the Chinese language and the Chinese...
(1823–1905). Edkins, comparing China with Japan, noted that for all of Japan's virtues, it did not make inventions as significant as paper-making, printing, the compass and gunpowder. In particular, Edkins' notes on these inventions were mentioned in an 1859 review in the journal Athenaeum
Athenaeum (magazine)
The Athenaeum was a literary magazine published in London from 1828 to 1921. It had a reputation for publishing the very best writers of the age....
, comparing the contemporary science and technology in China and Japan. In the 20th century, this list was popularized and augmented by the noted British biochemist, historian, and sinologist Joseph Needham
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...
, who devoted the later part of his life to studying the science and civilization of ancient China.
Compass
The earliest reference to magnetism in Chinese literature
Chinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
is found in the 4th-century BC Book of the Devil Valley Master (Guiguzi
Guiguzi
Wang Xu , better known by his pseudonym Guiguzi , is an ancient Chinese philosopher from the Warring States Period of Chinese history. He was the founder of the School of Diplomacy of the Hundred Schools of Thought during that period...
): "The lodestone makes iron come, or it attracts it."
The earliest reference to a magnetic device used as a "direction finder" is in a Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
book dated to AD 1040-44. Here there is a description of an iron "south-pointing fish" floating in a bowl of water, aligning itself to the south. The device is recommended as a means of orientation "in the obscurity of the night." However, the first suspended magnetic needle compass was written of by Shen Kuo
Shen Kuo
Shen Kuo or Shen Gua , style name Cunzhong and pseudonym Mengqi Weng , was a polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty...
in his book of AD 1088.
For most of Chinese history, the compass that remained in use was in the form of a magnetic needle floating in a bowl of water. According to Needham
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...
, the Chinese in the Song Dynasty and continuing Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
did make use of a dry compass, although this type never became as widely used in China as the wet compass.
The dry compass used in China was a dry suspension compass, a wooden frame crafted in the shape of a turtle hung upside down by a board, with the lodestone sealed in by wax, and if rotated, the needle at the tail would always point in the northern cardinal direction. Although the 14th-century European compass-card in box frame and dry pivot needle was adopted in China after its use was taken by Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
pirates in the 16th century (who had in turn learned of it from Europeans), the Chinese design of the suspended dry compass persisted in use well into the 18th century.
Gunpowder
The prevailing academic consensus is that gunpowder was discovered in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists
Chinese alchemy
Chinese alchemy, a part of the larger tradition of Taoism, centers on the tradition of body-spirit cultivation that developed through the Chinese understandings of medicine and the body. These Chinese traditions were developed into a system of energy practices...
searching for an elixir of immortality
Elixir of life
The elixir of life, also known as the elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the philosopher's stone, is a legendary potion, or drink, that grants the drinker eternal life and or eternal youth. Many practitioners of alchemy pursued it. The elixir of life was also said to be able to create...
. By the time the Song Dynasty treatise, Wujing Zongyao
Wujing Zongyao
The Wujing Zongyao was a Chinese military compendium written in 1044 AD, during the Northern Song Dynasty. Its authors were the prominent scholars Zeng Gongliang , Ding Du , and Yang Weide , whose writing influenced many later Chinese military writers. The book covered a wide range of subjects,...
(武经总要), was written by Zeng Gongliang and Yang Weide in AD 1044, the various Chinese formulas for gunpowder held levels of nitrate
Nitrate
The nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a...
in the range of 27% to 50%. By the end of the 12th century, Chinese formulas of gunpowder had a level of nitrate capable of bursting through cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
metal containers, in the form of the earliest hollow, gunpowder-filled grenade
Grenade
A grenade is a small explosive device that is projected a safe distance away by its user. Soldiers called grenadiers specialize in the use of grenades. The term hand grenade refers any grenade designed to be hand thrown. Grenade Launchers are firearms designed to fire explosive projectile grenades...
bombs.
In AD 1280, the bomb store of the large gunpowder arsenal
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
at Weiyang
Weiyang
Weiyang District is a district of Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China.-External links:*...
accidentally caught fire, which produced such a massive explosion that a team of Chinese inspectors at the site a week later deduced that some 100 guards had been killed instantly, with wooden beams and pillars blown sky high and landing at a distance of over 10 li
Li (unit)
The li is a traditional Chinese unit of distance, which has varied considerably over time but now has a standardized length of 500 meters or half a kilometer...
(~2 mi. or ~3.2 km) away from the explosion.
By the time of Jiao Yu
Jiao Yu
Jiao Yu was a Chinese military officer loyal to Zhu Yuanzhang , the founder of the Ming Dynasty . He was entrusted by Emperor Hongwu as a leading artillery officer for the rebel army that overthrew the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, and established the Ming Dynasty...
and his Huolongjing
Huolongjing
The Huolongjing is a 14th century military treatise that was compiled and edited by Jiao Yu and Liu Ji of the early Ming Dynasty in China...
(a book written by Jiao Yu that describes military applications of gunpowder in great detail) in the mid 14th century, the explosive potential of gunpowder was perfected, as the level of nitrate in gunpowder formulas had risen to a range of 12% to 91%, with at least 6 different formulas in use that are considered to have maximum explosive potential for gunpowder. By that time, the Chinese had discovered how to create explosive round shot
Round shot
Round shot is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...
by packing their hollow shells with this nitrate-enhanced gunpowder.
Papermaking
Cai Lun
Cai Lun , courtesy name Jingzhong , was a Chinese eunuch. He is traditionally regarded as the inventor of paper and the papermaking process, in forms recognizable in modern times as paper...
, an official attached to the Imperial court during the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
(202 BC-AD 220), created a sheet of paper using mulberry
Mulberry
Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
and other bast fibre
Bast fibre
Bast fibre or skin fibre is plant fibre collected from the phloem or bast surrounding the stem of certain, mainly dicotyledonous, plants. They support the conductive cells of the phloem and provide strength to the stem...
s along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp
Hemp
Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
waste. However a recent archaeological discovery has been reported from Gansu of paper with Chinese characters on it dating to 8 BC.
While paper used for wrapping and padding was used in China since the 2nd century BC, paper used as a writing medium only became widespread by the 3rd century. By the 6th century in China, sheets of paper were beginning to be used for toilet paper
Toilet paper
Toilet paper is a soft paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. However, it can also be used for other purposes such as blowing one's nose when one has a cold or absorbing common spills around the house, although paper towels are more used for the latter...
as well. During the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
(AD 618–907) paper was folded and sewn into square bags
Tea bag
A tea bag is a small, porous sealed bag containing tea leaves and used for brewing tea. Tea bags are commonly made of paper, silk or plastic. The bag contains the tea leaves while the tea is brewed, making it easier to dispose of the leaves, and performs the same function as a tea infuser...
to preserve the flavor of tea. The Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
(AD 960–1279) that followed was the first government to issue paper currency
Banknote
A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...
.
Printing
The Chinese invention of Woodblock printingWoodblock printing
Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper....
, at some point before the first dated book in 868 (the Diamond Sutra
Diamond Sutra
The Diamond Sūtra , is a short and well-known Mahāyāna sūtra from the Prajñāpāramitā, or "Perfection of Wisdom" genre, and emphasizes the practice of non-abiding and non-attachment...
), produced the world's first print culture
Print culture
Print culture embodies all forms of printed text and other printed forms of visual communication. One prominent scholar in the field is Elizabeth Eisenstein, who contrasted print culture, which appeared in Europe in the centuries after the advent of the Western printing-press , to scribal culture...
. According to A. Hyatt Mayor
A. Hyatt Mayor
A. Hyatt Mayor was an American art historian and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a leading figure in the study of prints, both old master prints and popular prints....
, curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, "it was the Chinese who really discovered the means of communication that was to dominate until our age." Woodblock printing was better suited to Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
s than movable type, which the Chinese also invented, but which did not replace woodblock printing. Western printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
es, although introduced in the 16th century, were not widely used in China until the 19th century. China, along with Korea, was one of the last countries to adopt them.
Woodblock printing
Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper....
for textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
s, on the other hand, preceded text printing by centuries in all cultures, and is first found in China at around 220, then Egypt in the 4th century, and reached Europe by the 14th century or before, via the Islamic world, and by around 1400 was being used on paper for old master print
Old master print
An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition . A date of about 1830 is usually taken as marking the end of the period whose prints are covered by this term. The main techniques concerned are woodcut, engraving and etching, although there are...
s and playing card
Playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...
s.
Printing in China was further advanced by the 11th century, as it was written by the Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
scientist and statesman Shen Kuo
Shen Kuo
Shen Kuo or Shen Gua , style name Cunzhong and pseudonym Mengqi Weng , was a polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty...
(1031–1095) that the common artisan Bi Sheng
Bi Sheng
Bì Shēng was the inventor of the first known movable type technology. Bi Sheng's system was made of Chinese porcelain and was invented between 1041 and 1048 in China.-Movable type printing:...
(990-1051) invented ceramic movable type
Movable type
Movable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document ....
printing. Then there were those such as Wang Zhen
Wang Zhen (official)
Wang Zhen was an official of the Yuan Dynasty of China. He is credited with the invention of the first wooden movable type printing in the world, while his predecessor of the Song Dynasty , Bi Sheng , invented the world's first earthenware movable type printing...
(fl.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1290-1333) and Hua Sui
Hua Sui
Hua Sui was a Chinese scholar and printer of Wuxi, Jiangsu province during the Ming Dynasty . He belonged to the wealthy Hua family that was renowned throughout the region. Hua Sui is best known for creating China's first metal movable type printing in 1490 AD...
(1439–1513), who invented respectively wooden and metal movable type printing. Movable type printing was a tedious process if one were to assemble thousands of individual characters for the printing of simply one or a few books, but if used for printing thousands of books, the process was efficient and rapid enough to be successful and highly employed. Indeed, there were many cities in China where movable type printing, in wooden and metal form, was adopted by the enterprises of wealthy local families or large private industries. The Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
court sponsored enormous printing projects using woodblock movable type printing during the 18th century. Although superseded by western printing techniques, woodblock movable type printing remains in use in isolated communities in China.
2005 Hong Kong stamp issue
In 2005, the Hong Kong postal serviceHong Kong Post
Hong Kong Post is a Japanese-language weekly newspaper published in Hong Kong every Friday and owned by Mikuni Company. The newspaper first appeared in June 1987. It used to be sold in shops such as c!ty'super, but is now free....
created a special stamp issue that featured the Four Great Inventions. The stamp series was introduced with a first day cover issue at an opening ceremony that officiated by the Hong Kong Postmaster General. The President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology marked the issue of the special stamps by personally stamping a first day cover.
2008 Beijing Olympics
The Four Great Inventions was featured as one of the main themes of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Paper making was represented with a dance and an ink drawing on a huge piece of paper, printing by a set of dancing printing blocks, a replica of an ancient compass was showcased, and gunpowder by the extensive firework displays during the ceremony. A survey by the Beijing Social Facts & Public Opinion Survey Center found that Beijing residents found the program on the Four Great Inventions the most moving part of the opening ceremony.Scholarly critiques
Recently, scholars have questioned the importance placed on the inventions of paper, printing, gunpowder, and the compass. Chinese scholars in particular question if too much emphasis is given to these inventions, over other significant Chinese inventions. They have pointed out that other inventions in China were perhaps more sophisticated and had a greater impact within China.In the chapter "Are the Four Major Inventions the Most Important?" of his book Ancient Chinese Inventions, Chinese historian Deng Yinke writes:
See also
- Dream Pool EssaysDream Pool EssaysThe Dream Pool Essays was an extensive book written by the polymath Chinese scientist and statesman Shen Kuo by 1088 AD, during the Song Dynasty of China...
- Gunpowder warfareGunpowder warfareEarly modern warfare is associated with the start of the widespread use of gunpowder and the development of suitable weapons to use the explosive, including artillery and handguns such as the arquebus and later the musket, and for this reason the era is also summarized as the age of gunpowder...
- History of science and technology in ChinaHistory of science and technology in ChinaThe history of science and technology in China is both long and rich with many contributions to science and technology. In antiquity, independently of other civilizations, ancient Chinese philosophers made significant advances in science, technology, mathematics, and astronomy...
- List of Chinese inventions
- Science and technology of the Han DynastyScience and technology of the Han DynastyThe Han Dynasty of ancient China, divided between the eras of Western Han , Xin Dynasty of Wang Mang The Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) of ancient China, divided between the eras of Western Han (206 BCE – 9 CE, when the capital was at Chang'an), Xin Dynasty of Wang Mang The Han Dynasty...
- Technology of the Song DynastyTechnology of the Song DynastyThe Song Dynasty provided some of the most significant technological advances in Chinese history, many of which came from talented statesmen drafted by the government through imperial examinations....