The Four Great Inventions () are inventions from ancient China that are celebrated in Chinese culture for their historical significance and as symbols of ancient China's advanced science and technology. They are the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing.
China held the world's leading position in many fields in the study of nature from the 1st century BC to the 15th century AD, with the four great inventions having the greatest global significance.
These four inventions had a profound impact on the development of civilization throughout the world. However, some modern Chinese scholars have opined that other Chinese inventions were perhaps more sophisticated and had a greater impact on Chinese civilization – the Four Great Inventions serve merely to highlight the technological interaction between East and West.
Evolution
"The Three Great Inventions" was first proposed by the British philosopher Francis Bacon, and later, Walter Henry Medhurst, Karl Marx and other scholars agreed.
Printing, gunpowder, and the mariner's compass were brought to Europe by Arab traders during the Renaissance and Reformation. Bacon, a leading philosopher, politician, and adviser to King James I of England, wrote: It is well to observe the force and virtue and consequence of discoveries. These are to be seen nowhere more clearly than those three which were unknown to the ancients [the Greeks], and of which the origin, though recent, is obscure and inglorious; namely printing, gunpowder, and the magnet. For these three have changed the whole face and stage of things throughout the world, the first in literature, the second in warfare, the third in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes; insomuch that no empire, no sect, no star, seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these three mechanical discoveries.
Including Marx's comments:Gunpowder, compass, and printing—these are the three major inventions that foretell the arrival of bourgeois society. Gunpowder blasted the knight class to pieces, the compass opened the world market and established colonies, and printing became a tool of Protestantism. In general, it has become a means of scientific renaissance, and has become the most powerful lever to create the necessary preconditions for spiritual development.
British Sinologist Medhurst pointed out:The Chinese people's genius for inventions has manifested in many aspects very early. The three Chinese inventions (navigation compass, printing, gunpowder) have provided an extraordinary impetus to the development of European civilization.Joseph Edkins, a Chinese missionary and sinologist, was the first to add papermaking to the three major inventions mentioned above, and in comparing Japan and China he noted that "we must always remember that they (meaning Japan) have no such remarkable inventions as printing, papermaking, the compass, and gunpowder."
Papermaking
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 fibres along with fishing net, old rags, and hemp waste.
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. However, a recent archaeological discovery has been reported from Gansu of paper with Chinese characters on it dating to 8 BC. Before paper was invented, the ancient Chinese carved characters on pottery, animal bones and stones, cast them on bronzes, or wrote them on bamboo or wooden strips and silk fabric. These materials, however, were either too heavy or too expensive for widespread use. The invention and use of paper brought about a revolution in writing materials, paving the way for the invention of printing technology in the years to come.
By the 6th century in China, sheets of paper were beginning to be used for toilet paper as well. During the Tang dynasty (618–907) paper was folded and sewn into square bags to preserve the flavor of tea. The Song dynasty (960–1279) that followed was the first government to issue paper currency.
Compass
The compass in the Four Great Inventions was formerly the compass of ancient China. It is a kind of direction-indicating tool, which is widely used in navigation, field exploration and other fields. In ancient times, it had a profound influence on trade, war and cultural exchange.
The compass's origins may be traced back to the Warring States period (476–221 BC), when Chinese people utilized a device known as a si nan to point in the right direction.