Chinese Discoveries & Inventions

GUN POWDER

850 BCE

Accidentally discovered by alchemists working with saltpeter looking for the secrete to eternal life. Military technology.

Mechanical Clock

800 BCE

The Chinese devised a wheel that made one complete turn every 24 hours. Dripping water made the wheel turn. Every quarter hour, drums would beat; and every hour, a bell would chime.

TEA

270 BCE

For several thousand years, tea—made by letting tea leaves steep in boiling water—was drunk mostly as medicine. However, by the 8th century C.E., tea had become a hugely popular everyday beverage throughout China.

PAPER

200 BCE

The earliest Chinese paper was probably made from hemp and then the bark of the mulberry tree. Later, the Chinese used rags.

STEEL

200 BCE

The earliest Chinese steel was made from cast iron. The Chinese were the first to learn how to make cast iron by melting and molding iron ore. Later

PRINTER

140 BCE

Printers made their type by carving characters out of clay and baking them.To print, they selected the characters they needed and
placed them in an iron frame in the order they would appear on the page.

Rocket Technology

130 BCE

Technology Rocket technology was developed in China during the Song dynasty. Rockets were powered by a black powder made of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur. At first, rockets were used only in fireworks. Later, the Chinese used them as weapons.

Porcelain

100 BCE

Porcelain is made by combining clay with the minerals quartz and feldspar. The mixture is baked in a kiln, or pottery oven, at very high temperatures.

Disease Prevention

100 BCE

Chinese developed a way of fighting infectious diseases. When a person died from an infectious disease, the Chinese burned a chemical that gave off a poisonous smoke. They believed that the smoke would destroy whatever was causing the disease.