Chinese Inventions

By skyler.poehner
  • Period: 300 BCE to 1400

    Chinese History

  • 150 BCE

    Steel

    Steel
    Steel is made from iron, but it is less brittle than iron and easier to bend into different shapes.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.
  • 50

    Porcelain

    Porcelain
    Porcelain is made by combining clay with quartz and feldspar. The mixture is then baked in a kiln. raft-people would paint pictures on the porcelain and made colored glazes to decorate the porcelain.
  • 250

    Compass

    Compass
    The first Chinese compasses were pieces of a magnetic mineral
    called lodestone. Because lodestone is magnetic, it is influenced by Earth’s magnetic poles so it will always point to the north.
  • 750

    Mechanical Clock

    Mechanical Clock
    The Chinese devised a wheel that made one complete turn every 24 hours. Dripping water made the wheel turn.Every quarter hour, a drum would beat and every hour, a bell would chime.
  • 850

    Gunpowder

    Gunpowder
    Gunpowder was accidentally discovered by alchemists who were looking for the secret to eternal life.
  • 910

    Game Cards

    Game Cards
    Printer used woodblock printing to make the cards from thick paper. Famous artists drew the designs.
  • 910

    Paper Money

    Paper Money
    Paper money was printed with wood blocks.
  • 1000

    Flamethrower

    Flamethrower
    Early flamethrowers contained gunpowder mixed with oil. The Chinese used them to spray enemies with a stream of fire.
  • 1300

    Rocket technology

    Rocket technology
    Rockets were powered by a black powder made of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur. At first, rockets were only used as fireworks, but then they were used as weapons.