Chinese Inventions

By tyler.klambara1
  • 2737 BCE

    tea

    tea
    According to legend, tea was first discovered by the legendary Chinese emperor and herbalist, Shennong, in 2737 BCE. It is said that the emperor liked his drinking water boiled before he drank it so it would be clean, so that is what his servants did.
  • 1040 BCE

    Movable type

    Movable type
    During the Ch'ing-li period (1041-1048) a commoner named Pi Sheng first invented the movable type. Each type was made of moistened clay upon which was carved one Chinese character. The portion that formed the character was as thin as the edge of a small coin.
  • 740 BCE

    papermaking

    papermaking
    In few years, the Chinese began to use paper for writing. Around 600 A.D. woodblock printing was invented and by 740 A.D., The first printed newspaper was seen in China. To the east, papermaking moved to Korea, where production of paper began as early as the 6th century AD.
  • 300 BCE

    silk

    silk
    According to well-established Chinese legend, Empress Hsi Ling Shi, wife of Emperor Huang Ti (also called the Yellow Emperor), was the first person to accidentally discover silk as weavable fiber. One day, when the empress was sipping tea under a mulberry tree, a cocoon fell into her cup and began to unravel.
  • Period: 300 BCE to 1400

    Chinese History

  • 206 BCE

    compass

    compass
    The fourth of the Great Inventions is the magnetic compass. ... With development the round compass came into being. The compass was probably invented in the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) by Chinese fortune-tellers who used the lodestones to construct their fortune telling boards.
  • 105 BCE

    banknote

    banknote
    Paper was invented around 100 BC in China. In 105 AD, under the Han Dynasty emperor Ho-Ti, a government official in China named Ts'ai Lun was the first to start a paper-making industry.Jul 27, 2017
  • 11 BCE

    porcelain

    porcelain
    As early as the Shang dynasty (16th - 11th century B.C.) a white stoneware was made in China for the first time. Glazed "porcelain" is also found for the first time during this period. The making of blue-and-white Chinese Porcelain started in China by the time of the Mongolian invasion, in the mid-thirteenth century.
  • 850

    Gunpowder

    Gunpowder
    Chinese alchemists accidentally discovered gunpowder when looking for eternal life.
  • 1498

    toothbrush

    toothbrush
    These 'chew sticks' were rubbed against the teeth. The bristle toothbrush, similar to the type used today, was not invented until 1498 in China. The bristles were actually the stiff, coarse hairs taken from the back of a hog's neck and attached to handles made of bone or bamboo.