-
2700 BCE
Tea
Chinese have been drinking tea since at least 2700 B.C. For several
thousand years, tea made by letting tea leaves steep in boiling water was drunk mostly as medicine. -
850 BCE
Gun powder
The Chinese who first made gunpowder were alchemists, people who practiced a blend of science and magic known as alchemy. -
7 BCE
Printing
In about the 7th century, the Chinese invented a technique called woodblock printing. -
2 BCE
Paper
The earliest Chinese paper was
probably made from hemp and then the bark of the mulberry tree.