Top 10 Things China Invented First
Now, I love Chinese food. I mean, who doesn’t? Weird people who don’t
like lots of soy sauce and yummy carbs like rice and rice noodles? But
what have the Chinese given to us, really? Fortune cookies? Jokes about
children working in sweatshops? I’d like to think that they have
accomplished more than that in their long history, and sure enough, they
have…
(Editor’s note: The title was changed to Things China Invented
First, from Things China Did First – we trust this still holds the
spirit of the list.)
10. Government-Issued Paper Money
Paper money
was first introduced in the 7th century as a way for wealthy merchants
to avoid having to carry large quantities of heavy copper coins.
Original banknotes were essentially bank slips with the amount of total
money available to the merchant written on them, like our deposit
receipts. These notes were initially used only by the very wealthy, but
eventually they were circulated by the Song Dynasty when there was a
shortage of copper coins. They were called jiaozi. These notes
did not replace copper coins- they were organized by region (rather than
having a national currency) and were more like credit notes with a time
limit. A national currency was introduced in the 11th century using another Chinese original, woodblock printing.
9. Printing
The Chinese initially developed two types of printing: woodblock
printing and movable type. Woodblock printing is created by carving a
design or character text into a block of wood, covering the relief with
dye, and printing the relief onto the fabric or paper. The earliest
existing example of woodblock printing is on a piece of hemp paper,
dating from around 660 AD. It is also the medium of choice for the
oldest printed book, the Diamond Sutra printed in 868 AD during the Tang Dynasty.
The other type of printing is the predecessor of typesetting, called
movable type. It was a process in the making for 630 years. It began as a
theory by Chinese scientist, Shen Kuo during the Song Dynasty in 1088
AD. The theory wasn’t put into practice until 1298 AD when official Wang
Zhen of the Yuan Dynasty created a model arranging the characters by
rhyme scheme on a round table with compartments for the characters. In
1490, Hua Sui perfected movable type by putting the characters on bronze
blocks instead of wood or clay. The final tweak was added in 1718 when
porcelain enamel was used.
8. Paper
If you’re going to print, then you need paper, or some sort of printable medium, and pulp
paper became popular because it was cheaper and faster to make than
other mediums, such as silk, bamboo strips, or clay tablets. There is
evidence of pulp paper making that dates back to the 2nd century BC.
Then, in 105 AD, a Han court eunuch named Cai Lun improved the process
(he is often credited as the inventor of paper). His process involved
mashing up tree bark, hemp, linen and fishing nets and adding water
until a wooden frame with a sieve of interwoven weeds could be immersed
and removed from the mixture. The frame was then hung out to dry and
bleached in the sunlight.
7. Gunpowder
Gunpowder’s invention was actually an accident by Chinese alchemists
in the 9th century. One of its first uses outside of the lab was for
fireworks, which were used to ward off evil spirits starting in the 10th
century. However, since at least 1044, it has been used as the
destructive and explosive component that we all have come to know. It
was originally used in flamethrowers (no joke), flame tipped arrows, and
a “gunpowder-whip-arrow,” for which I can’t think of a modern
equivalent. The first firearms
did not appear until the 13 century, and were used heavily by the
Mongols in their exploits. The first recorded formula for gunpowder was
relatively tame as it was not capable of exploding but still very
flammable. By the 15th century though, they had perfected 6 formulas for
gunpowder, some with up to 91% nitrate, the chemical that makes
gunpowder go BOOM.
6. Compass
The first iron compasses created during the Han Dynasty were not
used for navigation. In fact, they were used to divine the future in
large bowl-like compasses that used a spoon-like instrument. A
thermoremanence compass, which uses a heated metal object in water to
produce a magnetic force,
was documented in 1044. There was also the South Pointing Chariot,
circa 3rd century AD, which was a figure on a chariot that would always
point south, originally without the use of magnets. This compass instead
operated on a differential gear system, much like you find in a car
now. Shen Kuo was able to describe magnetic declination and the use of a
magnetic needle compass in 1088, while Zhu Yu offered the use of the
true north compass for naval use in 1119.
5. Coffins, Tree coffins, Urns
The Chinese ancients seem to have been some of the first who were concerned with burying their dead.
Chinese emphasis on showing respect for elders and ancestors by caring
for your own body (which they provided you with by giving you life) was
just as important as showing respect for theirs when they passed away.
Evidence for the earliest coffins and urns have been found in China. The
oldest coffin is dated around 5000 BC and holds a four year old girl.
The thickness of a coffin and the number of coffins were reflections of
wealth or nobility. Also, the earliest known tree trunk coffins, or boat
coffins, were of the Songze culture and the Dawenkou culture, recorded
dates between 4000-3000 BC and 4100-2600 BC respectively.
4. Fork and Chopstick
While many people attend an Asian restaurant and attempt to eat with
the traditional chopsticks, it would actually be more traditional to use
the fork that they provide for their diners. Bone forks have been
discovered at multiple burial sites dating from the Xia Dynasty, which
was in power from 4205-1760 BC. Europeans wouldn’t start using forks
until roughly 4000 years later. Forks were an exclusive dining tool
for the ruling class, and came in two- and three-pronged varieties like
they do now. However, due to the nature of Chinese food customs,
chopsticks became popular and much easier to come by. Because Chinese
culture did not permit that meats should resemble their living form, it
was cut into bite-sized pieces. Also, the communal nature of Chinese
eating habits made chopsticks an easier tool to maneuver. Not only that,
but the chopstick could pick up or divide virtually any cuisine that
was presented, thereby making it a much more effective utensil than the
fork.
3. Holistic Health
Even more surprising to me than the invention of the fork, was that
Chinese medicine was on to some major health points before their time,
such as good health through proper diet. In the 4th century, the royal
courts had Imperial Dieticians to guide the royal family down the road
to healthy eating. In the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing found out through
trial and error that certain foods would address symptoms of poor
health. Imperial Dietician Hu Sihui published a similar book in 1330
that put together information on healthy diets dating from the 3rd
century.
Not only were they proponents of a variable diet, they were also the
first endocrinologists, meaning that they were clued in to and could
address hormone imbalances before everyone else. In 1110 BC,
they were able to extract sex hormones from urine using gypsum and
natural soaps like saponin. They could then use these extracted hormones
to treat a wide variety of sex hormone issues, from erectile
dysfunction to menstrual cramps (dysmenorrhea).
2. Restaurant Menu
The biggest reason that the Chinese beat other cultures to the finish
line here is because they already had a handle on paper by the time the
Song Dynasty rolled around. Due to even ancient China’s expansive
populated regions that would trade with each other, hungry merchants
could find an abundance of food to eat, but were not familiar with a lot
of it. Thus, the menu was born to provide a guide for hungry
merchants and foreign travelers. Menus popped up where ever food was
sold: temples, brothels, theaters, and tea houses as well as typical
food stalls and restaurants.
1. Toilet Paper
The classic over versus under debate is much older than previously
thought. Its first mention is by official Yan Zhitui in 589 BC, again
because the Chinese
were ahead of the game when it came to paper manufacturing. Their
purpose is stated quite clearly by an Arab visitor in 851 AD, who
remarks that the Chinese wipe themselves with paper, while the rest of
the world was using water, their hands, wood shavings, lace, or the ever
popular Roman “sponge on a stick.” The Chinese even one-upped
themselves, and proceeded to perfume their poo paper for the royal
family in 1393. (Actual ancient toilet paper not represented in art
above.)