Transcript Ch. 17 PPT Inventions

Chapter 17
Chinese Discoveries and Inventions
17.1 Introduction
• Many Chinese discoveries &
inventions took place in the Tang and Song
dynasties.
• Chinese discoveries & inventions include
advances in exploration & travel, industry,
military technology, everyday objects, and
disease prevention.
• Many Chinese ideas reached far beyond
China.
17.2 Exploration and Travel
Improving Travel by Sea
• Though both Chinese and Europeans developed a
compass using lodestone, the Chinese improved this by
using a needle rubbed with lodestone to make a
compass that gave more accurate readings.
• The compass made sea travel safer because sailors could
figure out directions without a landmark or point in the
sky to steer by.
• The Chinese also made sea travel safer by improving
boat construction. (Modern shipbuilders still use the
technique the Chinese invented.)
Improving Travel on Rivers, Lakes, Canals,
and Bridges
• A paddlewheel boat made water travel much
faster. People, not oxen as in Rome, walked on
treadmills which turned the paddlewheel.
• The Chinese improved the canal lock making it
easier to use canals as connections between
rivers.
• The segmental arch bridge is one
of China’s most prized achievements
and is used around the world.
17.3 Industry
Papermaking – second century C.E.
• For more than 500 years, the Chinese were
the only people in the world who knew the
secret of papermaking.
• Knowledge of papermaking
traveled to Japan and across
Central Asia.
• It wasn't until the 1100s that
Europeans learned this trade.
Printing
• Woodblock printing was invented in the 7th
century.
• By the 8th century there was a woodblock printing
industry in China.
• In the 10th century, the Chinese were printing
books.
• In the 11th century, the Chinese invented movable
type. (Europeans invented this in the 1400s.) This
helped spread learning throughout China.
Tea
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Chinese have been drinking tea since at least 2700 B.C.
Tea was mostly drunk as medicine.
By the 8th century C.E., tea had become a popular everyday beverage.
Tea houses sprung up throughout China.
Tea cultivation became a major industry.
First tea plant seeds were brought to japan during China’s Tang Dynasty.
Europeans became involved in tea farming and trade by the 1700s.
Dutch traders brought tea seeds from China and japan to their own
colonies in Indonesia.
• The Dutch and British competed in tea trade in the 13 American colonies.
• During the Boston Tea Party, colonists threw British tea into the Boston
Harbor, which sparked the American Revolution.
• Tea rest is history…
Industry: Porcelain & Steel
• Porcelain is a type of
pottery that dates back to
the first century C.E.
• Became a major industry in
China. Hundreds of
thousands of people
worked to mass-produce
dishes, bowls, and vases.
• Chinese porcelain became a
prized possession for trade.
• Europeans learned to make
porcelain in the 1700s.
• The Chinese first made steel
before 200 B.C.E.
• In the 1800s, the mass
production of steel was
crucial to the Industrial
revolution in the West
(Europe & America).
17.4 Military Technology:
Gunpowder & Rockets
• Gunpowder was invented
during the Tang dynasty in 850
C.E.
• By the 10th century, they had
invented the first weapon that
used gunpowder, the
flamethrower.
• They created many other
weapons between the 11th
and 14th centuries.
• By the 13th century they had
created bombs, and weapons
similar to rifles and cannons.
• By the early 1300s, travelers
had brought knowledge of
gunpowder to Europe. This
changed the way wars were
fought and ultimately played a
role in bringing feudalism to
an end.
• Rocket technology was
developed in China during
the Song dynasty.
• At first, rockets were used
only in fireworks. Later they
were used as weapons.
• By the 1300s, rockets had
spread into Europe.
• Rockets that are used to
explore space today are
based on principles
discovered by the Chinese.
17.5 Everyday Objects: Clocks, Game Cards, &
Paper Money
• The Chinese developed the first
mechanical clock in the 8th
century.
• They devised a wheel that made
a complete turn every 24 hours.
Dripping water made the wheel
turn.
• Every quarter hour, drums would
beat; every half hour a bell would
chime. The sounds let people
know what time it was.
• They improved the mechanical
clock in 1092, during the Song
dynasty. The Europeans
developed mechanical clocks in
the late 1200s.
• Game cards were invented in
China in the 9th century.
• Paper money was invented by the
Chinese in the late 8th or early 9th
century.
17.6 Disease Prevention
• The Chinese once fought disease by burning a
chemical that gave off a poisonous smoke.
• During the Song dynasty, a monk developed
the idea of steaming the clothes of sick people.
This was the basis of some techniques we use
today.
• Around the 10th century, the Chinese
discovered how to inoculate people against
disease. This led to are modern day vaccines.